The New York herald., 1921-02-05
Filler NEAR DEATH
IN A MIMIC BATTLE
Observer i'm One of Ten Bomb
ing Planes Fights Fire Peril
Over New York City.
FAST RACE TO SAFETY
Pilot Rushes Craft to Mineola
Field Lieut.. Black Is
Taken to Hospital.
FAST RACE TO SAFETY

A mimic attack on New York city
by a squadron of ten planes yesterday
at noon narrowly escaped becoming a
grim reality OF war for two of the
twenty air service men involved.
! The airplanes. big De Haviland
bombing planes carrying pilot and OBJ
server, were ordered by the War De-
partment to fly over the city in strict
wartime formation and treat the in
! habitants to an idea of just what an
| attack from the air would mean. The
stunt was intended to stimulate re-
cruiting to the aviation section of the
Army.
| Col A. r. Christie, commander of
Mitchell Field. Mineola, despatched the
planes on their mission. Major Thomas
c. Lamphier was in command. and flew
| In front at the apex of the "V' forrna-
ton adopted With their 400 horse
power Liberty motors roaring in unison
the planes. rising higher and higher. APP
preached the helpless city. heading for
/ lower Manhattan. As they reached the
zone of skyscrapers the observers In the
rear cockpts began dropping smoke
bombs and shooting off Very pistols or
vari-colored lights. while the pilots kept
their planes in formation. The Very
lights were harmless and the smoke
bombs also were innocuous. although
deridedly impressive as they exploded
into dense clouds OF black in midair.
While Lieut. Edward c. Black. perched
on the gunners stool In the observation
cockpit OF one of the machines. was
busily bombing the city one OF the ex-
plosives went off I'm the cockpit HIS
hands and face, despite the protection
gloves and goggles and helmet were
| burned severely. and his clothes ana
| the fuselage of the machine were set on
FIRE Black kept his nerve, grabbed
fire extlnguisher. which was part OF the
| equipment OF the cockpit. and pumped
II on the flames. In front OF him. only
a few feet away but powerless to help
Lieut.. Ulysses @. Jones gripped the stick
OF his machine and kept one eye on the
nearest river. He knew a dive OF 1000
feet would save himself. but not his
&C mrade. so he kept the plane level and
watched the fight. Black won.
without formalities Lieut. Jones
banked his plane around and headed for
Mineola. twenty miles away. New York
has no landing field nearer on which the
big plane could be landed In safety
Jones speeded up the big Liberty motor
20 the last notch on the throttle and
went back at a 1875 mile gait covering
the twenty miles in less than ten min
u,es. At Mitchell Field Black was lifted
from his cockpit and hurried TO the post
hospital II was said latter his injuries
are painful and he will be laid up for
some days.
Down on the streets OF the city
crowds watched the aerial man1vres
| ignorant OF the fact that they also
watched fight for life For twenty or
thirty minutes the planes roared about
the city until theoretically no two stones
OF any building were in juxtapostion
Then they went home, leaving vivid
/ idea behind them IN the minds Of some
OF the citys thoughtful Of just how long
| this city would remain intact under an
| enemys aerial assault unless our own
| air service was In the SKY TO repulse IL