WAR IN THE SKY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3155, 6 August 1917, Page 6

WAR IN THE SKY

THE HUM OF THE FLYING BATTALIONS

BRITAIN'S MASTERY OF THE

(From Malcolm Ross, Correspondent .with the Now Zealand Forces in the Field.) Belgium, June 5. The air activity has "increased, till the sky is like a great hive with its droning 'planes. For a time, as before the Arras battle, the German 'planes appeared almost to have gained the ascendancy. They camo over, and saw, and photographed. Some flew bravely low, others at a great height—fifteen and sixteen thousand feet—and. our anti-air-guns fired thousands of shells at tliem. At Headquarters wo seemed to bo living iji a constant showerbath of broken metal. One heard the bits hitting the iron roof of the hut as one lay abed In the early morning. The unburst shells, or chunks of them, came screeching down from the sky. Most difficult, perhaps, of all the arts of war it is to hit a flying 'plane. There are many calculations to be made in a little time—distance, height, speed, length of fuse, wind, etc. And the fuse burns slowly or quickly according to the density of temperature of the atmosphere. And then there is the human element, which cannot ever be calculated. You can never tell what is in the mind of the pilot. He may circle right or left, climb or drop. And an anti-air gun cannot hit a 'plane in the position it is in when the gun is fired. If the 'plane is flying high, the shell will reach it only after an interval of about thirty seconds, and by that, time a fast-flying ''plane will, have travelled a mile! The gunners cannot -get guidance from their first shot, for before the burst of their first shell can be seen there will be already from 15 to 20 other shells already speeding from the guns on their way toward the target. Very ingenious appliances have been made, both by the Germans and ourselves, to make the necessary calculations quickly; yet on .the"average it takes from thirty to forty thousand shells to bring down a 'plane. This would seem to be a waste of ammunition, but even if few 'planes are brought down by the guns they still, by means of ban-age fire,-ward off the 'planes, and help to keep them at such heights as to make their work less effective. But there were times when one has seen 'planes hit by the guns, though generally they are brought down in combat, with other 'planes. There is no more thrilling,! no sadder sight, than to witness that sensational drop- of 10.000 feet which the' brave -bird-men make when they have fought to the finish. The thrill of the spectacle is increased when they fall in flames. Next to the bravo infantry,'who so coolly climb over the parapet into the storm of shot and shell of an attack, one's heart goes put to the brave flying-men, who are daily and hourly performing such incredible teats. There soon came a time in connection with this new battle when our planes had at 1 least a great ascendancy over the German 'planes. They came and went, singly and in flights of five, and ten, and fifteen, sometimes climbing high lor a bombing expedition, at other times nyiii" verv low to observe closely, or even to°fire their machine-guns on the enemy in his trenches. Some of the German pilots, but not all, were equally brave, and, generally, when they did get over our back area, they flew at a great height. Many Duels., Almost any evening now you may see in the nir a duel of the most exciting and spectacular kind. The other day one of our men brought down a Boche 'plane. It' turned over and over as it fell, and before it had fallen far a man tumbled out of it. For Turn that must have been a terrible descent, lenient, while writing in my little hut after dinner, I heard the distant popping of a machine-gun in the sky, and, dashing to the door, was,, in time to see the tracer bullets from a Boche 'piano aimed at one of our balloons a few fields awaj. Tho two men climbed quickly out ot their basket and took the Parachute plunge that is always so interesting to an onlooker, and that must be so thrilling to the observer. Slowly, veiy slowly, tho two parachutes, borne- eastwards towards the German lines m! a licrht breeze, descended, till I lost sight of them behind a hedge. There was much speculation as to whether thej would fall'in. our or tho enemy's lines. Tho German pilot dived after them, firing his machine-gun at them as he flew, but, apparently, without effect Then some of our attacking planes frightened him home. "That was a very feeble effort," said a m. and a Belgian Count remarked that this was a very unsporting war when one man could shoot at another man Who , was unarmed in a falling parachute. It was half-past nine by the summer clock, and the balloon was a dark silhouette just below the round moon. The flashes of the shells aimed at- Ihe departing Boche made sparks in the , sky And black against the opal of the zenith our droning 'planes were coining, home to roost after their eventful da j. Dipping down into the amber of the weltern sky,-they sought the aerodrome hat was their homo. Some there were that did not come back. For these.the brilliant flares that wero means for guidin" lights were shot into the darkening sky at intervals, till there was no more hope. There would be. some vacant chairs in the mess -to-night For an hour or more the flares went, up■ m/ram,affording onlv another spectacle to the curious for brave" pilot and observer had either crashed to earth or landed far from home. Lucky they were who landed behind their own lines, lucky even hey who could make a safe landing in No Man's Land. The latter had at least a chance of getting home, even though the flares had died down.