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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0728.PDF
l/DCHTl SEPTEMBER 24, 1915. AIRCRAFT AND THE, WAR. AN Exchange message from Athens on September 12th stated:— " It is reported from Mitylene that a British gunboat yc.-terday bombarded Aivali at two points where Turkish volunteers were camped. Ten were killed. At the same time one of the Allies aeroplanes flew over the town and dropped bombs, destroying the barracks and killing 17 soldiers." The following message was sent from Paris on September 12th by the Exchange Co.'s correspondent:— "Yesterday's commiinupu' spoke of the capture of an Aviatik at Hangest-sur-Somme. The details are as follows :— " In this village on the Somme an aviator was seen manieuvring as in doubt as to his route. He went about several times, and then plunged to earth near the high road. Two dragoon orderlies happened to be riding by, and when they reined up near the air- machine they found pilot and passenger trying with difficulty to explain to some children that they had got lost, and were anxious to find the way to somewhere. When they saw the French uniforms they at once raised their arms, crying : ' Kamerad ! Kamerad !' But the two dragoons took them triumphantly to the nearest gendarmerie." The Echo Beige announced on the 15th inst. that an Allied aviator again bombed Ghent at five o'clock on the previous Sunday afternoon. The German artillery fired upon him. His objective was an important cotton factory, and his expedition completely succeeded. Six bombs fell directly on the factory, which was entirely destroyed by fire. There were, it appears, two score German soldiers killed and wounded. A Central News message from Amsterdam on the 16th inst. stated :— " German airmen report that Riga has the appearance of a great artillery park. As soon as a German airman is sighted flying near the town hundreds of guns open fire upon him, and it is now almost impossible to drop bombs on Riga, or even to reconnoitre with any success. " It is learned also that Russian airmen have dropped bombs on Warsaw, but no details can be ascertained as to the damage caused." In an interview with the special correspondent of the Petit Parisien at Nish last week, M. Pasitch, the Serbian Premier, referring to the reported concentration of enemy troops on Serbia's northern frontier, said :— " As a matter of fact, no enemy army has been massed on the Danube, and to prove the accuracy of this statement we have the constant and detailed reports of the French aviators, who are ren dering such invaluable services." The Central News correspondent in Northern France, writing on the 15th inst., said :— " The Germans are giving proof of growing alarm at their inability to stem the French advance in Alsace, and at the frequent air raids by the French." ® ® According to the Central News correspondent at Petrograd, a wounded German officer, taken prisoner to Kieff, said :— " A short time ago some Russian aviators at Sokal exploded with their bombs a German store of explosives and a reservoir of asphyxiating gas." Local papers give the following information regarding the recent French raid on Treves :— " From fifteen to twenty Frenchmen took part in the attack, and threw about thirty bombs, apparently aiming at the station. One bomb hit the platform and wounded a postman. Ten bombs exploded in one street. A service was going on in the cathedral, and the clergy proceeded to the crypt, where prayers were said until the danger had passed. The French airmen flew at a great altitude so that the anti-aircraft guns could not reach them. The raid took place at eight o'clock, and at noon some airmen returned to observe the damage done by the raid." The Daily Mail correspondent at Copenhagen, writing on the 17 th inst., said :— "German waterplanes have been stationed near the Sound. Sweden is reported to be considering the convoying of her merchant ships." Reuter's correspondent in Petrograd, writing on the 17th inst., regarding the situation in Vilna, said : — " The latest letters from the city state that the cannonading is heard uninterruptedly day and night, and bomb-dropping Taubes and Albatroses are constant visitors." The following attack by French aviators upon a German troop train was sent by Reuter's correspondent on the 18th inst.:— " Telegrams from Switzerland describe the daring raid made by two French aviators on the railway going from Donaueschingen to VilliDgen, in the Grand Duchy of Baden. " Eye-witnesses relate that the airmen, sighting a troop train while they were manoeuvring at a very low altitude, swooped down to within 12 to 15 feet of the ground. One flew on the right of the line and the other on the left alongside the train, and opened fire with machine-guns through the windows of the carriages upon the Germans, who were powerless to defend themselves. " The German authorities evidently considered that there was no risk of a raid at a point so far from the frontier, for there was not a single cartridge among the troops. Again and again the aviators flew up and down the train, killing the stoker and many soldiers. Others jumped from the train while in motion, and flew for shelter. The attack ended at Marbach Junction, where the raiders fired into the ranks of the German soldiers drawn up on the platform, causing heavy loss." An Exchange Telegraph Co.'s message from Athens on the 18th inst. stated :— " A French aeroplane on Thursday flew over Adana and dropped two bombs, killing two Turks and wounding two others. It after wards bombarded the railway bridge over the Pyramus, without result." ® ® LIGHTER THAN AIR. Limelight. HAVE you heard the story of the leading actor-manager who was watching the searchlights playing on the Zeppelins which flew around London the other night ? The beams seemed to him to be ill directed, and he was observed to grow more and more uneasy as they increased in volume and intensity. Suddenly, looking up at the light which was projecting its effulgence afar, he exclaimed *' No ! no I All wrong ! " Then, banging himself on the chest (to indicate the correct spot), he shouted, " Here .' HERE ! "—" Carados'" iu the Referee. A "Sell" for the Zeppeliners. THERE is a good slice of reasoned philosophy in the following explanation given by a woman to the magistrate of the West London Police Court, in regard to her conduct last week : " I gave myself up," she said, " because I thought I should be safe in the cells if any Zeppelins came. I was not really drunk." Lights—to be or not to be. " You must not show a light on the front," said a special constable at the seaside to a visitor who was striking a match. " Show me the order against it," said the visitor, and the special fished a paper out of his pocket, and obligingly switched on an electric torch almost as bright as a searchlight so that the disbe lieving stranger could read it. A propos the above incident, I read in a country paper the other day of a coster who, when charged for not showing a light, unpaid) said : " Pay five shillings."—".^. Gossip" in Daily Sketch. .$h'AT 10: " Uncle, if the end of the world was to come, and it was destroyed while you were up flying, where would you land when you came down ? "—London Opinion. Charivarii from Punch. LONDON'S new watchword : " Scott strafe Zeppelin." WE hear that a dear old lady, who had a Zeppelin pass exactly over her house, has taken the precaution of staying indefinitely with friends two doors down the road. 728
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