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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0792.PDF
AIRCRAFT AND THE WAR. THE following details of a raid on Zeebrugge by British aviators were obtained by the Tyd from the Belgian frontier:— "On Saturday night five English aviators left Dunkirk and reached Zeebrugge at six o'clock yesterday morning, dropping a number of bombs on points of military importance. German anti aircraft guns shelled them heavily. One of the machines, driven by a naval officer named Boyd, had just dropped the last bomb when the aeroplane, the altitude indicator of which marked 14,000 ft., was hit by shrapnel in the motor. The machine began to fall, but the aviator succeeded in keeping himself for some time in the air and then made for Dutch territory, which he reached in a volplane and landed at Nieuwvliet (Zeeland). The aeroplane was hit in five places. The aviator, who said that presumably another aeroplane was shot down, will be interned." The Morning Post correspondent at Amsterdam, writing on October 5 th, said:— " After the bombardment of the Belgian coast yesterday morning five airmen of the Allies made an attack on Zeebrugge harbour, on which several large bombs were dropped, apparently with good results. The Germans opened violent fire with anti-aircraft guns." Reuter's correspondent at Petrograd, writing on October 5th, said:— " Several Taubes have been brought down in the Russian lines.'? A Central News correspondent at Amsterdam on Tuesday, reported:— " A German war correspondent gives the following account of the raid by Allied airmen upon Vouziers: "'About half-past four in the afternoon of October 3rd,' he says, ' some twenty French airmen approached Vouziers and began a concerted attack on the town. Three of the aeroplanes advanced first in a group flying at a great altitude, and as soon as they were right over the middle of the place a heavy bombardment was begun, German airmen promptly ascended, and it was a wonderful sight to watch how the aeroplanes circled around one another, each trying to bring the enemy down with machine-gun fire. Our anti-aircraft uns also entered the fight, but none of the French airmen could be rought down. Suddenly the entire squadron turned about and disappeared amid the clouds.' "The correspondent says that practically no damage was caused, but in view of the admitted fact that a large number of incendiary and explosive bombs were dropped this seems, to say the least of it, very improbable. It is declared that four civilians and some horses were killed by the bombs." According to information received in Amsterdam on the 5th inst., the Grand Ducal Government has sent a protest to the Entente Governments with regard to the recent aerial attack on Luxemburg. The Luxemburg papers state that sixteen bombs were dropped at Luxem burg during the recent air raid. The damage to private property was not very considerable, but several persons were injured. One bomb exploded near a benzine depot, but caused no damage. The Tekgraaf on the 5th inst. reported:— " The recent bombardment of Zeebrugge by monitors, together with six aeroplanes, slightly damaged Solway's factory. The bom bardment was less successful than the previous one, and the response from the German batteries was not so heavy." The Daily Telegraph correspondent in Paris, writing on October 8th, stated.-— "A French aviator from Dunkirk who, with an observer, was captured by the enemy on December 6th, gives from an internment camp in Germany a remarkable account of his capture in a telegraphic style which I translate literally. "' December 6th, nine a.m.—Leave Dunkirk to reconnoitre Ghent by Vpres, Menin, and Courtrai. Ypres in forty-five minutes. A hundred or 200 yards round us a white puff of smoke. Only seventy-seven. No danger. Soon, however, a bluish puff of smoke, much more unpleasant. Over Menin frightfully shaken about by the bombardment. Over Audenarde more violently shaken still. Have to do wild acrobatics in the air. Pass through stifling smoke, which gets into one's throat. " * Suddenly over Ghent the motor misfires, evidently heating. Look round, see enormous jet of steam from cylinder, evidently hit by shrapnel. Turn right round, try for Ypres, plane down almost vertically 2,000 yards. Shells all round us, almost blinded. A thousand yards ; steering gear out, then great piece of canvas from plane torn off. Now bullets as well as shells. See garden below. Dash down into it unhurt, but biplane damaged. Germans round us a few hundred yards off. They will take us, but shall not have our machine. Made up our minds to be killed rather than leave our Voisin in their hands, but can find no matches. Rush Flemish farm 100 yards off, snatch box of matches from mantelpiece and back to aeroplane, but impossible to set fire to tank. Try to set light to our maps, but they won't burn. Enemy now shooting at us. Try to bore hole in tank. German bullet does the work. •'•Then have inspiration and fire off rifle into tank. Petrol pours out and is easily set fire to 130 litres. Burn machine to ashes. During the conflagration, lasting over ten minutes, Germans held aloof, but potted at us. Wounded in left hand, but they did not get our aeroplane.'" Writing from Nish on October 4th, the Daily Telegraph correspondent said:— " Enemy aeroplanes during the last few days have thrown bombs over Kraguevatz, Yagodina, and Pozharevatz. This afternoon they appeared for the first time over Nish. If they came from the east tbey must have come from Bulgaria, but it is difficult to say whether it was an Austrian or Bulgarian aviator. He threw bombs and killed three Austrian war prisoners, one girl and one child. No material damage was done." The Telegraaf has published the following details of a raid on Lichtervelde and Khortemarck, made on October 2nd, by an Allied aviator:— " tor some time the aviator cruised above the district, evidently seeking his object of attack. Later a loud explosion was heard, and it is supposed that he destroyed the German petrol magazine. " On the occasion of the air raid on Lichtervelde a few weeks ago, it is now learned, thirty-two German soldiers were killed." Information was received in Amsterdam on Saturday from the Austro-Serbian frontier to the effect that two trains with aeroplanes and eight long trains with big guns have arrived at Orsova. A telegram from Nish to the Corriere della Sera on Saturday stated. " A German aeroplane flew over Nish and dropped bombs, which fell on the Austrian prisoners' concentration camp, killing two Austrians and injuring several others." The following details of recent raids on Ghent and Gontrade have appeared in the Echo Beige.•— "The air squadron appeared over the district in the afternoon of October 8th and made direct for the hangars in the German aviation ground, upon which they rained bombs until not one of the hangars was left standing. All the sheds with their contents were burned out. About ten houses were set on fire. The Germans opened a heavy bombardment against the aviators, but without success, much to the satisfaction of the inhabitants of Ghent, who followed the raid with tense interest, not unmixed naturally with a certain amount of anxiety tor their own safety. " Several Allied aviators again appeared over the town on Sunday about half-past five in the afternoon, apparently engaged in pursuing an enemy airman. On Monday, between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, one of the Allies' aviators was seen flying over Eastern Flanders and Ghent in the direction of Ostend." According to a Central News message from Amsterdam four British aeroplanes made the attack on Sunday after noon in a heavy fog. They were subjected to a vigorous bombardment by the anti-aircraft guns. Information received in Amsterdam from Berlin on Tuesday was to the effect that a German waterplane while making reconnoitring flights on October 10th dropped ten bombs on the railway station at Riga. The waterplane is stated to have returned safely to its base. Writing home from the front, one of our readers gives the following first-hand description of a fight in the air :— " We had a fine aerial drama over us this morning. A Taube came almost overhead, and our anti-aircraft guns opened fire on her. We watched the shells bursting around her, and one very well aimed seemed to hit her, but evidently it must have been just below ; another went very close, drawing a chorus of ' Ohs' from us who 792
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