ALL IN THE DAY'S WORK

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 85, 4 January 1919, Page 7

ALL IN THE DAY'S WORK

fr_ I- ECHOES OF THE WAR IN THE AIR THRILLING COMBATS The following incidents are taken direct from the latest records from the battle These incidents me in no way exceptional, but on the contrary are given because they nre thoroughly typical of Royal Air Force doily routine sit the front:— Seven to One. A British two-seater whilst or. patrol was attacked by'seven l'falz scouts. The Germans, though they thought they had discovered an easy prey, were taking no chances this time. They.maintained fornintion and attacked simultaneously. The British machine put up a great fight, and, twisting this way and that, banking, .eide-slippihg, and zooming again and again, succeeded in throwing the German gunners off their mark, - All the time, from Both its guns, burst after burst of fire was pumped into different German machines. One Pfalz crashed to earth, and others ware badly chot about; but, at length; the Onrman gunners between them managed to hit the engine of the British aeroplane. All the pilot could hope to do now was to put down the nose of his machine and glide for home. His observer kept off the pursuers with his rear; win, until they were too near the British lines to please .the Germans, who now relinquished the pursuit. ■ Unfortunatelv, the pilot had not quite enough height to take him homfi. mid he had to land in "No Man's Land." Then'ho and the observer concealed themselves ' in a ditch, from which, still unhurt, they safely resumed, the British lines after dark, having left' their mark on'fully six German aeroplanes. ' ■ ( , Helping the Cavalry. A party of British cavalry were held up by eevere machine-gnn fire, which; owing to the nature "of the ground, they were unable to locate. Their predicament was noticed by a British scoutpilot who reconnoitred the area and discovered the concealed machine-gun nest. Ho had no wireless apparatus, and so was unable to pass on any information from the air. Selecting the least awkward pieco of ground in the vicinity, he landed near the cavalry, and gave them'full particulars. This enabled the field gunners in their .rear to engage the target with most satisfactory results. Ho then took off again; and as soon as the field gunners had knocked out the strong point he conveyed the information to the waiting cavalry by a . pre-arranged signal. .As the Germans fled , from the demolished post, lie dived on them, and caused many casualties with his machine-gun. Meanwhile the cavalry galloped up and completed the rout. ; A Palestine Incident. ~ The pilot of a- Bristol fighter in Palestine observed a German two-seater maohino, and at once gave chase. After a" short pursuit the enemy ,was overhauled and brought to action. In the' course 6f a brief struggle, the German machine' was completely outmanoeuvred, and endeavoured to escape by diving to earth.. Tho British machine followed, , and the pilot, seeing that the hostile machine was only ' slightly damaged, landed to complete his work, although then far behind the enemy lines. Whilst the English pilot,kept the German, airmen covered with his machine-gun, his observer,alighted and set fire to the German 'machine. The-i British officers endeavoured to bring back their two'prisoners, but this' they found was-really impossible; so having completely destroyed the German niaohirie, they flew. homo. ■ ■, Co-operating With a Tank. Another British two-seater carried out a very successful contact patrol at a height of under 400 ft., in the'course of which the positions of all the forward troops were accurately noted, and messages conveying the information dropped at corps headquarters. Flying hack once more, to the fonvafd area, the observer noticed a strong point which was holding up the infantry. His machine was carrying no bombs, so its occupants were not,.able.themselves effectively, to assist. The pilot banked his machine, and'flew .off to seek, other help. A tank was soon found which at the moment was disengaged. Signalling the situation to the O.C. tank, the British machine led the lumbering monster to the obstruction. The.strong point was easily subdued, and over thirty Germans with their machine-guns were captured. More "Sausage." A British scout pilot was jiist about to attack a "sausage" when he saw a German two-seater machine near by. This ; was too good a chance to be missed, so, leaving the "sausage" for the. moment, he-swooped down upon the enemy 'plane, which, after a , brief fight, lie sent crashing to earth. . Ho. then again j.urned his attention to the balloon, which the Germans were now desperately hauling down. It was ■ now almost, on the ground, but the English pilot was. not to bo baulked, and in spite of a furious ground fire, he div&d to;within a few I'eet ,of the balloon and.put in a.burst from his" machine-gun which set it will alight. Then he rounded off his job by dropping two bombs upon the winches beneath, before flying his riddled machine back to. his own aerodrome. . ■'.'.' In :the.Clouds. By extremely skilful gunnery, the officers in a British two-seater shot down a German Fokker at; unusually, long range. Diving after it, in order to ensure that, it should be completely destroyed, they entered a thick,cloud. Suddenly,' right ahead end only a few yards from them, another German machine loomed through the mist. Simultaneously, the guns on each machine spoke, but not more than half a dozen rounds could be fired before ""'the 'planes' were almost :touching- each other. Too late the pilots pulled their respective machines aside; as they flashed past their wings eplintered in mid air. The German machine c was seen to fall headlong. The British machine, by reason of a bad!* damaged rig'ht wing, becamo unmanageable. Then the English observer did a very risky thins—the only thing that offered a chance of saving the machine. He climbed out on to the splintered wing, and eo balanced it.that his pilot was enabled to bring the machine down nafely behind his own lines. ' ' Fokkers Collfdo. An English scout pilot flying alone over the German* lines was attacked by three Fokkers; Evidently, the Germans were experienced pilots, for they pressed him hard. The Englishman endeavoured to 'separate his opponent.' but they were too cautious to fall into 'his trap, and studiously maintained their formation. Rolling and spinning, the English' machine had come within little less than 100 ft. of earth, when the pilot performed a manoeuvre totally unexpected by the Germans. He suddenly banked steeply round upon his pursuers. In their endeavour to escape collision with Hie Engr lieh machine, two of the German 'planes collided and crashed to earth. The remaining Fokker at once fled, end the English pilot brought his machinethough badly shot about—safely to his own aerodrome. Clearing a Trench. During a pause in the fighting the observer in, a British two-seater machine noticed that a party of the enemy had established themselves in a trench in advance of (ho general lino of. their front, and were busy consolidating the position. There were no British infantry immediately 'available to evict the Germans, and to have waited until troops could be eent up would have, meant allowing .the- position to be made very much stronger,' In other words, British lives would have to have been paid for it. The- British officers, therefore, do-, cideij to do the work themselves, and, diving low and flying along the newlymado ■-trench, they opened a hot .fire . with . their/ machine-guns. In spite, of 'heavy answering fire from tho i ground, they repeated this operation, causing many casualties until the surviving Germanr,, nVJ'it 50 in number, scrambled from the hx-nch and bolted eastwards. Aβ they fled, the 'machine followed them up, and took a further heavy toll before returning to the

British lines. A, little later .Britieh , ■ troops, at no cost to themselves, occupied • that half-made German trench, consoh-1. dated and held it. ; Effective Work With'the Guns. The following incidents, which occurred ' -j during a single patrol of an artillery observation machine, are typical of this ■ less conspicuous but equally important . j section of B.A.F. work. The officers'in i the machine in question began their work 3 by locating four German batteries in sue- j cession; reporting to their own gunners, and directing the fire that presently rmt all four batteries out of business.-; Flying J further over the' hostile' area,- they ob- j served a laree concentration of enemy / troops, consisting of over 1000 infantry j and 30 motor lorries. An emergency call. 'j was sent down to the artillery,.'arid every j available British gun was turned on to | the mass. The resultant firing caused ■! indescribable damage and confusion, and I the survivors of that German unit scat- t tered wildly over the country-side, the . I unit, as such being effaced. Before re- j turning home, this enme. patrol sent down ' ■ five other "fleeting opportunity" calls, i j enabling fire to be opened upon other ', \ German troops and transport on the ' ./ march. It was a typical and deadly two i hours'work. ■ ' ■ '"■■■■• Long Odds. ". '■ " j An English scout pilot engaged and j •shot down a German machine. He fol- I lowed it down to 500 ft., to make sure of j its crashing; and then, as he wae climb- 4 I ing west again, he was attacked from above by no fewer than seven Fokkers; ' I a position which'he might have been ex- j ensed for regarding as hopeless. But he,.. . ..« did nothing of the sort.. All seven Ger- -j man machines dived on.him, tfunipirig out ■'] bullets, but fortune favoured tho-brave, j and not one secured a vital hit. The ', English pilot was now above.'and, with- ..' j out a moment's hesitation, he dived into '-'\ the midst of tho enemy, firing in sue- j cession upon each Fokker, upon which he . ' could get his gun lo'bnar.' Hie fire\was .; \ lhore successful than that of the Huns, ;.'.! for the ' right wings of one Fokker : crumpled up in mid-air and another j spun down out of. control, : both being , J seen by another pilot to crash. Then, j before the remaining -five German's could v. j collect themselves, the English pilot was .1 well on his way towards his own lines. j Smashing a Transport. , \\ A British reconnaissance machine, while. ■ J flying well behind the German lines, ob- ; '• served a very large column of transport ... ."•* on the road.. The British machine ,was • ■■ enrrving no bombs at the time, so-a i neighbouring Australian squadr.on was ' • j called up by wireless and informed of the i '.j opportunity for putting in useful work. , ■..-■) Within a very few minutes nine ma- i chines had loffl their 'drome. A few ■: more minutes,', and, piloted by the re- ,!j conuaissance machine,. they were over the German transport. Descending to COO . ■■■] feet, they rained bombs on, the crowded :ij -roacV beneath,.-.finishing the work of do- ~'■..■■■.! struction with their machine-guns. Wag- . ; . j 6ns were overturned, horses stampeded, •"■■[ and very many casualties were caused j among the porsnnnel of the. column. ;. j On the way home, the 6aiue formation, ', having a few bombs left, deposited thetai ] upon an opportunely discovered amm.ii- ■ ■,« nition dump which they left well alight.". 1 ''. " An Artillery Flight. J The work of the JJ.A.F. in connection .'■'! with the artillery .goes, steadily forward , . | day by day, and though it does not lendj'/.-j itself so readily to opportunities per- , j sonal 'distinction,' it is quite an es«en- i tial as that done by the fighting and '1 bombing machines. The amount of work :j put in by , these machines is very great, ;■ and .'its'effect upon Allied progress is j most important. One machine: liegan. • '! operations the other day by carrying out j a shoot with a British siege battery. Aβ ■ a result, the German gun position was '. J completely destroyed after 39 rounds, a -■ 'j large explosion and an extensive fire be- . -j ing caused.. .., ■ .. '• ;.1 . Another iposition was then' engaged ■. ' ■ which was also set on fire and put out ...j of action. Just as this second shoot was .. ..! ■ completed, a third German gun position.; j was seen to be active, and the observer ; signalled for the fire of the battery to j be switched on to it.. The result was ,' satisfactory, in that this third position \ was so far. damaged as to bring its ac- , ■ tivities to an. abrupt conclusion. This ; alone would appear a good day's work, : j but the two British officers wexe not yet j satisfied, .and they co-operated in the ! task of engaging and silencing three more \ ■ batteries, and exploding one ammunition., - pit before returning.home.. ...,.,-• ■ ' j . Pelted With Stones. ', j ,-A British .ecout pilot, had boldly at- : : tacked several German Fokkers. By a ; headlong dive into'the'enemy formation 'i he scattered its components, and then, . ■ selecting one victim, he poured burst af- I ter burst of machine-gun fire into it, as ■..; he'ifollowed it down. Determined that it < ! should not escape him, he drove it to ■> ground, where it crashed hopelessly. He ) had pressed it eo closely that'he was . ' now just above a party of.German troops ' ; who had collected, to. watch, the fight. , j Apparently the Germans had rushed out \i without any arms, for they began to pelt' ■[ the British pilot with stones! Needless j to say, his machine.-gun; made a buitable! | and. more effective response';- 1 ,/* Deslroyino a Train : at Nifiht.. , '•; 4 British two-seater machine was'. ! l'boining.over the 'German back areas. ■'..' j The night was dark' and the usual land-' i marks could not. be seen, i The flying | men simply knew they were somewhere' ; .j in,the vicinity of a Gennan railway. They -■ shut off their engine and planed down, ■■; listening intently. Presently, the puff- vi ing of an engine could be heard. De- I scending still lower they dropped-a'para- ■ | chute flare which revealed "a long troop I train beneath. Then their bombs were < released, subsequently; by the light of a . .'] second (iare, 1 they? were able to see that ■■;.; the train was completely wrecked. .. Be-:. : fore le&vinß' tho's'ce'he they completed. ,> their night's work"by diving yet lower, ■■; and scattering fire the ,i German troops that hnd escaped from!','....! the train. ■ ~ j Three in Five Minutes. : ■'] Another British scout, whilst on pat-- ■';■] rol, suddenly came upon a formation of ■; nine German, machines about to Rttack a j couple of British artillery machines be- j neatli them. Without hesitation the ' British pilot dived, and the first Ger- , * man machine upon which he opened fire ' j went spinning earthward. Next he turn- -I ed his attention to.a triplane,'and after- , -;;! a brief fight that also was driven down— ■■) this time in flames. ■ Continuing his dive, i he reached a group of three , Fokkers, | which he engaged. Here again a short : struggle resulted in the wing of one more - j German machine crumpling up in tho ; air as it fell to flestruction. The re- .! mainder of the Germans then drew off. i Thus, within less'than five minutes, this j single British pilot succeeded'in complete- j ]y destroying three German -machines, and in dispersing, a, total formation '. of nine. '. : ;.• ■' .- -";'j ' \