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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0977.PDF
NOVEMBER 2, 1916. wcftild have been hard to miss them, and a large number were either killed or wounded. Meanwhile the second train came to a standstill near the junction as the wrecked train on the main line was blocking its way. The other machine attacked it with six bombs, two of which hit the train and one the engine. Troops also here began to descend and were fired on. They fled towards the neighbouring village. Altogether between 600 and 700 rounds were fired by the two aeroplanes, and many German soldiers were hit. Neither of our machines were .fired on. As soon as the attack on the trains began the main raiding party, composed of seven aero planes, and an escort attacked Libercourt Station at about 2 p.m., where 14 heavy and 34 smaller bombs were dropped. Station buildings, sidings and rolling-stock were hit, some carriages were wrecked, and one coach was afterwards ob served to be lying crossways over the line. |/i]GHT] • <5> Any Machinery Standing Idle ? MANUFACTURERS possessing idle resources and desiring to be placed in touch with Government Contracting Depart ments are invited to communicate with the Central Clearing House, Ministry of Munitions, 8-9, Northumberland Street, W., with the object of utilising any machinery which they have unemployed. To this end the Minister of Munitions has established a central clearing house organisation in the Ministry for the purpose of tracing and registering all such machinery which is idle or about to become idle. The organisation will endeavour :—(a) To ensure that contracts placed by the Ministry are directed towards any unoccupied manufacturing capacity which might exist in the country; (b) To place engineering contractors who have suitable facilities for particular supplies in touch with the Ministry and with other Government departments requiring these supplies, and to help contractors who are able to undertake additional or more suitable work now or at a future date to maintain continuous employment of their machinery and labour. A Colonial ex-Premier on Air Power. Ax the meeting of the Pilgrims addressed by Mr. W. F. Massey, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, on October 26th, Sir Joseph Ward urged that from the war the lesson should be learned that in the years to come an air fleet of a magnitude equal to that of the British Navy on the seas would be necessary if we were to hold our own and maintain the solidarity of the British Empire. As in the past a naval programme of two keels to every keel laid by our rivals had been necessary, so must the programme of construction of the British air fleet surpass the programme of other Powers. It must be recognised that war in the air would be a factor of vast importance. The Death of Captain Boelcke. ALTHOUGH there is some doubt at present as to how he came by his end, it is now admitted from Berlin that Capt. Boelcke was killed on October 28th during an air fight. The Berlin telegram says that his machine collided with another, and he was killed in landing in the German lines, but a Cologne message states that he was shot down by a British pilot east of Cambrai. It is claimed that on the previous day he had shot down his fortieth enemy machine. It will be recalled that it was reported that he had been shot down and killed by the French pilot Adjutant Ribiere on June 18th, the day that Lieut. Immelmann, was felled by Lieut. McCubbin, R.F.C., but the report was quickly contra dicted from Berlin. Until the death of Immelmann his name and Boelcke were almost always linked together as the outstanding exponents of the Fokker monoplane. Boelcke was 25 years of age, and took up flying in the spring of 1914. Another Prominent German Flyer Killed. , ACCORDING to the correspondent of the Lokalanzeiger on the Western front, German military aviation has sustained another heavy loss in the death of Capt. Schmidt, one of their best pilots. He is said to have been shot while over the Allied lines, and though he got back to the German lines he succumbed to his wounds soon afterwards. The Mystery of Commander Mathy. DESPITE the persistence with which German Press agents tried to make out that the Commander of the airship " The patrol over Brovin Aerodrome destroyed a hangar in the course of its work, and that over a neighbouring village caused a fire, which spread all over the northern part of it. " This is believed to have been casued by a petrol store being hit, as the fire was still burning at 7 p.m. that evening. One hostile aeroplane came on the scene during the pro ceedings, but this was easily driven off. "September 26th.—A contact patrol machine flew over Gird trench at between 300 and 400 ft. during the morning. The Germans in the trench held up their hands and waved white handkerchiefs. This information was transmitted to the ground station, and the Germans shortly afterwards surrendered to our troops. "Hostile kite balloons were attacked at ii a.m.; two were brought down in flames." <$> <s> " L. 31" brought down at Potters' Bar was Capt. Schreib Muller, it is apparently now admitted that Capt.-Lieut. Heinrich Mathy was the officer. At any rate, Die Woche prints his portrait and describes him as the " commander of the airship destroyed on the aerial attack on London October ist-2nd," The paper also publishes a photograph of " Ober-Lieutenant zu S. Werner Peterson, who met a hero's death in the aerial attack on London, September 23rd-24th." Presumably he was on the airship brought down in flames in Essex. Zeppelins Working with Submarines. IN connection with the ruthless submarine campaign against Scandinavian shipping, the Germans are using a great number of Zeppelins for patrolling the Norwegian coasts, says the Bergen correspondent of the Poliiiken. The crew of one of the torpedoed Norwegian ships report that a Zeppelin, having sighted the ship, signalled with a large flag, whereupon a German submarine came up • and sank the steamer. A number of other steamers are being pursued by the airships. Holland and Zeppelins. BOTH the Telegraaf and the Nieuws van den Dag are urging the Dutch Government to take stronger measures against the repetition of Zeppelin incidents over Holland. The Telegraaf characterises the recent trip, when a bomb was dropped, as a hostile act against which protests are useless, while the Nieuws van den Dag describes it as an intentional violation of Dutch territory. The former paper demands a larger number of anti aircraft installations, and calls for airmen to be stationed near spots which have special importance for the Germans, in order that when a Zeppelin appears over Holland strong military measures may teach the Germans to refrain from such undesirable visits. Count Zeppelin at it Again. HAVING recovered from his recent illness, Count Zeppelin has been paying a visit to his works .at Friedrichshafen. By way of encouraging the workmen, he told them that the airships they had constructed had recently spread destruction and terror in the world's largest fortified capital. The Davis non-recoil gun, which has been developed in America for use on aeroplanes. It is seen with the breach open for loading. 09
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