FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0380.PDF
I/LIGHT I This wood was where the Prussian Guard, the 25th Grenadiers,had massed for a counter-attack and were attacked with great effect by a flock of our airmen using light bombs. Themanoeuvre is rare, and never before, perhaps, has this form of attack against infantry been employed with such hugesuccess." Reuter's correspondent, writing on Saturday, records thefollowing incident :—• " Yesterday morning our airmen were very active over theenemy positions of Bailleul, Vimy, and Petit Vimy. Through some cause, of which I have not heard the nature and whichis really immaterial, one of our aeroplanes had to make a forced descent, and alighted Well behind the German lines,near to Vimy. Staff officers, looking on from various obser- vation posts, naturally expected to sec a burst of machine-gunfire levelled against the lamed duck, and batteries were ordered to stand by to open upon the machine and destroy it as soonas the two occupants were clear of it; but the silence remained unbroken at this particular spot. The pilot and the observerclambered out and began walking towards our lines, beating their breasts to warm themselves, and no signs of any effortto molest them were perceived by the many watchers on the British side. " Then the truth became evident. The garrisons hadsneaked away (luring the night." Another curious incident is mentioned by the Times corre-spondent on April 14th :— " One of the curious incidents of the battle is that theCanadians, at a certain place, found in a dug-out and released two British airmen (whose names I cannot learn to-night),who were captured five days before. One was wounded and the other was put with him in a dug-out to look after him.Together with other things, they seem to have been forgotten in the enemy's flight, and they are now safe again." Writing on the following day, he gives the following :— APRIL 19, 1917. " Every day one is filled with admiration for the perform-ances of our airmen, and yesterday I watched them sailing unperturbed over the whole of the Lens area. From anotherdirection, however, I hear of one of the most gallant deeds of this war. A solitary airman was returning from a distanttrip when he was attacked by a large party of enemy machines. He fought till his ammunition was all exhausted, while makingfor home, himself and his machine being almost shot to bits. He had one eye literally shot out, a bullet in his body, and hisfoot smashed. His machine was riddled. " In spite of all, he made his report, in which he apologisedfor making a rather rough landing because his smashed foot impaired control. Then, duty done, he died. No honour,whether the Victoria Cross or anything else, while it may recognise such a deed as this, can adequately measure it." Four further anecdotes are given by the correspondent ofthe Matin on the British front, who says the flying services were splendid as usual :— " The pilot and the observer of a squadron, a captain anda lieutenant respectively, pursued and twice dispersed two companies of Bavarian infantry, each 200 men strong. " An air patrol fought 12 successive engagements nearDouai. On its return two aeroplanes missed their way and found themselves in the thick of it above the enemylines. " One of them engaged from a height of 200 ft. a squadronof Pomeranian Hussars, killed about 20 of them, and dis- persed the remainder. The other aeroplane, from the samealtitude, used its machine-gun upon a squad of 100 Germans who were unloading trucks in a railway station, and exter-minated the lot. " Finally—a deed of unheard-of prowess—three aeroplanesflew along the main street of Lens on a level with the roofs, - and liberally bombed a regiment of Bavarian infantry whichWas marching with swinging stride on the road of retreat." AIRCRAFT WORK AT THE FRONT. OFFICIAL INFORMATION. British. General Headquarters, April loth. "Our aeroplanes performed valuable work yesterday inco-operation with our infantry, and in a number of cases inflicted casualties-with machine-gun fire on hostile reinforce-ments. Bombing expeditions were also carried out, in which a number of hits were obtained upon a large railway stationutilscd by the enemy, and three trains were wrecked. As a result of air fighting three German aeroplanes were destroyedand four others were forced down. One of our machines is missing." General Headquarters, April nth. " Our aeroplanes were active again yesterday, and, inspite of a strong westerly gale and frequent snowstorms, performed valuable work in co-operation with our infantry.Few hostile machines were seen, and all our aeroplanes returned safely." General Headquarters, April 12th. " In spite of exceedingly bad weather for aerial work,our aeroplanes were active again yesterday, and seized every opportunity to harass hostile troops with machine-gun fire.During a short fine period one of our naval squadrons, while escorting British bombing machines, was heavily attacked bya number of hostile aeroplanes, and did exceptionally well. Without suffering any loss itself it destroyed three of theattacking machines, and drove down three others in a damaged condition. Altogether four German aeroplanes were broughtdown yesterday, and five others were driven down damaged. Six of our machines failed to return, and three others werebrought down." General Headquarters, April 13th. " Much useful work was done by our aeroplanes yesterday, although the weather continued to be unfavourable for flying. The only hostile formation encountered was severely handled by one of our patrols, who drove down four of the enemy's machines out of control. One other hostile aeroplane was destroyed by us during the day. Three of our machines are missing." General Headquarters, April 14th. " Yesterday and during the night of the 12th inst. large quantities of explosives were dropped by our aeroplanes with good results on enemy stations, ammunition depots and aero- dromes, and hostile infantry and convo ^ were successfully attacked with machine-gun fire. In the course of air fighting behind the enemy's lines four German machines were brought down and six others driven down. Twelve of our machines failed to return." War Office, April 14W1. " Salonica.—-Our aircraft have carried out several successful raids, on one occasion causing considerable damage to an enemy aerodrome, and on another to an neemy dump. A double-engined enemy battleplane was driven down and its crew captured." French, Paris, April 10th. " Salonica.—The British air service bombarded the enemy camps at Privista, in the zone of the Gulf of Orfano." Paris, April nth. " Salonica.—Our fire compelled a squadron of 12 German aeroplanes to turn tail in the Vardar Valley." Paris, April 13th. " Salonica.—British aviators effectively bombarded the station of Porna." Russian. Petrograd, April nth. " In the region of Galatz a French aviator hit a German, aeroplane, which fell, enveloped in flames, upon Galatz." Petrograd, April 13th. " In the region of the station of Pogoryltsy, on the Alex- androff Railway, a German aeroplane was brought down by Capt. Evsinkoff and Sub-Lieut. Tretiakoff. Our aviators carried out a flight over Gorokhoff (east of Sokal), and the adjoining railway line. Several scores of bombs were dropped. A squadron of German aeroplanes, consisting of 16 machines, made an iinsuccessful attack upon our rear in the region of Monasterzy ska." Italian. Rome, April 13th. " This morning, at dawn, enemy aircraft dropped bombs on the pumping station at Codigoro without doing any damage." German. Berlin, April 12th. " In spite of the gale there was much aerial activity. Inthe course of the air fighting the enemy lost 23 machines, and one aeroplane by infantry fire. Bombing attacks onenemy troop camps and ammunition dumps in the Vesle and Suippes valleys were observed to inflict damage. Capt.Baron von Richthofen shot down his 40th enemy machine." Berlin, April 13th. "During the night of April 10-nth one of our battlesquadrons dropped 3! tons of bombs on enemy barracks and an encampment near Fism.es and Bazoches. Several hitsand fires were observed. Reports from our advanced line referring to heavy and continuous explosions in the directionof Fismes confirm the results observed. " Flight Commander Robinson was shot down on the 5 thinst. by a German battle aviator," 38O
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
