Air Stories, April 1936 — page 28: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AIR STORIES along the line, before he climbed through the clouds. With a strong north wind behind him, he intended to rush the balloons from north to south, forcing each one down in the shortest possible time, and trusting to his tremendous ground speed to invalidate the accuracy of fire from the ground. There were five balloons on the strip of ground allotted to them, each one wagging its head solemnly into the wind at a height of four thousand feet. It seemed almost as though an attack had been expected, for over the line itself, while still above the clouds, the four machines were subjected to very searching Archie fire. Fories flew straight on, utterly ignoring the black puffs that stained the white floor of mist. On previous occasions Archie had never caused Warton any anxiety, but now he found himself jumping at every burst, and even ducking his head whenever a crack louder than the others accompanied the appearance of a ball of smoke close to his machine. He pulled himself together with an effort, and remembered that he had not been sleeping well recently. Also he resolved that, before going over the lines next time, he would drink a strong whisky and soda. By the time the patrol had reached the balloon line, the sky behind them was black and pimpled by the lingering smoke, and every second brought an explosion closer to one or other of the machines. Warton was suffering from an agony of fear; his knees trembled, and he whimpered like a frightened child at every sound. HE sight of the first balloon, fat and tantalising, restored a certain measure of his old enthusiasm. He was glad when Fories shut off his engine and fell away in a vertical side-slip to get within diving distance of the gas- bag. He followed suit, then took careful aim and poured round after round at the paunch-like envelope. His fire had not the slightest effect, but the balloon began slowly to descend. Looking down, he saw a crowd of men running about in a field directing what looked like a large trolley, which moved slowly along its rails, hauling down the balloon as it went. The ground in the vicinity of the trolley sparkled with gun-flashes. Excited beyond the common, Warton failed to notice that his companions were no longer about him, but were engaging a balloon over a mile away. He followed the sinking balloon down, repeatedly diving to within a few yards, then turning so as to bring Lastor’s gun to bear upon it. The two balloonists jumped out and floated down with their parachutes, looking like two jellyfishes in clear water, but Warton never abated the fury of his attack. He was determined to set the balloon on fire, and bitter tears of vexation lay cold upon his cheeks as burst after burst was fired without producing the slightest apparent result. The lower he went the thicker came the storm of bursting shells, that filled the air with an intermittent crack- ling like the rending of a gigantic canvas. Wicked little red bullets chased each other past his wings, and strings of green stars rose from the ground like the bubbles in a glass of soda-water. At a thousand feet, Warton could see the antlike activity of the men below him, and the progress of the trolley along its rails. It was then that he remembered the bombs that hung waiting upon his racks. Leaving the balloon, he dived for the ground and raced across the field at a few hundred feet, jerking the release lever as he went. Two of the bombs dropped close to the group of Germans, obscuring them with heavy yellow smoke ; the other two fell harm- lessly upon a neighbouring wood. More furious than ever was the defensive fire, and the explosions from the gun muzzles mingled with those of the shells with a noise as of the banging of innumer- able doors. Many of the bracing wires curled loose from their turnbuckles between the planes ; splinters flew from the struts, and a gaping rent appeared in one bottom plane. : Warton was sobbing quietly to himself and twitching with almost every muscle, as he sprayed the boundaries of the 314 1IDOO SJ (SO)