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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0757.PDF
AUGUST 31, 1916. hood of bt Quentm. An order came to us on July IQth to proceed to the Somme front. About 3 o'clock in "the after-n0 °n£ 'st b*"al*on of *Te 7«t Reserve Regiment and the nth Reserve Battalion of Jaeger were in St. Ouentin Station ready to entrain. We had placed our arms and equipment in the c£trri3.ges. " At this moment some British aeroplanes appeared and dropped bombs. One fell on a building full of ammunition and caused a violent explosion. There were 200 ammunition wagons in the station and 60 exploded. The remainder were only saved with difficulty. " The train which was to have carried the troops together with all the equipment and baggage, was destroyed' in addi tion to a large quantity of war materials stored on the plat forms. The men, seized with panic, fled in all directions A hundred men of the 71st Regiment and go men of the 1 ith Jaeger were killed or wounded. It was not before several hours that it was possible to reassemble the battalion of the 71st Regiment, which was sent to rest, and the next day it entrained at another station in order to be entirely re- equipped. Afterwards the battalion was sent to Peronne, where it was placed in reserve before going into action." The Times correspondent at the British Headquarters, writing on August 16th, says :— > " Next to the infantry in his trenches, I am inclined to think that those among the enemy's fighting men who have the worst time nowadays are his airmen. They must try to cross our lines for observation purposes, and if they fly high (/OlHi] while .it MM tin- they got hunted and beaten down by our lu.ulnn. anything loss than the highest altitudes thc\ 1 target of our anti-aircraft guns. " 1 know one ' Archie ' whiclihas brought (town two enemy machines in the last four days ; and, among .ill the different branches which are helping in this battle. I .1111 not sure that the men with the anti-aircraft guns have hid their propel share of appreciation. It is they who keep the enemy machines up too high for useful observation, and night and day they lead a nerve-racking life," Mr. Henry Wood, the Paris repros. QJ tu« Tinted Press of America, titer a visit to the Front, writes ;— " 1 also visited one of the four aviation camps which protect every depot. During my visit scarcely a minute passed without armed aeroplanes either returning ironi 01 departing for the German front. The air was literally alive with them. ... \ "Equally impressive was a jo mile horseshoe of French observation ' sausages ' overhanging at a great height the entire battle front, wirelessly directing the French fire. In numerable French aeroplanes darted in and out among the ' sausages.' crossjng and recrossing the German lines every minute. But not a single German aeroplane ever appeared either to drive back the French and attack the sausage ' 01 to reconnoitre. Nor was a single tierinan ' sausage visible to offset the 26 French ' sausages ' which 1 was able to count. Nothing could give a more vivid impression of the undisputed French mastery of the air." msmgnemr A Six-Passenger Height Record. THE Petit Parisien reports that the Italian pilot, Anto- nacci, at Milan, on one of the large Italian military biplanes recently took up six passengers to a height of 5,850 metres (19,912 ft.), thus pretty badly beating the record recently made in France by Poiree of 2,800 metres (9,100 ft.). An Aeroplane Wireless Record. CLAIMED as a record in wireless telegraphy from an aeroplane, Capt. Clarence Culver, of the United States Army Aviation Corps, during a flight from San Diego to Santa Monica, 114 miles away and back, is said to have kept in touch with his station by sending wireless messages every 3 minutes. The power for the transmission set, which was designed.by Capt. Culver, is derived from a generator placed on the lower wing section of the aeroplane and driven by a two-bladed propeller. Aerial wires were hung from the fuselage, with an insulated counterpoise hung from the wings to the tail of the aeroplane. Complete the set is said to weigh less than 40 lbs. Sheppey a Military Area. By an order issued last week, the island of Sheppey, including Sheppey, Queenborough. and Sheerness, becomes a special military area on and after September 7th. No person other than those able to prove that they are exempted from the provisions of Regulation 29B will be allowed to enter the area without the permission of the Commandant, whose office is in the Garrison Headquarters at Chatham, and permits will not be available for admission by road or ferry between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. A Camera at the R.A.F. CHARGED at Aldershot on August 24th with being in unlawful possession of a camera and taking photographs within a prohibited area, that of the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, J. N. D. Latouche was remanded. Opening of the N.S.W. State School. SPEAKING at the formal opening of the State flying school at Richmond, N.S.W., on August 28th, Mr. Holman, the Premier, said that funds had been subscribed for presenting five fighting aeroplanes to the Imperial Government, and they hoped to make it half a dozen in a few days. The Government proposed to double these contributions, and within two months it was hoped to have twelve pilots ready to send to England to man the machine. It was expected that the school would turn out a hundred pilots a year. The Governor, Sir Gerald Strickland, said the school was a remarkable example of the keenness and energy of the New South Wales Government to do everything possible to aid the successful prosecution of the war. During the afternoon, Miss Strickland, daughter of the Governor, and Mr. Holman were taken for flights. 753 Zeppelins Over Norway. THE Berlingske Tidnule, on August 28th, published a message from its l.Vrgen Correspondent tliat a nuinliei ol Zeppelins had been seen from the west i oast ol Norway, and two passed over Bergen at a great height, travelling d south to north. Over Holland as Usual. IGNORING continued protests of the Dutch Government, Zeppelins continue to cruise over Holland whenever it their purpose. Last week one of them on its return from England, manoeuvred over the capital, while others wire reported from different parts of Holland. Commenting on this, the Nieuws-van-den-Dag says:— " These cases of violation of territorial rights threaten to become chronic. Sometimes the nonchalance of those gentlemen surpasses the limit between carelessness and impudence." It adds, ironically : " One must appreciate the fact that they do not accidentally drop bombs on Holland A pity there is not a good slice of Dutch-Rumanian • outage about just now. It might add still a bit more to the larger half of the civilised world which disagrees materially with German violation of the laws of decent men. Crocodile Tears from Count Zeppelin. COUNT ZEPPELIN has again been airing his views this \irne in the Deutsche Tageszeitung. Me believes that Germany's superiority in heavy guns, serviceable submarines and Zeppelins will enable her to be victorious against half the world. " If we do not utilise this superiority now," he con cluded, "then serious misfortune will befall us." Perhaps. therefore, it's a bit of luck for the rest of the world tl,.r. Germany's up against more than half of it. More German " Frlghtfulness." PURELY German in idea and execution is the I German move reported by the Belgian correspondent of the Journal des Debats. He states that as a result of a visit of Allied aviators to Brussels the Germans have decided that in future they will place prominent citizens of Brussels, in turn, in the Zeppelin and aeroplane hangars. One day five notable citizens were shut up in the wooden structures, and, in view of the terrible bombardment to which certain parts near Ghent have been submitted, it is not doubted that these measures will be vigorously carried out in future. And then there is talk about trusting to the Huns' honour again some day ! A Zeppelin Reported Damaged. LAST week the Dutch frontier guards near Maastricht several times fired on Zeppelins which were cruising over Holland. One airship, it is reported, was so seriously damaged in this way, on August 25th, that it had to descend near Liege.
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