Evening star., 1940-06-10
french Flyers Ask
When More American
|anes; Will Come
Calm Fighting Men
Seem interested Only
In Their Jobs
By EVE CURE.

Opt, Accart, said to me: Come and
sf my plane"
We reached the plane, carefully
htden, and I climbed on the wing
OF the CurtiSS. With this plane
C,pt. Accart has brought down IA
bniers and MeSserschmidts. The
trlces of the fights were easy to see.
over the wings there were. here
efr there, little square metallic
plteS cleanly riveted over German
bullet holes
! childish smile, somewhat sad
cape on the delicate, refined face
OF Capt. Accart.
ply plane" he said. sis Just like
parned stocking. We have "a
mechanic here who darns the wings
beautifully. He is an artist in that
respect"
Escape bv Inches.
Hight in the middle of the hard
leaher cushion which is behind the
PITTS head there was little round
hof During a fight a bullet had
br1Pn through the windsrreen and
bul"d itself there. Capt. Accart
hat inst bowed his head in time.
Why did YOU lower your head?"
don't know. Instinct, I sup
hen he said: This is good
plfe. It is 50 easy to handle. But
thfe are other Curtisses now in
ATrica-faster ones. These are
th' ones We need. When do YOU
thNk We'll get thosc?"
Ve came back to the post of COM
mad. Refreshments were served
ON of doors on small iron table.
BIZ the pilots did not touch the
oraSS. Capt Accart said, I'VE are
waiting for Potez (French bombing
plae) that we are going to escort,
seYn of us, on a reconnaissance
fla1t. The job is to control the
reSlts Of a French artillery fire
oep into the German lines We
VII have our drinks when we come
bad"
Half Hour of Serenity,
he Potez was late and we sat for
hal an hour in the shade under
beautiful trees. 1t seemed to me
th4 l had never lived such a serene
hal hour. We were far away from
eveything vile or ugly-far away
frnl fear, far away from hysterical
agitation or anxiety.
1realized all at once that since I
hal left Paris three days ago none
OF ihe boys I had met. none of the
pitts, had said one single word
abut the news. nor had they asked
me anything about the German
offnsive. They did not seem in
tefSted. They were interested in
thtr job. I was the one to say
something about King Leopolds
"trason." There were two or three
quit, diSdainful words of comment
am the conversation died down.
tn Potez was late That was the
onF event of the day.
Plane Arrives.
hen, at last. the radio operator
announced that he had just got
nets from the plane. Later we
herd. nearer and nearer. the roar
insof the engine. The young, dark.
col. lmperturbable Commandant of
thu group. Commandant Murtin. got
up secretly relieved. Nothing was
tn, matter with the Potez. Every
thing was all right. Seven of the
pitts had got up, too, and had said
potely "Good-by" to me. There
va something fascinating, some
Ting new about their sharp. straight
an serious way of looking at me.
abmt their brief. sarcastic way of
spanking, cold and refined to the
extreme.
his was the new generation of
Finch young men. The generation
chsen by fate to fight for our coun-
try and for other countries.
{ommandant Murtin was stand
int beside me on the airfield, watch
ini the Potez making circles over
US The Commandant was not ac-
conpanying the patrol He had al
rely been on two other patrols the
sane day. Il cannot fly all the time
because l have so much work to do.
mixing reports, answering and
selding radio messages and so
mnv other things" he said. Il
vGld give lot to be less than 35,
toTbe still a sergeant
"Stop Warning Me-"
Then he added, DO you know how
nlHy radio messages I got from our
vahous military bases on the 10th
ofiMay, telling me about German
pines coming over our land? More
thin thousand came In the end l
go impatient and started answer
Int Stop warning me about Ger
mn planes. The sky is black with
thhn over my head. Leave me alone
VI are shooting down as many of
tfhn as we can"
! found nothing else to say than
a lanai and fiat little phrase, pro-
nonced rather low Something like
"9urs is a hard job" The dark
hared officer was in the process Of
putting on his gioyeS-white knitted
glkes-so AS to look if possible more
correct, more immaculate, than be-
foe. AS I spoke he protested very
pdtely, 1T is not hard job. 1t
neds neither will nor patience be-
case We love it so much. 1t only
teuires little ideal.
His words came quickly, wryly, like
u few bullets from a machine gun.
While he was putting on his gloves
saw on his wrist a neat silver
chin with the customary identity
plte. He smiled and said: It's a
ny model, divided in halves While
tn man is alive the halves remain
toether. After that they separate
OF remains on the body, the other
on on the coffin. 1t is very con-
vaient."
They Wave Good-by.
roaring noise stopped the con-
vesation. The seven planes were
passing in front Of us and taking
OF one after the other. Each pilot
greted us with friendly wave of
tn hand. High in the sky the
PdeZ was waiting for ifs hody-