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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0848.PDF
[/OGHT] The Daily Telegraph correspondent in Milan, writing on SeptemlK-r i|th. says :-- ;"Ic~day's official bulletin reports another bomb outrage on Venice by Auxtriati biplane*, in which they succeeded. after a flight of some 40 miles, in making a fairly good hit at the church of ban Giovanni tad Paolo, and tlio old-age poor asylum. The damages happily, are stated to be slight, but the j. . with wlm h the Austrians, while pretending t<. aim el i ,itilicatiomt, which do not exist in Venice, succeed in hitting famous monuments, is peculiar. "San Giovanni and Paolo M well known to every habitu.' of Venue It was long ago declared a national monument, .OK! Matidw in tin midst oi tin- Campo di San Zanipolo. It is tin- Mcoad largest ( hurch in Venice, and contains the tombs of more 1 li.tr> twenty Dogat The edifice was built in 1430 in the Italian Gothic style, on the spot where an ancient oratory had stood Owing to its being the resting-place of so many lioges it hat often been called the Italian Pantheon. It contains also many paintings by the best Italian masters. " If these vandal raids continue on Venice, it is not impossible that this sacred building, like many others, from having Ix-in a monument of Italian glory, may become a ruined monument to Austrian shame." \ Router message from Salonica on September 13th reports;— " Two days ago Bulgarian aeroplanea dropped bombs on the outskirts of Kavala, killing six Jews and three Greeks and wounding many other*. British and Russian warships are shelling the for*', .mil heights around Kavala, which arc occupied by the Bulgarians. Col, Christodoulos, with the remnants of his division and his guns and munitions, is expected to arrive- here (Salonica) daily." In an artii h on tin F/ench advance last week, the Petit Parisien says : " Admirably protected by the artillery, large numbers of aviators went up. and every quarter of an hour they made (Worts t" t ,t tu i.il '(,,' thmwing down notes containing all possible details. The majority of the aviators flew at a height of 150 metres. " An extremely important position was taken by assault south of the l'ii>/ harm, where the Germain had organised a veritable labyrinth of fortifications protected by numerous machine guns. Our artillery, advised by the aviators, had found the ex.el range, and wrought such destruction among the machine guns anil shelters that the Germans were forced to abandon this stums position, an operation in which they • material!? assisted by the vigorous assault of the French infantiv The Times Correspondent at the British Headquarters 111 Prance, writing on September 1 ,(h, notes :— " They have generally been beautifully clear autumn days, though the mornings hayc been hazy and the visibility conditions pool until the sun has dispelled the mist. Then our airmen have had their chance—and have taken advantage " The day before yesterday three of our machines tackled a party of five enemy aeroplanes well behind the German •nil Tiuepval. As soon as we attacked two of the German airmen went down The other three stayed and fought until one was sent crashing to the earth, when the other two also dropped to safety. The official rommtmiqwj has told you how in the fighting of Saturday evening our aeroplanes followed our attacks, and, flying low, joined in the battle by using their machine guns on the enemy's troops. This is by no meant the first instance o! this being done, am] I have quoted before passages from tin- letters and diaries of prisoners testifying to the .1u1l.11 it v od oui airmen and the terror with which the enemy regard* them-—' until you almost expect them to come down and drag you out of the trench,' as one man wrote. " Yesterday I beard from prisoners much more talk to the same eficct. The Germans all seem to have acquired utempt for their own air sen-ice. They say that if an officer wants to get fat he joins ttie living Corps. the officers 01 which do nothing but go and sit in the theatre at 1 illc with their breasts all covered with medals. It is doubtless unjust. W. know that our own hying men have a most chivalrous regard for their enemies ni the air. But the bitterness on the subject among the German troops is universal, and is extraordinary testimony to the superiority of our own nil " Being practically without direct observation now from SEPTEMBER 28, 1910, the high ground, the enemy has more than ever need of a competent air service. To-day he was doing his best to fill its place with a larger number of kite balloons than he has had up for a long time. They were especially numerous beyond Qinchy, at a safe distance behind his lines, and they were sufficient evidence of the straits that he is now in." Writing two days later, he says :— " The weather has been dull, with rain at intervals, and the clouds so low that aeroplane work would seem hardly practicable. But it is an inspiring thing to see our airmen, through wind and rain, below the clouds or among them, passing and repassing overhead, always patrolling the whole line of the battle front. Our flying men continue to dominate the air in a way which is, we know, very discouraging to the German troops, and must be intensely humiliating to German airmen. A German might well be afraid even to build a castle in the air nowadays. " Now and again—especially after a few dull days when our men have been prevented from doing their worst—the enemy airmen pluck up courage and try to become aggressive. Thus, on September 7th, we are told in the official reports (there had be^n more or less rain on the three preceding days) ' the enemy's activity was considerably above the average. Several of his machines attempted to cross the lines for a short distance.' One of them was brought down. " And this ' activity above the average ' was at a time when every day our men were flying over every point of importance within 30 miles of the Front, and sometimes reaching places 70 miles away. They were dropping bombs on railway lines and .depots and ammunition stores and columns of transport on the road. They dipped down low to use their machine guns on marching troops. They attacked and destroyed the enemy's observation balloons. They even slid out of the clouds and—audacity could go no further— engaged and routed the anti-aircraft guns themselves ! " As for the way in which they bully the enemy's machines when they can get at them, a few specific examples will illustrate it. On September 1st Lieut. ' encountered a formation of 12 Rolands.' Naturally, Lieut. got away as fast as he could. Did he ? Read this :— '' He dived in amongst them, firing one drum. The formation was broken up. Lieut. then got under the nearest machine and fired one drum at 15 yards under the pilot's scat, causing the machine to plunge to earth south east of Bapaume. Shortly afterwards some more hostile aeroplanes came up in formation. Lieut. attacked one, which went down and landed in a gap between two woods. Several other machines were engaged with indecisive results, and, having expended all his ammunition, Lieut. re turned.' " It was careless of Lieut. not to have more ammuni tion about him ; but what is one to say to a man like this, who spends a happy day in tackling, first, 12 enemy machines and then ' several ' more, diving into them like a hawk into a flight of pigeons and simply ' shooing ' them all over the sky ? " And that same evening another lieutenant took a hand in the game of fluttering Volscians. The covey which he ran into had only eight birds. He picked out one—doubtless the old cock, though the report does not say so—which ' went down in a spin ' (you know how a bird does it some times) ' falling near Bapaume.' The neighbourhood of Bapaume seems to have been fairly sprinkled with damaged enemy aeroplanes that day. " Another two officers ' encountered six enemy machines near Cambrai.' Then follows ;— " ' While he was diving at the hostile patrol leader three hostile machines dived on to the tail of Lieut. A.'s machine. One of the enemy machines was engaged by another pilot, while Lieut. B. engaged another and fired 2 drums into it as it passed across the tail of his machine. This enemy machine made a vertical dive with a stream of smoke pouring out behind. Lieut. A. turned and opened fire on the third machine with his front gun, firing about 20 rounds at it. The pilot turned and got under the tail, and Lieut. A. also turned and fired another 20 rounds into it. after which it was seen to dive vertically out of control and to turn on its back. The remaining hostile machines dispersed, and were seen to land west of Cambrai.' " On another occasion one of our machines was attacked by four of the enemy, but, ' turning sharply, emptied one drum into the nearest at 20 yards range,' when the enemy turned on his side and fell. The pilot then attacked another
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