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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0132.PDF
then maintains that a damaged airship has just as much right to take refuge on neutral soil as a damaged warship has a right to spend a certain time in a neutral port, and he lays it down as a " necessity " that the rights of air craft shall now be definitely determined and that the troops defending neutral territory shall be given " precise instructions and orders." This is no doubt a very convenient arrangement to put forward at the moment by the Hun, and were he an ordinary enemy one might be inclined to side with him as to its reasonableness. But it would hardly be politic to do so under existing conditions. Autres temps, autres tnxurs. Unfortunately for their present conten tion, when it suited them, their views were exactly the opposite, and in this connection a very illumi nating case is made out by Mr. J. Pawley Bate, writing from the Athenaeum Club, when dealing with this new contention of the Germans. Mr. Bate writes as follows :— " Earlier in the war a German water-biplane had, in the course of a journey, such trouble with its engine as to be no longer able to fly, though still able to propel itself through the water. It so came, via neutral waters, to a neutral island ; the neutral Government ® ® THE ROLL THE following casualty has been announced by the Admiralty:— Under date February 8th: Seriously Injured. Flight-Lieutenant Charles W. Graham, R.N. The following casualties in the Expeditionary Force have been reported from General Headquarters :— Under date February 3rd : Previously Officially reported Missing, now Unofficially reported Killed. Second Lieutenant R. Barton, Royal Flying Corps. Second Lieutenant W. A. Brooking, R.F.A. and R.F.C. Lieutenant C. O. Haxward, Lincoln R., 7th Batt, and R.F.C. Second Lieutenant W. Waits, General List, New Armies, and R.F.C. Previously Officially reported Missing, now Unofficially reported Wounded and Prisoner of War. Lieutenant C. B. Wilson, 10th (Prince of Wales's Own Royal) Hussars and R.F.C. Previously Officially reported Missing, now Unofficially reported Prisoners of War. Second Lieutenant F. Adams, General List and R.F.C. Second Lieutenant J. G. McEwan, Royal Flying Corps. ® ® New Director of French Air Services. THE decision of the French Government not to appoint a successor to M, Besnard, has been followed by the appointment of Col. Regnier to be Dirrctor of Military Aeronautics under the Minister for War. Col. Regnier, who has been director of the Central Military Explosives School, is also an aviation expert, and was at one time Director of Material in the Flying Service. Telephones and Air Raids. THE following notice was issued by the Postmaster-General last week :— " On the occasion of the recent air raid the transmission of official telephone mes ages of urgent importance was seriously interfered with at several places by the inconsiderate and unnecessary use of the telephone by private subscribers to call up the police and other public officials. The Postmaster General earnestly appeals to the public to use the telephone as little as possible on such occasions, and on no account to call up the police or other public officials on unimportant or merely personal matters. If this warning is not regarded it may become necessary to curtail the facilities afforded to private persons on occasions of public emergency." FEBRUARY 17, 1916. seized it and interned the crew. This conduct of the neutral Government was challenged as improper by one of the ablest aud fairest of German writers on public law—Professor Wehherg. of Diisseldorf. He argued, Deutsche Juristen Zeitung, Vol. XX., JQ'S. P- 778, that no attention ought to have been paid to the fact that the water-plane was primaiily designed for flight; it had lust the power of flight and entered neutral territory as a mere sea- vessel ; being, then, a ship-of-war it ought, said he, to have been accorded in neutral waters a sojourn of 24 hours or so much longer as might be needed for repairs and then be suffered to depart as it came—by water. But he incidentally wrote—and this is what is material here—that had the craft landed on neutral territory when flying in neutral air-space, the internment of the crew would have been proper, nay, necessary, for the rules of land-war apply, by analogy, to the air-space over neutral te ritory. Inasmuch as the Deutsche Juristen Zeitung is now practically inaccessible in this country, I had better transcribe the professor's exact words; they are :— " ' Hat der Wasserflugzeug den neutralen Luftraum tiberflogen, and ist bei dieser Gelegenheit gelandet, so ist sicher eine Internie- rung statthaft, ja notwendig. Denn der Luftraum oberhalb des neutralen Territoriums ist ebenso geschu'tzt wie das neutrale Gebiet selbst, und die Regeln des Landkriegsrechts miissen entsprechende Anwendung finden.' " You will see that this is a denial to Zeppelins of the privileges which the law of sea-warfare grants to men-of-war." Under the circumstances it will be of considerable interest to follow how the present protesters will reconcile their views to fit in with Professor Wehberg's. ® ® OF HONOUR. Under date February 6th: Missing. Second Lieutenant E. H. E. J. Alexander, King's Own(Yorks L.I.) and R.F.C. Second Lieutenant L. J. Pearson, R.E. and R.F.C. Undated : Previously Officially reported Missing, now Unofficially reported Killed. Second Lieutenant E. S. Wilkinson, London R. (T.F.), ist Batt. (R. Fus ), and R.F.C. Died of W unds. Lieutenant J. Prestwich, A.S.C., E. Lanes Div. Train (T.F.), and R.F.C. Previously reported Missing, now rcpnrted Died of Wounds as Prisoner of War. Lieutenant G. A. Porter, R.F.A. and R.F.C. Previously reported Missing, now reported Ktlled. Second Lieutenant M. Head, York and Lane. Regt. and R.F.C. Second Lieutenant G. L. Pitt, Royal Flying Corps. It has been unofficially announced that Major and Squadron Commander L. da C. Penn-Gaskell, R.F.C., died on February 4th of injuries received while on duty. ® ® A notice has also been ifsued by the War Office reminding the public that the telephone lines must be free for the receipt of official reports, the issue of orders, and the nee- ssary control of defensive arrangements, and that private inquiries greatly impede the collection of information. Air Raid Insurances. As showing the boom in the insurance business which has followed the recent raid, it may be recorded that both the Liverpool and Birmingham corporations have decided to insure their proper ties against air raid risks. It is stated that the insurances in the former case will amount to about three million pounds and in the case of " Brum " to about 3J millions. A Long Reconnaissance in Egypt. A SPLENDID piece of flying work in Egypt was recorded by the Times, on February 14th, as follows :— " An officer in the Fiying Corps in Egypt has carried out an aerial reconnaissance from Daba, the railhead o' the Mariut Rail way, to El Gara (about 60 miles north-east of the Siwa Oasis) and back, a distance of 400 miles. The airman started early in the morning, reached El Qara at midday, and was back at 4 p.m." 132
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