Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 112, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1918 — THE MAKING Or A FRENCH ACE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE MAKING Or A FRENCH ACE

Coveted Honor Won Onto After Lono and Perilous Service

W!l O BECOME a French ace Is not J yirx such an easy matter. It means not X’lß'U ) only the bringing down of five f ■ TA/ enemy machines, but it must be V J remembered alsr that these ma- / chines must fait within the allied i ' lines. Also they must be “official.” / There is the rub. Many a marvellous flyer returning to his camp Z’*-'./ after a valorous day in the air, during which he has sent to earth ( more than oae enemy, with his machine in flames perhaps, realizes its he nears his home grounds that, officially, he has nothing to show for his prowess. The great day is still afar off —the day when his fellow airmen, already arrived at the “ace”, stage, will Wellcome him as one of themselves —when his relatives land friends at home, and all the world, indeed, will recognize that he is a fighting aviator of France, out of the amateur class forever. Lieut. Constant Soulier, known as the “Benjamin” of the French aces, who has come to this country to show the people of the United States just what the fighting airmen of France are able to-do in the way of flying, like most of the other great French airmen, found that winning the “ace" was not the task of a day, but he won it, although It took the bringing down of 12 machines actually before the coveted “official” five were marked to his credit, says a writer in the New York Herald. He does not look like a veteran of the western front, this hero of many air battles. He seems much mpre like a pleasant little military schoolboy. He is small, with an amazingly youthful face, and although he is serious and dignified, It Is with the dignity and seriousness of a boy, such as is qul f e In keeping with his simple and straightforward manner. But on the breast of this modest, boyish young officer gleam medals which speak eloquently of extraordinary valor—the Medaille Mllltaire, the Croix de la Virtu Militaire of Roumania and the Croix de Guerre of France with seven palms and a golden star. These honors the little ace earned before he was twenty years old, for before that time he had accomplished 430 hours of flight, had fought 66 battles in the air, had killed or wounded a score of eneffiy aviators and had brought down 15 enemy machines. His citations in orders and in special government communications cover two closely typewritten pages. A student at the Ecole Polytechnic in Paris -when the war began, Constant Soulier found it Impossible at first to enter the service of his country as a volunteer, as he was not considered in sufficiently good health by the military authorities. Also he was but seventeen years old. Presently, however, he succeeded in overcoming these objections and became a volunteer in the artillery. He was placed In the Twenty-first regiment at Angouleme. But while in the artillery training camp, like so many very young patriots, he became intensely Interested in the new arm of the service. He felt keenly that his vocation was not for the artillery .but that he must become an airman. He succeeded in persuading the authorities to transfer him to the aviation corps and became a student at the school at Longvic. He was transferred to Pau in March, 1916, and two months afterward obtained the coveted brevet of pilot. He had studied devotedly at the school and was a notably promising aviator cadet. While at the school he was much liked by the older men, and one day an episode occurred which pleased them greatly. Young Soulier found his machine taken in the eddy of another airplane which was flying over him. He was blown to the earth with violence. His machine ~was broken to pieces, and the witnesses of the accident, without waiting to investigate, immediately sent in a call for a medical officer. Imagine their amazement when they saw the -student aviator issue from the debris of his machine without a scratch. There are no more superstitious people anywhere than the men of the aviation corps of all the armies. And It was after this episode that the older aviators declared to one another that he was born to triumph. “ The flying school training was followed by a course at the school of mitrailleurs at Cazeau. In June, 1916, Soulier was appointed to the Escadrille N-26, under Commandant Brocard. The aviator remembers always his first engagement, for no matter how extensive his practice has been at the school it takes different personal qualities to enable a man to hold his own against the enemy. No matter how well he may have done In practice, it is felt that the actual test of the aviator’s ability must come in battle. Soulier had no easy task in his first engagement. With a comrade, like himself, a novice, he was ordered on patrol. Soon they were enveloped In clouds, but as they came out of this snowy bank they were for the first time in the presence of the enemy. They were confronted by two Fokkers, which were at that time considered very much to be feared* "i i. Soulier opened fire, but his mitrailleuse was not firmly fastened in place, and with the first fire it shifted, striking him in the head and almost knocking him out by the shock. But he held his own, -piloting with one hand and with the other trying to hold his mitrailleuse in place. Although ithe gun struck him with each discharge, he was able to keep in the fight until the, adversary, his cartridges exhausted, abandoned the fight. The French airmen then regained their lines. Itome’ time after this Soulier, who had then a sergeant, brought down in two succesistve days two German Drachens, one at the wood <of Vaux "nd the other east of Mesnil Saint-Nibaise. . .. t x

On both occasions the caucisses were well defended by their mitrailleuses, and antiaircraft -•guns also were active against the French scout. To get the second Drachen Soulier had to descend to an altitude of 400 meters, and attack very close to the enemy. His machine was shelled, but he succeeded in forcing the enemy to earth. The enemy observer sought to escape, but was killed because his parachute failed to work properly. October 16 proved to be one of the busiest days of Sergeant Soulier’s career. Since entering the service he had been engaged in working in the region of the Somme. The wood of Saint Pierre Vast was then a favorite meeting ground for aerial combats. Since starting out in the morning on this particular occasion Soulier had engaged in six combats with enemy machines, and had forced one of them to make a landing near Bourchavesnes. At the conclusion of this series of combats he suddenly encountered three aviatiks. By the hdrolt manipulation of his machine, for which he is famous, and which has led his government to send him to this country, as an exemplar of “stunt” flying, Soulier succeeded in keeping out of the way of the other two of these machines while attacking and forcing to earth the third. On this occasion luck was with him in every way, for the aviatik was brought down within the French lines and the infantry recognized the French scout, so that there r was no difficulty in obtaining an official confirmation. In the course of reconnaissance with a comrade to the east of Peronne over enemy territory Soulier suffered a reverse of fortune a few days later. Three airplanes launched themselves in the direction of the two French machines, and Soulier’s comrade, badly wounded, was soon obliged to abandon the combat. As Soulier prepared to attack, his machine shivered violently. A blade of his propeller had been broken by a charge from the enemy mitrailleuse. The encounter took place at a height of 3,000 meters. Soulier’s damaged machine spiralled and fell more than a thousand meters. ' - Feeling himself lost if the motor detached itself the pilot cut off the power, corrected the machine, and let himself fall vertically so as not to involve the motor. By good luck a wind from the east carried him within the French lines and. he was succored by the infantry and brought back to camp under enemy fire.. His injuries were merely bruises from which he soon recovered. The good luck of the Benjamin of the aces did not desert him, for some time later in returning to camp in the darkness at four o’clock in the morning it was necessary for him to make a landing without a light. His machine crashed to the ground, but he again extricated himself from the debris practically unhurt. In December, 1916, Soulier was again cited in orders for operations against the enemy in Champagne, including the bringing down of an enemy machine and firing on an enemy column. In the spring of 1917 Brocard’s scouts were sent to the environs of Fisnie, and Coulier, with the other members of the N-26, went into quarters near Bonne Maison. A large number of enemy . aviators, well equipped with new machines, were operating in the vicinity. May 26, 1917, was another busy-day for Soulier. His work began in the by starlight while he was patrolling the region iof d’Anlfontaine and Pronvais. Seeing an enemy airplane, he brought it down with a *»w charges, but. as so

often happened, there were no witnesses and nothing to confirm his success from an official point of view. In the afternoon he went up again,, and, by no means discouraged with his morning’s experience, he went to look for the enemy in the neighborhood of the reservoir. He was not long in appearing. Soulier soon saw In his path an albatross biplane with three mitrailleuses. Following his usual tactics, Soulier dropped from the altitude In which he was flying; always very high, and swiftly pursued the enemy. The albatross sought to escape from attack, but was overtaken by a light charge, and fell, spreading itself out on the earth and taking fire. The deed was done, but again the pilot looked about him for spectators who might supply the confirmation necessary to his official recognition. Unfortunately again there was no one who had seen his triumph. ■ Soulier, however, hardly had time to indulge in bitter reflections before a new danger and a new opportunity presented itself. Some kilometers furfher ors he perceived a magnificent observation balloon, lighted by the rayl of'the setting sun. Where the Drachens are there are also tne bursts of shrapnel, and toward the middle of these clouds of black smoke Soulier guided his machine, carrying IF’. through the marvelous evolutions of which he is master. Again fate was against him, for as he fired his twentieth cartridge his mitrailleuse stopped, and there was; nothing for the pilot to do but to return to his own camp. Turning with the object of making for. home quarters, Soulier saw himself beset by new enemies. Two thousand meters above his head four enemy airplanes circled. One of them came on at full speed and at 200 meters opened fire on him. It is at such moments as these that the acrobatic flyer finds himself at the height of his glory. With every nerve taut, with every bit of skill in play- he turns, twists and circles his way out of such difficulties, and when he comes through them successfully tastes for a moment* a glory almost unknown to other men. A slide down the wing, a loop, then all the gamut of beautifully executed man&ivers —whose most valuable quality is their faculty of keeping the enemy guessing where the machine will be in the next second —and Soulier had succeeded in showing his heels to the enemy. Then, guiding himself with one hand and repairing his mitrailleuse with the other, while at the same time he continued his series of acrobatics, Soullier wipged his way to the French lines, succeeding in throwing off the first one and then another of his adversaries. To complete his mischapce his motor weakened. He had only one resource —to do the death drop. He let himself fall in spirals, and the Bosches, believing that he had been sent down, beat their wings as if in a dance of joy. Then suddenly the “dead” French aviator righted himself, began .to arm anew his mitrailleuse, and with a last shot at his enemy, regained his lines, able at last to say “alone.” The tolls and dangers of this terrible day had counted for nothing, however, on the official record of the young aviator, but the following day, although his activities were by no means so continuous, was to bring him the substantial recognition that every war aviator longs for. By the same bright star as that of the day before he started on a morning flight, passing rapidly over the enemy trenches. Presently perceiving a D. F. W. scout machine, he attacked it vigorously. In these single combats in which only two machines take part the fight Is usually very soon over. In three minutes the enemy had been beaten, the machine fell in flames and the two aviators were crushed on the ground. On this occasion observers in a balloon and some infantry troops had been able to follow the -duel and re* ported official confirmation so eagerly desired. That very night at the Bonne-Maison farm in a friendly ceremony the new ace was baptized in champagne.