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Show BALLOON IS DREAD OFOBSERVERS Brave Men Often Forced to Leap for Lives in Parachutes. STORY OF "TRIP" TOLD Officer Relates His Experiences Experi-ences in Reaching Ground in "Record" Time. (Correspondence of the Associated Press.) BEHIND THE BRITISH UNES IN FIN'CK, iiarch 10. Leaps for life from Jfniug observation balloons when at- ' tacked by German airplanes were described de-scribed by observers of the British Royal flying corps to an Associated Press correspondent cor-respondent when ho visited one of (heir camps behind the lines a few days ago. These camps usually arc located Just out of range of the howitzer shells, although al-though still well within the range of the German high-velocity, guiis which devoto their time to shelling the back areas. A balloon ascent at the front is never a light undertaking, and on one day recently re-cently when the correspondent visited a station in a fairly inactive part of the line, fill balloons containing twelve men were shot down by German airplanes, all , within sight of one another. One of the German airplanes was downed by antiaircraft anti-aircraft fire from the ground. It was a day when the visibility was put down on the chart as "good," but there were many white clouds in the sky which offered good cover for the German airplanes. ... .... Tells Thrilling Story. One of the twelve officers who were compelled to reach terra firma by the parachute route told the story of his trip. "We were perched at 3600 feet," he said, "and had been up only half an hour when a column of smoke two miles southward attracted our notice. 'There goes number num-ber sixteen,' said my observer, and we brought our glasses to bear on the scene. "Two white flecks floating earthward told us that the two passengers of the balloon had got clear in time. Just then two similar specks appeared suddenly from under another balloon, warning us that the boche was out for a wholesale killing this time. It seemed like a full minute before we saw a thin black streak curl up from this second balloon, and the volume of smoke increased as the balloon sank, with ever-gathering momentum, duwn to earth. Six more white specks now appeared, and, since It was evident thalhe entire line was being attacked, iTTa th order to haul down. S I Ventures Up Again. . ' "At 1000 feet I ordered the winch S-ntopped. -No -more ballons had been at-acked.1 at-acked.1 and although ours was now the uSk one up, I could see British fighting planes ascending- from the aerodromes behind be-hind up to chase away the enemy. So I decided to venture up again. We ascended as-cended to 3000 feet this time, and soon : were at work again. j "Then suddenly something happened. , It happened swiftly, as in a dream. We j didn't even see the German albatross Approaching, but our' ground officer and I liis scouts gave us the alarm Just a sec- 1 ond or two before the hawk was upon us. I heard my observer, at the tele- ! phone, say suddenly. 'What's that? Stand by! Good Heavens!' Then he turned calmly to me and said with a smile, 'Sony, old men, we must get out at once.' He helped me ovpr the side first, and I had a confused notion that somewhere some-where or other, near at hand, a machine gun was banning away briskly. " Balloon Is Destroyed. "I dropped, and heard a 'wumph' as the purachute left Its case. This was the last sensation attempted to analyze, as I fell like a stone for 300 feet. I saw the balloon shoot violently upward, and then my view was blotted out by a large whito umbrella which suddenly appeared iibove my head, and I realized that the parachute had opened. I didn't look down as I felt my body swaying easily in the breeze. The roar above told me that the Albatross had done its work and the balloon bal-loon was afire. You cannot, of course, maneuver a parachute, and there is always al-ways the possibility of the burning balloon bal-loon overtaking you and burning your only means of escape. "But before I reached the ground, 1 saw, far in front, the Albatross crashing to earth, minus a wing. She had been nil hy a cluster of antiaircraft shells. "The next thing 1 knew was that I was lying in the middle of a plowed field, "while a short distance off I saw my observer ob-server coming across toward me." Escape Made Safely. All twelve of the officers of the wrecked balloons escaped safely on this occasion. They are not always so fortunate. At this same station a few days before an Njjjfioer was shot and killed while dropping ;ils parachute. His balloon had been seiXflre by a German airplane, and, as usual; he and his companion took to their parachutes. They had hardly got t'lcar of the balloon when the attacking a'rplane swooped down on them, its ma-.'hints ma-.'hints gun in full plav. One of the officers of-ficers was killed, and although the other wcapecl, his parachute was torn by a Juliet and several of its cord3 were cut. ;ew men have been nearer death and llvi;d to tell the tale. The balloon commander told the story ' an officer who had gone up alone, and whone balloon was shelled when flying at m" feet. On these occasions it is dan-Rrous dan-Rrous to haul down, for the position of 'he winch is thereby given away to the enemy gunners. At last, however, after noud of shrapnel smoke had appeared almost under the basket, and no response uimo down the telephone wire to inquiries in-quiries as to whether everything was all nBJl, the ground officer gave the order " haul down. Ten minutes later the car touched the ground, and the observer Js found lying at the bottom of the bas-J'l. bas-J'l. unconscious but unhurt. Tt was a "j"' case of shell-shock, from which the lug was several months in recover- Two Observers Killed. k.M ffw ''ays ago, at a near-by station, a 'Jioon suddenly caught fire, for no np-, np-, nt reason. The two observers tried bL?pe their parachutes, but the vtr 'fin "00" overtk them, and they thi V Theories as to the cause of ninof r wel'o numerous, but the one hiii' generally accepted was that the "ad been fired hv an electric t,l, ., 0,11 a Uiunder cloud. The fact ball wlre cabl had Partod near the tl ,' 1 was said to give support to this htrh lt wn" ,h Parting: of this cable den 1? '"i Ken"R'ly responsible lor the tninn v observers, because it made Urn, s!lbl the towing of th burning: taal- ' clear of the parachutes. Ul) In ,t,la officers at this station was w., J' ,, 1 10011 a few da5' aK- when lt trilL? ea al,ci tlle cable severed. The Imur ? startetl at twenty-five miles an h.,i Jr the German lines. The officer much time to Ihink. but he -ji all his maps and documents over-Itlii over-Itlii f A""1 Pulled the rip. cord. He and ' I (Vi-m, n" Wl a,'"t 1000 yards from the |