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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0045.PDF
JANUARY IO, 1918. OF WAR CAMP. Those who may imagine that we are introducing below a new section to FLIGHT, we hope will not be grievously disappointedwhen they learn that the matter which follows is the reproduction in facsimile of the front page of No. 2 of a new publication in spite of Dora—" The Barb," issued at Trier, one of the German officer prisoner of war camps, io which reference in the pasthas already been made. This little publication has been sent us, as may be noticed, by the publisher, Flight-Lieutenant J. B. Daniell, R.N.A.S., and as it is so brimful of cheerfulness, and little points, all helping to convey to those at home an idea of the life our absentheroes are experiencing, we offer no apology for re-printing on this and the following pages the entire little four-page " House " journal. Some items of" news " will be noticed, notably an item relating to an attempt at escape by, and its consequences to, CaptainLeefe Robinson, V.C. We offer our hearty congratulations to every one concerned with " The Barb," and welcome the evidence which it affords of the irrepressible spirits and vitality of those in durance vile. As the German authorities permit the little paper to besent out of the country, we may hope to " repeat the dose," should other copies reach us. THE BARB J. B. Danlcll, Publisher - L, A. Smith, Bus. Mgr- — Vol.1, No. 2. •i* Trie:", November 24th- 19t7, Price t Mark. THE REASON WHY. VC'itl! apologies to ElcwiQj Oivmi for Perx'crtmg to This Use the Name of her "Tres Moutard" i^ovel... Why Those Who Moved in the Heavens Above are Among Thost Present. If The Barb ran to a Society reporter, and she were assigned to bring in a des- cription of one of our "soirees" she would doubtkss state that "among those present"' were "a" considerable number of officers from the Allies air forces." Undoubtedly she would end up with the usual sicro- typed statement that "an enjoyable time was had by all." It is an undeniable fact that in the continuous operations of our aeroplanes over enemy territory, numbers of our pi- lots ate "brought down'* by anti-aircraft fire, air fighjingor engine failure — although th«i latter cause is fortunately most rare — and arc helu prisoners in Ocrwsny. Tims, naturally, a good d«l of flying talk is heard in these camps, and one will often find, in the cool of the eve- ning, a pilot or two throwing a few dif- ficult "stunts" around the stove, for the benefit of the unsopnisticaed, Naturally also "how 1 came down" is offered fre- quently to the tolerant, and after listening to a great number of these yarns (of which the writer can contribute his own) a composite would figure out about like this: "It was the early morning stunt, just before we left the ground the Flight-Com- mander said to me, Bill, (he always cal- led me Bill, the Flight-Commander did, •— he was a top hole chap) Some of these new fellows are a little wild and gun-shy yet, so 1 rely largely on you Bill. (Of course I'd been at the front for some time, this was my third week.) "You know me, George", 1 said. (1 always called the Flight - Commander George.) That was all.— Oh! we knew each other, George and I," «[t was just dawn when we left the ground. We climbed directly into the sun, keeping fairly good formation. We crossed the lines at about 16,000 feet. The Visibility, was fairly good up top side and some low clouds kept the Ar- chies from bothering us much. The usual smoke signals went up on the enemy side when <ve crossed the lines, and 1 kept a sharp Joofe out for enemy machi- THE PUBLISHERS BEG TO ANNOUNCE THAT PERMIS- SION HAS BEEN OBTAINED TO SEND "THE BARB" TO FRIENDS OR RELATIVES. ties. We continued to climb until my attemeter showed 23,000 feet. Our squa- dron always climbed high in the early morning so that t!i« chances of meeting an enemy flight abme us in the sun were less. The F)«ght-G>ramander just ahead stalled his machine and stoppend his prop. This was his signal to me to do the same and come up alongside hire and have a chat, 1 did so, and gliding easily wingtip to wing-tip we carried on. George was a top-hole pilot and 1, — well I'm pretty handy in a tnachine if 1 do say it myself, George made a gesture downward with Tik hand and following it I espied, about 6000 feet below Its, the sun flashing up >n the bright-colored machines of the Baron's famous "Circus". "The Circus," yelled George to me. 'The Circus it is," 1 screamed back. "Whadeyer think Bill! Shall we have at 'em." "There were more than our number of enemy machines down there and the stoutest pilots in the German Air Service, but it was rather up to me and so 1 simply yelled back. "You know me George." George nodded to acknowledge my terse statement We dived to get our 'props.,' and watted for the formation to come op. They always feltijack when George wanted to talk things over with me George's gun opened up forabout lOrounds and the flight followed suit All the Vicars were working well." "Down we went in a 45 degree dive, manoevering to get ahead of the Circus and between them and the sun. The low clouds had blown away and the Archie batteries opened up on us when wt had got to about 10,000,feet. They were bursting all around us but 1 paid no attention as my eyes were glued upon the enemy machines which were now about 2000 feet below us. Suddenly something hit the tail of my machine a terrific blow to the accompaniment of a noise like the crack-of-doom, and i knew by the jerk on my rudder bar that my tail was hit Glancing swiftly back 1 saw that Archie had carried away about haH of my tail plane. The niachine was out of control for a second or two but I managed to keep formation and regain control. Tile enemy machines stalled up at us tiring their double guns full belt My machine was hit in many places but 1 just had an Albatross on my sights arc! was pul- ling the old plug and pouring lead into him. He went down in an lmmelmann, all arsey-tareey and after side looping to avoid becoming the target of another machine I stalled, spun, rolled and clim- bed to dodge two others, After exchan- ging several bursts with these machines, they pushed off as our flight was re- forming. Just as I was going to rejoin old George my engine suddenly conked completely out. I tried all the tricks but nothing was any good and as we were far behind the enemy lines I just had to spin down to the ground where 1 immediately set the old bus on fira after counting no less than 641 bullet holes in her and the damage done by Archie. And that's (he reason I'M HERE." "Lights out1' yelled someone and wa- king up his audience, whose blue uniform had given promise of a more attentive hearing, the pilot moved off to bed mut- tering to himself. THE HISTORY OF THE RUii*r£ We Don't Think.... Hitherto Unpubli- shed Chronological Story of The Ruins Srid Who Ruined 'Km. Ob- tained from Data Found in a Papyrus Discovered in Gizzard of ft Canteen Chicken, Swallowed Thousands of Years ago. The legions from Britain had returned to Rome, for Caesar was getting the lads of the village together to repel Attilla and his gang of long-whiskered strongr<trm-men who were sweeping towaids the great peninsula. A policy of retrenchment in Gaul had also been "railroaded" through the Roman Senate by the "don't wait and see" poli- ticians of the period. The Foreign Secre- tary was worried stiff, for the "situation was serious" and unless he frameil-up an expedient Foreign Policy without any monkey-business or loss of time, his im- minent prospects were "grave". (If 'tic underfed animals of the amphitheatre left anything to put in it. Ed.)
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