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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 1012.PDF
[/yosg DECEMBER IO, 1915.. AIRCRAFT AND THE, WAR, THE Times correspondent at Amsterdam, writing under date November 30th, stated :— " The airmen of the Allies are active in the region of Roulers." Writing from the British Headquarters under date of December 4th, Mr. G. Valentine Williams, the Daily Mail special correspondent, gave the following details of some recent air work of the British pilots at the front:— " Retaliation is what the Germans are getting now. It is retaliation with a vengeance. Above, on, and below the ground we are at them incessantly, notwithstanding the most unfavourable weather conditions imaginable—a thick Scotch mist alternating with drench ing showers of rain driven by a warm south wind. " In addition to almost incessant artillery fire right a'ong our front, we are continually exploding mines at different points, while our aircraft are making highly successful raids far into the enemy's country. The latest terror added to the life of the Germans at the front are such nocturual invasions of their trenches as that which was recently carried out with such complete success in the vicinity of Messines. " The activity of our guns has been so universal that it is difficult to mention any particular action. As a general rule prompt retalia tion effectually silences the enemy artillery. Thus on Wednesday in a hot artillery duel in the Yypres neighbourhood our guns had the last word. On the ?ame day, farther to the south, our guns considerably damaged the Ferme du Bois, a German stronghold which figured prominently in the Festubert fighting in May and June. "On the same day a German aeroplane was shot down aud fell in the enemy lines near Westhoek. On Thursday there was great 'gunning' in the vicinity of Boesinghe, on the extreme left of our line, and our artillery very seriously damaged the German trenches. Yesterday our troops carried out srjme successful bombing operations opposite Hulluch, and our guns immediately quelled a German attempt at artillery retaliation. In the same way the German trench mortars in this region of our front were silenced by our trench mortars. Shelling about ruined Ypres on the same day was stopped by our artillery. " The air raid on the important German supply depot at Mirau- mont (north of Albert) on Tuesday, mentioned in the last official bulletin, was a daring and brilliantly executed piece of airmanship. It was carried out in a high wind, and bombs of heavy calibre were dropped with considerable accuracy from a great height on the buildings, the railway, and the trenches dug about the place to shelter the guards against shell fire and aerial bombs. All our machines returned safely, despite most unfavourable conditions, the wind blowing a regular gale. "On Thursday afternoon nineteen British aeroplane; attacked the important railway station of Don, where our airmen have done considerable damage in the past, notably during the Neuve Chapelle and Loos operations. Bombs were dropped on the railway station and adjacent buildings, one of the projectiles causing a big explosion, presumably in a magazine. The railway was also hit. " Several fires were observed to be raging in Don as the raiders drew off, their work accomplished. On the way home four German machines, which came out after the raiders, were successfully beaten off by our aeroplanes. All our machines returned safely. " Despite unfavourable flying weather there were no fewer than fifteen fights in the air between British and German machines on Sunday and four on Tuesday. " In one of these encounters a single British machine was 'taken on ' by four German aeroplanes at the same time, yet managed to beat off its assailants. The British machine, manned by two airmen, was out chasing away a German Albatros which had ventured over our lines, when the enemy was joined by two Fokker aeroplanes. Our men managed for a time to head the Albatros off from returning to his own lines, and by rising to the same height were able to engage the enemy at very close range with their machine gun. The Albatros was apparently hit, for suddenly it dived steeply to earth, and as it landed was seen to turn completely over. Now two more German aeroplanes joined the two Fokkers, with one of our swift scouts in hot chase. All the four enemy machines now circled round the British aeroplane, firing from their machine guns, but the British airmen kept cool and maintained a steady fire until the enemy gave up the fight and made for home." The following extract from a letter written by a Flight- Commander on service in France appeared in the Morning Post on the 7 th inst. :—• " Yesterday I had my first really trying experience. We did a ljng reconnaissance which took us neirly to Mons, taking us four hours and five minutes. When we lef: the ground it was freezing hard, and en route we encountered two snow storms. The cold was absolutely excruciating, my eyes got frozen up; it sounds absurd, I know, but the water in my eyes turned to ice. I had to keep on brushing it out of my eyes. A great sheet of ice formed over the mouth outlet of my mask so that I had to smash it to breathe. We finished off by fighting a German machine and chasing it from Arras to Douai, where he dived down under cover of his Archies and Horaces. We arrived back, and the pilot, being nearly dead with cold, crashed the machine on landing. Fortu nately neither of us was damaged. When we got in we found that they were just preparing to pack our kits, as they thought that we must have been brought down in Germany. I have added one of the propeller-blades of the crashed reconnaissance machine to my collection. " Sunday Night. " What a day ! I was ju;t getting up at 9 a.m., having had a lazy morning, when a message came down from the office to say that two Huns were on their way to . I ordered out one of my machines—the one I always go with—and we left the ground to cut them off. When we were over B , well in our own lines, at about 5,000, we spotted a Hun at about 11,000. We chased it, climbing all the time, till, when just near Lille or about ten miles into the German lines, we got level with it. By this time the German (an Albatros) had been joined by two other Huns. We swept past the Albatros (a big white machine), and I got 40 rounds into it at close range ; he banked, then rose, dived to earth, and crashed, apparently turning over. By now the other two machines had turned to engage us, and on turning we found two more coming from over Lille. Four to one—good cdds. Fairly long odds; but still we thought we'd have a good smack at it. Rather to our annoyance we saw what we took to be a sixth German—a tiny little single-seater. On they came ; they came in line, sweeping past us on the left, round behind our tail, and back on the right. To our surprise the little tiny machine fastened on to the tail of one of the Boches and chased it round and round, and proved to be a little Morane scout. They came on time and time again, pouring machine-gun fire on us, but or every one shot we got they got one back, but at one time we were getting the fire of four machines at once. My hands began to lose all feeling, but I kept the gun going. Bang ! bang ! came their shots ; we could feel the little jars as our machine was hit. But apparently they got more than they gave, as after 25 minutes' fighting two machines cleared off towards Lille and the other two, not liking to be left to fight two British machines (although one was only a little single-seater), flow off southwards. The scout and we at once gave chase to one of them, but had to give up the chase 20 miles further south, and gracefully retired to our own lines to the accompaniment of much Archy." In a letter written to his friend, the Rev. George Greer, rector of Portaferry, Co. Down, Flight Sub-Lieut. Slade, R.N.A.S., who was captured recently by the Germans, gives the following details of his experience :— " The German officer's first shot, unluckily for us, hit our petrol tank, and flames burst out behind. Darley, the pilot, shoved her nose down, and the German aviator followed us down, keeping behind and pouring lead into us the whole time. Fortunately, the tank did not explode—I cannot understand why—but went out. Darley had one bullet through his arm, one took the tip of his finger off, another smashed his thumb to smithereens. I amputated it with my penknife. I was untouched, except my clothing. I I could not set our machine on fire, as all the petrol had come out, and my efforts on the wing only ended in the waste of a box of matches. Darley did a stunt landing with only his left hand— extraordinarily plucky, I call it—and saved my life." A Central News message from Zurich, on Tuesday, stated:— "A great increase in aerial activity on the part of German, aviators is reported in Alsace. They have made repeated eflorts to reconnoitre the French positions on that part of the front, would seem as though Germany contemplated an important offensive there." ® # 9 9 German Aeroplane In Holland. THE Telegraaf reports that a German aeroplane descended during the afternoon of December 1st near Aardenburg, in the Province of Zeeland. The aeroplane was severely damaged and the motor almost destroyed. The two officers in the machine were conveyed to Aardenburg, and will be interned. The aeroplane came from the direction of Bruges. 976
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