Aviator and His Prisoner Fought 3,000 Feet in Air.
For the first time in history a prisoner of war has been transported by aëroplane. Warsaw dispatches carried the news to the Russian war office, in Petrograd, with the recommendation that Terenti Paschaloff, Russian aviator, be awarded a medal for unprecedented daring.
Reconnoitering with his mechanician, Paschaloff was forced to descend inside the enemy’s lines in southwest Poland because of engine trouble. An Austrian patrol surprised him while he was making repairs. Paschaloff turned his machine gun upon the enemy, killing five.
The sixth member of the patrol was captured by the mechanician. Paschaloff removed his belt, forced the Austrian to seat himself on the frame of the biplane, and tied his hands around one of the wire uprights. Then he started to return to the Russian lines.
Crossing the Austrian lines, the aviator was subjected to heavy rifle fire. The prisoner managed to loosen his bonds and attempted to tear the levers from Paschaloff’s grasp and dash the machine to earth. Paschaloff turned the levers over to his mechanician. Three thousand feet aboveground, with gusts of wind tilting the biplane perilously, Austrian and Russian grappled behind the pilot’s seat.
Paschaloff seized a wrench and dealt his opponent a heavy blow on the head, stunning him. The Austrian was again strapped to the machine and brought safely into the Russian camp.