HOW I RAIDED COBLENZ

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 283, 19 August 1918, Page 6

HOW I RAIDED COBLENZ

AN AIRMAN'S STORY OVER THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY AT NIGHT [Sergeant-Pilot Dean Ivan Lamb, formerly of the Royal Air Service, is an American, who enlisted in the war during the autumn of 1914 in 11 Canadian battalion. Subsequently he was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, find spent two years in active flying service, a year and a half in France and six months on the London patrol. He is credited officially with having brought down eight German aeroplanes. In his last engagement over London in the summer of VJI7, he shot down .1 Gotha raider and was shot down himself, wounded. The following article describes his raid on Coblonz.l Tlie major acknowledged mv salute with a quick jerk.

. lou are to go over to Coblenz tonight, he said. "Leave the dromo at midnight. Is your bus ready?" "lw, sir."

Very good. Carry on." that was how I got tlie order for my first night bombing raid. It wos in the summer of 1916, when night bombing raids had become fairly wjll systemalised. They were first undertaken in 1915, and until we learned the trick of night flying they wore unduly expensive, In. those days several machines were sent off at once against the objective, with tho result that members in the same squadcon would have collisions or fights in the air with each other, and we suffered more damage from ourselves thau from Fritz. Most of tho early raids were against near-by objectives, only a few miles behind the enemy lines, but as the size, speed, and weight-carrying capacity of 'planes increased, longer and longer raids were attempted with growing success. We adopted the policy, too, of sending away the machines for a raid at intervals of twenty minutes or half an hour, with instructions to fly directly to the objective, drop their bombs, and return by a different route, so that they would not bo likely to encounter the machines of their own squadron following thorn.

The chief difficulty in night-bombing by 1916 was that the machines we used were too fast to make landings safely after dark. In order to eolve this difficulty, the policy was adopted of sending up the raiders at an hour which would allow the.-n just enough, time'to fly out and return to the aerodrome and land by daylight. Until this plan was hit upon we lost a great number of 'planes by crashes in landing. It is no joke to bring down a bus going 120 or moremiles an hour by guesswork. It is next to impossible. Now, however, they have special-type machines for night-boinbing, which go much slower than the pursuit and combat 'planes. Another frequent source of mishaps in the early days of air warfare was the cranky engines we had. Luckily for me, I managed to avoid night-bombing until tho Kolls-Hoyce motor came into general use.

Tho machine in which 1 raided Cobleuz was a De Haviland four with a 360 horsepower liolls motor. • At a pinch it could make 137 miles an hour, but I usually flew at 120 miles, so ■ that the motor would run cool and I might depend upon it in emergencies. This 6peod also helped me to keep my bearings, and enabled me to figure closely what place I happened to be over at a certain moment. The De Haviland four is a two-seater, and as I did not carry a passenger I had 150 pounds of sand-bags fastened in tho rear of the cockpit to maintain the balance of •'the machine. Besides this I had two 112-pound bombs and fuel and oil for five hours. The bomb 9 were carried in racks fastened close to the fuselage under the lower planes and were released by levers by tho pilot's seat. On the outeido of the fuselage, within easy reach of the pilot's seat, was a small chute for dropping parachute flares to light up the country below, either to help you in aiming your bombs or to assist in making a forced landing. On Schedule Time. At 11,30 o'clock the flares were lighted on tho aerodrome field. The mecha'nics put tho bombs in the racks and I personally adjusted the fuses. We tried out tho engine to make sure it was working well, and at 1.50 I taxied out on the field. Five minutes later I waved good-bye to the mechanics and started to climb in circles. At midnight to the minute, when I had reached 7000 ft., I straightened out and flew east at 120 miles an hour. My route was almost due east.

It was quite ensy to plan the route, but a compass is a very unreliable instrument when used on an aeroplane, as even tho wires become magnetised after a few hours in tho air. You have to practice unremitting care and vigilance to gauge your progress nnd the accuracy of your course. 1 had the memorandum of my course given above, as well as detail maps, fastened to ii shelf in front of me in the cockpit. An electric bulb shed light upon it. Other bulbs illuminated the' instruments, shaded in euch a way that their glow could not be seen over tho walls of the fuselage. The weather was ideal, a clear night, but no moon—a favour for which I was truly thankful. I crossed th. , ? lines on schedulo time and saw to the south the flashes of light where the Huns were_ shelling Arras. Not a single "Archie" was fired at me, but I noticed an enemy machine planing down toward Douai, where the Germans had an aerodrome, which blazed with electric lights in a way that made me wish our own landing field was as well lighted. For the next few minutes I flew in pitch darkness, so far as lights on the ground were concerned, ar.il used only the compass for guidance until 12.20 a.m., when I saw a few lights ahead and below, with a river, which I knew must be Valenciennes. I was then at an I elevation of 10,000 feet, and set ; tho stabiliser to fly level, so that I • was able to take both hands off the controls to handle the maps. I was flying comfortably in this fashion as I passed over Estrcux, the last town in Belgium. There were only half-a-dozen lights here, and ahead of me the earth showed black as a rat-hole. At 12.28 I knew I should bo over Athis, but 1 could not see a singlo light. 1 looked down intently, and saw a flash which lasted 6evc*ral teoonds, and revealed the outlines of houses. It surprisod me so that I nearly released a bomb, and it was some time before I was able to figure out the cause -the opening of the door of a locomotive -fire-box on the rails at Athis terminal. The next few minutes were ages, ns onco more I traversed country where tliero were no lights to be seen, and I kept straining my eyes for the lights of Charleroi in the north-east. But the first thing I saw was the gleam of the Sambro River. .Next I picked up a station light. I was well beyond the river when I finally glimpsed the lights of Charleroi very faint in the north. Over the Rhine. The oountry across tho Sambro waa clothed with"dense forests, and after a while I thought that a fog or clouds must have blown under me, for the earth seemed to have vanished. So I put down the nose of the machine until I had dropped far enough to distinguish roads winding between the trees. Then I climbed again to 7000 l'eot. Even so, I got oir my course, for at. 5 1.17 I aaw below me tho lights of Mulmedv, which should have been ten miles to tlie north. 1 whs confused for a moment, but finally turned south, opened up tlie throttle wide, and nosed down slightly for about four minutes, when I turned enst, still at full speed, until I caught up with my pm-armiiged schedule.

I was now over Gonnersdorff and Uifl Diver Kill, with ISO miles of my journey behind me. I slowed down the motor, and for the next ten .minutes flew over forests to Monreal, which I picked nut by the few lights that winked irmrnrds. Ahead of me was the glint of (he Moselle, and I changed my course to north-eiist, and presently saw the lons arms of (he searchlights playing over the ; city of Ooblenz and tho Rhine winding into the shadows of the night. I headed elrai e ht toward the place wliere liglils worn Uiickest, but my luck was with me and I escaped every shaft. It was iinoossiblp to see the buildings plainly, so I dropped a parachuto flare which revealed tho whole city as .plain as day, casting a, shadow in tho air abovo which obeoured

me, while at tlie same time ite dazzlinjf brilliance blinded Iho eyes of the German gunners in their anti-aircraft batteries below.

By the help of the flare I saw that I had passed too far across the city to get the beet results with my bombs, so I flew on a bit and then turned around. I flow in a straight line and kept my. eye on the bomb-sight until a large building with a high chimney, plainly a factory, came into view, I let go the bomb at once and simultaneously the flare I had dropped burned out. In the meantime, the guns south of the city opened up a heavy "Archie" fire, but the shells were all timed to explode too high to do me any damage unless they scored .1 direct hit. None of them came closeenough to give me any concern. I turned back on my tracks after this and released another" parachute flare which showed me a very long row of buildings, apparently barracks. I drop.ped my second bomb on them. All these operations had consumed a very limited spaco of time. As my ■second bomb went, I turned again and flew across the river over tho forts at Ehrenbroitstein, whose guns were heavily bombarding the second flare which etill bathed the city in its ghastly light. I was well over on the east side of the river before the searchlights picked me up, but then it sceined as if every gun. in Germany was firing at me. Just at tins moment, too, hell broke out down in the city. Several explosions occurred in rapid succession, the concussions so violent that they rocked the 'bus, and a, couple of fives flamed up. I judged tUut one or both of my bombs must have touched off something worth while. Tho "Archie" fire was redoubled in intensity, and when I started for home the Huns nut up an aerial barrage that a swallow could not have passed. I promptly headed up tho Rhine in the direction I knew they wouH least expect me to take, and. so dodged through without a hit being scored on me. Plying at full speed, I was soon out of range, and the searchlights lost me, but for several minutes I could hear tho ihunder of the barrage fire as I headed back toward France. Engine Trouble! Lights were scarcer than ever on my return trip, and I had to depend entirely on my compass, which I knew to bo inaccurate. But I felt that I could calculate on reaching some point on the right, side of the lines before dawn, and ■I did not worry. My motor continued its steady roar and the screech of the wind in tho wires testified to the speed I was making. When I recrossed the Meuso I noticed that the sky was growing lighter in the east, and I figured that I was still abreast of my schedule. Everything -went well until I wae over Douai. I was looking down on tho German aerodrome I had passed before, and dimly made out three machines 011 the ground—for safety's sake, I was now up 14,000 feet—when suddenly, without .1 second's warning, the motor cut out. That was a fix for you! Ahead of ma I could see the early morning ehells bursting along the line—and I was well back in Hun territory, with no power. I immediately nosed the 'bus down and continued toward the line, hoping to mako as much distance as possible by volplaning. A glance at the petrol gauge showed me that pressure was at the normal four pounds, which meant that there could bo no question of fuel shortage. I caet about in my mind, and decided that it must be magneto trouble. If I was right, I knew that tho only possible cause was that tho rocker arm on tho contact breaker had seized on tho fibre lining.

So I 6et the stablisuig plane for climbing to head the 'bus up, and crawled out on to tho engine to see if I could fix it. But my weight nosed her down 60 much that I could hardly retain my hold. In fact, I was nearly pitched off. I realised that even if 1 could maintain such a precarious position the machine would come down and crash beforo I could make repairs. Consequently, I gave up that idea, and climbed back into the cockpit and decided to follow my first scheme and try to volplane over the trenches into the mins of Pont du Jour, the nearest part of our lines. While I was in this fix,' however, the Huns had opened on me with AA'b and machine-guns, although they must easily liavo seen that I could not possi'bly mako good my attempt, to roach our lines. \ I was only a short distauco above the earth, and looking dofrn I saw that the ground was covered with tho ruins of houses, mine-craters, trenches, shell-holes, and barbed-wiie entanglements. I knew then that I could not avoid a. crash and that a crash under such conditions almost certainly would be fatal. As the least, I thought to myself, I will avoid the added horror of fire. So I reached out to knock off tho switch. Judge of my amazement when I found the switch already off! This had been the original cause of my trouble. It was one of those freaks of the air tliat cannot bo explained. To thin day Ido not know how.it happened. It was so unexpected that 1 never oven thought of it as a possible trouble. I was only about-twenty feet from the ground now, but I threw en the switch at once and (ho engino burst into its regular full-throated sonorous α-qar. Below me German rifles were cracking and machine-guns were stuttering. Buitl was too low to make use of njy machine-gun, which was fixed in position and designed to fire through the propeller. I flew on across our lines, climbing higher, and when I had reached a safe height turned and swooped, down, emptying awholo drum of bullets into the German trenches I had passed over, in retaliation for the unhappy time they had given me.