FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0622.PDF
(fUcftf] upon which the Huns counted so much in their mistaken calculations for the course otihe war, had really set in and had begun to take a hold upon 6ur national vitals. In which case, whatever the horrors of this ghastly struggle have in store for us and the world, it is something to be thankful for that our degeneracy canker has been taken in time. To this extent Britain will have, after all, to give thanks to the Huns. That the dire necessities of the position have touched the souls even of the most ignorant and selfish is plain from the more immediately favourable response of practically every individual worker to the most recent call to keep the munition factories running without interruption. What, however, we deplore is the almost degrading methods which it has been deemed advisable to'adopt in drumming home the requirements of the Empire. That Sir Douglas Haig's personality should have to be brought into direct contact with the munition worker—be the slacker ever so greatly in the minority—on behalf of our Army in France, " to enable it to complete its task," and that he. Sir Douglas, should feel that " this appeal will not be in vain," is a form of abase ment for a distinguished man which one would have deemed almost impossible in a nation which has risen, as a whole, so magnificently to its sense of duty to our Empire and the civilised world. The leaders of the men have done—and done well—all that was required of them in guiding their organisations into the correct and only possible decision in this the latest phase of the holiday question, and it is to be hoped, that now the general offensive of the Allies has made its start, there will be no further occasion to call upon those this side not to jeopardise the gathering of the fruits of all our past efforts for the sake of a temporary indulgence in what would be just now the dangerous, although admittedly well- *earned, luxury of a rest. It is now no longer a case of self-denial, it is clearly a, case of sheer necessity and duty. • ' • • ft Unsuccessful as he was in completing Berlin. h*s task, Sub - Lieutenant Pierre Marchal, of the French Air Service, will go down to history in this war as the man who demonstrated " a Berlin" by way of the air, not only a possibility, but made it an accomplished fact. That no hostile object was intended in this remarkable adventure, renders the ® ® The Army Council. IN the London Gazelle of the 21st it was announced that the King had been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the 7th inst., to appoint: The Right Hon. Lloyd George, President; The Right Hon. 'the Earl of Derby, K.G., G.C.V.O., C.B., Vice-President; General Sir W. R. Robertson, K.C.B., K.C.V.O., D.S.O., Lieutenant- General Sir J. S. Cowans, K.C.B., M.V.O., Lieutenant-General Sir C. F. N. Macready, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., Major-General (Temporary Lieutenant-General) Sir D. Henderson, K.C.B., D.S.O., Major-General Sir S. B. von Donop, K.C.B., Major- General R. D. Whigham, C.B., D.S.O., and Mr. H. W. Forster, to be His Majesty's Army Council. Gallantry In Saving Life. IN the list of monthly awards of the Royal Humane Society appear the following :— Bronze medal to Second Lieutenant A. W. KEEN, Royal Flying Corps, for his rescue of Lieutenant MacBeth from the aea near Montrose on June 17th. The aeroplane on which • JULY 27, 1916. feat all the more creditable, as, from the leaflet messages which were distributed over Germany's capital by the pilot, the real object of the hazardous journey was revealed, and every credit is due to the French Command which sanctioned the flight and to the intrepid pilot who undertook the delivery of " the goods." That the German public have been saturated with official German statements of the will and intention of the French and British air services to bomb non-military residents in unfortified cities whenever they got the chance there is little doubt. By this means it has been sought—and successfully to an extent—to justify the abominations perpetrated under the air command of the Huns. By the action of Lieutenant Marchal it has now been made perfectly clear to the German nation that, except by way of drastic reprisal, the Allies have no intention or desire to harm non-combatants if it can be avoided, and the message dropped to the effect that " We might have bombarded the open city of Berlin and so killed innocent women and children, but we are satisfied with dropping this proclamation," should help them to realise the dastardly work of their own air-pirates in its true light. That it could have been proved possible for a pilot to traverse so great a distance as 840 miles across country under ordinary touring or com petition conditions would, in itself, constitute an out standing world's record. To have accomplished so remarkable a journey under the existing conditions of Europe and to have missed the intended goal in Russia by a matter of only about 60 miles, brings the achieve ment into the realms of the marvellous. It is well noted the time when Lieutenant Marchal left Nancy on June 20th, and it is no doubt equally well authen ticated at what hour on June 21st he landed near Cholm in Poland. We shall hope that steps may presently be taken to " homoiogue " this cross-country trip as a world's record. After all, whatever horrors may arise between nations in allaying the passions oi men who seek to transform the nations of this earth, sport is still a world of its own, and one which will ever command the admiration and respect of every section of the world's inhabitants. Even if the Huns fail to recognise anything praiseworthy in this novel method of administering an antidote to their " Kultur," France, Great Britain and the rest of the civilised nations will, we feel sure, be only too ready to accept this unique " record," and in good time do homage to its holder. ® ® Lieutenant MacBeth was flying came down in the sea, and1 Lieutenant Keen, who was also flying, seeing the accident, at once landed, and, making his way to the place, was just in time to save Lieutenant MacBeth, who was trying to swim ashore from the wrecked machine. Medal to Second Lieutenant SYDNEY SMITH, also of the- Royal Flying Corps, for his rescue of a man of the R.G.A.. from the harbour at Portsmouth on June 3rd. Naval Aircraft and Preparation for War. IN his article in the Sunday Pictorial of July 23rd, detailing the happenings which preceded the outbreak of war, Mr. Winston Churchill, who was at the time First Lord of the Admiralty, fixes the date of July 27th, 1914, when all naval aircraft was moved to vulnerable points on the East Coast. Sweden and Neutrality in the Air. A PROVISIONAL ORDER has been published in Stockholm prohibiting foreign aircraft from passing over Swedish territory without the special permission of the Swedish Government. The decree comes into force immediately. 620
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
