AIRCRAFT V. "U" BOATS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 112, 29 January 1918, Page 7

AIRCRAFT V. "U" BOATS

THE EFFECTIVE WORK OF THE SEAPLANE

A TERROR TO THE PIRATES

: _ But for the co-operation of the Bri ish aircraft, the. anti-submarine car , paign (says tho "Westminster Ga ette") would have been far less effe i tive. Here are a few figures' relatii 'to the. work which naval aircraft pe fformed.during the month of Septer beri— The total distance covered by tl ' T om ' 170 '0°0 miles > 'whi, ■ 90,000 miles was covered, by Wanlnn. ■ and 80,000 miles by airshiW On OQCMions ships, which wfro being a tacked V submarines,, sent S.O S si aals, which brought seaplanes to 'the assistance i„ tupfe to save them 1 compelling the submarines to div ■ftSnJ , rt" !d,,:0 W 8 Were co ™ ed during the month by aircraft, at •■dared a submarii craft V h,l> "hile imdor ai ; inesiStti j°jnumber of subma ines attacked and destroj-ed by our ai Jnti Published, but a fe '^attack'"I'*'1 '*' a£Ud PS t0 tho racibod « destro 7 er * a subma Jne some five or six-miles away he' got Jill speed to tho attack at about th'irt . »ules an. hour, so that tho submarir ■,>nas ten minutes or so in which to div : beyond the. reach of the destroyer 1 /tfepth. charges. But when a seaplan /'sights, a submarine at the same dii ;=aftce he flies to the attack, at am thing f r o m 80 to 100 miles an hour, ,s that the submarine has only three c tour minutes before bombs begin t tall romid her. It is not 'suggest© that destroyers have' been supersede ny the seaplanes as the enemy of But On the contrary, the tw very often work together, and their cc operation usually spells disaster fo the "U" boat. . . ' A seaplane recently sighted a Get .man submarine on. tho surface, fiei directly over her before she had :: to dive, and dropped a.bomb.o: •Iter tail which was seen to make i ■ .large hoe m her deck. Immediatel' afterwards the seaplane pilot sav through the mist, three more Germai isubmarines, in line ■ abreast, followec ' j destroyers and escort •ed by two German seaplanes. All si: vessels fired their anti-aircraft guns a 1 ■ s ® ! H^ aDe ) but the German seaplane: did Dot attack, because they could noi get through the' barrage put. up bj •the fire of their own destroyers anc submarines. Our seanlane turned, dropped another' bomb oil tho woundei submarine, saw her sink amidst a poo: '•of oil, in which fragments, of her floated, and. then retired from an unequal ; contest, at the Same time sending a , wireless message as to.'where three of the enemy's destroyers' were to be found. , Merchant Ships' Guardian Angel, Ihe mere "presence of the seaplane lias many times saved amerchant ship when a" submarine has been attacking it. 'Moreover, when the tragedy has ■actually-occurred and the torpedo has *^ S niark, it is - the seaplane which is the first to see the shipwreck•eq crews in'their boats, to; send wireless messages '.for assistance, and to direct the rescuers to the right spot. It is the /seaplanes and. the other aircraft, which .first sight the deadly mine, and so help the minesiVeepers'iri their task. ■ • In a word, it is the naval aircraft which has been, and is, saving tho lives not 'only of thoSe who traverse the seas, but of every man, woman, and child in tlio. British Isles, who would otherwise be threatened with starvation. The strike at Coventry'lias -already been a. serious blow to the Em,pire; a repetition, there or elsewhere, would be a disaster which cannot bo' contemplated, for ' the sonsequences woiild be so far-reaching that no one could properly estimate them. Without a constant stream of new aircraft ta roplace the inevitable heavy wastage in .machines, the struggle against tW~Oer--man submarines will be woloneed, food will become dearer, and, last"but not least, the lives of our sailors will lie needlessly lost.