STRAFE THAT FAILED.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1916, Page 6

STRAFE THAT FAILED.

GBEAT AIR RAID FIASCO. AIRMAN'S BRILLIANT EXPLOIT. ZEPPELIN FALLS IN FLAMES. London, September fi. "There will be anti-aircraft practice to-morrow night, between !l and 10 p.m." So ran an official warning to Londoners in Friday's newspapers. But no one in London heard any sounds between the hours named to indicate that practice was taking place, and most of us went to bed wondering what the silence of the guns portended. To-day some of us are wondering whether the official warning was issued with intent to deceive the enemy into the belief that our aerial defence authorities imagined tlmt there would be 110 attempt to raid t.he metropolis on this particular night, and that viliganee therefore might be relaxed. Whatever the the silence of the guns was a prelude to the greatest airraid the Huns have thus far attempted, and to the most exciting experience to which the residents in London proper and its fir-reaching environs have been subjected since the war began. It was an experience no one who went through it can ever forget. The splendid climax of the night came when, amid the cheers of millions one of the monster airships that had been threatening London for maybe an hour, came flaming down to the ground, a burning mass of fused metal, tangled wire, and scraps. It must have been somewhere about two o'clock on the Sunday morning when I became conscious of the fact that someone was knocking: at my door, and that a voice was bidding me "Get up! it's here!" I knew what was meant, turned out without much waste of time, dressed (after a fashion) and threw upon my window. Below me, invisible in the darkened street, excited men and women were declaring "There it is!" and, glancing in a northerly direction, I saw, at first, only a cloud-bank lit up by half a dozen searchlights' beams. Gradually these beams came together until they formed a sort of frame or halo in which there presently appeared the now familiar cigar-shaped form. My wakers had

said "It's here," but the Zeppelin was really a good ten miles away, and looked no longer than a walking stick. Meanwhile our aircraft guns were busy, and shells were bursting over and under the apparition in the halo. It seemed to he wriggling about as if on a pivot. Sometimes it foreshortened into the shape of a long Rugby football, then it appeared life a fat pencil pointing upwards, downwards, and then as a mere blob of light differing only in color to its surrounding silvcr-grev halo. It seemed, apart from its pivotal wriggles, to be stationary. In reality, of course, it tvas moving swiftly, and turning hither and thither in a vain attempt to shed the unwelcome halo, and elude the hail of shrapnel that grew in intensity as'the gunners a couple of miles below picked up their target and found their range. Suddenly a big shell burst high above the Zeppelin, and one just under what we watchers conceived to be its "tail." A cheer rose from the people in the streets and then something very like a groan of disappointment. Clear came a voice from the gloom, "They've lost it," Silence ensued for, perhaps, ten seconds, and then there was a blinding flash from behind a big black cloud. It seemed fo light tlie whole of the heavens, and a mighty shout

"SHE'S HIT!" "She's coming down." rent the air. And sure enough there sagged down through the clouds a huge orangecolored elongated ball of fire, tilting this way and that, but drifting always to the west. Slowly at first, but with evergathering momentum the flaming mass fell earthwards, until at length it shot down below the horizon of the houses, amid the frantic cheering of the untold thousands of people gathered in London's now inky black streets. To tic cheers a silence profound succeeded for a few seconds. Then from the earth a brilliant light shot upwards and outwards, and we waited, with bated brcati., for a terrific explosion. But none came, and only a dull ground glare, a- little to the west of the place where we first saw the Zeppelin commence its fatal plunge, remained to tell us that the first Zeppelin to fall on English soil was burning itself out somewhere in the direction of Enfield. A quavering voice in the streets below commenced, "God Save Our but ere the grand old tune could gather volume a feminine voice cried hysterically, "My God, how horrible—horrible! — burnt alive, burnt alive, My God!" and a voice at my elbow said in tense tones, "God have mercy on them—it's horrible, horrible." But from afar you could still here the sounds of cheering, mingled with shrieks of steam engine whistles, and the blatant blare of numberless syrens. All London had seen this tragedy of the air, and exultation was the order of the night. In some breasts there were, no doubt, pangs of pity for tlie men who had met a horrible death, but the vast majority of people were unrestrainedly jubilant. They gave 110 thought to the charred Hftns. nor to what might have happened where -lie blazing wreck of the Zeppelin reached the earth; all that they eared about was the destruction of the raiding craft. The work of removing the wreckage was soon in operation, but first there was the duty of taking out charred bodies, scarcely recognisable as human remains. The number of the crew is uncertain. and it is quite probable that some of them were so completely cremated as to be undistingaishable. Tlic commander, however, was recognised, and the Iron Cross that he wore was still intact and was taken from his charred body. The bodies were placed under a tree, covered by a tarpaulin, and there they remained while the wreckage was being collected for the purpose of possible" reconstruction.' A remarkable feature of the framework was the presence of a large quantity of wood, which is taken to indicate a' shortage of aluminium. There is some doubt as to what type of airship it was, and the freely accepted theory that it was one of tr,N super-Zeppelins is theory and nothing more. The engines, however, are understood to be in sufficiently good condition to reveal their type and capacity, and from that it may be possible for experts to arrive at a sound conclusion as to the type of the destroyed airship.

GERMAN CLAIMS V. FACTS. The raid ill which the ill-fated Zeppelin took part was by far the biggest aerial attack on the Old Country the Huns have yet attempted. We know 'or a positive fact that at least thirteen, airships reached our coast, and that three of them made London their particular objective, whilst others made for the Midland -'ndustrial centres. How those fared v.e do not know, but it is nraetically certain that at least one re-

ceived injuries which, if they did not result in the craft being drowned in the North Sea, will at any rate keep her in the repairing shed for some time to come. It is also claimed that a second would-be midland raider was hit so shrewdly soon after crossing the coastland that'she immediately turned tail and raa/c off, obviously in distress. Of the three raiders that reached the outskirts of London, one we,know was accounted for, but whether cither of the others were "touched up" wc do not 'know. It is, however, stated that one of them shed a petrol tank on her homeward trek, and reports state that something that appears to be a portion of a Zeppelin gondola has been picked up not for from where one of the returnin" London raiders was seen to recross the coast. Whatever the fate that attended, the twelve unaccounted for, the raid must be writen down as a fiasco. The Germans claim, of course, to have inflicted terrible wounds upon poor old England,'but as a matter of act the raid was absolutely barren as regards damage of a military character, whilst the only human victims were one man and three women killed, and thirteen persons injured. As regards material damage, that inflicted within the Metropolitan police area was confined to some twenty-five private houses and a few outbuildings (the damage in many cases being of a superficial chaiaci tor), whilst two water mains were cut, and three horses killed. Elsewhere the damage was insignificant, being confined to cottages in rural districts, a church, and some gas works near a small country town. Broadly speaking over 00 per cent, of the bombs dropped during the raid fell either in the sea or in fields, and of the rest at least half fell in or near villages remote from industrial centres of any importance.

AIRMAN'S SPLENDID PEAT. On Sunday the story ran round that the prime cause of the Zeppelin's downfall was the gun of an aeroplane piloted by a Lieut. Robertson, and proof of the truth thereof was soon forthcoming in the shape of an official intimation that the King had been graciously pleased to Lieut. William Leefe Robinson, of the Worcestershire Regiment, and the Royal Flying Corps, the coveted V.C. for his share in the destruction of the "baby killed." Whether the Zeppelin was really hit by our anti-aircraft guns is still a matter of doubt, but the gunners who believed that they "got home 011 the gasbag" readily admit that it was Lieut. Robinson's peppering at close range* that caused the airship's destruction, and that but for his dashing and intrepid attack she would in all probability have made good her. escape. An offiefr of the Royal Flying Corps, who assisted in the attnek on the destroyed Zeppelin, stated that the machine which he was piloting, a high-power biplane, had reached an altitude of nearly ten thousand feet before he was able to engage the raider. "Two other aeroplanes," he said, "were at that time endeavoring to encounter the airship, which was making frantic efforts to get awav. at the same time firing with machine guns. The Zeppelin was travelling at top speed, first diving and then ascending. and apparently Lieut. Robinson anticipated the manoeuvre. The commander of the airship threw out tremenaon,* black clouds of smoke, which completely hid him from our view, and in which he managed to rise. A few seconds later we saw the airship a couple of thousand feet above us, and at the same altitude was Lieut. Robinson, although a matter of perhaps half a mile away. Immediately Robinson headed his machine for the raider, and, flying at a terrific speed, it .appeared that lie was going to charge it. I shall never forget the sight of the blazing airship as it fell. Away above the clouds, twelve thousand feet from the earth, the scene was terrifying in its grandeur. A huge sheet of flame cast a brilliant red glow over the black 'sky above, tinting to a vivid pink the clouds beneath. As the Zeppelin took fire ,1 second airship was seen approaching, ano this now occupied our attention. The commander of that craft, however, seeing the fate of the first Zeppelin, evidently considered that discretion was the better part of valor, for he .ttirned tail and neurried off as fast as his engines would enable him to travel. At such a height and in the blackness it was impossible to pick him up. He had r. good start, and made the most of it."

HOW I DID IT. This is the Zeppelin-destroyer's own story of his fight in the air as he toW. it to his fellow airmen at the depot:— •'I had been up something over an hour." he said, "when I saw the Zeppelin first.*' She was flying high, and T followed her, climbing to get a position above. But there was a heavy fog, and she escaped me. I attacked her at long range, but she made off before I could see if I had done any damage. The next ship I saw I determined i would attack from the first position I found. I met her just after 2 o'clock She was flying at 10.000 ft, "Soon she appeared to catch fir.e in her forward petrol tank. The flames spread rapidly along her body. She made off eastwards 011 fire. In several minutes she dipped by the nose, and dived slowly in flames to the earth.

"T was so pleased that in my excitement 1 pulled the "joystick" and looped the loop several times: Then I showed mv signal to stop firing and came back.

The young airman's machine was slightly damaged when he returned, and his petrol tank was all but dry, but he himself escaped unhurt.

NATIONAL HERO AT 21. Victoria Cross winner and national hero, the crowning glory of a soldier's life! liad fallen to Lieutenant Robinson's lot at the age o|2L The gallant officer was born at Pollihatta, in Southern India, in INOo, and, coming finally to England in 1 !>()!), he went to a school in Cumberland. Continental travel followed, and at about the time of the outbreak of v.ar lie entered Sandhurst. Tn December, 1!) M, he received his commission, being gazetted to the Ywircestershire Regiment. Early in his military career Lieut, Uohinson turned his attention to aviation, and after active service as an observer in France, he secured his pilot's certificate on September IS, HU">. For some time he has been stationed at Itornchureh, and has ''been up" on the occasion of previous raids. ITe was- one of several British aviators who'pursued a Zeppelin 0)1 the occasion of a previous raid several months ago, but he had the misfortune to meet with engine trouble, and his machine narrowly escaped dashing into some houses in an East Coast town. 011 this occasion, after curbing his luck. Robinson registered a vow that he wj'.ild 1 down a Zeppelin or die in the ai'euint. "Next time." said he, "it will 1' >»e or the Zqip." And the next time it .Tit* the Zepp! From what Lieut. Robinson saved London we shall never know, but it was certainly from more than the bombs carried by a single nirship. Others ,were in its wake, b-.'.t, at the sight of their leader's disaster, they le'.housht themselves and went