AIRMAN'S LIBEL SUIT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 224, 16 June 1919, Page 6

AIRMAN'S LIBEL SUIT

STOUT .'OP A SUBMARINE HUNT. . ! Captaiji W. L. Samson, D.F.0., of tho j Royal Air Force, brought, an action for . libel.in:the King's Bench recently against the, -Aeroplane and General Publishing ! y Co., Ltd., and tho proprietors, printers, and editor of tho "Aeroplane," and was awarded <£200 damages. ! • Ho complained of a "delightful story" ; published by defendants in their paper , ■ under the heading of "Earning a Decoration." In this it was stated that a ; R.A.F. staff officer, who, had "scrupulous- | ly avoided active service of the more j dangerous kind," set forth bravely in a big flying boat to search for submarines. ! It was Btated that he "suffered preiimin- | ary agonies of air sickness,and did : . not_ notice that submarines were about [ until his pilot gave "a mighty heave at '• the elwation, which 6wung the big boat : up ancrdown like a rocking horse. .. . | , The observer .then clutohed at the first ! thing near him; which happened to be the bomb release lever, and as his soul : was rent within him two hefty bombs ; .whistled through the air and deposited themselves on or near the submarine." ; Plaintiff. admitted that he became air sick" in the flight described, and that his •pilot kicked him in the back to draw his attention to the submarines, one of whioh .it was believed was hit. fie believed' the article referred to him, and that the words implied that he was a coward and a shirker. Defendants denied that the words referred to plaintiff or that they were libellous,