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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0389.PDF
Flight, April 11, 1918. First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor: STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, »nd Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 485. (NO. 15, Vol. X.) APRIL II, 1918. L Peat VTM. M. FligHt. and The Aircraft Engineer. EditmalOffice: 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KIKGSWAY, W.C. 2. Telegrams: Truditur, Westcent, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1898. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... 15s. id. Abroad... ... .. xos. od. CONTENTS. Editorial Comment: « PAGB Our Airmen at the Front .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 385 Output Must be Accelerated . 386 The Future of the Industry 386 Commercial Potentialities of Flight .. .. .. .. .. .. 387 An Albatros Fighting Biplane 9 Service in the Royal Air Force .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 392 The Royal Aero Club. Official Notices 394 The Roll of Hononi 394 Tuning Up Aero Engines for Special Service. By"Gnomad" .. .. 396 International Aircraft Standards 399 The F.B.A. Flying Boat (with scale drawings) 400 Airisms from the Four Winds .. _ 3 Personals 408 The British Air Services 410 Aircmft Work at the Front. Official Information 411 SideWinds _ 412 Correspondence 4«a Index and Title Page for Vol. IX. The 8-page Index for Vol. IX of " FLIGHT" ^January to December, 1917) is now ready, and can be obtained from the Publishers, 36, Great Queen Street, Kings way, W.C. 2. Price 84. per copy, post free. Newspapers are an essential part of our war organisation."— (Sir Auckland Geddes, Minister of National Service.) OW that official despatches and the messages off the correspondents re- lating to the great battle in the West are becoming more connected than it was possible for them to be while the struggle was raging with its greatest intensity, it is possible to gather with some accuracy an im- pression of the really magnificent contribution of the Royal Air Force to the damming of the German . flood. The work of the British airmen U^at the*6*1 covered many spheres of activity, Front. which may well be divided into two classes. First the upper air had to be cleared of the enemy's scouting machines and his artillery observation machines, and his fighting aircraft had to be chased away in order that our own reconnaissance machines and " spotters " might continue their tasks free from interference. This first phase of activity is the one which may be said to include all the legitimate tasks of aircraft as they have hitherto been understood, though, as will be seen, the functions of the airman in war have quite recently undergone a considerable extension and he has in fact become a general utility soldier who is likely to be called upon to do the work of all three arms of the " ground " service, very often at one and the same time. He is doing the work of re- connaissance, which before he became a potent factor in war, was the work of the cavalry. He flies low over the enemy's advancing waves of infantry, pouring machine-gun bullets into their ranks and displacing the defending infantry and machine-gun sections. Then, when the enemy is massing at his concentration points or is bringing up his columns preparatory to their deployment the airman is called upon to carry out the functions of the artillery by dropping heavy bombs where they are likely to cause the greatest loss and inconvenience to his movements. Truly, the Royal Air Force might do worse than plagiarise the motto of the Gunners and adopt the word " Ubique " as their own ! Between March 2ist and April 3rd our airmen are said to have fired 1,139,525 rounds of small-arm ammunition from their machine-guns into German troops and transport columns. That estimate is, we believe, very well inside the mark, since later official figures record that in two days over 700,000 rounds were expended by low-flying machines. Neither figure, however, is likely to stagger the experienced machine-gunner by its magnitude when the number of guns in action is taken into account. In fact, it sounds rather moderate until we remember that the targets offered to low-flying aeroplanes are fleeting and it is only possible to fire short bursts at them, though as the targets, when they do offer themselves, are fairly open these shorts burst achieve the maximum effect. Coming to the bombing work of the R.A.F. during the later phases of the battle, no fewer than 303\ tons of bombs were dropped on German billets, railheads, dumps, gun positions and concentrations of troops. Day bombing accounted for 179^ tons of bombs, while 151 tons were dropped by the night bombing squadrons. The greatest weight of bombs dropped on any one day was 28f tons, while the heaviest night expenditure amounted to 31 tons. As to the F 2
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