BETTER THAN BOELKE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 238, 29 December 1916, Page 7 (Supplement)

BETTER THAN BOELKE.

BOY AIR KING

AUSTRALIAN'S STORY

THOSE WONDERFUL TANKS

According to Lieutenant Buntine, the young Australian airman, who passed through Fremantle on the Kaiser-i-Hind, the Germans have effected remarkable improvements in their anti-aircraft guns. "At one time," he said, "we had supreme contempt for them, but treat them with more respect now. On one occasion, while under fire by a battery of six guns, the shells exploded round me in a circle. The beggars then commenced firing inside the circle, and for a time they had me thinking hard. It is no joke when high-explosives are bursting near one's machine. Sometimes they turn the machine upside down. It is not very difficult to right matters, but the guns sort of give one an uncomfortable feeling.

"The German aviators never conic over the British lines now. You have to travel well over their territory before you can get at an opponent. Then they accept battle only when compelled to. I suppose I am right in saying that during the past six months no aerial fighting has taken place over the British lines, and on an average about fifteen machines, British and German are brought down every dav

"While the deeds of the German and French aviators are faithfully recorded in the Press in their own countries, practically nothing is published in the nnglish Press concerning the doings of u:e British aviator." Lieutenant Buntine has a number of enemy machines to his credit, but, being extremely modest, refuses to say how many. One of his particular aviator chums, Captain Ball, has brought down over 30 machines. Ball is not 20 years ol age, and Buntine describes him as the most daring aviator on all fronts. On one occasion he attacked singlehanded seven German machines. He brought down one, and then, running short of ammunition, returned to the British lines. He was soon on the wing again, and returned to the conflict. He finally succeeded in bringing down two more machines.

STORIES OF THE TANKS. When H.M.L. Damm was lumbering up and down High Street, Flers, recently, after striking terror into the hearts of the Geramns, he was followed by a cheering crowd of New Zealanders. One of them, Sergeant Warburton, writing in the Weekly Despatch, gives a quaint and interesting description of the incident. Warburton noticed one of the tank men laughing hilariously, and inquired the reason. He was told that the Gennas, puzzled to know what to do with it, had sent out a bombing party of 20 with a load of hand-bombs. The solemn Germans had slyly approached the tank, but an intimate acquaintance no more satisfied them than an acquaintance at a distance. They were frankly in a dilemma.

"A man who was inside the tank told Warburton, and through the peepholes we hugely enjoyed, not only the expression on their faces, but their feelings as we imagined them to be. It was too good fun to disturb them, so we left them alone. After a while they came quite close to the tank. Greatly daring then, two or three crouched down to see if they could get underneath. Another party of three investigated the sides, and the remainder tried to climb on top, but wherever they climbed or looked the prospect was disappointing. They did not seem to find any opening for the use of their bombs. Finally, in great perplexity, thev held a meeting in front of the tank. It wa.s a verv unwise spot to choose, because a neat little gun was covering them. One of us could understand every word they said. What the meeting* would have decided we don't know, for while tliey were jabbering and gesticulating we turned the gun on, and. as they .say in the newspapers, the meeting broke up in disorder. It was a great joke, and the laughter inside the tank would have done you good to hear." COME INTO MY PARLOUR.

The narrator then went on to tell ot what he called "The Come Into My Tailor Stunt." H.M.L. Damm ran into a crowd of frightened Huns, who showed a strange aversion to his presence. While they *tood routed to the ground hi terror we opened one little door in the tank and one of our chaps jumped out, got hold of a Hun by the scruff of the neck, and dragged iiim towards (he tank. Others gripped him by the lunic. and in the twinkling of an eye had him inside. To keep him company we trapped a brother ITiiii the same wav. lie squealed all the time like .1 stuck pig.

"We had been fighting Bavarian-! and Saxons," explained Warburton. "when one day, to mv astonishment, T saw a procession of fully 250 Bavarians following behind a tank as if hypnotised. I couldn't imagine what had come over them to be acting in this fashion. < 'ither their curiosity had overcome their discretion, or they had gone .stark staring mad. They kept pace with the tank in a wonderful fashion. What a procession it was. When they got near enough to us we saw what had happened. They had been hypnotised right enough, and the particular influence came from an ugly-looking din in th<! rear of the tank."