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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 1122.PDF
|'M<sgg> OCTOBER 25, 1917. day. I was most anxious to avoid two things, namely, boasting about what wewere going to do, and not to give the enemy any information as to what our intentions were. As the House knows, two raids have already taken place overa German town, with a population of ioo.ooo, and apparently my hon. friend thinks that because there are blast furnaces there which can be damaged—andthey are vital, remember, to the conduct of the war—that therefore the raid is not so useful as if there were no blast furnaces. What happened in conse-quence of the pressure of one or two Members of this House and the pressure of the newspapers to find out exactly what was going to be done ? It is a factthat the Germans who knew from the only quarter they could know where these raids would take place, sent down a fighting squadron to be ready for ourmen, and they were ready. Let us come to the special subject of this Motion, the Zeppelin raid of Friday.If the Germans ever smiled at our method of conducting war they will certainly have a very happy time when, in connection with a Zeppelin raid which wasby far the greatest defeat that Germany has ever suffered, they find that the British House of Commons think it necessary to stop its business and adjournin order to discuss this matter. We were told that there were no aeroplanes up. What happened ? Eleven Zeppelins came over to attack London, and onlyone of them succeeded in passing across London. It was, as the House knows, a misty night, and my hon. friend says it was a misty night that saved Londonfrom devastation. How does he know ? I will tell him what is the opinion of our Air Service. They think it was a misty night that saved the, Zeppelin.Then it is said that no guns were firing. I wish people would use a little more common-sense even about war. Are you going to fire guns because you aretold that" a Zeppelin has crossed the coast. Is that what they want ? As I have said, only one Zeppelin succeeded in crossing over London, and owing tothe mist she could not be seen, and she crossed with her engines off, drifting so that it was impossible to hear her. How, then, are you going to fire a gun ?Another complaint has been made that the searchlights were not working. The men responsible for our Air Services are not fools. They found that thesearchlights would not penetrate beyond the mi^t and could not reach the Zeppelins at the height at which they were flying. What my hon. friend wantsus to do is that we should put on all the searchlights to let the commander of the Zeppelin know exactly where London is so that he can drop bombs over it.The main gravamen of the offence is that these Zeppelins came to England and got away and not one of them was brought down. But, fortunately, they werebrought down in France, and you say, " What splendid fellows the French air- men are and what miserable incompetents the English airmen are ! "Mr. Joynson-Hicks : The right hon. gentleman is making a perfectly unfair statement because I did not say that. I distinctly praised the work of our air-men, and I said I had not one word to say against the Naval Air Service or the Royal Flying Corps. Mr. Bonar Law : My hon. friend need not excite himself. He said, Look atthe proof of the magnificent Air Service in France and the incompetent direc- tion of the Air Service in England. Just let the House remember the sameweather conditions which made it impossible for us to see or to attack the Zeppelin was the real cause of the fact that they were lost in France. They losttheir way and when drifting over France our French Allies brought them down. I should be the last to deny to the French Air Service the same competencywhich I claim for our own. They did splendid service in bringing them down, and we are all agreed. In England the Zeppelins were here not only at nightbut on a misty night when it was almost impossible to see them. They went across the Channel, but it was daylight when they were attacked by the Frenchairmen. I thought my hon. friend would have known this elementary fact, that once a Zeppelin had gone to a great height of 17,000, i8,ooo%r 19,000 feet shtcan only do it by letting out gas. She cannot reach that height again, and the longer her journey the lower down she must come, so that when these ships werein France it was in daylight, and they were flying of necessity at a lower altitude they were iu this country. Again, I use a little common-sense. We have proved that when we can >seethem our pilots can bring down a Zeppelin. Does anyone suggest that we are not as competent now as we were then ? I do not think anyone can make thatstatement, and perhaps it is worth while to mention a fact known to me. These Zeppelins travelled for many hours over France during the darkness. One ofthem stood over the lines for a long time in the dark and no notice was taken of it, and it was only when daylight came that they were attacked and broughtdown. Sir F. Lowe : I wish to ask leave to withdraw this Motion, and if I may say,in doing so—— Mr. Speaker : The hon. gentleman is not entitled to make a second speech. Motion, by leave, withdrawn. •" German Tactics in Air Fighting. " BESIDES the artillery, the German infantry also complain of their airmen," says the Times correspondent, writing on October 21st. " We are constantly getting reports from captured officers and so forth that, in the early morning hours especially, their airmen do not put in an appearance, while ' the English come and fire on us in the trenches from a height of 50 metres.' That there is truth in this w^ know. On one day recently, nine of our airmen came back having fired among them over 10,000 rounds from machine-guns on the men in the trenches and shell-holes or moving along the roads. " The fighting lately has been very bitter, the German tactics now being generally to fly in large squadrons. Thus, recently, 10 German machines attacked one British which was having a disagreeable time when, happily, another British patrol came along and threw itself into the meUe. One German machine was sent crashing down and the enemy formation was broken up and withdrew, while our machines came safely home. " In another case five of our machines fell in with 15 Germans, and a truly gorgeous fight followed. One of our men was attacked by three of the enemy, but shot down one in flames. Another, similarly outnumbered, also accounted for one of the enemy. A third machine had a royal time. He was attacked by what is \raguely called a large number of enemies, one of which came close alongside, but before it could do any harm the struts of its planes were shot away, the two wings on one side crumpled together, and the machine went whirling down. Almost simultaneously another German crossed in front of the British machine and received the next burst from the machine-gun. It broke into flames, and crashed to earth a mass of fire. A third enemy ranged along- side, and was sent down out of control, and then the British pilot thought he had done enough, and made for home. He was chased by yet another enemy of the 15, and suddenly our man, when close to the lines, with the German only 200 yards behind, throttled down and checked to let the enemy pass him. As he passed a burst of fire from the British machine sent him toppling down to the ground. " With six machines to their credit, four of Which had been brought down by one, our men came home content. •' Similar cases, where three of our machines were attacked by eight or more Germans, have not been infrequent, and the whole record of our Flying Corps in this area has been extra- ordinarily fine." Mr. Philip Gibbs, writing to the Daily Telegraph, says :— " It is the moving forward of the guns that they want to stop most desperately, and, if there is any visibility through the autumn mists, the German aeroplanes come out, flying as low as they dare and often with great audacity, to spy out any battery on the move and to signal its whereabouts back to their own gunners. They do not come with impunity unchallenged. Every day there are great air fights. Given anything like equal chances, and our men will accept the driel every time. With unequal chances they accept battle, account time and time again for three or four of the enemy, and escape by great cunning and greater luck, perhaps with punctured wings and a broken strut and a leak in the petrol tank. But the German flying men hunt in packs, and some- times there is no escape for a lonely boy of ours Who gets into a tight corner of the sky with these wolves close upon him. At night they come out again on bombing raids over camps and billets. It is a horrible game of tit-for-tat, in which the enemy gets the worst of it, for we have our own night raiders, monstrous birds who fly out with something like a ton of explosives tucked under their wings, and when those things drop on German docks and aerodromes and dumps and batteries they do not make small holes or destroy in a delicate way. They leave a wake of destruction and death. So that is the ' quietude' on the Flanders front." Canada and Commercial Aviation. THOSE in charge of affairs in Canada evidently have no misgivings as to the future of aviation, as in a statement issued by Sir. Robert Borden, the Premier, with regard to the policy of the new Union Government of Canada, it is set forth, among other tasks, in the following : The investigation of the possibilities of air services for important national purposes ; the enactment of measures to encourage settlement on the land. R.N.A.S. Comforts Fund. AN appeal has been issued by Mrs. Sueter to all those who have helped the Royal Naval Air Service Comforts Fund during the last three years to continue their support in the ^ coming winter. Parcels of warm comforts, such as mufflers, mittens, helmets, jerseys, cardigans (khaki or dark blue), and socks (any colour) will be most welcome, and should be sent to Mrs. Henry Balfour, Langley Lodge, Headington, Oxford, while donations and cheques should be forwarded to the Hon. Trea- surer, R.N.A.S. Comforts Fund, London City and Midland Bank, 129, New Bond Street, London. The Fund, which is registered under the War Charities Act, 1916, has distributed over 150,000 comforts during the last three years. Long Flight by Russian Pilot. FROM Petrograd on October 19th came news of the arrival at Vladikavkaz of a Russian military pilot who recently started from Tiflis and crossed the Caucasus mountains, the journey occupying 10 hours. A New German Aerodrome in Belgium. INFORMATION has been received at Amsterdam, that at Maldeghem, among the work Which the Belgians are being forced to carry out is that of the construction of a German aerodrome. A New German Giant. URGING the French Government to strain every nerve to speed up the supply of aeroplanes, the Tempi states that according to a German aviator prisoner the bombardment groups which the Germans are building in their endeavours to forestall the American machines include a giant biplane with four motors employing bombs weighing over 660 1b. The German aeroplanes made in the month of July reached a total of 2,000, and no effort has been spared to increase the number. 1122
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