CAPTORS OUTWITTED.

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 14096, 3 January 1919, Page 3

CAPTORS OUTWITTED.

AMERICAN AIRMAN’S ESCAPE. With his airplane riddled by machine gun bullets, and hemmed in by German machines, an American aviator named Haight ; , of New York, pretended to be out of commission and landed within the German lines. After hurriedly repairing his damaged machine he ascended and got back to his own lines, successfully " dodging the astonished Germans on the ground and in the air. Haight wail in a group of airplanes protecting American observers beyond the American lines. He was attacked by the Germans, and Id machine gun bullets penetrated various parts of his airplane, three of them striking the propeller. The Germans circled around him to prevent him from reaching his own lines. Haight descended quickly and landed in a field behind the German lines. The German airmen apparently took it for granted' that Haight was out of commission, and left his capture to the men on the ground. One bullet had severed a battery wire in Haight’s machine. This was quickly repaired, and before the German foot soldiers could reach Haight he had ascended and was making for the American lines. The German airplanes pursued him. but were not ouick enough to catch the fleeing American.