BOMBING A BRIDGE
WITH A BRITISH NIGHT KAIDER. (By Captain Paul flewshor, D.S.C., ! R.A.F., in the "Daily Mail.") A great city, ablaze with lights, moved slowly by on the loft. ' High amid tho stars Bwa.m a silver moon, .ighting the fields and farms and trees and throwing n strong enough light in the giant bombing machine to render the use of/ a torch unnecessary when the observer • wished to look at a map. For an hour and a half they had been flying steadily onwards over enemy country. Long ago tho belt of darkness had ■ been left beliind, and now every littlo village had its cluster of lights. The engines roared faithlully. The ' country unrolled below them like a ■ larger map. The villagers, hearing a ' drone high in tho night, thought that ' some' German airship was returning • home. At length far abend of them they 1 saw through the faint haze of the hori- ' zon tho glittering silver etreak of n, ■' river. They were Hearing thoir objeo- • tive. Across that river lay a great rnil- • way bridge, and on either M'de for 50 • miles there was no means for passing > troops. If that bridge wn,s destroyed • the enemy's communications for a hun- • dred miles would.be cut.
Their jdb was to cut it. In the great machine were a dozen heavy bombs. The pilot nnd observer looked forward eagerly to tho great river which drew nearer ivnd nearer to them. The sense of responsibility weighed heavily on them. They had'travelled many long miles to do a very dilliciilt task. Soon they could see tho twinkling lights of the city which lay near the bridge. Together they identified every little stream, every roail, "every forest, and every railway line by' their map that there might be no doubt Hint it was the right place. When they were decided they flew over the town nnd tho bridge (o havo a good look at them. As soon as they were familiarised with the surroundings they drew away a. littlo in order to have a clear straight .run for the bridge, and then'begun to fly slowly towards it. The observer's concentration was intense, for he knew thi\t on him lay the success of an operation of vital importance to thOiWesterh front—an operation which, if successful, would bring him and his squadron great credit. He gave the pilot ono final correction, caught hold of the bomb handle with his right hand .and pushed it slowly forward. Again and again he pressed it till he knew tho bombs were all gone, and then climbeJ on to his -iect besid-. , the pilot, who was looking over the side in his excitement. The observer looked over the other side, too,, with intent eyes, absolutely tense with excitement. ' Suddenly Oμ tho 'bridge were two tremendous bursts of flame, which left great clouds of smoke. The ether bombs burst across the river bank, bnt the airmen had no oyes for them, for with hearts almost bursting with joy they were shouting mutual congratulations. looking bade along the tail they could see the muffled figul'e of the back giuiInyer, clear-cut in the moonlight, with his two thumbs pointing upwards in a familiar and expressive gesture of success. They had done the job.
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 43, 15 November 1918, Page 4
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540BOMBING A BRIDGE Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 43, 15 November 1918, Page 4
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