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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0046.PDF
(/yGHT) has two tails, and carries an armoured car between the two fuselages mounted with four quickfirers, two in front and two behind. "These aeroplanes are driven by a couple of engines of 250 h.p. each, and are very powerful machines in every respect. " The very latest are fitted with an arrangement by which a third quickfirer can be fired from .the centre of the propeller, a method which has enabled these machines to wreck practically every Allied craft that has engaged them. " On being pressed, the captured airmen admitted that it is becoming somewhat difficult to find pilots for all the machines avail able, although there is a great eagerness among the younger recruits to be trained in airwork. Naturally, it is a long while before they become efficient, and even then many are really too young for the work ; they are venturesome enough, but audacity is not every thing." The Standard Athens correspondent on January 6th reported :— " Two German aeroplanes appeared this morning over Topsin. They dropped six bombs on the Allied positions, but it is not known if any damage was done." Messages received in Rome on January 6th from Salonika stated :— " Air scouts have confirmed the news thai numerous Bulgarian detachments have crossed the frontier and pillaged Greek villages. They also report heavy Germano- Bulgarian masses of troops are advancing along the Doiran-Gbevgeli route. Fifteen thousand Austro-Germans are concentrated at Monastir. A Bulgarian division has left Stiuga for Albania." " French aviators who flew over the enemy's lines beyond Petric and Strumnitza Station, dropping numerous bombs, state that every where enemy bands are concentrating towards the frontier. Already seven Bulgarian and four German divisions are concentrated." Reuter's correspondent at Salonika, under date January 7 th, reports :— " A French aeioplane had an exciting adventure this morning. It was returning from a reconnaissance over the enemy lines when it was overtaken by two Taubes bound for Salonika. The French machine, armed only with a rifle, opened fire, the Germans replying with a machine-gun. " While the aerial engagement was going on antiaircraft gunners below opened fire, but in the meantime the French aeroplane was damaged by a bullet and compelled to alight. The pilot was also wounded. The descent of this machine probably gave rise to the report that a Taube had been brought down. " The German machines were compelled to retire by the splendid fire of the anti-aircraft guns which grouped shells all round them. A number of bombs were dropped on both the French and British camps, but no damage was done beyond a few casualties." The Times correspondent at Salonika on January 8th reported:— " German airplane attacks are now becoming of daily occurrence, though so far without causing any appreciable damage." On the same day the Times correspondent at Athens said:— " The frequency with which the Germans are carrying out air reconnaissances over Salonika, together with other indications, may, in the view of observers here, portend an early invasion by the enemy. The outlook causes anxiety in official circles. "There is confirmation for the report that one enemy airplane has been shot down. "The day before yesterday French airplanes bombarded a Bulgarian camp at Petritch. They threw 16 bombs, which did considerable damage." An Exchange message from Athens dated January 8th says :— " It is learned from Salonica that among the bombs thrown by two German aeroplanes during a fresh incursion on Saturday, one fell near the barrack room of the Greek telegraphists corps, damag ing the neighbouring houses." The Petit Journal on Monday stated on the authority of its Athens correspondent :— " The frequent reconnoitring operations carried out at Salonika and along the whole of the Allied front by enemy aeroplanes are regarded here as a sign of an early attack. " It has been ascertained that important German reinforcements have concentrated in the region of Monastir." JANUARY 13, 1916. Mr. George Renwick, writing to the -Daily Chronicle from the French front in the Balkans, under date January 7th, gives the following vivid description of the air fighting:— ",' It's just the sort of day for an aeroplane raid.' I was wandering along the front line of trenches of the French position this morning when the officer in whose company I was made that remark. Instinctively we turned our glasses upwards and peered into the bright blue of the northern horizon. There was a yellow French Avion, tiny with distance, rushing northwards at a height of two to three thousand yards. It disappeared into the haze of the distance away towards the frontier. " Shortly afterwards, two white specks, lit up brightly by the sun, could be seen coming out of the dimness into which the French aviator had disappeared, ' Taubes !' exclaimed the officer with me, and Taubes they certainly were, for the black cross on the wings was plainly visible through our glasses. " They were flying at a greater height than the French Avion we had just seen. Suddenly that aircraft came into sight again, coming south in rapid pursuit of the enemy machines. It had met the southward-bound raiders, and was skimming up into the sky after them. " For a while, as the three aircraft sped across the sky, I watched them. ' We are too far away to hear the noise of their engines or machine-guns,'said the officer with me, 'but I'll wager they are having a fight.' They disappeared from sight, and then the French aeroplane returned at a much lower level, circled above us, and landed some distance beyond the French lines. " While this was happening the raiding Taubes could be seen flying north again. And a battle in the high air there had been. The French airman had encountered two German flyers coming south, and had turned in pursuit. " Gaining their level, he opened fire and slung to the chase though armed only with a rifle. "The Taubes replied with machine-gun fire, and, for a time, a vigorous, if ineffective, fire was kept up. Unluckily, the Frenchman had to give up as a bullet pierced part of the machinery of his aeroplane and another wounded him slightly. "Just as he turned to descend, the anti-aircraft guns on the positions below took up the battle, and, before good practice was made, the Germans turned and fled northwards. Shrapnel puffs could be seen grouping themselves dangerously near the two enemy machines." Later. " Several German aeroplanes again came southward towards Salonika, one of them flying over the city. A number of bombs were dropped, but no damage was done of any impoitance, and no casualties are reported. " The machine which flew over the city dropped two bombs harmlessly in the harbour. The land anti-aircraft guns, as well as those of the fleet, came into action and the raiders quickly made off. " Yesterday's raiders did not come within 14 miles of the city." Mr. G. Ward Price, writing to the Daily Telegraph from Salonika on Saturday evening, said :— " Five enemy aeroplanes yesterday came bomb-dropping towards Salonika, but they caused insignificant casualties. Another appeared to-day—a ghostly, white, moth-like dot, high in the blue sky. "Yesterday's story that the French machines which chased off the raiders saw one crash to earth amidst a cloud of smoke is, unfortunately, untrue." On the same date Mr. G. J. Stevens, the Daily Telegraph correspondent at Athens, reported :— " Two German aeroplanes again visited Salonika, and dropped bombs at a place called Lebet. They were fired upon by our aerial batteries One Taube was brought down, falling 13 kilometres outside Salonika. The other was seen to descend rapidly, but it succeeded in escaping." Mr. H. Warner Allen, the Bristol Press representative with the French armies, in a despatch last week dealing with the long range bombardment of Nancy, says :— " The Germans probably realised that their bombardment was a failure, as the next day they sent a Zeppelin, and the day after an aeroplane, which dropped a few bombs about the place, made a great deal of noise, and scarcely succeeded in frightening anyone." An Exchange message dated Athens, January 9th, says:— " A despatch from Salonika states that a flotilla of trench aero planes flew over Sofia and dropped bombs, causing considerable damage, and creating indescribable panic among the inhabitants." 46
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