LOST IN THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 33, 2 November 1918, Page 9

LOST IN THE AIR

A FORCED LANDING AT THE FRONT; Imagine yourself to be driving' a powerful motor-car on a dark night, in. the middle of an immense stretch of apparently trackless country which you know to be infested by active, and wellarnied brigands. Having driven many miles in a vain endeavour to pick up tho road lending to. your destination, you have completely lost your bearings. Tho car has 110 lights, there are no signboards to show the way, nor anybody to inquire'from. From out of the darkness you are frequently fired at by unseen enemies, who, in order to make sure of your whereabouts, now and then throw it blinding light on you-. There is just sufficient petrol in the car to carry you to your destination, therefore, if you do do not quickly strike the right road you ivill.be stranded and captured by your unseen enemies. This will give you some notion of how I and my observer felt when lost in the nir at night, during our second raid over Hunland. We had bombed our. target and got clear away, but had been so engrossed in our endeavours to escape from "Archie" and tho beams of numerous searchlights that wo hnd flown right out of our course. When things became less lively, and we thought, more about getting back to the aerodrome, We discovered that a ground mist, had suddenly come on, making ground visibility practically hopeless and preventing us from picking up any landmark which would give a. clue to our whereabouts. The only thing open to us was i.o- steer a compass course duo west, trusting that wo should bo able to cross the lines, and pick up an aerodrome before having to descend through lack of petrol. The risk of this was rather great, for wo had been Hying for some hours, and had only a very limited supply of petrol left. As we ilew on through the darkness, overy splutter of tho engine gave cause for alarm; it was not pleasant to think of engine failure, and a forced landing within the enemy's lines. The searchlights, which hero and there cut through the darkness in an endeavour to pick us up, and the "cough" of shells, as ever and iinon they burse near us, emphasised the- hatred of the people below, and their desire for our destruction.

Wo hud now passed out of the mist zone, but the ground ljelow was unfamiliar. Would the petrol hold, out? and should we. strike an aerodrome? By consultiiuc tho watch and makiny a quick calculation, we realised that the petrol could only hold out n few more minutes. We must land and take the consequences while there is still an opportunity of tryinp to pick out a clear spot. By tho aid of a piiracluito iifro, we saw n lar-rn open siiaco underneath, towards which wa glided slowly. As wo nwiral the ground our wiiif-tip flares lit up the vicinity and enabled us to mako a fair lamlin.?.

We were just considering what would be our best plan of action wlirii n French soldier appeared on tho scene. His challt'iigo was brusque enough, buT it was in good French, fliul no t-wech was ever more welcome to me. Wo had landed in a field near a French battery and five miles behind the front line of a French section. In ten minutes wo were drinkin? petit blou ("pinnrd," I think they call it), and eating nice white broad anil cheese.