FIGHTING IN THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2655, 29 December 1915, Page 3

FIGHTING IN THE AIR

A Palis message to the "New York Herald" says:— A battle between a French aeroplane, loaded with ninety millimetre bombs, and a fast double-engmed German aeroplane, was one of tlio incidents of the battle of tho Champagne when the Allied offensive was at its height. Tlio French machine had set out to destroy a lino of railroad, back of the German lines, when' the Ger- . man craft emerged from a cloud. The air battle began immediately," Almost as soon' as it commenced thp ma-chine-gun on tho French aeroplane jammed. 1 "Dive! Dive!" shouted the observer to the pilot. The machine plunged, in a swift curve, but the German, no 'less 'prompt, dived too, and continued to fly around the French machine,, which was hampered by the weight of the bombs it carried. After firing his carbine until his supply of cartridges was exhausted it occurred to the French observer that an abrupt landing would be fatal to him and to his pilot unless the fuses were removed from, the bombs. Ifc coolly set about taking out the fuses, and had just finished the ■ task.when a bullet struck him in the back, and a moment later another shattered one wrist. The pilot was hit in the eye by a piece of the propeller, which had been knocked off by a bullet. Again he was wounded in tho abdomen, and fainted. Then the observer seized the'lovers, and guided the machine into the French trendies. Tho destruction by Lieutenant , of the Aviation Corps, in the Champagne, of a German captive balloon' of the. type knoirn as "sausage," which had ■ been mentioned in a French official statement, is declared to have been a particularly brilliant and difficult feat, for these balloons, are guarded carefully. Determined to get rid of this particular Iwiloon, by means of which the Germans had been enabled to obtain valuable information regarding the movements of French troops, Lieutenant —• Mporimented for two months with fire balls. When he was convinced that -ho had an explosive which met all his requirements he started out for the attack on the ])alloon. The aeroplanes guarding the balloon, moored fifteen miles: behind the German lines, were so vigilant the lieutenant had to try four times before he could rise above it. On the fourth attempt he swooped down in a giddy flight from a height of 10,000 ft., and placed his missiles accurately before the balloon could be hauled down. In dropping lis fire bombs, the Frenchman came near enough to the earth to bo in full range of German anti-air craft guns, but he managed to rise safely, and escaped in a hurricane of bursting shrapnel. A series of All-British concerts have been in progress in Londou, at -which new composers are heard, often for the 'first time. About tbe most interesting of the works performed haye been four artistic little songs by Kate Allitsen Hibbert, a sister of Frances Allitsen. The new composer shows much of the dramatic feeling that characterised her sister's work, and the audience was very appreciative. The spngs were, repeated by request, at a second concort.