FOKKERS ROUTED IN MESOPOTAMIA

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3029, 16 March 1917, Page 5

FOKKERS ROUTED IN MESOPOTAMIA

T..L J s ', -NasiriTOh i? -Inly, J9lo, Lad to land in an inuiftlated i' C t : i WI i 3 r - Ednrnnd Candler, the iJrihsli Press correspondent in Mesop6- : ta.miß- He was able to briugf his mach» in© doffu iTi the flooded water on th&i Iriendhr B id« of the river. He escaped' with his revolver and , rations as the Arabs on. tbo other bank mado for the machine, which they fired at. As they , t\eio looting the machine friendly j opened fire on them and scattered them, ; and tho aeroplane was recovered intact.' i IJunng tho return from Nasiriyah two' machines had to come to ground, one, lighted near Khamisiych. It was josfe after the defeat of tho Tarts, and a responsible J>heikh received tho pilot and' entertained liiru hospitably, 'nib othen macluno came down the same day with--in 15 miles, but it fell amorist defeated; -and retreating auxiliaries, who wero in.: no mood to giro quarter. Both j>ilot< and observer wero killed. ISow wo are having things very muclipur own way, the enemy hare brought out some."good machines, fino fliers and gallant men. Their two Fokkers disappeared lifter a fight with our airmonou August 13, and .bavo not been' seen since. One landed well within, the lurkish lines; the other on rougW ground by the Tigris bank, where it was; broken up by our gun fire. Since this' our maohmess have carried out their wort unmolested. Ono of our pilots made si great wusation in the Turkish camp the other 'day, when ho looped th© 1000 and cartwheeled ovor Kut in contempt of their Archibalds. Prisoners tell W that this dorisivc little bit of bravado* JU3 Py our friends immensely. .Chaff is exchanged freely between..tha inal i lying Corps. Many of the enemy* pilots aro Germans, but even the Hua can become a gentleman in the air. His nature seems to impror© with the--cleroont ho frequents. 3Tost gross on.! earth, lep gross - at eea, least gross iaj the clouds. Apparently altitude and refines, ov it may be that uie, finished clod does not take to the airi in tho beginning. A 1001b, bomb or rJ dram of machino-gan bullets are a. better currency than chaff, but our ain scrapping is none tho less formidable* Tor the high spirits ia whioh the Flying Corps goes into action. Smith inquires of Schultz: "Why don't .you use tha! aeroplane we left; you si Kut? Can drop; you spare parts if they are any use. j It was a mere shell of a. machine, andj information had come through that'the? wore trying to put a German engine in! it. "Go on dropping bombs on our aeroplane," Schultz rotorte: "it is 8(H) by 505 metres, and you haven't done any damage ynt. Hv tho wny, wo have a machine (h»t will strafe you, born of au English', mother by a German father, (engineV *uiimproved 1916 .type. Honce iig febqrpiiaj