New Britain herald., 1923-09-13
r men chance to lose their

their men chance to lose their
nerve.
The speaker said that the lot Of the
aviator, as general thing. was much
easier than that, of the regular SOL
der. They were not kept on the
job for such long stretches. If they
were in the air for five or six hours
at a time that was considered plenty.
|. Whereas, If the soldiers were in the
front line trenches, they might have
been kept there for days at time.
The aviators we're also given a
weeks vacation every five or six
weeks. Everything they had was of
the best and they were kept in per-
feet trim.
He told several stories of his expert
ence during the war which proved ex-
tremely interesting to his listeners.
He said that he started out one beau
tiful morning for flight over the
German lines. There were no Ger
man planes in sight and everything
was going along smoothly until he
noticed that the plane was directly
over village that he knew was forty
miles behind the German lines. He
decided that it was time to go back.
He was preparing to turn about
and retrace his fight when he saw
German machine directly beneath his
own craft. He prepared to shoot
and then his attention was called to
else, three more German
planes, much larger and much more
than the other. The
speaker stated that he was scared to
death at the prospect of fighting the
four of them and getting out alive.
But there they were and the only
thing for him to do was to attempt
to escape at least which he finally
did, after disabling some of his adj
On his return to Allied
he met another German
craft and put that out of business
He was asked to tell something of
The aces and he explained what they
we're. He said that the aces were |
aviators who had brought to earth
i've or more of the enemy planes. |
However, no man was given credit for !
bringing them down unless the action
vas observed either by one of his
,wn men on land or by men in a |
balloon, because the trick of taking
vas played too often by the enemy
When they wishes to escape. They
would make nose or spiral dive in
he direction of the earth, righting
themselves before they were in danger
# hitting the ground and then
peeding away.
There was much rivalry between
he day and night bombing squads,
dr. Montgomery stated. On one
occasion the day squad happened to
and some bombs in exceptionally
God places The night squad had
eard of the room In the German
amp where all the military maps
we're Kept and to get even they de-
ided to get the maps.
They started out in the dead of
light, rs men of them, after planning {
this daring stunt. They
,nded in the German camp, having
cen observed by the Germans, who |
nought they were their own men.
wo of the officers of the night squad {
.ent directly to the building in which i
his room was. shot the guard dead c
nd grabbed the maps. I
The other members of the party
kept the pilots, who kept their r
lotors running for quick getaway. c
ent to the airplane hangers and
t fire to them, burning up the :
angars and several planes which
ere inside. They then took to the
r and returned to their own lines
ithout losing a man, said the Il
,eaker. c
Mr.. Montgomery said that he was
sting in a hotel one night when 5
erman bombers released 35 bombs p
BON the town, causing much damage. e
e said that the bombs when they are 2
! their way to earth. make pc
liar kissing sound and when their a
rike the explosion is terrific. shaking \
lildings and rocking the ground. y
ie bombs weigh from $50 TO 500 u
'unds. ii
The valor of the English was highly u
oxen or by MIR. Montgomery He y y
Id that they were loath to take up sI
e matter of reprisals. but when the 50
,rmans persisted in bombing Lon p
n and other allied cities, they were y
reed to do SO in order to keep the &C
envy at home.
The great number of fatalities ini