Show WAR IN THE AIR i with the earliest earlies distant rumblings gs of war came a dispatch purporting to recount the first battle in the air whether ghather this report now that the worlds news service Is being more and more crippled and mangled will ever bo be confirmed la Is more than doubtful yet there are many giant zeppelins zeppelina Zepp elins and the undaunted courage of the aviators of francos frances hundreds of aeroplanes aero planes can not be doubted hence it can be safely asserted that it if this account is 1 not the truthful history of an actual battle it may well be at least a fairly accurate prophesy ot of a conflict inevitable at ono one time or another airships have been used before in warfare in the balkans in mexico and elsewhere but never until now against each other establishing a new kind ot of warfare in the new york sun we read who the frenchman was who sacrificed his life and machine to destroy the german dirigible could not be learned today it was reported at first that he be was roland garros a well known paris aviator later dispatches from paris stated that garros was sate safe there the first battle of the air occurred at cirey les forges on the french border the french aviator deliberately sacrificed himself the big zeppelin was seen first at alrey les forg es late in the afternoon it had been reconnoiter reconnoitering ing the frontier for some time when a whir of an aeroplane engine was heard and the french machine was seen rising the aviator went up until he was close to the gas ba bag of the big zeppelin then he pointed his machine straight at the german airship air ship the powerful engine drove the aeroplane tero plane into the bagi bag there was an explosion and the two machines crumpled up the force with which the aera aeroplane had struck the airship carried it clear thru the gas bag but as it came out on the other side it was seen that it as well as the airship air nir ship was mortally hurt the zeppelin crumpled up staggered tor for a moment and then dashed straight to the earth almost every one of the twenty five men of the crew were thrown out at the first shock and dashed to death far below the french aeroplane shattered from tiie the encounter went crashing to earth too taking along the body of frances first hero of the war literary digest |