A DOUBLE BLUNDER.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 17 July 1917, Page 3

A DOUBLE BLUNDER.

TURKS SHOOT GERMAN AIRMAN. In an article contributed to the American Press, Mr. C. G. Grey tells the following story of a double blunder committed by the Turks, which cost successively the lives of some of their own men and entire crews of German airmen. Three German aviators operating with the Turks started out in the dark to bomb a British camp. At the same time certain British aviators, by a curious incident, started to bomb the Turks. As they approached the Turkish camp, the Turks , hearing the noise of their engines and thinking it heralded the approach of their tame Huns, lighted up their aerodrome with landing flares to show the aviators whereabouts to alight. The British aviators, seeing the allurainations, came down low and proceeded with great success to wreck the whole aerodrome with their bombs, after which they returned peacefully home. Presently back came the Huns to the aerodrome and started circling round,

waiting for the landing flares to be lit up so that they could come down lyThe Turks, however, jumped to the conclusion that they were the British aeroplanes returning to finish their job of destruction, so they turned out all their available infantry and machine guns, and w-hen the machines came dow-n really low to see where to land in the dark, the Turks opened a comprehensive fire on them, which brought them all down and killed their crews. What the Turks said when they found that they had wiped out three perfectly good Hun pilots by mistake has not been recorded by the. local branch of our Intelligence Department but it known that the German officers in that region -were very much annoyed, and made themselves more than ever unpleasant to the Turks uud°n them.