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number of air engagements between the Curtiss pursuit planes,
which the French bought last year in the United States, and the
German Messerschmidts. In the opinion of the French pilots, the
Curtiss planes were definitely superior to the German Messersctnnidts.
On one occasion, three Curtiss planes had been attacked by six 
Messerschmidts and had beaten off  the six and destroyed two of the six.
.      La Chasabre said that he feared that the German espionage service
was as well organized in France as it had been in Poland. The French, 
therefore, had to fear that at some given moment the German bombardment
planes flying so high as to be out of sight would suddenly descend on the 
French air fields in an attempt to destroy the French air force before
it could take the air. He had, therefore, taken the utmost precau-
tions to distribute and conceal the French planes.
       He felt that as long as the French pursuit planes should remain in existence,
which would not be very long, they could prevent German bombardment, by day,
of Paris and other vital centers. The truth was, however, that the French
did not have sufficient planes