FRENCH AIRMEN'S OATH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 732, 23 December 1914, Page 5

FRENCH AIRMEN'S OATH.

SECRET SOCIETY TO RAM ZEPPELINS. THE PRICE—A LIFE. There exists in France a eocret society of airmen aworn to dash into the body of hostile airships and destroy them should their country ever demand the aacrifi :e. This group of heroes comprises some of the most skilled and foremost aeronauts of France. They know that what they propose to do means instant death to themselves, but they also know that the Zeppelin airship is the most dreaded engine of war that Germany can briny against their beloved country. ; Whilo ths German Army and Navy officers toaßted "Dor Tag" in evrry mess, this band of patriots also thought of "the day."' This was the pledge they took : "When 'the day' cornea wo will sacrifice our lives in the destroy- ; ing of the most terrible engines of waf which the Germans possess —the Zeppelin airship." Germany before the wbt had thirtythree of thsee giant airships, not all of them equipped cs elaborately bb tne latest Zeppelins, but capable of dropping bombs. Some of the latest monsters are sail to bo able to carry I;2 tons. A Zeppelin machine costs .£30,000, nrtd requires four months to construct. Then it h«s to bo manned with picked m?n who have been trained over long periods, for these Zeppelin pilots cannot become efficient in the scienficfi manoeuvring of these airships Until after years of continuous practice. . The French patriots who have sworn to dash into the gas envolopea of these monsters of the sky and destroy them will count the cost of a life and a'£looo monoplane well spent in ridding their belove.l France of this aerial danger. Already one case has been reported where an intrepid membor of this secret society has kept his word and gone to his death. It is something to make the nerve? tingle to think of. Thß giant Zeppelin, floating over a city to ruin death upon its people--and a solitary human in a tiny monoplane soaring high above it to swoop down and crash into the mammoth body, mortally wounding it, but at the name time going himself to absolutely certain death. War, as it brings out in some natures all that is bestial and ignoble,