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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0704.PDF
heart is too hot for that to-day. Perhaps I have no such technical knowledge as would justify me in criticising the apparent unreadiness or inadequacy of our air defences. And certainly I have no patience with which to reply to the arguments (unworthy of the intellect of a Lilliputian) of the people who have lately told the House of Lords that the Germans have a right to bomb London." THE very small amount of material damage caused is amazing. Only four actual fires were caused by the bombs, and one only of these necessitated a district call. WHILST at a police court the cellars were opened and a large number of the general public, as well as the officials, availed themselves of that place of refuge, the magistrate, with the chief clerk, mounted to the roof of the court, from which they watched the raiders pass over. AT a street where a bomb fell in the raid on June 13th, another fell on Saturday, doing damage to two dwellings, but this time there was not a single person in them. A young married woman was killed close by from shrapnel. IN one street a bomb fell on a site on which buildings are being demolished, so that its descent helped rather than hindered the workmen, who all got away safely. AT Brompton Parish Church, the wedding service of Mr. A. O. McMurtrey, of Montreal, and Mis Isabella D. Strathy, of the same city, was punctuated by the reports of gunfire and fallen bombs. Both bride and bridegroom kept calm, and although it was suggested postponing the ceremony, neither were taking chances, and insisted on its going on. THAT many, if not all, of the bombs are poisonous in their constituent parts there is little doubt. Dr. James Sequeira, physician in charge of the skin department of the London Hospital, in this connection warns the public and souvenir hunters that at the London Hospital he saw 14 cases of severe dermatitis, due to contact with powder from bombs dropped in the raid of June 13th. The majority of the patients were workpeople handling material which had been impreg- nated with dust from the explosive. In two cases the feet were affected through irritant matter in the streets. In one case simply handling powder picked up was the cause. The characters of the eruption were exactly similar in all cases. On the hands, the palms and fingers were stained a deep orange colour, and the inflamed area was covered with closely- set vesicles, in some instances confluent. The condition reminded one of a severe pompholyx. The hands •were very swollen, and movement was impaired. The patients com- plained of intense burning and irritation. A point of special interest is that the vesicular dermatitis began in nearly every instance on the ninth day after the first contact with the powder. AMONG the victims of Saturday's raid were two German master bakers and one foreman baker. FROM the Daily Chronicle "Office Window" :—" 'Oh for five minutes of Capt. Ball to smash this insolent forma- tion," one thought, as he watched the air raiders lower themselves out of the clouds. To the present writer, who stood in a commanding position, they were no dragon flies or fluttering birds. They were huge, sharply-defined, mobile magazines of death. They came to the Metropolis, down and down, searching with contemptuous deliberation. After the first bomb a piecemeal avalanche followed, with unhastened regularity, like the rhythmic beats of an incredible metronome. The demons who drove and dealt death cared as little for us as the earlier Zeppelinists cared. " Their turning movement Was masterly, defiantly precise ; JULY 12, 1917. because we had not a Ball to break it. A black beast which led suddenly drew away from the stately procession, banked and turned south. All the rest followed in his wake, like ships at a naval review. Nobody disturbed them, though there was fighting toward, and vast guns roared repetitive ker-r-umphs ! The machines turned perfectly, the innermost seeming to mark time as the outer ones accelerated. The manoeuvre was a well-rehearsed triumph for the enemy, but it seemed to us who watched deeply humiliating that such a thing should be achieved unhindered over daylight London." WHEN the raid became imminent there were about 300 out- patients in attendance at a hospital, and they were sent by a doctor to the basement for safety. When the raid was over an old lady approached the doctor and handed him a collec- tion of pennies amounting to over 16s. which had been made by these out-patients out of gratitude to the doctor for the shelter given them. A FEW minutes after the air squadrons had retreated London Went placidly on with its routine. Here is a small but quite typical instance. In the midst of the noise of explosions and the loud dTone of the flying craft, a member of a certain club, having ordered a cup of coffee, took it in his hand and went out upon the balcony. The club waitress followed him to remind him that he had not paid for his coffee ; took the money and returned with the change. WITHIN three minutes of the detonation of the last bomb dropped on Saturday a sugar queue of women had been formed outside a West London stores, so large that a police- man had to regulate it. A MOTE in his eye. " One observer," says a London paper, " thinks the machines were not more than 2,000 ft. up." As Chaucer has it : " He moot as well say one word as another." OVERHEARD immediately after the last air raid on London : Old Gentleman, inclined towards a superfluity of avoirdupois : " Ah, our shaps fought dem very veil, dey fought dem very veil indeed." XOWHBRE was the raid watched with keener interest than at the Royal Aero Club. Not until the raiders appeared to be directly overhead and the sound of the bombs grew un- comfortably near did those members who happened to be on the premises retire to the billiard room in the basement. " I think I'll go below for a few minutes," said one member, " as I want to see the next raid too." A well-known designer of aircraft, who is of somewhat massive build, suggested taking refuge under the billiard table, but on someone pointing out that if he got underneath there would be no room for anyone else, the idea was aban- doned. The domestic staff of the Club assembled in the basement when matters got a bit " warm," but one servant, with complete indifference such as only a Briton could display, calmly went on cleaning windows all the time. Another had the presence of mind to feel faint, and thus obtain brandy during prohibited hours. When the raid was over a member who tried to make a telephone call got put on to another line in time to hear an excited male voice exclaim : " Yes, they came right over my place only 500 ft. up ! " Everyone counted the enemy machines, and everyone got a different result. Some must have included our own aero- planes, while it is suspected others added in the date and the number they first thought of. Much professional admiration was expressed at the manner in which the Huns kept their fighting formation, and at the daring they showed by what one gentleman described as -their " lowth." To Protect the Children. THE London Education Committee are distributing the following among all children :— " During danger from an air raid all children will remain inside the school buildings ; all gates will be shut, an^joo one will be admitted. Crowding round the school premises only increases the danger. " No place is absolutely safe, but experience shows that children are safer in school buildings than if sent out into the streets. " The L.C.C. is doing all it can to secure the safety of the children, and it is hoped that parents will help by leaving their children entirely under the control of the teachers until all danger is over." R.N.A.S. Stars. THE Secretary of the Admiralty announces that the star Worn on the sleeve by graded officers of certain ranks in, the R.N.A.S. is to be of the same size and design as the epaulette star Worn by officers below the rank of Rear- Admiral, but in gold instead of in silver. On the shoulder- strap the star will be of a similar pattern, but of one-half the diameter. The two stars worn by Squadron Commanders of less than eight years' seniority as Flight Lieutenant, Flight Commander and Squadron Commander will be worn in a vertical line on the sleeve and in a horizontal line on the shoulder-strap. 704
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