TUG-OF-WAR FOR AN AEROPLANE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 173, 12 May 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

TUG-OF-WAR FOR AN AEROPLANE.

BRITISH INGENUITY BEATS THE GERMANS. A private of a famous infantry battalion which has been on the -western front since the beginning of the war tells the following remarkable story of a tug-of-war for an aeroplaiae, says the Madras "Mail" : A British aeroplane, owing to engine fault, was forced to descend midway between the British and German tranches, but the aviator, though slightly wounded, contrived to wriggle into safety At nightfall British soldiers erept out and fastened a rope to the aeroplane, and later began to haul it

To their surprise they found the Bodies had been at the same game, so that a veritable tug-of-war ensued, and ended in si stalemate. For days the aeroplane lav out in Xo Man s Land, securely moored to both trenches, neither'side being able to movo it. One night, under cover of darkness, an officer, with two or three men, crawled to the machine and unfastened the rope attached bv the Germans, which thov retired to a stake firmly driven in the' ground. At daybreak the tug-ot-war "began again, and this time the aeroplane was pulled into the British advanced trench. Tn their wrath and astonishment, the Huns forgot their usual caution, and popped their head, out of their trendies. A dozen of them fell victims to the British snipers, win had been waiting their opportunity.