Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25, 1918. THE AIR SERVICE.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 September 1918, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25, 1918. THE AIR SERVICE.

Tub aerial service of the Allies is going to play iv most important part iu finishing the war quickly. What is reported from. Palestine shows the effectiveness of its .use. From the west front comes news recording feats no less intrepid. Already the air services have produced a typo of their own, which differs as much from their bretliern in other services as docs the racehorse from the cavalry charger and the stout- but deserving draught horse. Each for his own job. The airman is young because bis work is work for unimpaired nerves; lio must be nervous and highly strung without being nervy. He often dies young because of the risks of his seivicc. The bullet which on earth would mean a trifling injury may send him hurtling through space to his death. The traditions of the air services arc already immortal, and none has .handed on the torch more brilliantly than Captain Ball, V.C., D. 5.0., whoso brief biography has been written by Mr W. A. Briscoe and Mr H. R. Stannnrd. Captain Ball was one of t-husc gallant boys to whom war brought a crowded, glorious life. Ho was 18 when the war broke out. He enlisted 'at once in an infantry regiment,- and rose to the rank of sergeant. He had himself transferred to a cyclists’ corps, in the hope of getting sooner to the front, and then, almost accidentally, joined a flying school. Ho had always been something of a mechanician, but at first bis teachers did not find him a very exceptional pupil. He was of tile right temperament, build, height, and age for a flyer, but lie gave little promise of the knack that was soon to make him the foremost fighting flier of Britain. This was the faculty that can only be compared with the “hands’ of a first-class horse-master. Ball soon displayed a delicate touch, an ability to get the most out of machines an instillet for flying that wore quickly to make his name famous nil over the world. He went to France when the Allied air services were having rather a hard row to hoe. They were doing excellent work in reconnaissance and observation, but they had no fighting machine which was able to protect the scouts from the lightning swoops of the Fokkers. Bali served his apprenticeship in the more “pedestrian” tasks of the airman, and then became a hawk before whom the formidable Fokkers fled like pigeons. He engaged in a hundred and fifty pitched battles in the upper air; the full number ->f bis quarries brought to earth is not known. “His record includes 41 absolutely certain successes, 10 moral certainties, and a large number of probabilities.” The value of his work is not to he measured by his kills. The British aerial offensive in which ho played so distinguished a part made possible the advances on the Somme and in Northern Flanders ; he and his colleagues could be relied on to keep the sky clear of German observers. Oaptain Ball’s technique seems-to have been an extraordinary combination of daring and prudence-. One is reminded of Chesterfield’s advice to his soil to take a great deal of care in dressing, but afterwards to forget that lie was dressed. Ball would spend hours in correcting any tiny faults in his machine, but when lie was flying he w* uld forgot eatastrophical weaknesses. He was a master of his art; ho would engage half a dozen enemy craft- singlehanded, and out-manoenvre them with lethal effort; the survivors would scurry home. Ho remained a simple, kindly boy. He was given the opportunity to stay in England to train budding airmen, but he thought it hi.s duty tl return to bis post. His letters from the front, of which many are printed always reveal the clean, chivalrous warrior, who honours a foe who fights cleanly. Captain Ball was no fire-eat-er. even though lie received a dozen military decorations. In the intervals of killing Germans he cultivated his little garden, and his letters to his home are ns much concerned with the progress of his sweet pea.s and turnips as with his aerial victories. He was at. last killed in a battle in which lie alono had_ towards the end to fight. Riehtofen, the German “nep,” supported bv a squadrilla. The. Germans, to their. credit ho it. said, went to some pains to bury him with full military honours and to notify the British of his fate. Ball, is a typo of many of hie follow-countrymen no less intrepid aud daring in their efforts to play a most gallant part, in the endeavour to end the war victoriously. When we better understand the effectiveness of the aerial service in warfare we shall comprehend more sensibly what we owe to this new arm of the nation’s defence. To their sacrifice we shall owe a tremendous debt for the unerring work performed so fearlessly and un-

Eeinshiy That the nation may live. To their glorious service be all the honour for tip. noble deeds performed.