Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 261, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1918 — ITALIANS STEAL PLANE AND FLEE [ARTICLE]

ITALIANS STEAL PLANE AND FLEE

Irredentists Face Many Perils in Remarkable Escape From Austria. KNEW NOTHING OF AVIATION Go About Plans So Coolly That Officers Believe They Are Going on Mission Under Orders From Soms One Higher Up.

By UGO MAROCCO-BONGHI.

(Special Correspondence of the ItalianAmerican News Bureau, Chicago.) Rome.—One bright morning of the summed just endiugkan enemy hydroplane bearing the black cross of Austria appeared in the heavens over The anti-aircraft batteries prepared to shoot. The seaplane alighted on the shore at , Soon after it was known that the pilot and his companion were both Irredentists who had fled from Austria. The two* had come from the island of Lussin, at the entrance of the Gulf of Quarauero, opposite the shores of ———— — and of —• • The pilot—l cannot give his nape —told me about their escape. “From the outbreak of the war,” he said, “my companion and I hod been joined with others from Irredenta at the aviation station of Lussin island as motormen. The life had become Insupportable. Seeing that every means of flight would be impossible we decided, since neither of us was skilled in aviation, to risk flight in a hydroplane. “There was nothing to do but to get ready and trust to God. The night of July 1 we went to bed with all our clothes on at midnight, without attracting notice. At five in the morning we ran under the shadows of the wall from our quarters toward the hangar, where the sentinel paced his beat. Prepare for Flight. “Entering the hangar coolly, as if we were, going to carry out orders, we dismantled the planes attached to the station of their guns and placed them in the apparatus destined for escape. “After locking the telephone operator in his cabin, We opened the heavy doors of the hangar. We got ready for Immediate flight and tested the cylinders. “When all was ready we whispered " that there was nothing left but to take the risk. “My comrade looked about. Nobody was near. He cut the telephone w’lres while I, with a strong push against the levers, slid the apparatus out on the sea. We mounted the plane, which was soon blown by a gust of wind in front of. the Austrian barracks; the

bow pointed toward the shore. It took us an anxious hour to turn it toward the open sea. Finally we started the motors, but with an explosion and a rumble that would awaken even the dead. “The officers, the commandant and the soldiers of the station appeared at the windows of the barracks and watched us with surprise, but without suspicion, as we took our mysterious leave, no doubt thinking we had secret orders from some one higher up. * “For several yards the hydroplane glided along the surface of the water, unwilling to rise a second time, apparently, before the wind which blew, from behind, and possibjy on account of the new pilot, who was as inexperienced as he was audacious. At last, however, we succeeded in rising from the sea.' Face Many Perils. “While w’e were intent on our maneuvers we • found ourselves suddenly opposite Mount f eli-Strasa, where the Austrians have anti-aircraft batteries. We made a terrific effort, with the bow pointed upward and our souls commended to God. “We crossed the ridge of the mountain not ten yards above the batteries on its summit. “After half an hour of flight, rising to 1,000 meters, we ran into a thick cloud bank which shut off all view of the Austrian and Italian coasts and of the Sea.’ We could, not find our way. Moreover, the pilot was without helmet or glasses and could not steer because his eyes filled with tears. We suffered an attack of nerves. All the while the apparatus was following the Italian coast and, discovering this, we recovered our calm in an instant. “My comrade, Who was acting as

lookout, tied a white cloth to a gun barrel and tried to signal the shore our surrender. We soon alighted and entered the port of —— , amid the cheers of the people, who were jubilant when they found that we were friends, instead of prisoners of war.”