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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0739.PDF
JULY 8, 1920 THERE must be a lot of wool-drawing over eyes in regard to what Germany is or is not up to in the re-building of her aircraft industry. First, it is stated that she is building thousands of machines of very much advanced designs, and the next day her whole aircraft construction organisation has gone phut. Probably a happy medium is about the correct state of the case at the moment. But quite a new outlook is now opened up in a report from Berlin to the effect that totalisator betting on aeroplane races is about to be organised at Germany's biggest aerodrome at Johannisthal, near Berlin. This certainly does not encourage the view that the • Germans are aerially played out, in spite of the totalisator move being attributed to a stunt for raising capital to rehabilitate German aeroplane firms. But it gives one to think furiously as to the determination of the nation to look forward to the next Tag—in the Air. THOSE Wazirs have recently been studying the art of dentistry -with a couple of British pilots as " subjects." According to the Daily Mail Bombay correspondent, two British airmen recently fell into the hands of the Wazirs on the North-West Frontier of India through an accident to their machine, and have been ransomed by the Govern- ment after an exciting time in the tribesmen's hands. As soon as they caught them, the Wazirs, the correspondent relates, took the gold-filling from the teeth of one of their prisoners, and, according to the tribesmen, it was unheard of for prisoners to retain any wearing apparel. The two airmen were therefore stripped. There was also talk of converting them into mincemeat. A council was held by the tribal greybeards, who suggested that the prisoners be held to ransom. The suggestion was adopted, and a message was despatched to the British lines, stating that two Britishers had fallen into their hands, but their release could be effected by the payment of a ransom, which, according to the prisoners themselves, was out of all proportion to their worth. The gold-filling may have had something to do with it. At any rate, the two airmen, one an Irishman, the other a Canadian, breathed freely again. ', ...>.^j^ THEY were kept in a dirty chawl or reed hut, so the story continues, where nuts were thrown to them to eat, and occasionally a dish of maize and sour butter milk was placed before them. Children came to gaze at them open-eyed, while their elders at the conference, which had not yet terminated, brandished knives in the air. Once an old hag appeared in the doorway waving a weapon which looked like a sickle, and from her antics it was gathered that she would like to carve the captives up. Eventually, the two airmen were awakened one morning and told to get ready to return to the British lines. The old hag, already referred to, came to say good-bye, and gave the Canadian officer a piece of butter to rub on his knee, which had been injured in the aeroplane crash. Escorted by 400 armed Wazirs, the prisoners were taken to Bannu and handed over to the British political agent. WHAT strange things do happen to Irishmen and Canadians, to be sure. , • , ~ . • • •\-.T:ir\ THE SURRENDER OF "L 71" " ALTHOUGH it has been an open secret for some time that the Zeppelin " L 71 " was expected to arrive in England at any time, there was an uncertainty right up to the moment it actually set out from Alhorn at 5 p.m. on June 30 as to •when the surrender would take place. There were on board two German officers, Captain Heine and another; also three British officers—Colonel Sparling, Captain R. Booth, and Captain R. F. Durrant. Until the " L71 " was actually landed, she was in charge of the German officers and men, the crew numbering 21. The landing was directed by Captain Heine,, and was successfully effected at 12.50 p.m. The great airship, after skirting Borkum and the Frisian Islands, came over the English coast north of Great Yarmouth at 5 a.m., having encountered a 20-mile headwind when crossing the North Sea. After circling above Pulham about 6 a.m., the airship—which has been blackened over with the exception of the " 1 " of " L 71," headed for Norwich and cruised about in order to release a certain amount of gas. Returning to Pulham, the landing was successfully effected as mentioned above, and the landing party of 300 had the airship safely housed in the shed prepared for R 34. The chief dimensions of " L 71 " are : Length, 743 ft. ; lifting capacity, ^ tons ; gas capacity, 2,500,000 cubic feet; speed 72 m.p.h. The German officers and men left Pulham on Saturday for Grimsby, en route for Germany. V A FLYING BOAT IN VERY STRANGE SURROUNDINGS : A Macchi-Nieuport flying boat, of the Swiss Ad Astra-Aero Co., flying over the Alps / .::--::, 739 ~:^,r?*^'-- '" " ' ' ::^"''
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