Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/387

 How Dueling in the Air Is Taught

��iOPLANE rOWINQ TARGET

��balloon which bears the Iron Cross or some other conspicuous sign and which is towed by another airplane. Your pilot waits until his plane has reached three thousand feet. Then, after a final exam- ination of your gun and ammunition drums, you signal "O. K." and the chase begins. Your pilot has maneuvered the plane so that you will pass under the other ma- chine towing the target in the opposite direction. Nearer and nearer it comes, with the target flying on behind at the end of the long towline. With a roar the plane passes overhead. Into action you go — finger pressing the trigger and both arms holding the bucking ringsight on the target. In a few seconds it is all over. You look behind you and see the other

���BALLOON TAR OCT

����plane flying serenely away. The target is undamaged. You have wasted a drum- ful of cartridges on the empty air. "Rot- ten," you say to yourself. Obedient to the control of your pilot the plane goes over in a loop. You come out of it pointed in the right direction and are off

��again after the elusive target. This time you are more careful. Your shots go home. With the shattered target flying in the wind, the hunted plane spirals to earth. A few minutes later you are on terra-firma again, receiving a report from your instructor on your exploits.

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