FLYING OVER PARIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15807, 2 January 1915, Page 6

FLYING OVER PARIS.

GERMAN AIRMAN'S STORY. j| EMOTIONS OF JOY. 1| 1 CHASED BY HOSTILE CRAFT. W In the Berliner Tageblatt, a German - ' aviator tells what his feelings were when ." he and his superior officer first sailed - over Paris. His state of mind is easily understandable, but would not be apprecia „ by a harassed Parisian. He sav s :—" "Paris! The major pointed below' with 1 his finger, then turned slowly to me raised himself from his seat, yodeled ' : at the top of bis voice ! I saw it, although ' the motor, which sang its song incessantly *v overwhelmed the sound. And I? I went ' : absolutely out of my little head with jor *•■ and cut she maddest capers and caracoles in the air with my trusty biplane. There ' Jay the white church of the Sacre Occur there the Gare du Nord, from which the 11 French thought to leave for across the Rhine j there Notre Dame, there the old iH •Boul Mich' the Boulevard St. Mich..? in the Latin Quarter, where I bohemianised'••§ so long as an art student, and over which I now flew as a conqueror. C; " Unprotected beneath me lay the heartfe of the enemy, the proud glittering Babe? of.the Seine. The thought of evervtbing T hateful, always attached to the great city, was swallowed up; an amotion of possession, of power, alone remained. And ? lH doubly joyful we felt ourselves. Doubly :f| conquerors! In a great circle I swept fH over the sea of houses. From the streets -? arose a murmuring of the people, whom !§§ the bold 'German bird' astonished, who cannot understand how the Germans are turning the French discovery to their own service more cleverly and advantage- ; ously than the French themselves. "As the French aeroplanes are usually ; all called away for scout duty on the firing-line, often the Taube 'goes xmMm molested, save for the harmless fire front M below. But on this occasion the Ger- '.''- mans were not so fortunate, and the result - was a battle in the air with all the thrill; that the most competent fiction-writer I could inspire." As the airman tells it : ■ ---

Escape Sought. ->-.i 1 I " For nearly an hour ~*e> had been flying r . 1 I in swoops and had been «hot at vain!} - ■ ■) j 1 from here and there below ii.% when there i approched in extremely rapid flight from | the direction of Juvisy a French mono- I plane. Since it was ' much faster than Jit I my . biplane, ■? I mmrfi turn and seek to ||| | escape," while the major made ready mv f ' rifle and reached for, his revolver. The .monoplane' came steadily closer and closer : m$M I' sought ■to attain an altitude of , 2000 j|f metres in order to reach the protecting 4|| Jj clouds, but my pursuer, on whom we constantly kept an eye, climbed more rapidly : 1 than "we, and came always closer and W&fM closer. And suddenly I saw at a distance §[§ of only about 500 metres still a second la biplane, attempting to block my way. "Now it was time to act. In an in-"|Sl stant my companion, had grasped the~|f|j situation. I darted at the flier before ;^.fefl then a turn— major raised the rifle toSI his cheek. Once, twice, thrice, he fired. - 1 Then the hostile-machine, now beside us;|||| and. hardly MX) metres away, quivered and 1 then fell like stone. Our other pursuer ". ~ 'had in the meantime reached a position ' - almost over us;, and - was shooting at us - Kith revolvers. One ; bullet struck *mf|j| the body close beside : the fuel controller. Then, however, ''impenetrable mist en- " folded us piotectahgly,' and the clouds -* ; separated us from the enemy, the pound oi ' whose motor grew ever more distant. •*■'*', - ■ • ■ - -■■'- ''■.' ■' '•! '■'■ ■ ■ -;2K¥* Artillery Fire. ?tH " When we came out again from tho'|||| sea of clouds-it was toward seven o'clock. In order to get our position, we de- - scended, r but" suddenly there burst forth before us and behind us and beside us roaring shrapnel shells. I. saw that I would have to fly a considerable distance over hostile positions and ,ex-j|J| posed to French artillery. 'The devil to - .pay* again. - Ever madder grew the fire. I noticed that the machine received >blow|||| after blow, but held cold-bloodedly to my : course; at the time it did not come into my mind at all that these little pointed pieces of steel meant death and destruction. Something in mankind remains un- , : ;< touched by knowledge and logic. -; \A "There—suddenly before me, a yellow--white burst- of -flame! The machine bounds upward; at" the same time the major shrinks together,'" blood runs from his shoulder; the j wiring of one of the wines . is shattei»d. To be sure, the motor siuTj||| booms, and thunders as before, but the|j|| propeller fails. An. exploding grenade has knocked it to pieces, torn one of the wihg3 to shreds, and smashed the major's jS|| shoulder. Steeply my machine sinks to /; the ground. By calling up all my power, I succeed in getting the machine into a gliding flight, and I throw the biplane ->;- down into the tops of the forest trees, ; crashing through the branches and treecrowns. I.strike heavily, and know no more what goes on around me. ; : sl?f "When I awako again from my unconsciousness, I find Major G. lying beside me on the ground, both of us in the | I midst of a group of the German Land- "_'. wehr." ■ ;^