RAMMING AN AEROPLANE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 219, 20 October 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

RAMMING AN AEROPLANE.

FRENCH FLIER'S SUPERB BRAVERY. A long official statement giving details of tht) heroic sacrifice of Quartermaster do Terline, who rammed a German aeroplane, says that at 4 a.m. on Thursday, July 27, an Alabatross was seen flying in the direction f Chalons. The French guns opened fire on it, and the Albatross turned tail. Then three French aviators set out in pursuit with the determination of bringing the Albitioss down. In sp'te of the German aviator's desperate speed. th'e Frenchmen succeeded in forming a ring roinu him. The mitrailleuses spat fire, and al! the poilus looked on at the spectacie with anxious eyes .But the French aviators' bullets did not hit the Albatross, which was now drawing near the German linjs. Their ammunition beginning to run out, the thive Frenchmen then decided to close in on the Albatross. The enemy having escaped the fire o r De Terlin/s machine-gun, which had jammed, the French quartermaster, act ng on the resolution ho had expressed the previous evening, suddenly rushed full speed at the adversary, and, striking the Albatross full tilt, both crashed to the ground together in the French t'nes. the poilus rushing to the spot and reverently uneovprini. Tlf.> French official report stated that the French pilot and the two German i men were killed. Quartermaster de Terline l ad alrcntfv brought down two i i:oin v* machines and had just received the Military Medal. !.'ljr-rtv will Win.