THE BATTLES IN THE AIR

In a trice Blaine was rising in the air. The feeling that he had again
his old machine was reassuring. It put new life into his nearly
restored vitality.

With Buck Bangs a close second and Orris Erwin right behind him, the
leading planes spiraled into the air, with the advancing Boches hardly
two miles away, their bombs dropping as they flew.

Byers himself was getting into his own plane, a two-seated affair
equipped with two machine guns. With him was his own observer, an
excellent photographer and airman. The two opposing squadrons were
about equal. Dividing into two columns, with Blaine heading one and
Captain Byers the other, they bore directly off toward the enemy.

Such a start had the Boches gotten, by somehow missing the Allied
planes that were supposed to be picketing the front, that a direct
attack was inevitable. Up or down they rose or fell, each plane
singling out its opponent, and each maneuvering for position. It was
here that the superior speed and nimbleness of the Allied triplanes was
soon apparent.

Byers in his big biplane made straight for the leading plane opposed to
him and presently the rattle of machine gun fire interplayed with the
whirring sounds of the motors, while the diving, flipping, looping,
with all the other air stunts of sky battling, made the scene so
interesting to those below that the adjacent bomb-proofs were hardly
thought of.