El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-01-25
YANK AIRMEN
GUARD PARIS
FROM BOMBS
American Flyers Form a
Part of Patrol Above
French City.
AERIAL BARRAGE TOO
MUCH FOR GERMANS

I Il
I as well as French aviators we're
continually cruising about to the north
OF the capital at 1900 feet altitude
during the spring. summer and
autumn on every day that flying was
possible. A certain number Of Ameri-
can pilots and observers. varying
from time TO time. was comprised in
the Paris patrol which prevented hos
tile machines raiding the capital dur
ing the daytime.
Hun Gets Through.
On only one occasion did a German
machine manage 20 reach Paris dur
ing the daytime. and then he was
driven TO such an extreme altitude
that with the ground haze he could
not find = spot TO drop bombs II any
were carried Airplanes capable Of
climbing 10 the extreme altitude nee
essary for reaching the Paris region
were not able to carry much weight.
and II is believed that most OF the
machines that tried 20 reach the capt.
tai were Photographic planes which
sought 20 make pictures OF railway
Yards and newly constructed factory
buildings in the suburbs With the
new high power lenses fairly good
photographs can be made from
height where nothing can be dis
cerned with the naked eye.
Fly BY Day.
NO American pilots were included
IN the group OF night fllers on DUTY
TO protect Paris against GOthas- Fol-
lowing the British plan the French
were using fast single scatter chase
planes 10 combat The heavy. unwieldy
Night raiders.
Loaded GOtha and Friedriehshafen
machines had low ceiling with
their two tons weight Of bombs
abroad and did cot operate at much
better than 5000 feet altitude Exper-
iments also showed that night bomb
dropping was not efficaciOus. even
AGAINST SUCH mammoth targets as
Paris and London at an altitude ex-
ceeding 6oo0 feet
Balloon Gordon Used.
In order 90 keep the raiders at
respectable height small captive bal
looms. guyed with steel cables were
sent up on every clear night from va
rlOus beds" IN and around Paris and
also along the lanes which the Boche
traVersed on his nocturnal excursions
70 the capital as the bombing squad
rons always followed a river. the
Marne or the Disc usually.
To keep clear OF the deadly cables
the German pilots were forced TO
keep above the height Of the balloons.
which were usually moored at 5000
feet altitude. Thus there were only
a thousand feet OF latitude left for
the Huns 70 narrower in for accurate
bombiug.
Place AIR BarraEe.
The anti-aircraft barrage was then
timed TO burst between five and SIX
thousand feet in the air. with a few
odd shells sDrinkled above and below
this height occasionally
Scissors searchlights' were used
20 trap the raiders. the lights being
operated I'm couples, placed a consid-
cradle distance apart on the ground.
and their rays crossing at about 5000
feet altitude. Once q GOtha was
caught in the beams the archie" bat
teries concentrated on giant cube of
space. filling il with bursting shrapnel
and high explosive.
Few Pass Barrier.
So terrific was the volume OF gun
fire attained during the Paris bar
rage that even seasoned bombing
pilots feared to venture into 10, ac-
cordlng 20 prisoners statements. and
IN most cases the aviators turned
hack rather than brave the storm OF
gun1ire- II is significant that though
the Germans frequently sent over par
ties Of go machines and on one occa-
sion sent so 20 bomb Paris. at no time
did more than three machines ever
penetrate the barrage and reach the
capital in the same raid. The Others
turned tail and Ned. laying their
eggs In open fields between Paris
and the front.