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Show IHOTED AMERICAN AGE UNUSUALLY MODEST Tells of Thrilling Feats as if They Were Commonplace Common-place Occurrences. HAS ENVIABLE RECORD Bay State Aviator Has Many Hun Machines to His Credit. Correspondence of The Associated Press. WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE, . July 20. The story of Lieutenant Lieu-tenant David E. Putnam of Newton, Mass., the leading ace of American aviation, avia-tion, as he tells it, gives the impression that there is nothing extraordinary In the making of a star of the air fleet. Of the big things he has done he tells in so quiet a way that they appear ordinary. ordi-nary. His greatest fight took place on June 5, when he engaged ten Germarm and shot down five of them. A year ago he was feeling his way on a Penguin, the machine that is given to all beginners because it cannot fly off the ground. Now his average ia thre victories a month, having destroyed twenty enemy planes and an observation observa-tion balloon since his debut, December , 20, 1917. Not all of tliese have ben : officially recorded. ! Putnam, shows in the air the samo ar-j ar-j dent aggressiveness that the Germans i have been grieved to observe in our in-: in-: fantry. Like a great many new fliers, ho sailed boldly over the lines far Into the territory occupied by the Germans to I provoke battle. Takes Great Risks. In consequence, a number of his victories vic-tories could not be officially confirmed and the risks were largely increased. Twice he h;is had to plane back over the lines with his motor out of commission commis-sion and his machine shot up. - After seven months' training and tm month's service at the front he foucht his first battle and won it on January 19. Wally Winter of Chicago, flying In the same patrol, said Putnam saved hira during this fight. Putnam now says he was the man who was saved by Winter. Flying in a high wind that bore hlra over into the enemy's territory he sighted two Germans below him making for the i French lines. He dove after them and j got one at 2000 yards height. Then he ; discovered that the other German wu maneuvering above him and that higher up Winter was coming down, followed by two more of the enemy. He took height to meet Winter and the Germans abandoned aban-doned the fight. A curious accident in his second fight January 27, gave Putnam the unpleasant sensation of being at his adversaries mercy. He made such a sharp dive after his man that his machine turned turtle, and all his spare ammunition fell out. i He had fired the last cartridge from his i gun. when the German wobbled and j crashed about two miles inside the Ger- i man linos. Putnam's last shot had done for him. Has Narrow Escape. ; A week later he had another narrow ; escape, when in a fight with four two-seaters, two-seaters, his machine was shot almost to pieces. He just managed to dive under his adversaries and plane back to tho French lines. Putnam began work with the squadron of Lieutenant Madon on a monoplan March 14, and the same day ran into a patrol of fifteen Germans. Knowing h had I lie advantage in speed he decided to make a quick attack, then dive. AH the Germans followed him clown, one of them, at least, in a diz:iy nose spin, making the third success officially credited cred-ited to him. The next day he downed a two-seater in a fight with two; his gun jammed, and he had to dive away from the serond. One of his longest and hardest combats com-bats was on April 11, when he engaged four two-seaters during thirty-five minutes. min-utes. One of them crashed. The afternoon after-noon of the following day he ran Into one of the German "circuses"; there were six in the group, and he got two of them. These made five adversaries shot down between March H and April 12 from a monoplane. Sends Bullet Home. I Engaged at close quarters with a two-seater two-seater on May 10 he got nar enough to see the Genua n gunner fall forward on his quick-firer when he sent a bullet i home. Putnam was brought down himself him-self fnr the first time June 2, hut with- 1 out personal rlnmug':. Ho was one of two fighters p rot pr ting- two reconnolter-ing reconnolter-ing machines, when he sighted eleven Germans. He signalled, but the reconnoltoringr planes continued their course. Two minutes min-utes later the Germans cyme on in two groups, one of five above and on of six below. The reconnoitering plane dove for their lines, and Putnam, for the first time in his career, gave hlmseJf up for lobt. One of the Germans had succeeded In nutting off the recon nut tori ng planes-Putnam planes-Putnam dove n)nl drove him down. Another An-other German dove at the Ferond recon-noiterer recon-noiterer and Putnam followed him. The German "put his nose up." which fat aviation parlance means thnt he made a steep upward turn, and put three bullets bul-lets into Putnam's motor. He got one In return that sent him down In a crashing crash-ing Rlid' on the wing. Meanwhile, t he six machines in the I hicher group were firing, and one of their bullets went through the machino wit hin half an inch of Put nam's foot, Hi motor was now out of commission and he was looking fnr t vo disasters at onre a fall of W0 yards, and the fin;l bullet. An in tb" Germans abandoned aban-doned just us thf y xvtj ; bout lo pet bint, 'tnd hr- mana'd to fall just nofUy enough to break nothing but "wood. " Wins Las' ing Fame. The groat fir,'ht that made Putnam fa mo: in r-'nin-'c v;j l- ovr r the battlu-i battlu-i )fld of KhfiiT.y on J u ne f.. In a half hour's combai h; t-hot down five of an enr-my fqua dvnrt of U:it alba trossos. (t was r-loHC- and difficult work, for t he German;? manr-uvcred skillfully and closed in on him until he could s'-e pilots plainly in their Kats as their machines putted under him. Ho wavd his hand to one of them, and thr-. German returned the sa'ute in tne thick of the fight. Ail Putnam says about it is thru he kept out of range as best he could and watciir d closely every chance to fire. He finally got into a good position and t lis German macHnes began to fall. Five of them crashed befnre the fie.ht was ovr, June 14 Putnam got three out of six Fokkers, and the next nay shot down one of two German observing planes. He was about to put out of this on account of Jammed gun.- when one of his adversaries ad-versaries pulled up at a sharp angle, fired ten shots, turned over and fell 200 yards; then the machine broke in the air and crashed. Since then Putnam has accounted account-ed for an observation balloon, and, on June 30. another enemy plane. |
