The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1918. THE ALLIES' AERIAL FORCES

Taranaki Daily News, 27 August 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1918. THE ALLIES' AERIAL FORCES

Now that aircraft have become a definite arm of the war service instead of an auxiliary, it is particularly gratifying to note the undoubted superiority of the Allies iu tliis important department. The scope of action of aerial squadrons is almost without limit, and that their operations are regarded as of equal merit with military movements is evident, by their being assigned a regular .place in the daily official reports made by Sir Douglas Haig. Aeroplane development has proceeded along those lines which actual experience in Avar lias found to be of most service; hence the more extended use of two-engined machines, especially for night operations, and a strong tendency towards the use of higher power, single-engine machines of between 200 and 400-li.p. being now fairly common. The lighting machines, built for liigli speed and quick climbing and quick manoeuvring, have rapidly developed into most effective military weapons of destruction, many of them carrying two machine guns forward, and having improved facilities for landing at night, and it will have been noticed that the cables constantly refer to the .work of the lilgiit fliers. In co-operating with.

done, and is doing, magnificent work, and it is that work which, it was hoped, would have been very largely augmented by American planes, the delay in the arrival of which has been very disappointing; but it is reasonably certain that in the future the service will be on such a vast scale that it will be an appreciable factor in attaining final victory. Some idea may be formed of the intensity of aircraft activity by the statement, cabled from London on August 17, that the past week had been unparalleled as regards destructiveness—disastrous to Germany, but encouraging to ihe\Allies. The British attacked with undiminished determination, the result being that during the week 339 enemy machines were destroyed and 123 driven down uncontrollable. The la,test weekly summary mentions that the outstanding feature of the air fighting had been the severe magnitude of the conflicts on the British western front, particularly on the first; five days of the offensive. This was quite apart from the work of the bombing squadrons, which caused the usual amount of damage to aerodromes, dumps, railway stations, factories, and to the enemy's military material and personnel. The French bombing squadrons were also active in the battle zone. During July the Independent Air Force made 96 raids into Germany, and dropped 81 tons of bombs—a record both as to the number of bombs dropped and. their weight. During the first two months of the German offensive the British destroyed or seriously damaged a thousand enemy aeroplanes. Figtires like these demonstrate not only the immense strain that has been placed on the hostile air services, making it only a question of time when a collapse will take place; they also indicate the phenomenal extent of the Allies' aeroplane output, and what it will be when adequately aided by American efforts. In every department of .aerial warfare the Allies have the command, and the successes achieved cannot fail to have a marked effect on German aviators. The Allies do not follow the example of the Germans in raiding defenceless towns and killing innocent women and children, biit concentrate their efforts on military and naval objectives having a definite bearing on the issue of' the struggle. When German towns are attacked, it is with the definite object of destroying miliwork, stores and transport services. As the numerical strength of the Allied air service grows, so will its utility be exhibited to a greater degree, and this will be manifest in the direct attacks on the enemy's armed forces in the field, on the reserves behind, tlie lines, and at the various bases. Again and again have the airmen at critical periods in the conflict averted defeat, delayed attacks, held up the enemy, dispersed reinforcements, and cut off supplies. Apparently the time is not far distant when a sector of the front selected for attack may be isolated by aeroplanes so effectively that communication with the rest of the front and with the rear will be rendered impossible for such period as may be deemed needful, thus damming up the very means of war at their sources. It seems almost incredible that when the war began aviation was only in an experimental stage, for it has How developed into; a scientific armed force that has become a recognised unit in warfare. Given a sufficient number of the latest type of fighting aircraft, operated by daring, resourceful and determined aviators, the war could be ended in a few months, but there is every indication that in the final phases of the war the Allied airmen will play a decisive part, and, if called upon so to do, would reduce to ashes the chief towns of Germany, giving the Huns a taste ot their own devastating tactics, of which hitherto they have had Imi unenviable monopoly. Fog is the only deterrent to the work of these aircraft. Under all other j conditions, by day and night, they do their work with deadly precision, and their sphere of action is only limited by their motor fuel I carrying capacity.

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