OUR NAMELESS AIRMAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 11, 12 January 1918, Page 10

OUR NAMELESS AIRMAN.

HOW HE KILLED VOSS. A DUEL AT A FEW FEET. Various war correspondents write the story of the death of Voss, the famous German airman. The following is from Mr. Beach Thomas, in the "Daily Mail": — The body of Lieut. Voss, second only ■to Major Baron yon Richthofen among German airmen, has been found and identified near Ypres. He claimed to have brought down 53 Englishmen. The story of his final duel with one of our nameless but most daring duellists is now known in all its details. It was watched by some twenty machines, Britsih and German, besides ground observers, and will give some insight into the extent as well as the desperation of air lighting in Flanders. One of our patrols met a German patrol, and the usual little encounters ensued. After the leader of our patrol had dived and put one German out of action by a shot which took effect in the middle of the machine, the Germans retired, and our patrol, rising to a height of 7000 ft, went on with its work. To the scene of the light there flew up several German and British airmen. The sky in this area was thick with planes—indeed, in these days it always is. There were as many as eleven Germans in one formation, but they were onlookers of the great fight now impending, and never succeeded in penetrating the guard of our observing planes. THE NEW HUN TRI PLANE. Soon all eyes were fixed on two German machines, one fust specimen of the red-nosed variety, the other a triplane of a new German type. These two showed every intention to fight to a finish, and the triplane was picked-out for single combat. At last, after a long manoeuvre, the British airman vvon a little height, anil, as he swooped, was able to lire at n clear, open target. When the burst of fire was over, and he passed below the enemy, whom he now know to be some most redoubtable opponent, the German plane dived, and the two missed one. another by inches. j The triplane continued to dive earthwards in nn even swoop with tiic engine! oIT, and behind it our men followed,! keeping up a continual lire till at last he lost sight of the enemy diving more steeply towards the west. MACHINE FLYING WITH CORPSE. It was not till afterwards that he knew that his opponent vvas Lieutenant Voss, and that he had "gone west." Indeed, Voss had been killed by a bullet. and probably the latter part of the battle was foinrht as n battle between 1 the living and the dead. The stability of the triplane is such that automatically of itself it will maintain the full appearance of being ilown by an expert. The usual courtesies of the air have been observed in telling the Germans of the end of their skilled and courageous duellist.

The records of the late battles and' intervening days are full oE stirring tales. Not long since four of our fighting planes attacked nine Albatrosses, | and without loss to themselves wrecked five or six. One was seen to crash, one to burst into flames, three to fall out of | all control, and one to tumble in I apparent helplessness. A FALL NEAR OUR WIRE. For a single personal experience the following is hard to beat. A young airman crossing our lines ' had a fight interrupted by the arrival of a quantity of the enemy's aircraft. He retired, but soon returned and engaged in a series of adventures. He fired his gun at a group

of fifteen men along a railway and : bombed a dump close by. Just as lie was beginning another air duel lie was again driven off by a number of the enemy's aircraft, and was forced to dive for' home through a heavy barrage. A shell hit his machine direct, cutting both elevators and the rudder control, but by turning his engine full on just before reaching ground he straightened out the spin and crashed without much harm .to himself near our wire at Langemarek. Two men came to his help, but a shell killed one and wounded the other. He himself was wounded in the buttock. Finally other helpers got him' on a stretcher, but as he was being carried

off another shell upset the whole party into a ditch. The aviator then took to -his heels, and in spite of pain and shock got'away safely.