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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0478.PDF
I/TJGHTI of the Scotsman, who, in a very graphic description of the battle, writes:— " Over the fighting ships Zeppelin scout* of the enemy moved continually on the outlook for the main British forces, which, doubtless, the enemy regarded as certain to appear. It may have Ixien on the guidance of his aerial scouts that the enemy apparently concluded that the Battle-Cruiser Squadron was at that time the only enemy in sight, and was not merely screening the British Battle Fleet. The enemy, heavily gunned and armoured, now closed in as much as possible, and the whole might of his battle fleet was turned on our Battle-Cruiser Squadron during an action which lasted fully two hours. " The battle cruisers came to grips with the large forces opposing them about five o'clock on the afternoon of Wednesday. Thereafter the contest between the outnumbered cruiser squadron and the enemy raged till there came from one of the aerial scouts a message which caused the German fleet to change its course and attempt to seek shelter. The British Battle Fleet had been discovered approaching the scene of the action at full speed. "The enemy had already suffered serious loss in the fighting during the hours which had elapsed. It was well that certain powerful units were working with the battle cruisers in this phase of the struggle. Between them they and the battle cruisers had accounted for several ships. Our losses had also been severe, but, considering the odds, not great. We had lost important ships, but the enemjrs losses by that time had been sufficient to convince him thai utter disaster was in store for him if he waited to oppose the British Battle Fleet. He turned southward." As to the participation as fighting units of these Zeps. in the general milie, the Scotsman's correspondent describes one incident attaching to the " Queen Mary," which, however, there is good reason to believe has in it the elements of romance. Ke says :— " The 'Queen Mary' went down in the thick of action. There is a story amongst the men who have returned which shows that she fought at close range a German battleship, and whilst her great guns were busy with a more powerful and better protected enemy, one of the Kaiser's super-Zeppelins was hovering over showering bombs in an attempt to find a vital spot on the beauty ship of our battle- cruiser squadron. Busy as she was with her heavy guns, the 'Queen Mary' and her gallant crew kept the anti-aircraft guns going. The story is that the Zeppelin was shot down in a blazing mass, and fell close to the ship, exploded, and was destroyed." Corroboration of the co-operation of the Zeps. in advising the sea units as to the danger ahead, is found in the authenticated reports of the skippers of Dutch trawlers, who made the following statement to a special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph :— " Advance squadrons of the German Fleet first came into conflict with the British cruiser squadron. The German cruisers were immediately supported by the biggest battleship-, which were clo e at band. The more powerful British ships were too far from the advance squadron to take an immediate part in thefighting. Before they reached the scene the Zeppelins haa signalled their approach, and the German fleet at once broke off the engagement and made for its bases." That the airships were also of value at night is vouched for by one of the crew of the super-Dreadnought " Marlborough," which was torpedoed, but returned to harbour safely. He told an Exchange Telegraph Com pany's representative that at one time there were six Zeppelins over the fleet, and they were a great help to the Germans in reconnoitring. In the inky darkness (he said) their searchlights clearly showed the position of our Fleet. The Zeppelins dropped bombs amongst our men struggling in the water. In this respect nothing has happened that we have not from the first anticipated would occur, although we must wait for official confirmation of the statements enumerated above. In the meantime, there is little use in rubbing it in just now, but it is to be hoped that the real value of these very troublesome craft of the air is now sufficiently realised to ensure that the maximum effort will be persevered with to wipe out the severe dis advantage which at present is shrouding the successful operations of our naval fighting forces. JUNK 8, 1916. Elsewhere in this issue we publish a set Civilian Qf regulations for Civilian Flying Schools, Schools which have been issued by and approved by the Royal Aero Club. We welcome these, and we believe that as a whole they will receive the support of all the present private schools which count in the scheme for initiating prospective pilots into the art of riding the air. If proof were wanted that the R. Ae.C. exercises its ruling functions with a considerate hand and with due regard to the interests of those who have helped in the development of the art of flying, it is to be found in the fact that a set of rules of the character of those now set out has not long since been put into force. Considerable latitude has been possible in the past in the methods obtaining at various schools, and in a very few instances there is no doubt that advantage has been taken of this to impinge on the rights and fair treatment of pupils who have joined up with those particular schools. There has been ample time to weed out these undesirables, and the status of the present existing civilian schools is sufficient to justify the delay in formulating a set of regulations, as the offenders have, by the natural law of the survival of the fittest, been automatically squeezed out of existence. Under the new regulations both the interests of the school and of the pupil are provided for with well-judged discrimination. and the acceptance of these rules as the guiding principle by the private schools, will, we bekieve, have the effect of surmounting the danger of extinction which has during the last few months loomed somewhat ominously upon the horizon of the civilian flying school. In actual prac tice some of the new regulations may possibly be found not to work as smoothly or happily as it is hoped. In that case, after a fair trial, we feel sure it will be only a matter fcr those in control of the various establishments to put forward their objections with suggested remedies in the form of amendments to any particular clause, for their views to be most sympathetically considered by the R.Ae. Club Committee, who have, we feel confident, no wish to force any unhealthy restrictions upon private enterprise. Any action upon the Committee's part is directed only at ensuring the permanent establishment of the civilian schools upon such a basis, that it must be to the interests of the country, and therefore also of the schools, that the Government should encourage them to further useful and vital work in helping to provide from the raw material a vast army of efficient air pilots, the unlimited supply of which is of such vast importance to the nation. With such a set of official obligations to work to, no pupil can expect other than to pay a reasonable tuition fee— cheap and nasty is particularly out of place in flying— and the effect will be to rule out in advance a number of inefficients who from the first are obviously unfitted to be in control of aircraft, and thus j-ave valuable instruc tion time for the teaching of the man who is born with air hands. Following upon the acceptance of these new rules, we fancy there will be no dearth of pupils coming forward from both official and unofficial sources. • • • It is becoming evident as the months "Dilution" go by and the pressure upon labour of Labour bec0mes more and more intense, by reason Victory. °^ 'ts depletion in reply to the necessity for maintaining our forces at the front, that the doors must be opened more widely than ever for increased output of munitions, to enable our armies to successfully cope wkh the enemy's unceasing hurricane of shells. Skilled labour by itself is undoubtedly limited, and is
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