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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 1387.PDF
DECEMBER 27, 1917. FATHER BERNARD VAUGHAN is a believer in the aeroplane as one of the determining factors in winning the war. Recently after a camp lecture on " The War and How to Win it," Father Vaughan sampled an air " joy-ride." FOR s6me time it has been patent that German air-ship officers have imagination, as may be judged by some of the descriptive matter which has from time to time purported to record the result of their visits to London. One Zeppelin Officer has now gone a step further and executed some- paintings depicting his air-raids over the metropolis, the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung being responsible for their repro- duction for the delectation of the Hunnish public. FROM " a Londoner's Diary " : " A Message from the Air. A member of the Royal Flying Corps, who is a prisoner of war in Germany, has a sister who is employed in a London news- paper office. The other day she received an unstamped letter from him, the envelope being discoloured by mud. It was picked up in one of the East End districts, and had been dropped by a German airman in the course of a recent raid ! " LIEUT. C. F. ALSTON, R.F.C., who has had some prettyweird experiences out yonder, when in the air, has summed up, very tersely, the type of recruit the Air" Force hankersafter. Thus Lieut. Alston : " We want the true British sort of spirit—the sort of fellow who will go straight for his man ;the good Rugby footballer not afraid to tackle. The ordinary scrap last three or four minutes, and the usual way of startingis that you see your opponent and go straight at him. He will be firing at you all the time, but as long as you both gostraight your engines, being in front, will save you. Of course, if you both go straight there will be a collision and you willboth go down. Never mind that. Go straight. Experience shows that in 100 cases out of 102 it is the German who willbe the first to turn, and then he offers a good mark. That is the sort of fellow we want—the one who will go straight." LUCKILY we've already got plenty with this sort of push about them, but the Force cannot have too many of them. Those who feel inspired by the above should just send their aames along to the nearest Recruiting Officer. IF all folk who deplore Lord Lansdowne's very unfor- tunate letter were to protest in the same form as Mr. Ash- ewe. o^v KE o PUUVE A 3EP» lAi TWO . - HERE E:M HE SOFTI_YWEEPS MSHJOIce worth Hope has done, the ill-judged publication of thisdocument in the Daily Telegraph might almost turn out a blessing in disguise. Mr. Hope, who is a writer of popularsongs has through the publishers of his latest effort, Messrs. Gould & Boittler, of Poland Street, sent a telegram datedfrom Ipoh, Malay States, stating that he has presented a battle- plane to the War Office as a protest against Lord Lansdowne sunpatriotic letter. In the Daily Telegraph, where the tele- gram is published in the advertisement columns, an alter-native to the example set by Mr. Hope is suggested to the effect : "If you cannot present a battle-plane Buy WarBonds ; Do it To-Day, Lest you forget ! " EIGHTY million acres of silver spruce and balsam fir forests are still available in Canada for use, the former particularly tor the manufacture of aeroplanes. As this should probably be about enough to see this war through, by the way it is going on at present, the prohibition of its export to-all places outside the British Empire, except under licence, has been promul- gated just in the nick of time. MR. BAKER, the American Secretary of War, is re-assuringly confident, in a recent report, in regard to the military situation in the West, and incidentally mentions as a fact that the aerial raiding of German towns, by way of reprisals for the nuns iniquities against Allied open towns, has been successfully initiated. It is comforting to be able to publish this announce- ment in advance of any particulars upon the subject irom our own authorities which may presently be permitted to transpire. EXPRESSIONS of unqualified approval of Lord Rothermere's decided resolve to give rein to reprisal organisation are in evidence practically without a dissentient. A more i°nnal acknowledgment has been accorded the Air Minister by the League of Londoners, Who last Week at a meeting in the Central Hall, Westminster, Mr. Cuthbert Wilkinson, L.C.C., presiding, decided, on the proposal of Colonel Sydney Ashleyy< to send a resolution of congratulation to Lord Rothermere, on his outspoken, courageous, and emphatic speech on the question of air raid reprisals on Germany, after the postponement of promises hitherto made, but apparently without fulfilment. Mr. Edwin Evans, a member of the London County Council, urged that the object of the League should be to eliminate all danger at home from " Bolos, peacemongers, pamphlet- pushers, ' Cuthberts,' and grousers who went about every- where telling most blood-curdling stories, which had no foundation in fact." « How far misrepresentation of facts can go When the viewexpressed suits the book of the propagandist handling the " facts," was well exemplified the other day in the House ofCommons when Brigadier-General Croft called attention to some comments in the Labour Leader of December 6th, in con-nection with an appeal for toys for the children in Elizabeth Hospital, it being therein alleged that some of the bombs whichwounded little children belonged to the Allies. Sir George Cave's reply was : " I have read the statement referred to.If the writer meant to suggest that any of the children m the Elizabeth Hospital at Poperinghe were injured by bombsdropped by the Allies he was, of course, making a deliberate misstatement. But if he intended only to suggest thatBelgian children may have suffered by the bombardment ot places of military importance in Belgium, he was making anassertion Which cannot yet be either proved or disproved ; and in view of the ambiguity of the paragraph I do not think thatproceedings could be taken in respect of it. I Would, however, point out that while we have endured for three years thewilful and deliberate attacks by the Germans on the civil population, including women and children, the whole countryis.aware that the. Royal Flying Corps in their attacks on the enemy's strongholds in Belgium have done their utmost toavoid injury to the Belgian inhabitants." ACCORDING to the Paris correspondent of the Daily tfmil the Greek Minister of Marine has authorised the engagement as a seaplane pilot of Mile. Denise Kalimeri, daughter of a Government engineer. She is to undergo immediately examination in flying, before being appointed to the Marine ^ Corps. M LASIES, a French Deputy, has been giving a forecast tothe Matin, upon the last battle of the war, which he suggests will be one day next spring, in the air. He explains that inthis unexampled duel, in addition to aeroplanes, machine guns, and pilots, all the industrial energy and brain-powerof the belligerents will be opposed. What form will the battle take ? Either one of immense offensives on land, in which 1373
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