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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 1257.PDF
SEPTEMBER 18, 1919 R 33'S TRIP OVER THE LOW COUNTRIES THE R 33 returned to Pulham at 6.20 p.m. on September 12, after carrying out a demonstration flight over Holland and the French and Belgian battlefields. R 32 also took part in the demonstration, the two airships flying together over Amsterdam that morning. R 33 carried as passengers a number of prominent business men whose names are as follows : Mr. Sydney A. Boulton, of Lloyds ; Mr. J. Dunn ; Mr. Benjamin Guinness ; Gen. Sir Sefton Brancker, of the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. ; and in addition Com. Foakes, R.N., representing the General Post Office ; Mr. E. A. Box, Secretary to High Commissioner of Australia ; and Brig.-Gen. E. M. Maitland, D.S.O., C.M.G., C.B.E., were also on board. The following is the account of the voyage as issued by the Air Ministry : — R 33 left Pulham at 9 p.m. on Wednesday evening. R 32 had started an hour earlier. Excellent weather conditions prevailed. After crossing the coast at Lowestoft R ^ set a course towards the mouth of the Thames, proceeding from the North Foreland to the Belgian coast at Ostend. This point was reached at about 4 a.m. Whilst off the North Foreland, R 33 spoke by fiashlamp with the battleship Revenge, whose captain wished us " Bon Voyage." Shortly before 5 a.m. the coast of Holland was crossed at West Katelle, and The Hague was reached bv 6 a.m. About the same time we on R 33 sighted the R 32, which was flying low down on our port side. A signal was sent to her by wireless asking her to keep in company with us as far as Amsterdam. We came upon Amsterdam at 7 a.m., when the city was scarcelv astir. Nevertheless those people who were in the streets had a good view of the two ships as the - circled around. A message of greeting from R ^^ was dropped by R 32 in the centre of the exhibition, and shortly after a handsome welcome to the R 33 was received from Gen. Snyder. The Royal Aero Club of Holland also sent a message of goodwill, to which we were glad to respond. Leaving Amsterdam with some regret, as we had hoped to spend part of the forenoon above the city, we turned southwards over Rotterdam. Arriving at 8.15, a message attached to a loaded streamer addressed to the Mayor was dropped. We hoped that it reached him, but unfortunately the chances were against us as it fell into an open field. It now became apparent that the project of landing in Paris might, as a result of the large amount of water ballast discharged during the night, be a matter of some difficulty, and it was decided, therefore, that the visit to Paris should be abandoned, and that our voyage should proceed not further than the Flanders battle fields. Our passengers would, perhaps, have wished to view the three capitals, Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris from the air during one day ; nevertheless the visit to the battlefields zone proved to be an event which few of us are likely to forget easily. Antwerp was reached at 10.40 a.m. The great moated fort which surrounds Antwerp looked most im pressive, appearing from the air as a huge and ornate mosaic. Around each fortress the ground is pitted with shell-holes, otherwise the town looks remarkably well preserved. At Antwerp, as at Rotterdam, messages were dropped addressed to the Mayor. Whilst flying south of the town and over the H H That Zeppelin Story! " INTENTIONALLY misleading " is the way the Freiheit describes the recent semi-official statement regarding the destruction of several Zeppelins. The Freiheit points out that the Bremen Arbeiter Zeitung, on June 28, published the following report, which has not hitherto been denied in any quarter :— " It is reported to us from a reliable source that the airships L 14, L 41, L 42, L 63 and L 65, which according to the terms of the Peace Treaty had to be surrendered, were destroyed by officers and warrant officers on the night of June 23-24, in district of Hoboken we were interested to observe one of what appeared to be German submarine shelters on the banks of the Scheldt. Near Brussels we observed the old German Aerodrome off Evere, where a Zeppelin shed still stands. After dropping a message into Brussels at 12.45, we made for Lille, including in our route Enghien, Ath and Leuze. As we approached Lille the shadow of War could be more plainly seen ; shell-holes became common and complete churches rare. This part of the country is, however, well inhabited. Lille, which we flew over at 2.40p.m., isacurious blend of the effects of War and Peace. For instance, in the heart of the town we could plainly see a circus with roundabouts operating by the side of a large block of ruined buildings. It is beyond Lille, in the area between Lille and Nieuport. by way of Armentieres and Ypres that one had the strongest impressions of the havoc of War. For miles the land is a shattered, desolate and waterlogged waste ; scarcely a habita tion may be seen in any direction. Across it all blows strong and long streaks of dirty smoke from the fires of salvage parties busy clearing the ground. One would certainly not like to be marooned there. Leaving the Belgian coast at Nieuport, a course was set for England, and we made a rapid return passage over the sea to Suffolk. We landed safely at Pulham at 6.20 p.m., after a trip of about 20 hours. The guests who were having their first experience of airship travel were delighted with the trip, with the accommodation provided and the simple but varied meals furnished by our competent chef and served tastefully by our excellent waiter. The luncheon menu, which may be given as a sample of the fare, was as follows :— R 33 Luncheon Menu Natives du Mer du Nord. Terduan Jambon " R 33." Haricots Verts. Pommes Saute Trans-Atlantique Biscuit Glace Bruxellois. Friandise " Ad Astra." Cafe. As evidence of the views of the passengers, one of them re marked on landing that when he accepted the invitation he did not dream for one moment that he would be provided with a comfortable sleeping-berth, a dining-room, oysters for lunch—amongst other good things, and electric light ; nor did he expect to have complete freedom to roam all over the ship and from one gondola to another, or yet to have placed before him a copy of the first aerial newspaper containing a full summary of the home and foreign news of the day trans mitted by wireless. The message dropped in the Amsterdam Exhibition reads :— " Gen. Maitland and all on board R 33 unite in expressing their most cordial good wishes to Gen. Snyders and the general committee of the Exhibition by whose kind invitation a visit to Amsterdam is made. It is their firm belief that the Exhibition marks the opening of a new era in the inter national progress of aeronautics." H H the Nordholz Zeppelin Hangars for the same motives as those for which the War Fleet was destroyed at Scapa Flow. " In accordance with the Armistice conditions the motors and gondolas had been removed, and the airships had to rest on frames suspended by ropes. On the night of June 23, the frames were removed and the ropes severed, with the result that the airships dropped to the ground and were smashed to pieces." The same paper also published a report that the airships at Ahrhorn Aerodrome, on the East Frisian Coast, had been destroved. 1259
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