FRENCH AIRMAN'S ESCAPE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17335, 25 November 1916, Page 7

FRENCH AIRMAN'S ESCAPE.

A THRILLING STORY. The Paris "Matin" describes how Lieutenant Guynemor. the well-known airman, after having brought down' three enemy machines, had a fall which nearly cost him his life. , Ho was 3000 metres (about 9800 ft) up (says tho journal), when a» shell burst full in one of the wings of his aeroplane, and tho frail bird seamed mortally wounded. The whole left wing was completely cut to bits, and the canvas fluttered in the wind, making tho rent still worse. In a few seconds there was nothing left on the frame but a piece of canvas the sisse of a pocket handkerchief. The machine fell with a crash through space; it could not support its pilot any longer. G'uynemer declares be gave himself up_ for lost: tho only thing he asked Providence for was that he should not fall in enemy territory. "I was powerless to make my will felt. My machine refused to obey me. At. 1600 "metres [ determined to make a fight for it all the same. The wind had brought me back into our .own lines. I was-almost happy.. 1 was already thinking of my funeral, with sorrowing friends walking behind my last remains. I had nothing more to fear from the, Pickelhauhen. However, T felt that it was death, and the thought is not a very pleasant one. "My fall continued. In spite, of all my efforts I could not do what 1 wanted with my machine. I tried to turn it first to tho right and then to the left. I pushed and pulled, but all to no purpose. I could do nothing. Down I fell, faster and faster, drawn surely and inevitably to the earth, where I Was going te be smashed to atoms, a brutal end and. a, futile one. I shut mv eves. Then T opened them again and looked down. At something like 180 kilometres (112 miles) an hour T crashed into a pylon. 'there was „. terrific cracking sound and deep thud I looked round and found, that nothing was left of my machine. "How is it 1 am still alive. J I wonder myself.. I think it was the straps which held me in my seat which saved my life. They had eaten right into my shoulders anyhow, but if it had not been for them I should be dead at this moment." The airman roared with laughter, adding: "It is frightfully funny when one thinks of it. For twenty-four hours I was absolutely stunned. It is an odd sensation." And Guynemar was off on a new aeroplane te continue his exploits.