AN ENEMY AVIATOR

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 18521, 23 February 1918, Page 4

AN ENEMY AVIATOR

The Grey Ghost

A, isitrange . eitory comes from. Amexica. relautdve to the well-iknown Garimsain racing cyclist, WiaiLtei- Rutt, ■yvJiio some 12 years back raced wdth considerable siucceigta. in Australia, and more recently ha® 'carried, off same of the" bigglest events in Ainieri■ca, including tibiree iN«w. Yorlk "6 days" places. It appear® tthiait for ' many months last year, tflxe French lines wieaia frequently vistedi b^ asa enemy ariaitor, known as tlie "Grey GSbioist," wihoisei dten'ing naddjs >on the Wetst&rn front -cafUised iroudh. qoanineniti in. the military oaanps. Alt last '•the identity of tib.e 'Grey Ghotsit' wa^ oinmaisllied, andl found to foe none other thian Waiter Ruitt. T!h.e newisi of ikutit'is deatih, was calbled to Aimerioa in November last. A latter from a member of tihe Ameaiioain Amibmlaiice ■'■Unit.in' France, written Tbefor© Rutt was ba^ougiht to earth., gives the following interesting 1 details of tlie airman's tactic®. "We have a (peculiar— fnoit to, say wierd—^tiring 1 on tihis front. There As a German. aviator here who call's (himself "Fantomas," or the "Ghost./' His name is Walter Ruittt, amd me used to be a bioycl© rider in the isix-d'ay races in Nerw Ycn^a'. Well, it aipjyeairsi from the notes thaiti he has dropped' that he^ hais had tha-e© brotthea-is Mlled' in the war, aoid 1 to avenge them he had adopted tibe plan of strafing the French, from an aeroplane. He never figjhts other planeis or maikes oibsie'rvations, but just flies over the French lines at a height, varying from 30 to 400 feet, and everything he sees, even one poilu of wagicm or auto he 1 dives at it, banging aiway, "Wiith his madiine gtun. He attacksi sentinel posts-and 1 supply trains an,di once or twice he.has even shot into aviation camps, winning a uniques place a.s n ; dangerou© pilot. You have no idea !of the amount of damagiet he does. ! He- certainly ha® the respect of the Frenchmen here in thi® sector, where he fides almotSff exclusively. He hovers around all day long, and although he has been shot at with machine giuns^, rifle® and aniti-airanaiflt guns, he never tseeimsto be touched. It ceitiaiinly is mysterious, because he otffen comes close enough for us to hit him with a stone. It was he who dropped the warning about' the hospital being bombed, about' which I told you ia my last letter."