Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-14
RENE FONCK TO
COME TO AMERICA
Yankee Fliers to Learn Tricks
From Greatest of the
French Aces

din and the simplicity of a shop
keeper is coming to the United
States in the spring to instruct the
American Army in the art of flying.
He Is Rene Fonck, the greatest avia-
tor of the war, with record ct 1875
German machines brought down
and never u bullet through his own.
Although he has been up hundreds
of times in the four years of the
war and has had q record of justifi-'
able homicide that is without par
aliei, Lieutenant Fonck has never
been wounded.
To Fonck there is a simple expla-
nation for all this.
II never take a chance" he says.
Fonck Is too serious for spoofing,
and his sense OF humor is not keen
enough for satire. When he says 1t,
gazing at you with his steady eyes,
he believes it. Although he has
been in countless battles. and wears
more decorations than any other
soldier in the French armies, Fonck
believes he is a man of unusual
caution. The idea that the profess
sion of aviator is hardly q cautious
one and that engaging with five
. Boche machines at one time and
tumbling them all is not exactly
leading a sheltered life does not oc-
cur to him.
when 1 have had ten or eleven
,s in one day find 1t a li.tie
hard to get Sleep" he remarks with
the air of bank clerk who is tell
/ ing the doctor his insomniac symp-
toms.
Shes From Being Lionized
Fonck was a schoolboy in the
Vosges when the war began. He
went into aviation because he was
interested in motors and intends
, to make them when the war Is over.
Other boys may shave been lured to
the aviation camp by the alteration
of girls. the adventure of the art
and the glory of its uniform-not so
Fonck. In conversing about avia-
tion, which he takes with expected
seriousness, he complained that too
many young men went into it for
It's social possibilities. and because
, it made them lions with women.
/ He said he had led life of monk
ish regularity since he donned his
| uniform as private of aviation, that
he avoided all the lionizing he could,
that women meant nothing in his
life, and that he would be very glad
when his flying days were over and
he would make motrs and sell them.
"My success as an aviator is due
to the fact that 1 never take a
chance, that I am q dead shot with
machine gun or carbine, that my
habits are excellent, and that my
machine receives more care than a
! millionaire's only infant" he said.
He is but a boy, "a years old, and
is looking forward eagerly TO his
American visit. BY the time he
leaves for America Lieutenant
| Fonck hopes to know enough Eng
hsh to talk to his hosts. At present
he knows none.
Never Flies When Not Fit
Fonck is about five feet four
inches in height, slight in build with
firm mouth and chin, a manner OF
extreme reserve and no particular
distinction of voice or feature. But
! there Is one remarkable thing about
/ him, his eyes. They are the stead
lest eyes l ever saw I'm human
head, and they have the rare eagle
! look that seems to go with paladins
| Sometimes their pupils contraci
suspiciously and behind them always
lies the wary expression that springs
| perhaps, from Fonck's asserted cau-
| ton. He thinks a fighting man IL
largely responsible for his own fate
and does not believe that the Deity
looks out particularly for individ'
uals.
Fonck does not object to anyone
! praying for help before entering bat.
q 4 l. L. 1,A hos fD1y n re
practical measures. He never goes
up when he does not feel exactly fit
he never attempts anything he
thinks the chances do not greatly
favor and he has supreme conf
dence in his eye and his engines
He always flies at terrific speed, IL
on the other plane before it ha:
had time to prepare for him, deliv.
ers his shot and gets out of the
way as fast as he can. And he sell
dom misses. Nor has any bulle
from a German yet penetrated hi:
body or one of his planes.
How can YOU distinguish al
American or British plane from 6
German il you meet 1t at night?" h
was asked.
1.-THE form nearly always is cas-!
to distinguish" said he, bug nevel
let any of them get too near me-"
Wears the Most Remarkable Medal
Fonck has been a particular OBJ
tective of the Germans ever since
his fame began to spread, but h
has never worried about dying oil
that account, because he knew h
was more cautious than any one elst
One night he disposed of six Ger
man machines in fourteen minutes
When he came down he was littl'
sleepless for while. he said.
The young aviator Is determines
not to be a subject for gossip.
any i'll fortune should befall him n
does not want 1t said that he hat
been going the pace. Women. espe
cially, he avoids and he walks grim
ly through hotel and theater 1obbie
looking at neither side. AS he wear
the most remarkable medals In Eu
rope it is rather difficult for him Il
avoid the attentions of the ladies
but he does 1t nevertheless. TIL
night that / was with him therI
shone on his breast the Crane
Cross of the Legion, the Medal Mill
taire and fifteen silver palms unde
a golden seagull, testifying to seven
ty-five officially confirmed victories
his nearest competitors being tied a
forty. The golden seagull was ISSUED
to him when he reached the fift!
| mark: there is no other in existence
France is to pay this young maj
the most conspicuous honor In itI
power when the victorious troop
come up through the Elysian Field
| md. through the Arch of Triumph