Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft 



On the Balkan front, in 1916, a French pilot 

 is said to have shot three EAGLES, with his 

 machine gun, in the course of an hour or so. 

 He regarded the EAGLE as not a very fast 

 flyer but a clever aviator, so that he had to 

 "nose-dive," "side-slip/' and "do vertical 

 banks " in order to keep in sight of his 

 quarry. On one occasion a British officer, 

 while testing a new machine behind the 

 French lines, was suddenly passed by a flock 

 of WILD GEESE. He promptly started in 

 pursuit and, oblivious of the direction in 

 which they were heading, flew right across 

 the lines at an altitude at which he offered 

 an easy target even to rifle fire. The Ger- 

 mans, however, were apparently so engrossed 

 in watching the performance that they neg- 

 lected to fire at him. At last the birds, as 

 he got near them, turned and headed back 

 across the lines again, with the result that he 

 returned to his own territory without a shot 

 having been fired at him (Daily Express, 

 25.iv.i6). 



An airman has told me that birds were not 

 infrequently killed by coming into contact 



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