RAMMED IN MID-AIR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2890, 30 September 1916, Page 11

RAMMED IN MID-AIR

THRILLING EXPLOIT BY AIRMEN HUN SKY-HAWK'S FIGHT (W. L. M'Alpin, 111 the "Daily Mail.") The records of aerial self-sacrifice furnish no more stirring narrative than the story of. how Sergeant Maquart de Terline gave up his life rather than allow his enemy to escape from him. At 4 o'clock one. morning in August last the sentinels in the trc-iiches saw a German Albatross traverse tho French lines at a great height, flying in the direction of Chalons. The enemy airman's presence was immediately telephoned to that base, and- some miles from the. town the audacious pilot, a-red-haired giant, nicknamed "Arminius" by' the French poilus, met with such a warm reception from the antiaircraft artillery that he and his companion turned and made off. .111! the interval the alarm had been given in the adjoining camp, where the chasers are always ready to give battle to enemy pilots. A few minutes later three French airmen were mounting rapidly through the morning mist, impatient to get at closo quarters with the invader.. The German had the start,' and if the Frenchmen wore to prevent him from getting bad; to 'his lines only ten miles a-way they must not lose a second. In ten minutes.it would be all- over. At a height, of from 1000 to 1200 feet the breakneck race began, the Albatross speeding for home, and tlie three Frenchmen, one behind and ono on each flank, hotly pursuing, 'file Nieuport chasers had the advantage of superior speed, and everv moment they were overhauling "Arminius." Soon they were near enough to open fire, and while they cleft tho air at 75 miles an hour their machine-guns opened on the fleeing Albatross. Tragedy in Mid-Air. But the German kept on. Safety for him lay in flight. So far ho had not been hit. Thousands of men in tlie trenches and camps strained their eyes and -watched tho evolutions of the fight. Rising, falling, veering, swaying from side to side,' the four airmen jockeyed for position, their machineguns siring all the while, until one .wondered why the aeroplanes did not crash into one another and como tumbling to earth. By a miracle "Arminius" was still alive, and while ho forced along the Albatross at an amazing speed i)is comrade served tho ma-chine-gun, turning it to right and left upon his pursuers. The distance was gradually lessening. In a few seconds they would be over the German trenches and then tho fight would bo finished. Ammunition'.was running' low. ' A moment later the chasers, having spent the last cartridge in the band, with one consent took a' supreme resolution. Rather than waste time for' recharging and allow tho enemy to cscapo they would close in on him, and go down to 1 death together. "Arminius,'' grasping their intention, begah to despond. The^French-

men did the same, drawing swiftly nearer. Those below gazed motionless at the . tragedy going 011 (iOOft. above them. Suddenly two ( of the French pilots, in their eagerness to overtake the flying enemy, swerved too close to one another. There was a violent shock, a sinister cracking and tearing, , and the . spectators saw the two broken N iouports turn over and over and fail to the ground. Later it was learned that their pilots had suffered only slight injuries. The Death-Lock. Uut Sergeant do Torline and "Arminius" were loft to fight it out. At thatmoment the 'Frenchman's comrades, watching the combat in tho air through their glasses, remembered his words of the "lay before, "If in a fight with a .Bridie 1 my machine-gun should inm f would ram him." Fear chilled their 1 hearts. Would be do it? They were, not left long ,in doubt.. In another second, while the German officer was spurting bullets at him twenty yards away, the Frenchman bore down upon Ill's adversarv nnrl out him almost in half. Locked together, the two machines dropped headlong. A moment later thoy.' separaied, and those who witnessed the final act of the drama state that as Iho crippled aeroplanes fell to earth a hundred yards apart in the French linos. they saw the figures of "Arminius" and his enemy still upright among the shapeless debris. De Torline was twenty-four years nf age and obtained his pilot's certificate barely a year ago. He had the reputation of beim one of tho best and bravest airmen in Franco.