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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0292.PDF
I/DCHT) APRIL 6, 1916. I* by any chance a copy of our current issue should find its way through devious channels to the land across the Rhine I doubt not that there will be rejoicing, especially if it happens to fall into the hands of anyone connected in ^any way with one of the numerous aero nautical Zeitschrifts. What a fine illustration our page of photographs would make for the German press, of the damage done by German air raiders. It would not, of course, be strictly in accordance with the truth, seeing that the sheds simply proved the oft repeated saying that anything will fly if you pile on enough horse power. As a fact, the damage shown in our illustrations is to the Hendon sheds and was caused during the recent violent storm. The sketches, for which we are indebted to Mr. K. J. Key, compare very favourably with the photos, as regards correctness of detail. Fortunately as far as I have been able to ascertain no one was seriously injured, although at least one of the members of the L. and P. contingent was in one of the sheds at the time and had some considerable difficulty in worming his way out between the maze of tangled wires, walls, windows and wings. Some of the machines in the sheds occupied by the Admiralty were severely strafed, a Thomas biplane, a Deperdussin monoplane and a Voisin pusher being among the cripples found in the debris next day. Un fortunately the new I,, and P. tractor biplane, designed by Mr. Fletcher, which was nearing completion, was not exactly improved by having to provide a landing ground for the corrugated iron roof. The damage is, however, confined to a broken fuselage, a wing spar and a few ribs, so that the delay in finishing this 'bus should not be over serious. XXX The material damage caused by the storm, although in itself insignificant enough, is regrettable on account of the fact that all the sheds affected were among the first to be built at Hendon. The I,, and P. sheds, in the old days when Hendon was making history, used to house the Bit-riot school, and on the new tumbled down wall can still lie read and seen names and caricatures of such old-time Ble>iot pilots as Garros, Beaumont, and poor Prier. In the next two or three hangars, which are now labelled Aircraft Manufacturing Co., and which were at the time of the storm being temporarily utilised other wise than by that company, the old Valkyrie monoplanes, and later the Viking biplanes first saw the light of day. It Not the damage caused during a recent Zeppelin raid, but some of the sheds at Hendon strafed bv the recent sale, as sketched by Mr. K. J. Key. seems a pity that these ancient sheds which witnessed the trials, successes and failures of those early pioneers should have been levelled with the ground, but at least there is some measure of consolation in the fact that for the most part they can be rebuilt, to a large extent, out of the old material. XXX At last we have, without the shadow of a doubt, bagged a Zep. The "L. 19," which was found floating in the North Sea some months ago may or may not have been damaged while over this country. On the other hand, it may have been forced to come down by some defect that had nothing to do with our aerial defence, and may never have been inside our coast line at all. The "L. 15," however, was undoubtedly crippled either by gunfire or by bombs dropped from one of our aeroplanes or possibly both. If the report be correct as it seems to be—that she sank in shallow water, it may be found practicable to raise her, although if we are not pretty smart about it the sea water will probably get to work on the aluminium framework and destroy many of the constructional details which might otherwise give us an insight to the principle of construction of one of the latest Zeppelins. At any rate, the salvage of such things as engines, propellers, and perhaps armament may afford a study of some usefulness. If, indeed, it be the in tention of the powers that be to continue the experi ments with rigid airships that were commenced some years ago without great success, the information that may be gathered from an inspection of the wreck of " L. 15" in connection with what is already known, may save a not inconsiderable amount of time and money by enabling us to find out what has taken the Germans a number of years to learn. Apart from this possible usefulness of the wrecked Zeppelin, the bringing down of " L. 15 "is a matter of gratification, showing, as it does, that although still being far from perfection, our aerial defences are capable, under certain conditions, and with a modicum of luck, of strafing the strafers. It would be folly to imagine that, because it has been done once, it will necessarily be done again immediately. As if to prove this, the Germans lost no time in sending further batches of raiders on the Saturday and Sunday night following. This, as far as we are aware, is the first time there have been raids on three consecutive nights, but with fair weather coming along it is only reasonable to suppose that in the near future Zep. raids may quite conceivably be a daily, or rather nightly, occurrence. Whether or not we shall succeed in adding further Zeps. to our bag remains to be seen. In the meantime we should see to it that all is in readiness to meet attacks on a scale far in advance of anything that has been attempted so far. Opportunity to demonstrate high efficiency will surely be forthcoming. XXX Whether the Zeppelin so successfully bombed by Lieut. Brandon, R.F.C., is the one that came down in the Thames estuary or whether his bombs damaged another of the raiders, which may or may not have suc- 292
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