FOUGHT AN AIR DUEL 12,000 FEET UP.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 215, 6 October 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

FOUGHT AN AIR DUEL 12,000 FEET UP.

HOW DE TERLINE -MET Hlb DEATH. Sergeant Charles R , one of the companions of Aviator De Terline, who was killed on July 27 while bringing down Ins third German aeroplane, thus describes the death of the French aviator : "De Terline and three others of us, Lieutenant B , Sergeant D— —, and myself, took the a'r wctli the object o;f stopping -'tho morning reconnai.* sance of a German aeroplane. We met it about fourteen miles from our lines at a height of 12,000 feet. " De Terline and Sergeant D engaged him first, being on about the same level. The German tried to My in spirals and so escape. I was a little a'wve him and dived so as to get below and to his rear. 1 opened fire at thirty yards. "It was then ihe accident oecurre! which deceived De Terline. Sergeant I) , not hav.:ng seen me, came up at full speed on my left. I saw him coming, but it was too late to avoid him. He struck me in the rear, carrying away part of the balancing planes of his own machine. We both plunged down gidd'ly. De Terline, seeing u.*. falling, thought we had been brought down by the enemy, and wished f > avenge us at any price. He swooped upon his adversary at full speed, crashed into him, and fell with lnm to the ground. "As for mo. 1 managed, how I don' 1 know, to stop the engine and the machine-gun, wlvcli was st.ill firing. AH the incidents of my childhood passed before me in a flash as I dropped fro n 12.000 feet to 2000 feet, hanging under the motor and merely held by the strap which attached me to the seat. Then 1 managed to put over the lever, which before had resisted all my efforts, and . the maeihnc righted, eom'iig down slowly within our lines."