Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 203, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1916 — AVIATORS PLAY JOKES ON THE ENEMY [ARTICLE]

AVIATORS PLAY JOKES ON THE ENEMY

Flying Aeroplane Not Always Grim Business It Is Painted. FOOTBALL CAUSES A PANIC Dropped in Public Square, Soldiers Scamper for Safety—Another Wit Drops Woolly s 'Sheep on Deck of Destroyer. Paris. —Flying an aeroplane over the front Is not always such grim business as It has been painted. The aviators are, as a rule, lively young fellows, who like to have a little joke once In a while. Some British aviators were playing their Inevitable football behind the lines when a bright idea occurred to u young wag. He blew up a watersoaked old black football and carried it In his machine the next time Tie went for a reconnalsance. Just over a village occupied by the Germans he launched the big ball. “You should have seen those Germans run,” he said later. “When they saw that fearsome object swooping down to earth they scurried to shelter like a lot of rabbits, shrieking and yelling. It fell slap In the middle of the square, bounded once or twice and then rolled Into a ditch. For a minute or two not a head showed, then a fat soldier peeped nervously out of a doorway and, gradually gaining courage, walked gingerly toward the ‘bomb.’

“Finally quite a crowd collected —at a safe distance. At last the fat man who had come out first gathered up enough courage to touch the ‘bomb’ with his foot. It moved easily and he gave it a disgusted kick and everybody walked away, probably swearing at the fool Englishmen.” Throws Woolly Sheep. Another British wit took a woolly sheep, such as children play with In the nursery and threw It on the deck of a German destroyer. He laughed loud when the seamen dodged for shelter. r'~ Sheer nerve and effrontery got a Russian airman out of a tight place, when he was forced by lack of fuel to land far behind the German lines. lie spoke German well and his uniform was covered by his flying suit So when a detachment of Germans rushed up to him, he greeted them cordially In their own tongue and asked them where he could replenish his tank. They all rushed to get petrol and a few* minutes later he] was flying away with an “Auf Wledersehen!” Another good story, from Flanders, Is on a Britisher. The Tommy was walking along a country road when he saw an aeroplane In a field and a swathed figure standing beside it. Not suspecting it might be an enemy machine, he hurried to the aviator, extended his arm and shook hands. The German responded silently and” sadly and only nodded his head in answer to

the Tommy’s queries. From which the latter concluded the aviator was French. Then He Swore. Just then a party of Fusiliers who had seen the German machine come to earth hurried up. The soldier, bewildered at sight of their unslung rifles, lost his head and started to run for cover. The Fusiliers took him for the German aeroplane observer and tried to pot him. Happily, their aim was bad and the soldier threw himself in a ditch untouched. When “captured” and told of his mistake his language was unfit to print. The German guffawed loudly. Commander Sampson of the British flying corps carried out a clever feint in the early days of the war. The Germans had planted machine guns in a cottage and windmill just behind their lines and were harrying the British considerably. Pne day the Germans saw an aeroplane hurrying toward them pursued by a hot fire from British batteries. They concluded it was a German machine returning from a raid. What was their surprise when the aeroplane poured a hot fire into them from almost poiut blank range! Almost every German was killed or wounded.