Air Service Boys Over the Atlantic

Air Service Boys Over the
Atlantic , by

Charles Amory Beach
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Title: Air Service Boys Over the Atlantic
Author: Charles Amory Beach
Release Date: January 3, 2004 [eBook #10584]
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR
SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ATLANTIC ***
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AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ATLANTIC
OR

THE LONGEST FLIGHT ON RECORD
BY CHARLES AMORY BEACH
1920

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I
OUT FOR BUSINESS
II THE RESCUE
III A BOLD PROJECT
IV THE REST BILLET
V THE AIR RAIDERS
VI STRIKING A BLOW FOR LIBERTY
VII THE BATTLE IN THE AIR
VIII BOMBING THE BRIDGE
IX CONVINCING PROOF
X GROPING FOR LIGHT
XI THE AMAZING PLAN
XII GRIPPED IN SUSPENSE
XIII OFF FOR THE CHANNEL

XIV READY FOR THE START
XV THE LONG FLIGHT BEGUN
XVI THE FIRST NIGHT OUT
XVII WHEN THE SUBMARINE STRUCK
XVIII THE COLD HAND OF FEAR
XIX A DESPERATE CHANCE
XX ON THE ICE FLOE
XXI ATTACKED BY A POLAR BEAR
XXII WHEN THE ICEBERG ROLLED OVER
XXIII THE END OF THE FLIGHT
XXIV SURPRISING BRIDGETON
XXV TO SEE THE WAR THROUGH--CONCLUSION
CHAPTER I
OUT FOR BUSINESS
"Look! What does that mean, Tom?"
"It means that fellow wants to ruin the Yankee plane, and perhaps
finish the flier who went down with it to the ground."
"Not if we can prevent it, I say. Take a nosedive, Tom, and leave it to
me to manage the gun!"
"He isn't alone, Jack, for I saw a second skulker in the brush, I'm sure."
"We've got to drive those jackals away, no matter at what risk. Go to it,

Tom, old scout!"
The big battle-plane, soaring fully two thousand feet above the earth,
suddenly turned almost upside-down, so that its nose pointed at an
angle close to forty-five degrees. Like a hawk plunging after its prey it
sped through space, the two occupants held in their places by safety
belts.
As they thus rushed downward the earth seemed as if rising to meet
them. Just at the right second Tom Raymond, by a skillful flirt of his
hand, brought the Yankee fighting aircraft back to an even keel, with a
beautiful gliding movement.
Immediately the steady throb of the reliable motor took up its refrain,
while the buzz of the spinning propellers announced that the plane was
once more being shot through space by artificial means.
The two occupants were Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly, firm friends
and chums who had been like David and Jonathan in their long
association. It was Tom who acted as pilot on the present occasion,
while Jack took the equally important position of observer and gunner.
Both were young Americans with a natural gift in the line of aviation.
They had won their spurs while serving under French leadership as
members of the famous Lafayette Escadrille. The adventures they
encountered at that time are related in the first book of this series,
entitled: "Air Service Boys Flying For France."
After America entered the war, like all other adventurous young
Yankee fliers, the two Air Service Boys offered their services to their
own country and joined one of the new squadrons then being formed.
Here the two youths won fresh laurels, and both were well on the way
to be recognized "aces" by the time Pershing's army succeeded in
fighting its way through the nests of machine-gun traps that infested the
great Argonne Forest.
It was in the autumn of the victory year, 1918, and the German armies

were being pushed back all along the line from Switzerland to the sea.
Under the skillful direction of Marshal Foch, the Allies had been
dealing telling and rapid blows, now here, now there.
To-day it was the British that struck; the day afterward the French
advanced their front; and next came the turn of the Americans under
Pershing. Everywhere the discouraged and almost desperate Huns were
being forced in retreat, continually drawing closer to the border.
Already the sanguine young soldiers from overseas were talking of
spending the winter on the Rhine. Some even went so far as to predict
that their next Christmas dinner would be eaten in Berlin. It was no idle
boast, for they believed it might be so, because victory was in the very
air.
So great was the distress of the Hun forces that it was believed Marshal
Foch had laid a vast trap and was using the fresh and enthusiastic
Yankees to