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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0251.PDF
MAICH 23, 1916. [/QGHT] AIRCRAFT WORK AT THE FRONT. OFFICIAL INFORMATION. British. General Headquarters, March 15/A. "Considerable aerial activity. Many combats took place. A determined attack on one of our reconnaissances was driven off. A hostile observation balloon was forced to descend when attacked with bombs." General Headquarters, March 19th. " Hostile aeroplanes were again active, and there were many combats. A hostile machine was brought down in the vicinity of Radinghem. One of our reconnaissances was heavily engaged, but drove off all attacks, and drove down one hostile machine in a damaged condition. All our machines returned safely, having completed their missions." Admiralty, March 20th. " In the early hours of this morning a combined force of approximately fifty British, French, and Belgian aeroplanes and seaplanes, accompanied by fifteen fighting machines, left, and attacked the German seaplane station at Zeebrugge and the aerodrome at Houltade, near Zeebrugge. Considerable damage appears to have been done. Machines on an average carried 200 lb. of bombs. "All machines returned safely. One Belgian officer is reported seriously wounded. All the British machines referred to were naval." French. Paris, March l$th. Evening. " Six aeroplanes of the first bombardment group and five double- engine aeroplanes dropped forty-two heavy shells on the station of Brieulles. " Very numerous aerial actions were fought to-day in the region of Verdun. Three German aeroplanes were seen distinctly to have been brought down by our machines in the German lines. One of our aeroplanes, attacked by four enemy machines to the east of Lore, fought them, and succeeded in bringing down one of its adversaries, which fell in the region of Cernay. The French aero plane returned safely to our lines." Paris, March l&th. Afternoon. " Yesterday, in spite of the mist and the low clouds, our battle planes in the region of Verdun made twenty-nine pursuing flights, in which they fought thirty-two actions to a conclusion. One Fokker appears to have been seriously damaged. " Last night a group of seventeen aeroplanes dropped fifty-four bombs of heavy calibre, forty on the station of Confians, and fourteen on that of Metz. The bombs attained their mark, and many explosions were noted along the railway lines, while three fires broke out in the station ot Metz-Sablons. Although violently bombarded along their entire course, our machines returned safely. " During an offensive reconnaissance another air squadron dropped ten bombs on the aerodrome of Dieuze and five on the station of Arnaville." Paris, March 19th. Afternoon. "In the region of Verdun one of our aeroplanes brought down an enemy machine, which fell in flames into our lines near Montzeville. " Five of our double-motor machines bombarded the station of Metz-Sablons, the enemy ammunition depdts at Chateau Salins, and the aerodrome of Dieuze. Thirty bombs of heavy calibre were dropped during this expedition, of which twenty were dropped on the station at Melx. " One of our bombardment squadrons, composed of twenty-three machines, dropped seventy-two bombs on the aviation ground of Sapsheim, and on the goods station at Mulhausen. " Enemy aeroplanes sent in pursuit of our machines engaged them in an aerial battle, during which one French machine and one German machine brought down each other with their machine-gun fire. Two other German machines fell in flames, and three of our aeroplanes were seriously damaged, and had to land on enemy territory." Paris, March iqth. Evening. " Sergeant Navarre brought down his seventh German aeroplane in the region of Verdun. The enemy machine fell in our lines." Paris, March 20th. Afternoon. " About four o'clock this morning some British, French, and Belgian aeroplanes bombarded the aviation camp of Houltade, east of Ostend. Nineteen French machines took part in the raid, and all have returned safely." Paris, March tot*. Evminf. "During the night of the 19th our bombarding aeroplane* dropped twenty-five bombs on the railway station of Dun-sur-Meuse, where movements of troops on an extensive scale had been reported. All the bombs reached their objects. This morning one of our pursuit aeroplanes drove down in the region of Verdun an enemy machine, which fell in our lines." Russian. Pttrograd, March IQfti. "Our torpedo boats sank, near the Bulgarian coast, a steamer laden with petrol. They were attacked without success by enemy aeroplanes, which dropped eight bombs. The crew of the steamer was taken on board our torpedo boats." German. Berlin, March 15M. " Lieutenant Immelmann shot down two British aeroplane*, one east of Arras and the other west of Beaumont. The occupants are dead. Lieutenant Boelcke brought down two enemy aeroplanes behind the French line, the first above the fortress of Marre and the second near Malancourt (north-west of Verdun). Both machines were destroyed by our artillery. This was the tenth enemy machine that Lieutenant Immelmann had placed hors de combat and the eleventh credited 10 Lieutenant Boclckc. " West of Cambrai a British biplane was forced to descend after an aerial fight, and the occupants were captured." Berlin, March 16/*. " North of Bapaume Lieut. Leffers shot down his fourth enemy aeroplane, this being a British biplane. Near Vimy, north-east of Arras, and near Sivry, on the Meuse, our anti-aircraft guns shot down altogether three French aeroplanes. Above Haumont, north of Verdun, a large French aeroplane fell, after an aerial tight. The occupants were captured. «' In an aerial fight south-east of Beine (Champagne), a French aeroplane was shot down, its occupants being burnt to death. " Enemy airmen last night again attacked the German hospitals at Labry, east of Conflans. The first attack took place during the night of March izth-ijth. No military damage was done. Of the population, one woman was severely and one woman and two children slightly injured." Berlin, March 19M. " On the night of March r7th one of our airships attacked the Entente Fleet near Kara Burnu, south of Salonika." Berlin, March zoth, " Favoured by good observation conditions, the artillery and air activity has been very vigorous on both sides. " In the course of air battles Lieutenant von Althaus r.hot down his fourth enemy aeroplane over the enemy's line west of Lihont, while Lieutenant Boelke shot down his twelfth aeroplane over the Forges Wood, on the left bank of the Meuse. Moreover, the enemy lost three further aeroplanes, one in an air battle near Cuisy, west of the Forges Wood, and two others through the fire of anti-aircraft guns. One of the last fell down in flames near Kheims, the other turning over several times in the neighbourhood of Ban de Sapt, close behind the enemy's lines." Austrian. Vienna, March 15M. " Italian airmen dropped bombs on Trieste without, however, causing any damage." Turkish. Constantinople., March l6M. " On the evening of March 14th, in the neighbourhood of the landing-stage of Akaba, at the head of the gulf, east of the Sinai Peninsula, bombs dropped by an enemy aeroplane all fell into the sea. " We shot down an enemy aeroplane two kilometres east of the Suez Canal. The occupants escaped. " One of our aeroplanes attacked enemy aeroplanes with machina- gun fire, and forced them to fly to Imbros." Constantinople, A/arch 20th. " Irak Front.—On Saturday one of our aeroplanes threw some bombs on Kut-el-Amara and succeeded in hitting a gun and an enemy detachment." From Other Sources. A letter from an officer attached to the Royal Flying Corps dated February 8th, and published in the Times, gives the following little peep at the '« day's work " in the R.F.C. :— "No news since my last, except very sad—for us anyway. We have just lost a very gallant and very dear member of our mess, and his hut effort makes us all proud to think he was one of us. *' He is another victim of most astonishing bad luck, not by any means of enemy supremacy in the air. He wa< flying the day before yesterday, and of course the usual concourse of Huns were following at long range—opening fire occasionally with a few rounds—but we were taking no notice of them. We had almost got back when a lucky shot got the old chap in the thigh. All the 251
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