FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1914
1914 - 1123.PDF
NOVEMBER 13, 1914. visible from the frontier, and I saw a Taube machine in pursuit The Allies' aeroplane, however, was much swifter, and after a vain chase the German machine turned and disappeared towards Bruges "Evidently the attempt to destroy their oil supplies gave the Germans a shock, for I learnt yesterday that they moved them to other tanks at the new Bruges docks. Just after this was done another of the Allies' aeroplanes flew over Bruges. At a point a little outside the town was a small force of German soldiers. They were " spotted" by the airman, who dropped a bomb. This fell quite close to the group, and, exploding, killed two soldiers and wounded several others. ' In a message dated November 6th a Morning Post correspondent on the Belgian frontier said :— " On two successive days this week the aeroplanes of the Allies have appeared over Bruges. Their objective, apparently, was the oil tanks. One bomb fell within a hundred yards of these stores, which are strongly guarded, and two German'soldiers were killed. The enemy fired at the aeroplanes with rifles, but did no damage. A Zeppelin shed is being constructed in great haste close to the town, and local Belgian carpenters and other workmen have been commandeered to carry out the work under German supervision." According to the Bruges correspondent of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant the aeroplane sheds at Knaffelaere have been taken down by the Germans and sent to a destination unknown. Machine-guns have also been mounted on all towers in the town. A message from a Daily Mail correspondent in the North of France, dated Saturday, included the following account of a battle in the air :— " Our airmen are ready at a moment's notice, and many duels are reported. An encounter took place during the week, when once again the Taubes came off second best. It was at while fighting was in progress. Apparently the Germans had organised a raid upon . There was a clear blue sky and signals were received that four Taubes were heading towards the Allies. In stantly two British-and two French aeroplanes took the air. It was a sight never to be forgotten. The two French appeared to be carrying machine guns. The eight manoeuvred for positions. First up, then down, a long sweeping circle and back again. The Allies are in a favourable position, now the Germans are. Suddenly a signal comes from below. It is a clever manoeuvre : the Allies have enticed their opponents into a favourable position for our guns, and on the signal being given have turned away and are gliding to earth. Realising their perilous position, the Taubes make as if to ascend, but too late; shells are bursting around them, they collapse and dash to the ground a mass of flame. Not one escaped—the four were accounted for." In a despatch dated Paris, November 2nd, a Standard special correspondent wrote :— " Faster, better protected and heavier armed aeroplanes are now being turned out by the leading French makers at the rate of two or three per week. Those already in service have done much execution among the rival air fleets. In fact, under no circum stances now does a German aeroplane ever attack a French airman ; all the attacking is done by the French. *' On the other hand, audacious though they be, the French airmen have learned by experience to give as wide a berth as possible to the new German anti-aircraft gun. This is a most formidable weapon, and it is common talk among any airmen likely to find themselves attacked by it that to be caught by a battery of these guns at 6,000 ft. is as good as already having one foot in the grave. Their fire is deadly between 4,000 and 6,000 ft., first on account of the incendiary shells they use, any one of which will set an aeroplane on fire ; secondly, by reason of their force of explosion which displaces the air to such an extent that the mere passage of a shell is sufficient to capsize an aeroplane ; and, lastly, these guns are fitted with an ingenious range-finder that not only gives the height of the aeroplane, but signals its speed at the same time. "Vet the Germans 'get' a Frenchman very rarely. Often it has been a case of touch and go, and frequently a machine has to be smashed up after the pilot and look-out have come to ground in the danger zone and made a dash for their lines on foot. Rather than fall into the enemy's hands, and so deprive his side of the valuable information he was sent out to get, a pilot has plunged straight down on to a forest and yet escaped with his life, although, of course, wrecking his aeroplane." In a description in the Daily Mail of the fighting round Arras, Mr. W. Beach Thomas said:— f/yGHT] " For about a month the Germans in considerable force and a strong position have been expending shells (such shells as long since flattened out the glorious old Spanish Hall and Tower) upon the town and the surrounding country. Their aeroplanes still appear like hawks and are daily chased, as rooks chase a hawk, by French biplanes and monoplanes, which are now in great force. But in spite of the guns and ' the eyes of the guns,' as these Taubes arc called, the French have hardly lost a life, a result due almost wholly to the persistent watchful carefulness of the subordinate officers working under general instructions.'' Mr. A. Beaumont, writing to the Daily Telegraph referring to this said:— " The German aeroplanes frequently flew over Arras during the cannonade and threw bombs, one of which gravely wounded M. Lacroix, judge of the local tribunal." Writing from Amsterdam to the Daily Mail Mr. James Dunn said :— " At Bruges continuous bomb-dropping by the Allies' airmen has compelled the Germans to move their petrol depot every day at great trouble. The stock of petrol is very low." From Dunkirk Mr. Basil Clarke wrote:— " A German aeroplane dropped two bombs on Dunkirk this afternoon. One fell harmlessly into the dock and the other fell near the town hall, injuring a girl of sixteen and a girl of seven. Windows a hundred yards away were broken." The following extracts are taken from a message from a Daily Mirror correspondent in Paris :— " Among the most daring of the venturesome French airmen ii a youth of eighteen—Corporal Kdouard Leclerc. " Tall, slender and straight, he is only a smooth-faced boy, and as he tells you of his adventures in the air—he has already brought down two Taubes—he does so in a modest and off-hand manner, with the smiling insouciance of youth. " Corporal Leclerc first began to fly at fifteen. He went to England when sixteen, and his first fall occurred at Southport. " He has flown over 5,000 miles in reconnoitring since the war began, on one occasion venturing into Germany as far as Cologne. I noticed that his leather jacket was disfigured by bullet marks, and he is now taking a rest to recover from a bullet wound in the thigh. " One of Corporal Leclerc's most perilous journeys was accom plished when he was on duty at Villers-Cotterets. A tempest was blowing, and the officer commanding the battery asked for an airman who could undertake reconnoitring for a distance of seven miles over the enemy's lines. The commander of the Air Corps replied that, in view of the violent storm raging, it was impossible for an airman to go up. Young Leclerc overheard this, started off on his monoplane, located the German batteries and came back with the desired intelligence. Ten minutes later the enemy's guns were put out of action by the French ' 75's.' " How the Germans in their trenches got news of a Russian victory through English papers dropped from an aeroplane is told by a wounded British officer .— " On October 9th we got a bundle of Daily Mails with the report of a Russian victory, so the Flight Commander took up sixty copies and dropped them in the German trenches. Any number of the Germans read English, so we were frightfully pleased when we saw the little mail packets delivered." Information has been received by the Paris Journal to the effect that German aeroplane makers are not building any more machines of the " Taube " type, only biplanes, very much on the lines of those used by the Allied forces, being built:— "The three most important German builders are turning out 14 machines a week. The German aeronautical losses since the beginning of^he war have been considerable. Up to October 15th 52 pilots have been killed or were missing and over 100 machines had been put out of action." A correspondent of the Times in a despatch dated I^ubeck, October 26th, said :— " I was in Diiiseldorf when the English airman visited the town for the second time. It was a splendid feat—he took the Germans by surprise. The soldiers seeing the hostile aircraft high up in the air shot at it continually until suddenly the aeroplane started to glide lower and lower ; the people were mad with joy and shouted ' Hurrah.' The soldiers got ready to catch the aeroplane, as it were, when suddenly from a height of between 100 to 200 yards the airman threw several bombs, one of which reached the goal— 1123
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
