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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 1237.PDF
DECEMBER 25, 1914. about eighty feet over the German machine, while Captain Barise fired eight shots from his rifle, the German passenger replying with revolver shots without any effect The French pilots were unable to see if their bullets had taken effect, but the German newspapers have published a note to the effect that Lieut. Finger, wounded in the course of a flight on October 7th between Metz and Verdun at a height of 2,300 ft., died of his wounds on October 9th, while his passenger was wounded and the aeroplane was smashed in alighting." Regarding the bombardment of Sillery, a Times cor respondent wrote from Epernay on December 15th : " French airmen were at once ordered to discover the new position of ihese guns, but every time they drew near the guns kept silence and the airmen were peppered with mitrailleuses. The Germans, it may be said here, have become extremely appreciative of the effi ciency of the French airmen, and take endless pains to baffle them. Not only their trenches, but their depots, magazines, and batteries are all concealed with the utmost care, and according to the authority of a German soldier, airmen continually flyover their own lines to see if anything important is visible to the enemy. If it is the whole emplacement is reconstituted ; fresh branches and tree trunks are brought up until everything is absolutely hidden. It was no fault, therefore, of the French airmen that they failed to discover the guns." In a message to the Daily Mail from Dunkirk on the 17th, Mr. Basil Clarke said :— " A German Albatros aeroplane flew over Dunkirk to-day and dropped a letter addressed to "Aviateurs Franciis," written by a French airman who was taken prisoner recently by the Germans." The following incidents were reported from Dunkirk by a Times representative on Dec. 17th :— " Two German aeroplanes flew over Dunkirk yesterday, the first for some time. They did not drop bombs. On the contrary, their business was of a very conciliatory nature. One of them dropped in the suburbs a little bag containing a message from a German general asking the French military authorities to make inquiries for the body of his son, who was killed recenlly in the fighting near Soissons. The other Taube also dropped a message giving news of a French airman who was captured in the German lines, and wishing all French airmen a happy Christmas." In connection with the recent attacks by French .aviators on Freiburg, the following details were received in Paris on the 17th inst.:— " On December 4th airmen from Belfort dropped six bombs on Freiburg-im-Breisgau with good effect. The airmen had made a great detour over the Black Forest to reach Freiburg in order to throw the •Germans off the scent. On December oth the squadron, notwith standing a furious cannonade, dropped eighteen bombs on Freiburg from height of about 3,000 ft. In this raid the leader of the squadron had a wing of his machine damaged by a shell splinter. Several bullets grazed the petrol tank and smashed some Stays, but the machine did not lose its stability. After the last cannonade, near Altkirch, we made an eventful return to Belfort." Regarding this incident, the Matin correspondent at Berne wrote on Sunday :— " I am in a position to give details of the raid of French aviators on Freiburg recently mentioned in French communique. The aviators took the greatest pains to avoid doing any damage to the civilian population, or to the famous Gothic cathedral. In the course of their principal raid they followed the line of the railway from Brisach to Freiburg, and destroyed a great portion of it with their bombs. They also did enormous damage to the hangars of the Aviation Society." In a message to the Daily Telegraph from Northern France on Friday, Mr. A. Beaumont said :— " A Belgian aviator who enlisted only a few weeks ago, and who is but 20 years of age, has distinguished himself by a daring flight over Ostend, Bruges, and several other places, where he dropped bombs on the German troops and caused a panic in their m.dst. Near Ostend he observed a convoy of supply, which was slowly moving along. He flew over if very low and dropped two bombs which struck three of the motor lorr.es and destroyed them. Near Bruges he dropped several bombs on a detachment of cavalry whch wasgconcealed behind a farm, and dispersed it. The daring air pilo has been already raised to the rank of heutenant Atetotat exploit his machine was riddled by bullets and he landed just,nside the Belgian lines in the flooded district, and he and his machine were •rescued by Belgian soldiers." 1237 l/JIOHT) In the German wireless news sent out from Berlin on the 18th inst, there was the following :— ' An American war correspondent who ha? had exceptional opportunities of observing the Austrian forces in the held, reports that the conditions which he found were extremely favourable. The men are animated. Aeroplanes are doing goo J work, but thr pilots state it is difficult to attain great heights on account of the rare mountain air. They are able to get in close touch with the garrison at Przemysl." A correspondent of the Observer, writing from Warsaw under date of December 8th, said :— "Apart from remote cannonading, Warsaw hai other signs of war. There is a shop in a street off the Marzalkowska which has been destroyed by an airship l«>mb. Tgro days ago an airship esmto from the side of i'rushkow, the extreme point of Hindenburg's October advance, showed itself from a snow-cloud. There wit a flash very high up and a report which must have come from a pre. niaturely exploding bomb. No harm was done. The airship immediately slid back into the snow-cloud. The porter of the Bristol had better (or worse) luck. He saw the explosion of the Marzilkowska side-street bomb." According to a message published in the Yrarsavskt Kurier, Warsaw was bombarded on the 9th inst. by a Zeppelin airship, which threw eighteen bombs into the city, with the result that two houses were demolished, ninety of the citizens killed, and fifty wuundecl. On the following day six bombs were thrown into Warsaw from German aeroplanes. An Evening News correspondent wired from Paris on Saturday :— " Paris is now. resuming an almost normal appearance with the approach of the New Year. Realising the possibility of ire«h aero plane attacks, and not disregarding the possibility of Zeppelin raids, the authorities have instituted a night air patrol. The whirring of aeroplanes can now be heard during the still hours over Paris, and a floating star marks the passage of this night watcher." It was reported on Saturday that a biplane, piloted by Major Destouches caught fire while flying over Paris, having come from the direction of Issy, and fell on the slaughterhouses at Vauginard. Both the pilot and the passenger, the well-known aviator Rugene, were burned to death. The following message was received from Reuter'i correspondent at Capetown on Saturday :— "Telegraphing from Chaukaib, German South-West Africa, yesterday, Reuter's special correspondent reports that a German Taube flew over the camp on the morning after the fight on Decemlier 16th. The visit was more or less expected, and every body was on the qui vivc. The airman flew at a very high altitude, probably because he was thus obscured by a dense mist. Consequently, he was not sighted until he was directly overhead, where there was a break in the mist. Then he came down to some 5,000 ft., whence he launched two shells. The first burst without doing any harm, but the second fell near a knot of men, nine of whom were wounded by splinters, some of which also pierced an ambulance operating tent where a red flag was flying. The majority of the wounded >n the Chaukaib affair reported to-day are artillerymen of the Defence Force. One has since died." Writing on Sunday to the Daily Express from the Belgian frontier, Mr. Percival Phillips said:— " A report received on the frontier from Westcappelle, a Belgian village near Zeebrngge, states that an airman of the Allies, flying over that territory on Thursday, threw a bomb on a German military train which was arriving at the station at Zeebrugge from Bruges with reinforcements of marines. A portion of the train was wrecked, forty of the marines being killed and 100 wounded." Regarding the effect of the British raid on the Zeppelin works at Friedrichschafen, the correspondent of the Matin at Berne wrote on Sunday:— " The Germans still cherish an artless belief in the possibility of a successful Zeppelin raid on London if advantage is taken of foggy weather. In spite of the reticen:e of the Prussian drilled staff and all the German dementis, it can be stated that the material damage done is of a serious character, and that a dirigible which was to
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