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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0907.PDF
NOVEMBER 19. I9I5- 1/U0HTI AIRCRAFT AND THE WAR. A REUTER message from Rome on November 14th stated :— " It is semi-officially announced that hostile aircraft have dropped bombs on the Piazza delle Erbe at Verona, which is nowhere near any military buildings of any kind and is always crowded with people. " Thirty persons were killed, 29 seriously injured, and 19 slightly injured. " The raid was made this morning by three Austrian airplanes, which dropped 15 bombs, practically all explosive, on various parts of the town, but it was the Piazza delle Erbe, the chief square of the town, where the market is held, which suffered most .and where there were most victims. One bomb alone which fell here killed 19 persons. The damage to property is not important." A message from its Belgian frontier correspondent published in the Telegraaf of the 18th stated:— " During the bombardment a few days ago by Allied airmen of the ® ® region of Lichtervelde, near Thorout, five bombs fell on a big motor-car shed, destroying ten automobiles and wounding thirty German soldiers. There must also have been some killed, but the number is kept secret." A Central News message from the Hague on the 15th stated:— " According to reports received from Frankfort, a Zeppelin air ship has been wrecked near Grodno. Flying over Russian positions, the airship was damaged by well-aimed artillery fire. The dirigible then returned over the German positions, where near Grodno an emergency landing had to be effected. During the landing the Zeppelin took fire, and the greater part of it was destroyed. The crew were saved by soldiers. A Reuter message from Paris on November 15th stated :— " A German aeroplane to-day dropped several bombs on a suburb of Dunkirk. There were some civilian victims." ® ® ARMOURED CAR SQUADRONS AND MR. CHURCHILL. A TRIBUTE to Mr. Winston Churchill's work in the organising of the Armoured Car Squadrons, originally formed in connection with the R.N. A.S., was paid at the House of Commons on Tuesday, when he was presented by officers of the squadrons with his portrait painted by Mr. John Lavery. Among those present at the ceremony, which was quite informal, were Mrs. Churchill, Mr. J. King, M.P., Mr. J. Lynch, M.P., Mr. O'Malley, M.P., Lieut.-Commander Wedgwood, M.P., D.S.O., Commander Locker-Lampson, M.P., Commander Perrin, Commander Bell, Commander Cooper, Com mander Gregory, Lieut.-Commander Whittall, Lieut. Hanna, Lieut. Ingle, Lieut. Demuth, Lieut. Woodward, and Assistant Paymaster Sykes. In making the presentation Lieut. -Commander Wedgwood said they were there as officers of a force which Mr. Churchill established • and which had proved invaluable. Early in September, 1914, Mr. Churchill, havirg set the Royal Naval Air Service on its legs, determined to establish a land force to work in co-operation with it and to assist, according to the intention then held, in keeping the remains of Belgium clear of the German hordes. By Octobir, so great was the speed and energy which he put into the work, the armoured cars were in the field. They were in Lille, Tournai, Douai, Antwerp, and along the Scheldt—in short, wherever there was fighting. Since then they had been used in South Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Gallipoli, and France. In Gallipoli the guns were also used separately and were still being used in the Frenches. In France, under the Duke of Westminster, they were of great service in the battles of Neuve Chapelle and May 9th ; on one occasion they filled a gap in the lines and saved a regiment of cavalry which had been left "in the air." Commander Oliver Locker- Lampson had a contingent now working with the Belgian Army. Commander Locker-Lampson, M.P., thought the D.S.O. con ferred on Lieut.-Commander Wedgwood was evidence of the value of armoured cars in the part of the world where he worked. In accepting the gift, Mr. Churchill said he felt that the armoured- car service had justified its creation. The course of the war in the West had not been of a character to give proper scope to engines of this character. They were devised at a time when the right flank of the German advance was open and exposed to attacks from the sea coast, and to work in conjunction with the aeroplane squadron, which the Admiralty was asked in the beginning of the war to maintain in France and Flanders. Where conditions of manoeuvre prevailed and armies are moving swiftly to and fro the power of the armoured car and its value would be inestimable. In spite of the conditions which had ruled, the cars had made themselves extremely useful and valuable, and they had played their part. If ever the line should break, either in a favourable or an unfavourable direction to us, the value of the armoured cars would be appreciated even more widely than at present. He added that he would value the portrait for its own sake as an excellent work of art, and because it had been presented to him quite unexpectedly by those who belong to the service which he had the honour to raise. ® ® ® ® " Life is a mirror- smile at it and it will smile back; frown at it and it will frown again.'' From Punch's Almanack, 1916. INTELLIGENT FEMALE (watching the sausage observation balloon practice, to Observation Balloon Ojfuer) : " I wonder you don't have a ladder, or a fire escape, or something of that sort, instead of just that rope to climb up and down." ! ! ! HOUSEHOLDER (somewhat startled by descent of Service balloon, with disastrous effects upon his precious pergola): " So this is what you Navy aircraft gentlemen do for a living 1" FOREMAN PRINTER (to Sub-Editor): "We can't do with any more air-raid copy, mister. We've used up every 'Z' in the place !" TODDLING BOY (to Nurse with baby in perambulator, all gazing heavenwards): " Wnat a lucky beggar baby is, Nurse ! Never has to strain his neck looking for Zeppelins !" Zeppelism. " I MUST have been in bed an hour when I was awakened by an awful crash," wrote the wife of a "Tommy" at the Front—the letter being quoted in the Daily Dispatch. " I knew it was them Zepps. There was another terrible bang. I took my clothes off the chair, shoved them on a hook, gripped baby, and ran down stairs to the cellar. Dear , you must not blame me. " It was horrible. I wondered why baby didn't cry. I looked at the dear. Dear , it was a good job he had a strong nightie on, I know you'll forgive me. If you only knew what I went through. I had hung baby upside down on the wall by the hem of his nightie, and was nursing the big pillow with lace frills. The poor kid. . . ." ! ! ! Aerodrome Probeibs. It's the last bump that breaks the chassis strut. A switch off in time saves nine days in the repair shop. 907
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