Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-03-15

| Lieutenant Bert Hall. an American
! member OF the famous Lafayette fsca
| Idrllc. who has been the victor III man.
| a hard fought air battle. ana VINO IL
now spending Il shOr, vacation III tne
| I'nit.d States before returning 10 h'S
work in France. has told the ioilowihs
story of one oi his adventures 20 th'
New FORK World.
"Sta,t at 4. VI. You ar" to go
| alone"
That WAS my order.
| Every man in this war has. sooner
or L,cr, his great day. This was 10
he mine. although did not know IL az
| the time the order was given the nish'
before. IL was At Nerdun ana the
| date. according TO my diary. was june
-.
| Fighting had been going on arouno
| Vcrdun without interruption day ana
night, and many OF the French ar
craft were already victims of the
| enemy fire. At this time, as HOW
recall il. th"r" were only slX ol
| our avi;ttors in shape TO take 10 the a''
| for combat.
Our hangars were located in an open
| field eight or ten miles back "f IN.
| great forts and front line trcnchcS
We had been cruising constantly iof
DAYS, and cruising means good, stcau!
| business, each mans daily patrol last
| ing about two and Il hall hours IL
| was our job to keep away the enemy
| aircraft, To protect the French Pho
| torrIphcrs who went up on obserNa-
tiun and Typographical duty, and "a
| note any changes in the German DIS
| POSITIONS so as to direct and correct
| our own artillery fire. All of Us were
| in trim for any kind OF duty.
| MY orders for this particular day
| were not unlike the regular routine.
| IL was cold and pitch dark when
| cr;lwlcd out Of my blanket III o'clock
which was really | o'clock. as the time
| is advanced in summer. My break
fast, like the others, consisted ol roiis
| and coffee. AS do not drink coffee
| [ concentrated on those rolls.
| made my way To our hangar ana
| routed out Leon. my mechanic. III
| five minutes. with Icons help. for II
is something Of Il iOi, got into my
| leather combination and boots, ana
| climbed into my machine. On the
side of the car was painted IN large
| letters: "BEltT:"
Ny machine was Il SinEle-sc;lte'
| Nicuport biplanc. driven by II no.
/
| nine cylinders. In this type of engine
the cylinders rcvolve around the
| crank shaft. which is stationary. My
| lighting equipment WAS Il Nickcrs ma
chine gun. and on this morning ] ear
| ricd 900 rounds of ammunition.
Machine Was camouflaged.
The sides and upper portions of the
| BERT" were c;imoullaScd to disguise II
against the Ncr,fun landscape. These
| decorations correspond exactly To inc
red clay of the soil and the green oi
the country-largc, irrcgularly placed
spots OF both colOrS. Underneath, the
| Bert was painted sky blue ana Dor,
| the French insignia--bluc. white and
red circles.
An air Sortic at dawn.
All WAS now ready. | settled myself
| In the seat and gave oncc-ovcr to
/ everything as best / cuuld-morc by
feel than by sight--as it was still
dark. The machine gun was loaded
and ready. On the ground Leon was
still puttering about. giving Il last
touch here and there.
All set" called to him in English.
He understood and started the mo-
tor. The blocks were still before the
wheels of the machine. TO make the
final test of the motor. 1t purred
smuotihhfy- gave saSe-ttfsftee tsfe order der
Leon kicked away the blocks. The
Bert" rolled along the ground fol-
about fifty feet. Then | turned hei
into the wind and started up.
left the earth i'm darkness. As the
Bert" shot upward | entered world
| of sof. light. Up here the dawn come:
| first. AS it began to illuminate tho
| eastern sky, / pointed straight into It
| thrilled and quickened by its inspira'
| tiun. Soon | was able to make Out
| the wooded rises in the ground, anC
as | went on, the River Meuse became
| visible, seeming TO flow out of the
Bochr lines. Sometimes, ut this hour
| the mist is heavy, making II nccessar!
| to wait and get your bearings. Bu'
| this morning | was not held up; there
| was nothing to stop me from my WORK
| of the concentrating on the field Over
| the Forts Duuaumont and Vaux anu
the famous bloody Hill 304. The
motor was buZZing along In fine shape
and | was climbing ut the rate OF
800 feet L minute. The red old SUI
| loomed up before me, and, although u
was still dark below, things began tt
get clearer but smaller.
| She'll Burst Beneath.
a shell suddenly burst just under
Meath the Bert" even before ! vas
able to make out the enemy positions
| The smoke was black, so | knew II
was a German good morning" meant
for me. Our own anti-aircraft, shells
make Il white smoke.
l kept on ascending and very soon
entered Il cloud. one OF those beauti-
full white banks as seen from the
| ground. 1t wasn't white, however
| far from it. AS L dived in everything
| became black couldn't see my hand
before my face. The motor. which
| makes racket enough at oil times
now sounded like L continuous, dead
ening bomburdment. The cloud vapor
| damp and thick, shut in every parti-
| Gle OF sound. These pretty white
clouds" have no silver lining for the
aviator,
Light ahead was welcome, and
Iemcrgcd from the cloud with my ears
| tingling. The sensation Is very much
| as If corks were popping inside your
head in rapid succession. The wind
was thirty miles an hour or perhaps
a little more. My altimeter registered
| 5000 meters. or approximately $500
feet up. ! had scarcely got into the
open again and began to search the
landscape when there were more
shells. They had seen me. discov-
cred that | was now directly over the
German positions.
Naturally, my next move was to
| find out If there were any enemy air
craft in my neighborhood. looked all
around, above and particularly below
for that is the danger quarter in COM
bat. | kept on. and when about a
| mile inside the German lines / saw
three machines far below me which
had just taken to the air. | got up q
little higher. They seemed to turn
| back, then one OF them came on up
Soon all three were headed for me
the first having pulled away from his
comrades.
l picked it out for attack and ma
| noeuvred for position, eager to see
| what type of machine 1t was. AS II
| came on l saw a fighting two-scater
carrying n pilot and an observer.
managed to keep above, and it began
firing long before they got near me-
That is poor tactics and l did not
| mind. Rip went a hole in one of my
wings. and then l did mind. But my