FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1914
1914 - 1145.PDF
publication of interesting news is unnecessary, is shown by the following extract from a letter signed " Ubique" which appeared in the Times on Tuesday : " Three days before my son was killed in action, I heard from him that his battery detrained at — marched through to a position chosen for it near the trenches ; all along the 14-mile march a Prussian aeroplane followed them, dropped bombs, and eventually marked their position ! So that, although we could not know, the Prussian Staff, six days before this last letter reached me,' had exactly located the unit and noted its strength, &c." In a message from Paris, dated Paris, November 17th, Mr. H. J. Green wall wrote to the Daily Express.— " A Taube aeroplane succeeded this morning in reaching here. " Before it could drop any bombs it was seen and chased by a French monoplane. " The Taube made a great effort to escape, and an exciting chase followed. It was eventually overtaken and brought down at Beauvais." Writing to the Daily Mail from Dunkirk, on Wednes day, Mr. Basil Clarke said :— " The weather is fine again, and the airman on hoth sides to-day resumed operations. A Get man aeroplane arrived over Cassel at noon and dropped two bombs, which fell near the Town Hall. A woman and child were killed. A general of ihe Allies was near the Town Hall at the time, but escaped injury." ® ® New Ranks in Air Services. FROM the official notices of Service appointments on page 1132, it will be seen that the first officer of the Royal Naval Air Service to be promoted to the rank of Wing Captain, which was created under the reorganisation scheme of June last, is Capt. O. Schwann. It will also be seen that the rank of Wing Commander now appears in the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing), the first officers to be so appointed being Lieut.-Col. H. M. Trenchard, C.B., D.S.O., the Commanding Officer of the Military Wing, Major C. J. Burke and Major Higgins, the two latter being given the rank of temporary Lieut.- Colonel. Carrier Pigeons O.H.M.S. AN official notification has been issued to the effect that it has been decided to use carrier pigeons for certain purposes in connection with his Majesty's Services. The public are, therefore, requested to refrain from shooting or otherwise interfering with carrier pigeons whilst on passage. The Loss of the ''Hermes." IN connection with the sinking of H.M.S. " Hermes," the following correction has been issued by the Ad miralty :— Previously reported missing but not on board when the ship was sunk : Turner, John, C.P.O. Mechanic. Vacancies in the Royal Naval Air Service. RECRUITING has recommenced for the Royal Naval Air Service, and a call is made for men of the age of 18 and upwards to be trained in the handling, care, and maintenance of aircraft and motor transport and general work in connection with the Naval Air Service. Pre ference will be given to men who have had experience in petrol-engine work and carpentry, but this is not an essential qualification. Enlistment may be for the war only or under the usual conditions, i.e., four years in the R.N A.S. and four years in its Reserve. Application should be made in writing to the Naval Recruiting Officer, London Aerodrome, Hendon, N.W. A Development of Air'Sickness. SOME aviators are of course well aware of the " air-sickness " which afflicts them while flying when the A correspondent of the Daily Telegraph at Rotterdam reported on Wednesday : " Since the Allies' aviators nearly caught the Kaiser at Thielt, the Germans have, says the Ecke Be/ge, forbidden the bringing of any letters into Ghent." In an interesting despatch regarding the attempt of the Germans to break through the French lines at Chaulnes, the Morning Post correspondent said :— " It was a distinct point in favour of the French that the weather during this battle had become misty, with fog hanging up aloft for a considerable part of the day. This prevented the use of aero planes, and the absence of this means of correcting the range kept the big German guns in their rear from taking their usual effective part in the fray. It was an excellent ohject-les«m of their dependence upon their aerial scouts for their efficiency. This recent fighting has demonstrated what a wonderful aid the aeroplane is in modern warfare. When it cannot be used the lack of it is instantly observable. When the British forces were tieing moved from the Aisne round to the north, for quite two days before they began to march our aviators were aloft chasing anything in sight, and all through the march they policed the air to perfection. It is pretty safe to say that so far as aerial observations went the Germans knew absolutely nothing of the line of khaki thai was moving along the roads to the railhead." ® ® atmospheric conditions are " bumpy." Apparently, however, the Service aviators in France are experiencing a new form of the malady, for one of the R.F.C. officers refers to air-sickness which " does not result from mere flying, but from the high angle guns which are fired by the enemy at aeroplanes, and which cause so great a disturbance of the air that it is as much as ever you can do to control your machine. You hardly know whether you are upside down or not. It makes tne downright sick, just like a bad attack of sea-sickness." A New Aerial Bomb. THE following dmails of a new bomb which, it is said, is now being used by the French air service, were sent to the Daily Mail by a correspondent in Paris, who stated that he had spoken with one of the pilots who had been experimenting with the new device:— "The two (the old and the new bombs) are very similar in size and weight, but the effect as seen from above is very different. " When the new bomb bursts it simply lays everything out flat within the area of its explosion. It seems to exert the whole of it* force in waves like the ripples when a large stone is thrown into a pond. Men go down like ninepins, buildings collapse like a house of playing cards, guns are turned over as if by some unseen hand. " The explosion raises practically no dust or smoke. Even the earth disturbed by the case of the bomb striking the ground is instantly flattened out by the same extraordinary waves of farce. " Extreme cold is produced at the moment of explosion, cold so intense that I felt it myself when I dropped my first bomb at a height of about Soo ft. I was taking great chances in flying so low, but I wished to see the effect of the bomb. It fell on a section of Germans bivouacking in a field. I estimated that at least thirty men were killed within the area of the explosion. Had they been massed more densely more would have been killed. " Death from these bombs comes instantly from intense cold and concussion. The material composing the new bombs is simple. It can be conveyed to any air base, and the bomb can be filled by the airman or his assistant before he starts." An American Cross-Country Record. ON October 18th, W. C. Robinson beat by more than 100 miles the American crosscountry record by flying from Des Moines, la., to Kentland, Ind., a distance of 370 miles, in 4 hours 44 mins. He intended to fly to Chicago, but was blown off his course. His machine was a monoplane built by the Grinnell Aero plane Co., and fitted with a 100 h.p. Robinson 6-cyl. radial motor. The greatest height attained was 7,500 ft. 1145
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
