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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0431.PDF
MAY 3, 1917. aircraft only since the war but who can show good pre-war standards on otherproducts, and the necessity that the designing firms shall be firmly established during the war if they are to be of service after the War; and whether he cansee his way to establish both for the Munition Act and the Finance Act the first complete war years' accounts of each firm as their standard year ? Mr. Bonar Law: The answer to the first part of the question is in theaffirmative. As regards the second part it would not be possible to adopt the suggestion made by my hon. and gallant friend without a complete departurefrom the principles of the Excess Profits Duty. Under the existing law it is open to any class of business to make an application to the Board of Referees for anincrease of the statutory percentage on capital. Machines for Artillery Reconnaissance. MR. BILLING on April 25th asked the Under-Secretary of State for Warwhether any machines of the BE 2C, BE zD, or BE 2E types have been employed over enemy territory during the recent offensive operations on thewestern front; and, if so, whether it is proposed to continue so to employ them. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Air Board (Major Baird): The typesof machine referred to in the Question are mainly employed for artillery recon- naissance, for the carrying out of which it is necessary that they should flyover enemy territory. The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative. I would add—and on this point I take the opportunity ofcorrecting an answer which I gave to the hon. member on 20th March—that these machines are also used for bombing expeditions when large operationsare in progress. Mr. Billing: Will the hon. and gallant gentleman have inquiries made whetherthe ;c machines are fit to send on bombing expeditions in view of the enormous losses they have suffered ? Major Baird : In the view of the officers responsible they are fit for this sortof work.- 1/LlGHTJ Mr. Billing: Is the hon. and gallant gentleman aware that it takes them50 minutes to clfmb 5,000 feet, and their speed is 70 miles an hour? Major Baird : It is impossible to discuss this by question and answer. Thehon. member will have an opportunity, Capt. Lcefe Robinson, V.C. MR. BILLING asked the Under-Secretary for War on what type of machinewas Captain Leefe Robinson, V.C., flying when he was shot down. Major Baird: The type of machine on which this very gallant officer wasflying when he was shot down was a Bristol Fighter. Mr. Billing: Is the hon. and gallant gentleman aware that this officer hadno experience fighting in this type of machine? Major Baird: I do not think that is so. I will inquire.Sir C. Hobhouse: Is it not a fact that this officer is now discovered to be alive and a prisoner in German hands ?Major Baird: We are not quite sure whether he is alive, but there is still reason to hope he may be, but it is by no means certain. Allocation of Aeroplanes to R.N.A.S. and R.F.C. MR. BILLING asked the Parliamentary representative: tb the Air Boardwhether the R.F.C. have a prior claim to the R.N.A.S. to all -the latest types of aeroplane at present under construction in this country ; and whether itis proposed that all such machines of high efficiency now on order for the R.N.A.S. shall be transferred to the R.F.C. ? Major Baird : Jixe answer to both parts of the question is in the negative •Every endeavour is made to meet the requirements of both the R.N.A.S. and the R.F.C. Where these requirements cannot be met in full the supply avail-able is allocated by the Air Board after full consideration of the respective needs of the two services. "DOING THEIR JOB." MR. PHILIP GIBBS, writing to the Daily Telegraph on April26th, said :— . 6 r v " One thing seems certain to me. The enemy must eitherregain some of his lost positions or get back another 3 miles or so to the main Hindenburg line, if he wishes to escapefrom enormous losses undes our constant gunfire, directed by complete observation, of his present positions. "In the daily official reports the brief picture 'has beengiven of the battle which lias raged in the skies while the earth men have been struggling below. Truly, during theselast few days our air service has fought very wonderfully, and some day one of these young men who go flying out toengage an enemy in the clouds of to search out and signal hostile batteries or to stoop low and scatter infantry andmachine gunners with a shower of bullets, must write the tale of it all. There have been hours when I have heardoverhead a continued tattoo of Lewis guns, and when a great sweep of sky has been tracked out with white shrapnelclouds following our flying squadrons engaged hotly with hostile machines. One cannot follow the progress of theseaerial battles ; it is only rarely that one can distinguish an enemy machine from ours except by the cloudlets of ouranti-aircraft barrage. But far and high one sees the daring specks chasing through the blue of the sky, touched some-times by sunlight, so that for a moment they are all golden or glistening or white as snowflakes, and down to one comesthe loud drone of the engines and the little hammer knock of the Lewis guns. Our soldiers on the march stare up atthat war above their heads, so aloof from them, so dream- like. Men on supply columns get their glasses out, andlaugh when one of our kite balloons is hauled down suddenly with great haste. ' Old Rupert has got the wind up,' theysay. ' A Boche plane must be sneaking round.' " It is no joke when a German airman descends out of acloud and hovers over a battery, signally back to his guns. I was in such a situation the other day and had to crouchwith the gunners below a bank while shrapnel bullets from our own ' Archies ' whipped the ground about. Red wingshave come into the sky, for the new German fighting machines have crimson planes, so that they look like butterflies when*the sun is on them. The enemy airmen have been trying to compete with our own by swooping low above marchingtroops and gun teams, and using their machine guns in a way which adds new perils to war. But though they fightbehind their own lines with great skill and courage, they do not come over our country in any such numbers as our meninvade theirs. This is not a prejudiced statement, but the strict truth, and our airmen go daily far back across theGerman lines, taking thousands of photos., engaging the enemy squadrons, so that they are held back from the line ofbattle, and dropping tons of explosives upon ammunition dumps, railheads and transport. " These boys, for they are absurdly young in average age,take all these deadly risks, and do all this work of terror with the same spirit as the young gentlemen of England rode outwith Lord Chandos and Sir Walter Manny to seek combat with the French knights 600 years ago along the roads whereour modern men-at-arms go marching to-day. During this recent fighting one of them challenged a German Albatros,who accepted the fight, and for an hour they did every trick known to flying—stalling, banking, Bide-slipping, looping—in order to get in first shot. It was the German who tired first, though he showed himself master of his machine. Thereare boys in our air service who have killed six or seven Germans in single combat, a few who have accounted formany more, and go off again for a morning's hunting of men as though on a grand adventure. Yet they know the risksand the fortunes of war. They cannot have all the luck all the time. When the turn comes it is quick to end, or if hitand left alive they do amazing things up there in the high skies to save the final crash. A few evenings ago two of ouryoung officers were attacked by five hostile aircraft, and both were wounded, one in seven places, but they destroyed oneof the German aeroplanes and landed safely, though their own machine was pierced by many bullets. On anotherevening of the battle of Arras two hostile aircraft were engaged by one of ours and forced to land, though one of theofficers had his collar bone broken by a machine gun bullet. Day after day these episodes are repeated, and machines andofficers do not come home. But when another dawn breaks our air squadrons rise again and fly over the storm of battle-fields as I see them onthe wing over Arras and away. " There is no romance except when the tale is told on thenight of bombing raids, no exultant joy in struggling through a snowstorm to drop high explosives on a distant town.During this battle of Arras our airmen have made thousands of flights over the enemy's lines, have engaged in hundredsof combats with hostile squadrons, and, at the cost of their own lives in many cases, have saved our infantry greatlosses by keeping down the fire of the German batteries, destroying their kite balloons, signalling the preparations forGerman counter-attacks, photographing the enemy's trenches and positions, and blinding his own power of observation tosome extent at least by chasing his aeroplanes away from the lines. On a day when our infantry is not hard pressed, it isgood to pay this tribute to the flying men whose exploits are not much recorded, though they are always overhead, andthough the droning song of their engines is always the accom- paniment of the battle down below." The Times correspondent at the War Correspondents'Headquarters, in his despatch on April 24th, says :— "The clearness of the air continues favourable to aerialactivity, and the official communique yesterday told you how well we have been doing. This, however, is only a smallpart of the story. " The great outstanding fact is that our observers continueto do their job and the enemy's do not. That is to say, that all day, unceasingly, our machines are patrolling the battle-field, observing, photographing, reporting and assisting the guns. The enemy machines are not doing so. Far awayon the other side of the line our fighting machines are engaging the German fighters. We necessarily lose some machines.Sometimes one of their fighting machines reaches the battle- field and attacks one of our observation aeroplanes, when theodds necessarily are largely against our man. " All these things, however, are only details compared withthe great essential fact that we remain in control of the observation of the battlefield, and the result is seen in thedeadly work of our artillery and the success of our attacks." 431
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