AEROPLANE DUELS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 561, 26 November 1915, Page 6

AEROPLANE DUELS.

A TONIC FOR THE TREHPiES^ M. Montague, a special writer of Boulogne "Telegramme," describes in his journal an aerial combat that he witnessed at the fr,ont "Towards 4 o'clock French aeroplane, piloted by an airman already famous for his marvellous skill and br&very* arrived from the hangars behind; the firing line and made towards the German lines. "It; was but a matter of seconds before the 'Bodies* opened a fierce fire on the machine. The Frenchman, flying very low, continued calmly on his way. •. _ ■ "His attitude may be described as 'heroic provocation.' Leaving our underground, .shelters, and trenches, we raised ourselves just above the parapet to watch the movements of our aeroplane. We counted the missiles that were being aimed at him by the German batteries. We counted up to 354 missiles, and still our gallant aviator was above the enemy's lines, safe and sound as when he left the hangar. At last the German guns ceased firing, evidently seeing the uselessiucss of it. What a rage the German artillerymen must have been in! And the aviator, like a triumphant eagle, con-* tinued to fly about over the German lines, while our cheers rang out loud and long. One day this same pilot had the sangfroid to drop a number of pamphlets on to the artillery of the Germans, On these pamphlets was written in ink: 'You fire too short; you fire too long; yoii cannot touch me before I am gone!'" The correspondent concludes his article by saying how the sight of these various flights and feats of all kinds that are being continually performed at the front act as a tonic to the men in the trenches. "As a play at Ihe theatre is to the aver- - age person in peace time, so are these feats to the men in the trenches to-day. It is,a great distraction.'*