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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0508.PDF
AIRCRAFT WORK AT THE FRONT. OFFICIAL INFORMATION. IN the despatch dated June 15th from Sir John French, published in a special supplement to the LONDON GAZETTE on Sunday night, there was the following tribute to the work of the Royal Flying Corps :— " Following a heavy bombardment, the enemy attacked the French Division at about 5 p.m. [on April 22nd], using asphyxiating gases for the first time. Aircrait reported that at about 5 p.m. thick yellow smoke had been seen issuing from the German trenches between Lange- marck and Bixschoote "During the whole of May 4th the enemy heavily shelled the trenches we had evacuated, quite unaware that they were no longer occupied. So soon as the retirement was discovered the Germans commenced to entrench opposite our new line and to advance their guns to new positions. Our artillery, assisted by aero planes, caused him considerable loss in carrying out these operations." .... [The following occurred in Sir Herbert Plumer's report to Sir John French of the fighting during the withdrawal after the gas attack round Ypres. ] " With the assistance of the Royal Flying Corps, the 31st Heavy Battery [on May nth] scored a direct hit on a German gun, and the North Midland Heavy Battery got on to some German howitzers with great success "The work performed by the Royal Flying Corps has been invaluable. Apart from the hostile aero planes actually destroyed, our airmen have prevented a great deal of aerial reconnaissance by the enemy, and have registered a large number of targets with our artillery." " I have once more to call your Lordship's attention to the part taken by the Royal Flying Corps in the general progress of the campaign, and I wish particularly to mention the invaluable assistance they rendered in the operations described in this report, under the able direc tion of Major-General Sir David Henderson. The Royal Flying Corps is becoming more and more an indis pensable factor in combined operations. In co-operation with the artillery, in particular, there has been continuous improvement both in the methods and in the technical material employed. The ingenuity and technical skill displayed by the officers of the Royal Flying Corps in effecting this improvement have been most marked. "Since my last despatch there has been a considerable increase both in the number and in the activity of German aeroplanes in our front. During this period there have been more than sixty combats in the air, in which not one British aeroplane has been lost. As these flights take place almost invariably over or behind the German lines, only one hostile aeroplane has been brought down in our territory. Five more, however, have been definitely wrecked behind their own lines, and many have been chased down and forced to land in most unsuitable ground. In spite of the opposition of hostile aircraft, and the great number of antiaircraft guns employed by the enemy, air reconnaisance has been carried out with regularity and accuracy. " I desire to bring to your Lordship's notice the assist ance given by the French military authorities, and in particular by General Hirschauer, Director of the French Aviation Service, and his assistants, Colonel Bottieaux and Colonel Stammler, in the supply of aeronautical material, without which the efficiency of the Royal Flying Corps would have been seriously impaired." • * In the despatch dated July 3rd from an " Eye-witness " present with the British General Headquarters it was stated:— " June has passed without any occurrence of impor tance, and the uneventfulness of major operations on our front have been matched by the dullness of the weather, which has interfered with aerial reconnaissance . . . . "On Thursday, the 1 st of July, .... Notwith standing the unfavourable weather, aerial reconnaissance was carried on by both sides, and a hostile machine was brought down by our guns and fell somewhere within its own lines." In the despatch dated July 9th from an " Eye-witness " present with General Headquarters there was the following:— "On Sunday (4th inst.) .... The German aircraft also were busier than they had been for some days "On Tuesday 6th ... . The only points worthy of remark along the remainder of our line were considerable hostile shelling in the neighbourhood of Festubert, where a German aeroplane dropped some bombs " It is the custom, on occasion, for certain reasons, for the officers of the Royal Flying Corps on aerial recon naissance or observation duty to send back messages by means of light signals. This practice is not viewed with favour by the Germans—probably because its results have been more than annoying—-and they have evolved the following method for putting a stop to it, exploiting the fact that it is sometimes very difficult for those below to recognise whether an aeroplane at a high altitude is friend or foe. " If they see a British machine hovering overhead and using these daylight flares, some of their guns at once open fire on areas or targets in our lines which have already been carefully registered. The object of this procedure is by the sequence of the fire of their guns after the exhibition of lights from our aeroplane to make those in charge of our anti-aircraft armament imagine that the aeroplane they see is a hostile machine observing for the German artillery, and to shell it. " Well thought out as is the ruse, it has only to be seen through once to be rendered innocuous for the future, but the underlying intention of employing our guns to destroy our aeroplanes is distinctly meritorious Referring to the visit of Mr. Asquith and Lord Kitchener on the 6th inst., " Eye-witness " said :— " It was a disagreeable day for sight-seeing, as a high wind was blowing and clouds of dust hid the roads and rose from every patch of bare ground; but in another way the weather was suitable, since its squally nature rendered the presence overhead of spying aeroplanes very unlikely. On this day the tour was not of a processional character, and the roads were not lined with troops. " After inspecting on the route certain units performing their ordinary duties, such as an ammunition park, a travelling workshop, and an aerodrome, the party proceeded to the neighbourhood of Ypres." In the announcement issued by the Admiralty on Monday regarding the destruction of the German cruiser " Konigsberg • in the Rufiji river, German E. Africa, by the river -monitors H.M.S. "Severn" and H.M.S. 508
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