A French doctor, who has just returned from Flanders, describing the
effect of the "Fleche d'aero," as the steel darts with which the
French airmen are supplied are generally called, said:
"Among the 2,000 wounded whom we treated in forty-eight hours was a
German who had been struck by an aeroplane dart. He was evidently
bending over when hit, for the dart had entered the right thigh and
traversed the whole leg, so that the point emerged just above the
boot. The man was conscious when he was brought in, and said he felt
no pain, only a heavy blow. He died soon afterward from shock and
loss of blood."
The darts resemble steel pencils. They are about five inches long
with the unpointed end half-fluted to insure their falling head
first. It is calculated that they strike with a hundred pounds force
if thrown from an elevation of 1,000 metres.