SAVED BY WAVING HANDS
THRILLING AERIAL DUEL BOMB V. BULLET One of tlio best performances of our military aviators, not reported officially, came my way recently,, writes C. G. Grey, editor of the "Aeroplane," in the "Daily Moil," and although ono may not give the name of the officer concerned, knowing the particular officer to whom the performance is attributed,' ono feels more than inclined to believe it. It appears that during the retreat to the Marne this officer, who is a squadron-commander in tho Royal Flying Corps, went off on a long reconnaissance with a passenger. During their absence the British troops had withdrawn from, the stretch of country I from which he had started, and the I ground had been occupied by the Germans. Our Dar/ng Ruse. ' On returning he descended into a field which he knew afforded good landing surface, and as'the machine was running along the grass, much to his surprise he saw a couple of mounted German officers galloping towards him,' while infantry, who had been hidden from view by some trees, came running out behind the officer's. Fortunately the 2>roi>eller of the aeroplane had not' ceased revolving, so, opening the throttle, the pilot set the engine going again at top speed, and, without rising quickly from the ground, flew along quite close to „tho German officers, waving his disengaged* hand amicably as he did 60. His passenger quickly grasped the situation and followed the pilot's example.- In this way the machine flew right along the front of the German troops at a height of only some ten, or .twelve' feet from the grcund, the aviators being cheered by. the Germans, who ; thought'they were two of their own air 'scouts. Turning at the point where this particular detachment of Germane appeared to cease, the pilot'ilew back agaimaoross their front, rising a. little higher, in this way, of course, increasing theirconfidence in his amicability. Then, instead of flying right away from them, and thus possibly; arousing their suspicions, he proceeded to circle round them, gradually rising higher and higher, till at $ height of some five or six thousand feet he headed the machine to the south, and 'his observer, was not only able to hand in the reportof the reconnaissance on which they originally 6et out, but was also able to give useful information about the advanced detachment of Gorman troops with which they had, for the time being, made friends at a respectful distance.
. ■■■' Hidden Badge. The pilot showed his cleverness in continuing to circle over the troops who had already been; so succesfully taken in, for lie was assured of being able to reach it proper height for crosscountry Hying without being fired at, whereas if he. had gone straight away without returning over, the same ground, he would very probably, have encountered other German troops, or possibly French or British. troops >who might have lired at him while at .a height of only'one or two thousand feet. ( ' '.. • _ _ ■Of"course, under the conditions of these latter days, the aeroplanes of the .various combatant Powers are marked ]by bin;, badges painted on their wings, so that they can be identified at considerable heights, the British carrying a Union Jack in a shield shape, the French a tri-colour disc, and the Germans a black. Maltese cross on a grey .ground. Therefore, olio "assumes that this particular .incident took place before all our machines had been so marked, or else that the-pilot intentionally flew in such a position that the Germans only got a'view of the top side of tho wings. ' Tho story of another adventure of one of our aviators reached me recently. This, however, did "not end ! so happily, though it illustrates the pluck and skill of our Hying officers. This particular pilot started off alone with f jthe intention of dropping bombs on one of the captive balloons which are largely used by .the Germans for observation, purposes. As he was out on this particular mission, and wished to carry as many bombs as possible, he, left his usual firearm behind. On approaching the German lines he was met by a German aeroplane, which he naturally decided to destroy before he wont after the balloon.
, Unconscious in the Air. As the German: machine, like his own, was a- "tractor," that'is to say, was drawn by a, 'tractor screw, in front, instead of being; pushed by a "propeller" behind, he manoeuvred so as to "approach it from the'front, so that the passenger on the German machine could' not fire at him without the'risk of blowing his own screw to pieces. This manoeuvre succeeded well enough tho first time, -but unfortunately the' bomb missed its mark. _ Turing quickly, he tried to get into tho safe position again, but before no could do so a bullet from the German passenger's rifle hit hint in the hip and carried some French coins which'were in his trousers pocket into his body. This occurred at aheight of. about 600U feet, and knowing he could not hold on very long he shut off his engine and started to glide down towards the British lines. In doing so he caught sight of a' field in'w'hich there were, some aeroplanes, and though, of course, ho could liot make, sure whether they were British, " or Germans, he decided to land there. Fortunately, for him, the machines turned out to be British. So far as one ■' can gather • .through those who received him on his arrival, he must have been practically unconscious for tho last 100 feet of the glide. Despite, this, in some curious subconscious way, he managed to make a perfect landing without breaking anything about the machine, and was promptly and properly attended to- '.-.'.' , Unfortunately, the Gorman' machine got away unharmed on that particular occasion, and the pilot may reckon that ho-and his passenger have gono part of the way to wiping off a score, for this particular British officer had previously .displayed great skill as a bomb-dropper,' having successfully destroyed a transport column of ammunition, and haying stampeded several camps. '■•;, - ■
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Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2346, 31 December 1914, Page 6
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1,008SAVED BY WAVING HANDS Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2346, 31 December 1914, Page 6
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