"FLYING AT TWO FEET."

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 262, 2 November 1918, Page 15

"FLYING AT TWO FEET."

GOOI> WORK ny LO\V-FL.YINM PLANKS. "Our low flyinit airmen dirt Rood wort against enemy infantry." This is a prettj frequent sentence iv the daily communique to the average civilian, nrul not everythluf even to the infantryman In France. The won] Mow" has varylnc lllcuninE! even for airmen. The uUlcer dying a heavy two-srulrr l.cnil.er c r lighter, for Instance, will with 81.me .'•:-: !!i.:ll I..ti consider him serf low at a couple <if hundred feet. Thi bandy s.oji |-i..;. on the otlier hand, la uot satisfied unless he Is skimmine alonp juitt aburo Hie ground —ho calls it graptu cnilv "fljliie at two feet"—lifting oorn nlonally In pms oitr hedges, treos. hay stack*. cottages, and even human beings. Imagine having to rise to pass over a tank in an advance, »." one pilot found himself UolDi; hi a recent great battle iv France. The lower tho alnuan flics the in,.re dlfflcult it Is f..r the Hun to ftnU the uia'-hlii" early rnuuxft to Him. A fast scout travellh>H at nnj-thinp irp to 130 miles an hour arrlv.-s an.! departa m a flash. The airman Sft» v rather amusing glimpse of the tronob when pssslnc over sufllHentlj rlo»« for them In tow* the umler-oirriace If they had time to put their hands up. When acta.iliy .ittarkiuK the machine has to rtne. of course, so us to t.e ahle to dive on Its objective both f,.r HluiotinK aud bomWns The work of attacking hostile Infantry, provided n'wavs that the airmen has t thoroughly relUil.!,- engine. Is nrally "i;o<vl fun." The tlrft trip or two may lraTe the airman with »iK-h a bcnildernl mixture <Tf eonfllctinK en>otlons that he hardly knows wh-it he has hpen doing. Afterwardj he tMH-om-s mr>rc or less uwnl to "switchalone a rrm.!, rtrini; at all and sundry, and dropping light bombs on a moving train or anions n crowd of petrltied Hubs drillinß in a field: The dnmape effei"ti>d In an amrace fllirlrt deponds entirely op whnt the airman haa the luck to run across. Moving at a t.Triffle >rpee<l dose <o the earth, tarpets come and are pasned before he i-.in decide to fire at the™. «nd so be has to return, rlslnc ste<>pty so nn to be able to dive. One bright youngster overturned a staff car and then tired Verey lljrhts at a thatched eotuipe; nnother disturbed n military review- with two bombs some four miles behind the tines, ami a third opset three lorries of a motor convoy. Having lost his way In the mist, one scout pilot landed blissfully on the other side of the line to inquire- his position nnd wa.< promptly attacked l.v Mnn cavalry. He took off i.nd, turning immediately, illspcrse<l them. Much more Uanjremus than "hack aren" work is -hut of Httncklnc Unit or necon<l lines of dpfence, as the iilnnan is n turret A koix] d<.ni fif e-serutlon may he done by enflladine " trench, though by far the best larpet Is the unfortunate Hnn attacking in mass. It is ri tlier slckerelnc work, as the [>oor wretches cannot run; they just simply collapse Into grey heaps and are trodden on by their comrades.