WAR IN SPAIN: Duel

In Manhattan last week Derek D. Dickinson, a tall, lean, pale U. S. citizen of 38, showed his discharge papers from the Leftist Spanish Air Force. He claimed that last fall he went up from Valencia in answer to a radio from Dictator’s Son Bruno Mussolini asking that someone good be sent up to duel with him. The rendezvous was at 15,000 feet, eleven miles out to sea from Valencia, and according to Derek D. Dickinson each duelist was escorted by three planes which acted only as observers or seconds at the duel. The weapons: a Spanish-built copy of the U. S. Boeing P12 and Son Bruno’s especially built streamlined Fiat.

“We used every maneuver known to aviation,” reported Duelist Dickinson. “Although I am disgusted with many of the criminal acts of the Fascist Governments, I want to salute young Mussolini. He is not only a gentleman but a very good fighter.” The duel lasted as long as the aviators’ ammunition held out (22 minutes) and afterward, unscathed Duelist Dickinson & friends counted 326 bullet holes in his plane. He received word that Duelist Mussolini had sustained a flesh wound in the leg.