AERIAL FLEETS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 January 1917, Page 3

AERIAL FLEETS.

FIRST BIG BATTLE. The first encounter in the air between opposing fleets of aeroplanes toolc plaw on the morning of November 10, ou the western front, about twelvp inilei south-east of Arras. There lmve been hundreds of battles in the air between hostile aeropla/ies since the war began, 'jut this was the first time that large fleets of aeroplanes engaged. The British fleet consisted of thirty aeroplane, and the German fleet which met them numbered between thirty and forty machines., according to'official reports. ■ About 0 a.m. the British aeroplanes rose in the air for the purpose of dropping bombs on military points near the village of Vaulx-Vruueourt, north east oi Bethune. Tfre fleet consisted of bomb carrier? and an escort of lighting aeroplanes and scouts. After riS' ing into the air the machines took their allotted positions, and advanced across the German lines in the direction of ll.eir objective. For weeks past bombing expeditions of the kind had Leon carried out over the German lines, and i;o organised resistance from the Ger man aviators had been met with, But on November 10 the Germans made their first attempt to put an end to these raids. A fleet of nearly forty Gorman rose as the British fleet came forward, and the first great aerial battle began. "It is a pity that such a thrilling episode of aerial warfare cannot be to!d in detail—but there are very few deiails to be had," writes Mr. l'treivcl I'iiillips, one of the British war correspondents at the front. "The only eyewitnesses at close range were the intrepid airmen involved, who wers so fully occupied with their own individual opponents that it was impossible to follow the fortur.es of the entire enoiii T 3oet until its ignominious disappearance. I am told, in the dry, mattjr-,if-fac-t language of our airmen, that the Hrtish bombing planes, flying at prearranged altitudes in a westerly viinci, •surrounded by their escort, sighted the German battle machines climbing through the rising mist to try to intercept them. The British fleet dropped to accept battle, and they closed a mile above the German trenches. "Followed a breathless, furious duel, I fought at a dizzy speed as the opposing planes swirled and eddied through the clouds, intent on each other's destruction. Machine-gun bullets ripnrJ their wings and pattered against the p!«ited hulls. They circled and dived with amazing confidence and accuracy. , British and Germans alike drove their craft with superb skill, for the science j of fighting in the air has become as intricate and difficult as handling a group of Dreadnoughts. Xo longer do Jhe aeroplanes barge blindly at each other firing point-blank, like old ships or lln line The expert crews twist and dodge in a manner undreamed of even ,i feushort months ago, working their gnu* witlr nice discrimination, perhaps putting in one skilful shot where the pioneer «uns of the air would have vasted half a drum. "The battle was won as much by good 'airmanship' as by the work of individual gunners. The German pilots were outmanoeuvred. When at last theiivumehines had had enough <ii the fight—three of them had reeled cart'iwards, smoking wrecks—they dropped beyond range to examine their wounds, and the victorious British fleet [jassed on its way, in full view of the great army of ' spectators gazing upwards from the fields, roads and trendies below. "Besides the three German piano* knocked out, others were sent down more or less damaged, but the full exs«nt of the enemy casualties could not be ascertained. A broken aeroplane noes not drop like a stone. It takes three or four minutes to reach the earth, and there is not time during an engagement for- the men who are fighting to follow the progress of every crinpled machine in its aimless descent, or to descend after it for a post-mor tem examination. "The British casualties for the day's work were two bombing machines and two escorting machines missing, oue observer killed and two pilots wounded.

Of the latter one managed to alight inside the British lines; the other came, down in 'No Man's Land' and was brought in by the infantry.