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Show How the Sky Pilots of War Dodge the Anti-Aircraft Guns A PILOT flying over the lines uses all sorts of tricks to deceive the watchers watch-ers below. Under normal circumstances they can tell his height to a few feet, and will show you, too, that they know it by the way they send up the bursts of 'Archie" (anti-aircraft gun). Indeed, no matter whether you cross the lines one day at S000 feet and another at 10,000 feet and auuther at 14,000 feet, so sure as you get within , range there are the six slowly widening rings of smoke at your level a few feet ahead or behind or all around you. Kun "Archies" are terera-liy grouped in sixes; and though their chief object Is barrage and annoyance, an-noyance, men have been brought down by "slghters" and by direct hits at 15,-000 15,-000 feet from one of those fatal sixes. The "Archie" gunner judges height by measuring the apparent size of the machine's ma-chine's wings as it flies above. He knows every machine at a glance at 10,000 yards distance and farther. He g2ts plenty of practice. He knows the measurements of every machine and its speed acd can allow for it. The Hun "Archie" gunner has reason to bo peculiarly pe-culiarly efficient he gets so much practice. prac-tice. To know how to upset all the fine calculations cal-culations is the whole art of eluding "Archie." One way is to alter the apparent size of your wings or to change your speed or vary your height, and dodge hither and thither, no matter how many other things you may have to do at the same time. You can alter your apparent size by flying "one wing down" and so giving a shorter view of your machine. You can "switchback" up and clown a couple of hundred feet at a time and so vary your tpeed, too. You can paint in advance ad-vance a dark band beneath the tips of your wings and hope for the best. Or you can suddenly "stall" your mtichine that is, hold It ,up and throttle the engine down for a few moments, open ing out again before you start to fall. This will make Die next few shots go well ahead. Then you can side-slip a little not too much, or you will be losing los-ing valuable height. A pilot one day who underwent the horrible experience of being hemmed in by "Archies" 'almost exhausted every trick before he got away. He was flying fly-ing along when suddenly the fatal burets appeared just ahead. This wan only normal. He aide-slipped a little and "carried on." But immediately there were tho bursts just ahead again and a little closer. He had hardly turned off again when there thoy were, a fresh lot. Just behind his tall, sending him bumping and diving all over the place. They had got his range to a hair. He "stalled" and turned ofT at right angles to the loft and there were the bursts all round him again and the sharp sting of a wound in his cheek. Things were gnUIng bad. He doubled round quickly and made a sudden dive and there were the bursts all around him once more. He "stalled, " put one wing down and side-slipped down 300 foet. Scarcely bad he "fluttened out" again when one more group burst round him. All the tiine blood was pouring down his f;ice. As a last resort he "played hit." He put the other wing right down and sidf-sllpped sheer 800 feet. This he turned into a "spinning nose dive" and came out 3000 feet lower. Then he flattened out and dived for our linos. For those few moments "Archie" wan fooled. IMrectly a ft er ward they were at him aealn. But ho was out of range and got eway. fc "Archie" Is "the very devil" whero the gun n era get plenty of practical 1 |