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Show IEI1I1T01S SffiEHB Ensign Benjamin Lee Tells of Furnishing Aid to Disabled Seaplane. FOUR MEN RESCUED Operation Is Delicate One, but Is Easily Performed by U. S. Flyers. AN AJIEBICAN AVIATION BASE SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND, July 1. (Correspondence of the Associated Press.) The feat of two American aviators in rescuing the crew of a British Brit-ish seaplane which had been forced to land on the surface of the North sea after an encounter with a group of German Ger-man airplanes, received mention this week in a British comunique. The official offi-cial statement, however, said only: "In one case a stray bullet shot away a control and the British machine was forced to alight. The crew were subsequently sub-sequently rescued by another British seaplane, which had been sent to search for them." The rescuing niachine was manned by Ensigns Benjamin Lee and J. J. Schieffelin of tne American naval aviation avia-tion service. Account Is Given. Ensign Lee gave the Associated Press the following account of the flight: "Our commanding officer and two men left the station at 3:30 in the morning on a flight toward the Dutch coast. Shortly after sunrise they saw on the horizon five spots which rapidly assumed the outlines of German seaplanes. sea-planes. "Five to one is lfhrdly a fight, so the commanding officer, after a first diving charge through the enemy's formation, shoved down the nose of his plane and headed homeward. His two men fired sharply from the after guns, forcing the German scouts to keep their distance. "They were getting away all right, even leading tho enemy into dangerous territory, when suddenly a chance shot from one of the Germans took awav a control and the flying boat crashed nose down. The three men fought clear of the wreckage and got hold of a floating float-ing spar, while the Germans, realizing that they were in dangerous eouutry, scooted away homeward. Delicate Operation. "It was four hours later, when the patrol was long overdue, that we were sent out to search fwr them. We searched the horizon as we speeded along eastward, covering, at the visibility, visi-bility, a band about twenty miles wide. Finally one of us picked up a black speck which soon grew into a piece of I wreckage with three men on it. "Dropping our bombs at a safe distance, dis-tance, we throttled down our motors and landed near the crashed seaplane. It was a delicate operation, but we managed man-aged to taxi over to the wreckage and pick off the three men, meanwhile sending send-ing back the good news by wireless. "The only comment the commanding officer had to make on his experience, was: 'What's a clucking? Just a bit of experience.' " |