Lieutenant  de  Meulemeester  attained  his  tenth
victory  two  months  later  and  led  the  Belgian  Aces
with  this  score  of  enemies  destroyed  until  the  last  of
June,  when  Adjutant  Coppens,  a  hitherto  unknown
pilot,  suddenly  leaped  to  the  front  with  thirteen
enemies  downed,  ten  of  which  were  observation  bal-
loons. By  August  1st  Coppens  had  totaled  twenty-
one  aircraft  destroyed  in  three  months  and  had  thus
placed  himself  among  the  great  airmen  of  the  world.
On  September  1st  he  had  30  victims,  and  all  but  five
were  drachens.
Adjutant  Coppens  is  a  most  remarkable  specialist  in
this  dangerous  game  against  the  drachens.  In  one  week
he  destroyed  in  flames  seven  of  these  low-hanging
balloons.  No  other  airmen  ever  attained  such  a  score
of  these  victims  in  so  short  a  period  of  time.
A  BELGIAN  AIK  STORY

During  the  first  months  of  the  war,  a  Belgian  bi-
plane containing  pilot  and  observer  experienced  motor


Photo.  Press  Illustrating  Service,  Inc.
LIEUTENANT  THIEFFRY
Belgium's  foremost  Ace,  until  taken  prisoner  on  February  23,  1918.
THE  BELGIAN  AND  ITALIAN  ACES      259

trouble  while  some  distance  behind  the  German  lines,
and  was  compelled  to  come  down.  Pointing  her
nose  towards  home,  the  two  officers  hoped  against
hope  that  they  might  glide  without  power  back  to
their  own  territory.  But  the  wind  was  against  them.
Leaning  over  the  edges  of  their  cockpits,  the  Bel-
gians saw  the  earth  rising  nearer  and  nearer,  while
the  speed  of  their  craft  continued  distressingly  slow.
Everybody  seemed  firing  at  them !

The  German  trenches  appeared,  and  they  crossed
them  at  less  than  one  hundred  feet  above  the  enthusi-
astic riflemen.  Their  own  trenches  were  two  hundred
yards  distant.  They  could  never  make  it.
