ON FIRE 9000 FEET UP IN THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3169, 21 August 1917, Page 5

ON FIRE 9000 FEET UP IN THE AIR

BRITISH AIRMAN'S THRILLING FLIGHT

FIGHTING THE BOCHES AND

THE FLAMES

A British aviator Ims lived lo toil how ho escaped cremation when OiXX) feet in the air. in his sj;y epic he describes a series of battles with enemy jfirmen, tells how his machine w»s riddled with bullets and set on fire, and his petrol tank converted into a sieve.

"Our party," he relates, "consisted of four machines, oach complete with pilot, observer, and several hundred rounds of ammunition. The job was an offensivo patrol—that is to say, we wore to hunt trouble in a given area behind tho Bochc lines near Bnpaumo. As wo climbed to COCO feet we moved a brown vista of slfell-pocked desolation. Patches of smoko from guns hovered over Iho ground at intervals. A scoro of lazy-looking kite balloons hung motionless. A few mir.utes in a direction brought us to a largo, ungainly wood, tho shape of which was something between the nco of spades and tho aco of clubs. This wo know as the headquartera of tho Boche Flying Corps on tho British front.

"From tho south-west corner 'Archie' scattered sholl and shot at our group, but his inaccuracy made dodging hardly necessary. Two thousand feet below tliTee biplanes were approaching the wood from tho 6outh. Wo dropped into a dive towards the strangers. As wo dived I estimated tho angle at which we might cross the Boche trio, -watched for a change of direction on their part, slewed round the gun-mounting to the most effectivo setting for what would probably be my arc of fire, and fingered the movable- backsight expectanly. At first tho Bodies held to their course as though quite unconcerned. Later they began to lose height. Their downward line of flight becamo steeper and stepper. Just as our leading 'bus , arrived, within range and began to spit bullets through the propeller a signal rocket streaked from the first Bocho biplane, and tho trio divert almost vertically, honking on Klaxon horns. "Woud! wouff!!" said Archie. "Tho German birds wero not hawks lit all; they were merely tihno decoys used to entico us to a prearranged spot, at a height well favoured by A-A gunners. Tho ugly puffs encircled us and it seomeel unlikely an aeroplano could get away without being caught in a patch of high explosive. Yet nobody was hit. \Vo raced away. Suddenly a lino of fiery rectangles shot: up and curved towards us when they had reached threo-gjiarters of their maximum height. They rose and. fell within thirfcv yards of our tail. Theso were 'onions/ the flaming rockets which the Boche keeps for any hostile aircraft than can be lured to a height between ■1000 to 60C0 feet. 1 yelled to my pilot that we should havo to dodge. A minuto later tho stream of 'onions' had disappeared, greatly to my relief, for tho prospect of a fire in tho air inspires a mortal funk. I was soon to pass from tho unpleasant possibility to tho far moro unpleasant reality. We now climbed to a less dangerous height. Again wo becamo the target for a few h.o. shells. Wo broko away and . swooped downward. Some little distance ahead, and not far below, was ii group of five Albatross two-seaters. V. (his pilot) pointed our machine at them in tho wake of tho flight commander's "bus." On Firo! "Next instant rue fuselage shivered. I looked along tho inside ot it and found that a burning shell fragment was lodged on a longeron, half-way between my eock-pit und tho tail plane. A littlo llaiuo zigzagged over tho fabric, all but died away, but, being fanned by the wind, as we lost heigut, recovered and licked its way toward tlio tail. 1 was too far away to reach the name with my hands, and tho fire extinguisher was by tho pilot's seat, i called for it into tho speaking-tube. The pilot made, no move. ■ Once more I s'hou'ted. Again no answer. V.'s earpiece hael slipped from under his cap. "A thrill of acute fear passed through me, and it was hard work to keep cool. I stood up, forced my arm through the rush of wind, and grabbed V.'s shoulder.

"'Fuselage burning! Pass the fire extinguisher!' I yelled. "jly words wero drowned in tho engine's roar; and the pilot, intent on getting near the Boches, thought I asked which was we wero to attack. "'Look out for those Huns on the left,' he called over hia shoulder. "'Pass the lire extinguisher!' '"Get ready to shoot, blast you!' "'Fire extinguisher, you fool! . But the roar of our engine drowned my voice and the pilot didn't hear. A backward glauco told me that tho fire was nearing tho tail-piano at tho one end and my box of ammunition at the other, and was too serious for treatment by tho extinguisher unless 1 could get it at once. Desperately I tried to force myself through tho bracing struts and. cross wires behind my seat. To my surprise, my head and shoulders and one arm got to tho other side—a curioue circumstance, as I havo tried repeatedly to repeat this acrobatic bick on the ground and have failed every rime. There 1 stuck, for it was impossible to wrigglo farther. However, I could now reach part of the fire and beat at it with gloved hands. Within half a minute most of it was crushed to death. But o. thin streak of flame, outside the radius of my arm, still flickered toward the tail. I tore off one of my gauntlets and swung it furiously on tho burning ship. That ilame died out after I had hit it 'twice more. "By now we were at clo=o grips with the enemy and our machine and another converged ou a Hun. V. was firing industriously. As wo turned ho glared at mo, and, knowing nothing of tho fire, shouted:

" 'Why tho h—l haven't you fired yot? .

"I caught sislit of a Boche bus bolow us, aimed at it, and emptied a, dram in shoit bursts. It swept away, but not beToro two of the German observers' bullets had plugged oiir petrol tank from underneath. Tho pressure went, fmd with it the potrol supply. The engine missed on first ono and then two cylinders. V. turned us round, and, with nose down, headed tho machine for the trenches, .lust then tho engine, ceased work altogether, and we began to glide down. All this happened so quickly I had scarcely realised our plight. Next I began to calculato our chances of reaching tho lines before we would havo to land. Our height was 9000 feet, and wo were just nine miles from friendly territory. Reckoning the gliding possibilities of our type of bus as a'mile to a thousand feet, the odds seemed 'unfavourable. On the other hand, a useful wind had risen from the east, and V.. a very skilful pilot, would certainly cover all (he distance that could be covered.

"'Woiiff! Wouff!' Archie was complicating fhe odds against us.

"Further brooding? were checked by the sudden appearance of a German scout. Taking advantage of our plight, its pilot dived steeply from a point slightly behind us. Wo could not afford to lose any distance by dodging, eo V. did tho only thing possible—ho kept straight on. 1 raised my gun, aimed at the wicked-looking no'-o of the attacking craft, and mot it with a barrage of bullets. These must have worried tho Boehe, for ho swerved asido when 150 yards distant, and did not flatten out until he was beneath the tail of ou.r machine and Rife from my fire. Afterwards ho climbed away frwn u», tirrucl and dived once more. Tor a second rime we escaped, owing either to fome luclcy shots from my gun or to tho luck of judgment by tho Hun pilot. Tho pcont pulled up and passed ahead of us. It roso and manoeuvred ns if to dive from the front and bar the way. Help Comes. "Meanwhile four speifc, approaching from the west, had grown larger and larger, until they were revealed as of tho F.E. type—the British 'pusher' twoRnal'Pi , . The liocho «aw Ihoni and hesitalnl iii Ilipy boro down on him. l-'iml-inu' himself in I lie position of n linn attacked by hunters when about to pounce on n tethered goat, ho decided not lo destroy, for in go doing

ho would have laid himself open to dostniction. When 1 last saw him ho was racing north-cast. There wnn now no obstaclo to tho long glide. As wo went loner tho torn ground showed up plainly. From 2000 feet I could almost count tho shell holes. Two battery positions tamo into viow, and near ono of them 1 saw traded and could distinguish mov «- ment by a few tiny dots. It bocamo evident that, barring accident, wo should reach the Trench zone. When slightly behind tho trenches a confused clatter from below told us that machine-guns were trained ou tho machine. By way of retaliation I leaned over and shot at what looked like an emplacement, lhen came tho Hocho front lino, ragged and unkempt. 1 fired nlong tho open trench. "My state of intense 'wind up while Iho fuselago was burning had apparently exhausted my stock of .icrvousness. I seemed detached from all idea of danger, and the desolated German trench area mighthavobeenaside-show at a fair. \\o swept by No Jtan's Land at a height of COO feet, crossed '.he French first and second lino trenches, and after passing a siii all ridgo prepared to land on an un, even plateau covered by high bracken. To avoid landing-down-wind and down, hill, tho pilot banked to tho right before ho flattened out. Tho bus touched earth easily, ran over tho braoken, and stopped two vaixls from a group of shell holes. "Wo climbed out, relieved, but cantankerous. V., still ignorant of the fire, wanted to know why my gun was silent during our first fight; and I wanted to know why he hadn't shut off tho eng>ne and listonod when I shouted for tho fireextinguisher. Somo French gunners ran to meet us. Tho sight that met them must havo seemed novel, even to a poilu of two and a half years' understanding. Supposing that tho aeroplane had crashed, they came to see if wo were dead or injured. What they found was one almost complete aeroplane and two leathercovered figures, who cursed each other heartily as they stood sido by side. "'Quols types!' said the first Frenchman to arrive. "An examination of tho bus revealed a fair crop of bullet holes through tho wings and elevator. A large gap in one side of tne fuselage, over a longeron that was charred to powder in parts, bore witness to the fire. Petrol was dripping from tho spot where tho tank had been perforated. On taking a tin of chocolate from his pocket V. found it ripped and gaping. He senrched the pocket and discovered a bright bullet at the bottom. We 'traced the adventures of that bullet; it had grazed a strut, cut right through tho petrol union, and expended itself on tho chocolate tin. V. telephoned the squadron commander. A' young lieutenant offered us tho uso of his automobile, which wo gratefully accepted. He accompanied ufi almost to our destination— tho British Flying Corps headquarters. "Arrived at tho aerodrome, wo visited tho hut inhabited by the squadron commander, who wore pyjamas and a smile of welcome. Wo wero just in time, lie said, to rescue our names from the list of missing. Our talo impressed him so much that, after .making arrangements for the stranded bus to bo brouulvt back bv a repair party, ho remarked: lou can both havo a rest to-morrow.