New-York tribune., 1918-12-25
Liberty AirpIanes Made Good;
Aviators Had Many Thrills
Small Defects Presented Themselves and Were
Remedied-supplcs and Luxuries Delivered
TO Troops-$SCood'' Buses Now, Airmen Say

natcly it must be recorded that some
planes have never come back.
German nfantrymen lie fiat on their
stomachs with their faces on the
ground when the American machines
pass low. The grey green uniforms
blend with the ground so that it is i'm
possible TO distinguish man from
earth. Then lies the task of finding
the American line which is always
close by. And sometimes it means
passing over the enemy position again
many times. The Germans are heavily
supplied with machine guns every
where, and they do not hesitate to use
them. The Germans sometimes resort
TO clever trickery
New York Mans Experience
lieutenant Fresno, of New York City,
lett the force Of enemy machine gun
cunning, and is alive to-day to tell the
tale. Fresno winged over section Of
the Argonne Forest trying to locate the
American line. Here the task was ex-
tremely difficult, though the Ameri-
cans are expected to place markings on
the ground SO that aeroplanes can find
them. Fresno brought his big machine
down almost to the tree tops. He was
not molested by enemy fire, and, be-
licVing ne was over our own lines, he
clrcled and came back. The Germans
had Withheld their fire, knowing that he
would return. When he did they cut
loose with many guns all together.
Scores OF bullets ripped into the plane.
Two cut the main gas tank, another
perforated the emergency tank and one
struck the engine. AS many as forty
cut through a single wing. Fresno
man@uvred as best he could and
crashed between the lines. Here the
Germans turned their fire again on the
helpless machine, and it was up to
Fresno and his observer to crawl
through this fire to safety. After much
lying in shell holes and stealthy crawl
ing they reached a sector held by the
French. The French officers and men
we're overjoyed that the two Americans
had escaped alive, and two French off,
GERS conducted Fresno and the observer
to the headquarters of an American
regiment kilometre distant.
On another occasion Lieutenant J. T.
Cook, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, suffered q
similar experience.
Both strength and speed of Liberty
planes have been demonstrated by ex-
periences Of this new group during the
past few days. Pilot Lieutenant Har-
den, of Arkansas, was over the German
lines when five fast Fokkers picked on
him. Harden's machine carried on the
fusseage the fac simle of the we'll ad-
vertised little Dutch girl with q stick
who acts as trademark for Dutch
Cleanser" and who IS said to "Chase
Dirt" At no time is it the duty Of
observation planes to chase either
dirt or Boches-if any distinction may
be made between the two-but pounced
upon by five Boches who looked upon
him as a slow going, easy observation
plane Harden loafed along until the
enemy quintet got quite near. Then
Harden and his observer opened up
with their two guns each and worried
the enemy bit The enemy, however,
superiority began to vancouver for
position. With five airplanes mannuv-
ering for position each with an index
finger on the trigger, it is dangerous
business to tarry. So Harden opened
up his Liberty motor and the little
Dutch girl who chases dirt, on this
OCCASION, showed the Germans very
clean pair of heels. The incident was
unusual. because ordinarily in this wal
an observation plane attacked by five
fast planes has had to consider itself
lost. Escape heretofore under such
circumstances has been nothing less
than miraculous. Hardens is not the
only Liberty plane which, overwhelmed
by numbers, has showed the enemy q
clean of wooden sabcts.
The above incident demonstrates the
Liberty's speed. Here is one example
of it's strength. A New York lieutenan
who had a certain contempt for Ger
man ti-aircraft fire firted with the
"Archies" the other day to such an ex
tent that one of them exploded jus
under his right wing. The burst wa:
low enough not to blow the machine t,
pieces, but high enough to tear twt
whole ribs out bodily and laceratc tn,
of the wings usefulness. But the New
York pilot refused to get ratified an,
steered his wreck straight away from
the rock shoals of Huniand back to
safe landing place within our lines. TIL,
machine has now been repaired and i
carrying on" as those English trainet
American pilots say. Many machines
would have crumpled in midair ant
fallen like a stone
Some of the Liberty pilots wear tn,
ribbon of the D. S. c., though won il
encounters before they began to be all
American pilots, "chauffing" all-Amer
ican machines. One of them is Lieu
tenant David Beebe, of New York, VIII,
was sent out to observe enemy move
ments both near and behind the enenl,
lines during the St Mihel salient fight
With his observer it was necessary TO
him to fly very low, and the machine
Il French make, was so riddled witt
machine~gun bullets that it was almos
useless in the air over enemy terri
tory. The observer was killed in hi
cockpit. Beebe succeeded in gettin,
back over our lines and landing
AS for future decorations of SOM
kind in this group there are opinion