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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0294.PDF
MARCH 14, 1918. A British airship passes over the National Galleryduring War Loan Week. the "International Air Service" across CentralEurope, foreshadowed from Germany for an after-war item of extension, becomes a fact, it has been suggested thatLeipzig should become the chief air-line junction. Leipzig, however, owing to its accessibility from all parts, beingalready a Clapham Junction centre of railway activity multiplied by about ten, has entered a strong protest againstthe honour thus sought to be added to its already over- burdened responsibilities. There hardly appears as if therewere any reason to insist on this centre being selected, because, after all, the conditions surrounding the opening up of air-routes throughout the world, are so utterly foreign to any surroundings which a network of railway termini demand,that it may well be that Leipzig would be anything but a ideal spot to select for the purpose. THERE appears to be a little bit of a mix-up in the calcula- tions of various correspondents in the daily press, in regard to the actual number of air raids so far carried out by Germany on England. As mentioned last week, the hundredth episode in this connection, it is stated, was celebrated in Hunland bv the distribution of Iron Crosses and decorations galore, and:now there arise correctors of this figure, it being claimed that the last particular raid before the recent moonless raid, wasthe eighty-ninth. Leaving out of the question any possible abortive attempts by the German flyers, which our authoritieshave not thought worth while placing officially on public record, a reference to " FLIGHT " " X " raids will be foundto give the total as 91 up to and including that on February ; i8th-i9th, when "no casualties or damage were caused."This is the same episode which Mr. Pemberton Billing in Parliamentary language afterwards suggested was as great"a myth as " Mrs. 'Arris." " FLIGHT," needless to say, hasconsistently kept a very careful record of each raid, and where the " side-slip " of the correctors probably comes in,is in not having taken into account the raids which preceded the " X " raids. Here, again, it was in tbe pages of " FLIGHT "that it was originally advocated that secrecy should be observed as to the locality of air-attacks, as with little doubtthe Germans were in their initial visits more concerned with mapping-out " land-marks " from above for the guidance oftheir raiders than with inflicting great damSge. And thus it came about that the suggestion was speedily realised assolid sound sense by the authorities, and the "X" raids as recorded in " FLIGHT " were the result in a great measure, tothe undoing of the worst efforts of the Hun pirates. IT could have been reckoned upon with certainty thatJack Joel would not be behindhand in adding to the total of the War Loan week, but the method adopted by an Americanpilot of reminding him in good time not to miss so good an investment was assuredly unique. This particularU.S.A. patriot, so the story runs, at the suggestion of a member of the St. Albans Committee, flew to Childwick Bury, the resi-dence of Mr. Joel, with an application form enclosed in an envelope and weighted with lead. Swooping low he made anexcellent " drop," and delivered the letter practically on the front doorstep. Mr. Joel responded, and the same nightsent a cheque to the St. Albans Association for £25,000. IT was this same pilot who put up a demonstration inthe square by giving a succession of feats, described as "just missing the town hall flagstaff, and distributing billsto the crowd, and cutting short the Dean's speech four times; when he was trying hard to get in his thirdly." " HANSARD " as a rival to the " Pink 'Un " can hardlyfall within the category of likely events to come off. Yet if • many little stories, such as appear in that very official publi- •cation, in this case attributed to Sir H. Meux during his remarks on the Navy Estimates on Wednesday of last week, areembodied, " Hansard " should surely have quite a vogue for those who are on the look-out for tales with a moral. British Official.) Some of the officers of a famous squadron with the British forces in Italy foregathered between strafing jaunts against the Austro-German forces. 290 " *
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