Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-04-28 | Page 33 | Thrilling Battle in the Destroyed by Big British Machine

TILLING BATTLE IN THE I DESCRIBED German Airplane Rammed and Destroyed by Big British Machine. FIFE CONTROL SHOWN Briton Takes Desperate Chance and Is the Victor Against Great Odds, BEHIND THE BRITISH LINES IN FRANCE, April 10. (Correspondence of The Associated Press.) A British machine ma-chine rammed a German airplane in an aerial battle a few days ago. The British Brit-ish machine afterwards made a successful success-ful landing, but the German machine was demolished. The whole incident, as described to The Associated Press, shows the necessity for an airman to develop an almost supernatural super-natural ability to deal with unexpected situations. It is generally believed that one of the chief reasons for the present German inferiority in the air is that the average German pilot is incapable of adjusting ad-justing his mental balance as quicKly as the young British pilot, in performing or anticipating the unexpected. In this particular contest, the German airman got his gun to bear at porht-blank range on the British pilot in mid-air, the Britisher's gun being temporarily out of action, owing to a jam. Good Gunnery Counts. The British machine was one of a squadron engaged in a long-distance reconnaissance behind the German lines. They had been heavily attacked by a German patrol, but by splendid gunnery and superb markmanship had driven off the Germans after downing four of them. It was while .pursuing one of the fleeing flee-ing German machines that the pilot's gun jammed, and he was forced to break off his pursuit and climb up to the shelter of his squadron until his gun could be got into action again. Before he could regain his altitude, the German dived down on him. The enemy plane came out of the heart of the sun straight at him, so that he did not see the approach of his antagonist until the latter's bullets bul-lets came whizzing through his wings. Glancing up, he saw his enemy only a few yards away. It was impossible for the British pilot to dive or sidestep. The German would simply have followed him down and continued con-tinued to pump in bullets at point-blank range. Neither could he remain on his course or a German bullet would surely reach him. Takes Only Chance. In a flash he summed up the situation, saw the only chance open to him, and snatched at it instantly. Drawing back his control lever, he sent his machine shooting upward to meet the oncoming German. Before the latter realized what was happening, the two airplanes were in collision. But the British pilot had so judged things more by luck than good management, manage-ment, he afterwards declared that his undercarriage crashed into the enemy's upper plane, tearing it clear of the main structure. Both machines turned turtle as a result of the tremendous impact, and nose-dived eastward, a dive from which the German never recovered. He went crashing completely com-pletely out of control. The British pilot flattened out his machine, after falling 500 feejt, and was able to rejoin his squadron, minus his undercarriage,, but with his machine otherwise almost undamaged. Makes Safe Landing. But he had yet to land his machine in safety, and landing an airplane without with-out an undercarriage is no easy task. His comrades all got down before him and gathered in a silent group at one corner of the aerodrome to watch him come down. His commander was so certain cer-tain that disaster impended, that he ordered or-dered an ambulance to be got ready. But the pilot confounded all their fears, and thereby added greatly to his professional pro-fessional reputation. He stalled his airplane air-plane when only a few feet from the ground that Is, he pointed its nose upward up-ward until the forward speed was nearly off the engine. Slowly, the tail sank downward. The rear skid touched earth and dragged along the surface for a few yards. Then the airplane fell forward and stopped with a jerk. Hardly a fastening was strained, and the pilot coolly stepped down on the turf to receive the congratulations of his comrades.