In the Air

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 41, 23 May 1916, Page 5

In the Air

| BATTLES !N MOONLIGHT. 1 1 . REMARKABLE MASTERY OF THE AIR. j FEATURE OF VERDUN OPERATIONS.

[Unitmi Phurb AnsooiAWON.] (Received *.-h' a.in.) .Nt I ork, May 22 ; Aerial lighting is -he feature oi tin 1 'operations on the Meuse. The daily fights arc no longer duels but elaborate battles. Large squadrons manoeuvre for proper light, wind, and height, ami open lire with broadside with eflc.-t the moment the enemy is sigiited. Alt previous records have been broken, the French chasing monoplanes having risen from the ground to a height m 3500 feet in six minutes and French biplanes having ascended seven thousand feet in eleven minutes. A French colonel says that 500 aeroplanes engaged in reconnoitring and fighting over Verdun. As soon as the moon rose, the air raids with machine guns and revolvers and cannons began, and it lasted till dawn. Owing to the full moon, the air fighting is practica Ily continuous. i THE RAID ON KENT. BOMB DAMAGES A HOSPITAL. London, May 21. A raider’s bomb exploded within i ten yards of a hospital in Kent. All i the windows uf the building were I smashed, but the patients were not injured. BOMBS ON PORT SAID. CIVILIANS KILLED AND WOUNDED. • Cairo, May 21. Two enemy aeroplanes dropp'ed sixteen bombs on Port Said on Sunday, most of the bombs being directed‘on the Arab quarter. The raid resulted in two civilians being killed and thirteen wounded. Five soldiers were also wounded. The airmen used searchlights when dropping the bombs. Antiaircraft guns quickly drove the raid- ! or s off.