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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0730.PDF
I/OM were obtained, and a great fire broke out in the railway depots. A second squadron successfully attacked the harbour of Grado, a battery on the Lower Isonzo, and military objects at Monfalcone. Despite a very heavy anti-aircraft fire all our aeroplanes returned undamaged." Turkish. Constantinople, August lQth. " On the morning of August 2nd, under the protection of French destroyers, four aeroplanes from a British warship, which appeared off Haifa and attacked Aful (Carmel) and R.F.C. THE following fourth risume of incidents extracted from recent reports of the Royal Flying Corps in France was issued by the Air Board on August 16th :— " July 20th.—At about 6.15 p.m. four of our aeroplanes encountered an equal number of Fokkers, accompanied by two biplanes. A fight which lasted for nearly three-quarters of an hour ensued. Eventually one of the Fokkers was driven down and destroyed ; a second went away hard hit, and the whole formation was dispersed. Our machines returned undamaged, though one pilot was wounded. " Between 8 and 9 p.m. an offensive patrol of four of our machines encountered a hostile formation of 11 machines, winch included L.V.G.'s, Rolands and Fokkers. Our leading machine first dived at an L.V.G., which made off to the east, and then attacked and drove down a Fokker. It was then attacked by a Roland, but, out-manoeuvring it, drove it down. Our second machine had meanwhile closed with another Roland, which was driven down out of control. In this combat two Fokkers, which were about to attack, nearly collided. Our third pilot, who was at a lower altitude, having disposed of a Roland, which fell in a spinning nose-dive, was attacked by a Fokker, and, in consequence of his engine having been hit, he was unable to out-manoeuvre it. He therefore descended in a steep spiral. Our fourth pilot observing this dived to the rescue and engaged the Fokker at a height of 1,000 ft. above the trenches. The Fokker fell to the ground and burst into flames. " Eventually all the hostile machines were dispersed. The destruction of the three hostile macliines is confirmed by independent witnesses. "July 21st.—Much successful co-operation with artillery was carried out; 92 targets were engaged with aeroplane observation and 25 with kite balloon. Several direct hits on gun emplacements were obtained, the ammunition in one continuing to explode for over half an hour. " One of our machines, engaged on photographic duty, was attacked by a Roland, which came level and then dived and attacked under the tail of our aeroplane- Our aeroplane side-slipped till level with the Roland, and then fired three drums into it at 40 yards. The Roland fell to the earth near Leuze Wood. 1 " One of our aeroplanes, whilst on artillery patrol at 4,000 ft., saw eight hostile aircraft at a height of 9,000 ft. It climbed to this height and was joined by five of our fighting machines. At this juncture the enemy were joined by five L.V.G.'s and two Fokkers. Our machines all attacked the somewhat scattered enemy formation. A section of three of our machines dived on to one party, of which one Fokker plunged to earth from a height of 7,000 ft., and two other machines were forced to land. Another machine was seen to fall out of control into a village, and yet another fell headlong to earth in a field. The fighting lasted over half-an-hour, when the remaining enemy machines flew off in twos and threes. " The total of hostile machines brought down on this day was six, and at least three more were driven down damaged. " July 27th.—At 12.30 p.m. four of our bombing machines, armed with heavy bombs, set out to attack an important railway centre on the enemy's lines of communication, where large quantities of ammunition had recently been reported. East of the line clouds were below 5,000 it.', which consider ably favoured the expedition. The bombing machines arrived over their objective between 2 and 2.30 p.m., and all AUGUST 24, 1916. Magareth, dropping bombs and killing one child and wounding four persons, our artillery forced the aeroplanes to withdraw to the coast." Bulgarian. Sofia, August igth. " A squadron of German aeroplanes early this morning attacked railway works near the village of Lanetschewo and the enemy camps near the villages of Karsovo, Gavaliantzi, Dragomirtzi and Kalabak, with good effect. All the aero planes returned to their base." four machines descended to heights of from 2,000 ft. to 4,000 ft. to drop their bombs. The station, which was crowded with rolling-stock, and the sheds, containing ammuni tion, were attacked. Both sheds and rolling-stock were hit, and fires were seen to be started at four different points by our pilots, who remained circling round. " The expedition was practically unmolested by anti aircraft guns or hostile aeroplanes, and all our machines returned safely and landed on their home aerodrome within four minutes of one another." R.N.A.S. The following incidents, extracted from recent reports of the Royal Naval Air Service, were issued by the Air Board on August 19th :— " Our machines have maintained a steady offensive in Southern Bulgaria, which has had a most demoralising effect on the enemy. Places where the heaviest anti-aircraft fire was encountered have been singled out for special attention, with the result that our machines now fly over these places with little or no opposition. Much damage has been done to transport vehicles and their huts. " Our machines have maintained a regular patrol of the Dardanelles, attacking with bombs and machine gun fire all enemy movements. " On July 2nd two of our seaplanes proceeded on a recon naissance over Haifa and dropped bombs on the bridge and wharf. One of the machines came to grief, and was observed half a mile from Acre drifting towards the shore in a sinking condition. The other machine thereupon landed a few yards from it and took aboard the pilot. As it was impossible to salve the machine it was fired at and sunk. The remaining machine then returned, carrying three persons, one sitting on the petrol tank. " On July 21st one of our seaplanes, when at 11,000 ft., encountered a hostile biplane on the Flanders front. The British pilot dived on the hostile machine, which, in the meantime, was manoeuvring for position under his tail, opening fire at the same time. The machines met nose on, both firing, and passed each other at 20 ft. range, our machine firing one tray. The hostile machine then turned and made for the coast. Our pilot followed, but owing to lack of petrol was forced to descend. " On July 28th one of our machines sighted a hostile aeroplane returning towards Nieuport. Diving from 14,000 ft. to 10,000 ft., and manoeuvring to get the advantage, our pilot opened fire at close range. Unfortunately, whilst the attack was being carried out, the machine experienced a strong con cussion, and, getting out of control, dived steeply and dropped, spinning some 2,000 ft. The pilot with great difficulty eventually regained control of his machine and made a safe landing. The machine was found to have the whole upper surface of the left-hand upper plane and two-thirds of the right-hand upper plane stripped of fabric. This damage was caused by the explosion of a shell close to the machine." A Raid by the R.N.A.S. THE Admiralty issued the following announcement on August 19th ;— " At noon yesterday, the 18th inst., a successful attack was carried out by naval aeroplanes on enemy ammunition dumps at Lichtervede.. " Forty-eight bombs were dropped from a height of about 3,000 ft., and large fires were afterwards observed. " All machines returned safely." From Other Sources. The Daily News Special Correspondent, writing from the British Headquarters on August 9th, says :— " With the other War Correspondents, I have been given the opportunity to read the official reports of the operations of our ^flying men in the last part of the month of July. It is an amazing document. As I have said once before, there is material here awaiting Mr. Kipling as wonderful, as out rageously improbable, as anything which he found in the 726
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