Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-18
AMERICAS ACE
OF ACES STIRS
LARGE AUDIENCE
Waves Aside Own Accom-
pliShmentS in Air to Laud
Other Flyers


the first-hand story of his experiences
by Captain Eddie" Rickenbacker,
Americas ace of aces at the Or
pheum Theater last evening.
The famous flyer, wearing the rib
bons of the D. S. C., the CroiX de
Guerre with four palms, and the
Medaille Militaire. made Il very IA
vorable impression upon and was
heartily applauded at frequent in
! tervals by an enthusiastic audience.
f! His talk, interSperSed with humor-
Gus stories and anecdotes, was fol-
! lowed by "a number of photograph phs
and moving pictures showing some
| of Americas foremost air lighters
and an actual combat in the air be-
! tween German Fokker and
! French Spad, taken over the Amer
! lean front.
Tells Story of White
The story he told of Lieutenant
Wilbur White, of New York City.
commanding the 1+7th Aero Pursuit
squadron, was one of extraordinary
} heroism. During the battle of the
Marine l went out on a reconnais-
sance mission with my squadron. the
cath Pursuit Squadron (the only aero
outfit. by the way, that went into
Germany with the Army of OcCupa-
/ tion). Two other squadrons were
assigned me for flank protection,
one on the right, the other on the
left. While flying over the Ger
man lines we ran into n Veritabl
army of enemy planes, which seemed
! to be everywhere. 1 could see that
it was going TO be some dog fight.
One of Lieutenant Whites in
I experienced flyers was set upon by
German during the miN-up. As he
/ was getting the range and setting
/ his sights the lieutenant opened up.
/ but his guns TANNED. Without hesi-
tation. and in order to save the life
/ OF this boy of his squadron. he dived
| lheadlong at the German and rammei
him. both planes going over a hum
dred miles an hour. The fuselases
of the two planes telescoped and
dropped to the ground in flames. For
sheer bravery it was the greatest and
finest thing, to my mind, that has
/ happened in the air in this or any
other army. The sad part about his
death was that he was on his last
flight and had already received or
ders TO return TO America as an m
struCtor, with the opportunity OF
seeing his wife and two small chill
dren."
Iauds Major LufbCry
Captain Rickenbacker. who talkeL
about everybody but himself, paid
high tribute to Major Raoul Lut-
berry. who had formerly been in
command of "Ricks" squadron, and
to whom he gave the credit for the
reputation which the 94th Squadron
acquired. A picture of the little
yard belonging to a French peasant,
into which the body of the famous
flyer dropped when his plane was
sent down in flames, was shown OF
the screen, as we'll as the broken
picket fence which he struck in fall.
ing.
He told a story of a new membe:
of his squadron who was anxious to
get a look at German territory and
begged Rickenbacker to take hin
up. So one morning at O'Clock
they started, we'll bundled up againsf
the intense cold of the upper air
While in the clouds the famous acc
lost his companion. and when he re-
turned to the airdrone several hours
later. the Young man met him
Hello. eskimo" he said. Il got So
cold I had to come back to thav
out: I'm afraid TO laugh yet for fea'
Ill crack: why. we were so high III
that I saw the sun rising for day
after tomorrow"
He then referred to Lieutenant
Frank Luke, the premier "balloor
strafer." whom he declared was
violet when on the ground, but
regular tirebrand in the air. driving
everything and everybody out of his
path. The day he was killed" said
Captain Rickenbacker, he had gone
out alone on n still hunt for tho
Boche. Returning a short time later
I / II.
balloon observers. telling him t.
watch the German ''sausages'' op-
posite. that he was going to get them
and wanted official confirmation OF
his victories. Sure enough, after .
few minutes, one of the balloors
went down in flames. then the III
other two in quick succession. w,
all waited for him to return. but ho
never did. After the armistice was
signed we got the news of his death
from some French peasants in terri
tory previously occupied by the Ger
mans. 1t seems he had been at
tackled by half a dozen enemy planes
two of whom he got before they
brought him down. Landing withir
their lines. he dived into she'll
hole and drew his automatic. kill
ing several German infantrymen who
tried to capture him. Finally they
turned a machine gun on him and
killed him.
Talks Impersonally
AS he talked on and on. in an in
formal manner, one wondered if
perhaps he wouldn't describe some
of his own engagements. but with
the exception of one or two flight
he talked impersonally. He did tell
of one dog fight" in which he saw
a German plane pursued TO earth by
member of his own squadron. who
in turn was followed by another
German. So Rickenbacker tagged
on TO the procession and of the four
that made up the column, each fir
ing at the plane in front of him,
all three but himself crashed.
Hun Shows Pictures
Among the pictures shown were
number of aerial photographs
taken BY a German flyer whom Rick
enbacker met in Coblenz after the
armistice was signed. This flyer
heard Rick" as he called him, was
in town and looked him up to show
him these photos that he and other
Germans had taken over the Amer
ican lines. They were taken thou
sands of feet in the air. but clearly
showed hangers and aeroplanes. bill
let's, trenches. roads. trees and she'll
holes with unmistakable clearness.
They had even taken a picture of a
section of Paris just as a shell from
the long-range gun was bursting on
the bank of the Seine river, a pic
i