Blimps, Bombs and Bridals

Ladies' Mirror, 1 December 1924, Page 26

Blimps, Bombs and Bridals

*By R. B. G.

MR. JUKI), sir; Ur. Bird, sir; 'all' -J-*-®- past three, sir. please. and a line morning ii is an' all.” A muffled snore ended in a snort, and the towselled red head of Flight Lieut.

Dird moved uphappily on the pillow. 'The switching on of the electric light by his servant effectually disposed of the last few veils of sleep and caused the green eyes of the erstwhile sleeper to open and glower at the disturber of his dreams. " 'Fire's the weather report, sir. Your cup o' tay and biled b'eggs will he ready in ten minutes' time. You'll find a drop o' hot water in the can." Bird swore softly at having to turn out at such an ungodly hour, stretched, yawned loudly and hove himself out i.,f bed. A glance at the weather report showed him conditions were favourable for patrol. lie dressed rapidly and went outside his hut to study the sky. A slight paling in one quarter showed where lay the east. A light, cool wind, full of the freshness of early dawn, fanned his cheeks and cooled bis head. The feathered tribe had not yet started their early morning twitterings. Only the night breeze as it whispered round the hut broke in on the silence. To all appearances it certainly looked a good day for flying. He turned on bis heel and hurriedly got him to the mess room, where he soon found and demolished his early breakfast. Thus fortified as to the inner man he donned his flying boots, heavy leather coat and flying helmet, and with goggles and binoculars in hand trudged off to the sheds. Here he found the mechanics putting the finishing touches to his ship. The engineer officer was supervising the testing of the engine, armourers were fitting on the 651 b. bombs and Lewis gun. and his W/T

operator was getting the lead weighted confidential signalling hooks on hoard. fie reported to the Senior Fixing Officer, who gave him the details of his patrol

NOT TO MENTION SUBMARINES A STORY OF THE WAR FROM AN UNUSUAL ANGLE

una told him a submarine had been sighted the previous evening in that very area, lie got his maps and charts, and, villi a cheerful heart climbed into his seat. The faithful Links arrived with his flying rations- sandwiches, especially concentrated bar chocolate, thermos flask and more eggs: When all was ready the landing party, winch had arrived and had been detailed oil' for the handling guvs, cast oil the ship and walked her out of the shed on to the landing ground. She was swung nose to wind, and ballasted up to make certain that she would rise from the ground when released. The engine was "revved" up to full speed, and then eased down till it just ticked over. The ship was trimmed, the pilot waved his hand, the officer in charge blew his whistle, the guys were let go, the car party gave their burden a last parting upward heave, the ihrotlle was opened, and awav she zoomed into the air, off

(; '< patrol. I'ird listened rather anxiously to the note of the engine. A falter or spasmodic sputtering may he the precursor oi an unwelcome "forced landing." with probably a "crashed" ship to show for it. and the possible loss of life of members of her crew. However, after a flutter or two. she warmed up and settled down into a comforting, sustained hum. I he cold wind poured in a steady stream against his face, and brousdn tears to his eyes in spite of the goggfes. Away in the distance could he seen the black' shapes of the hills. The sleeping country below was still clothed in darkness. Gradually the dawn came up hke the soft notes of an organ pealing. The sky turned from saffron to pink. The hues deepened, and the lingers of rosy tinted morn lightly touched the purple hills and they awoke to the light ol another daw Even the prosaic mind of the pilot stirred to the beauty and the ireshness of the scene. His joyous, weird, tuneless efforts at singing mingle-! with

the triumphant soil”' of the engine. A.he flew steadily seawards the sun rose and drenched the landscape with golden dust. Ihe mellow bronzes, deep olives, old gold and crimson of the woods dressed

in their autumn glories passed rapidly beneath him. A big brown bird Happed lazily over a clearing. The surface of some meadows covered in dew shone like shimmering silver. Soon thev would reach the coast. Frail wisps of cobweb floated in the air and the gossamer threads became _ entangled with the suspension wires of the car. As they passed above the cliffs, and beheld the illimitable ocean stretched out before them, the pilot fell a thrill rise in his veins. What would Ins eight hours of patrol hold for him to-day? lie warned his crew (the engineer and \V/T operator) to keep their eves skinned more than usual. dhe hours passed uneventfully. The day was calm, with but the lightest of sea breezes. As he flew above the surface he deliberately scanned each hit of the sea. Fvery ripple, every isolated swirl, each little crisping, breaking wavelet was treated with suspicion. Fritz's periscope is only a spot, and may be given awav by even the agitated movements of seapulls, d lie pilot began to find things beginning to pall. lie fell cramped and longed to be able to get up and stretch his legs, lie look a swap at the thermos flask and chewed a mixed diet of chocolate and sandwiches, Me fell belter after final, and the thought of a certain bottle of beer which lay in hiding fill lunch lime braced him still further! A blur of smoke on the horizon caught his eve. lie shoved I lie rudder bar over with his fool, gave the elevator wheel a twirl and swung the lllimp round towards it. As

they closed it lie made her mil to he a fairly larye steamer, and he wondered if her caplam was cognisant of the recent antics o! Fritz. I he sea was lull of warm ( mil. nun! mi j\ _r/;. nj Mnlm-in / Snl'f'lrmrnl

Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart — On us. on us the unswerving season smiles, Who wonder 'mid our fern ivhv men depart To seek the Happy Isles. —Radyard Kipling.

cAuctyand c 3iarbour Showing Qrafton fridge and ~Rangitoto 'Photo hy courtesy ofdrank -"Duncan & Co.. Lome Street, Auckland

colour to-day and war seemed very far away. A few billowy, stately- white cloud galleons swept slowly by overhead, in a sky of deep blue. Underneath him the sea was changing into chameleon hues of cool greens, blues, ,mauves and grey's.

Bird stuck another piece of chocolate into his mouth and had another look at the stranger. To his horror he saw a white column of water heave up alongside her, immediately followed by the bursting of a black cloud of ominous 1 0,0 king smoke. When it cleared he saw that the ship had been badly hit. She had taken up a bad list to port, and looked solely stricken. He was still quite six miles away from her. which meant that his chance of locating the enemy was a very doubtful one. However, he opened ■the throttle out full, the engine’s note rose 'to a high roar, and he sent a rapidly I coded message to the base reporting the j incident. Then he looked to his bombs land the \V/T operator cleared away the Tewis gun. At 50 m.p.h. a little over seven minutes would see him over the scene of the tragedy. As he watched, he saw yet - another fountain of water and smoke go heavenward. Fritz had delivered a second torpedo. This administered the coup dc (/race. The steamer buried her nose, flung her heels in the air. rolled over and sank in a swirling mass of steam and smoke from her exploding boilers. As this funeral pall lifted Bird was astonished to see the wedge shaoe of the conning tower of the submarine break surface. Apparently her commander had been

too interested in dealing with the steamer to think of looking skywards. Doubtless he had come to the surface to collect proof of his exploit and to settle any unfortunates who had managed to survive. The lid of the coning tower was thrown back and a few heads popped up. Like a veritable bolt from the blue, Bird greased down , wind on to him. The crew obviously heard the airship's engines for the first time, saw her, and made frantic efforts to slam the lid and do a "crash" dive. Too late ! He was on top of them. The bomb-sights came on, the "eggs" were released and went spinning down on to their luckless prey. There was a tremendous explosion, and a great yellow' ochre sheet of blinding flame burst heavenwards. The Blimp seemed to crack in two from the concussion, but luckily nothing carried away. The submarine had completely disappeared; Thick bubbling oil from her broken tanks came to the surface, along with some bits of splintered wreckage. That was all. He circled round to examine the wreckage more closely, and then, for the first time, saw a small boat to leeward with four people in it. He valved gas, depressed his elevators, and went down to have a look at them. As he descended he saw one of them was a woman, and appeared to be hurt. He was flying the latest type of Blimp, which was fitted with a boat shafted car and sea anchor, and could, shou'd the weather be calm enough, alight on the water. Bird shut off his engine, glided down on to the surface, and waved to the boat to come alongside. His romantic mind was not uninterested in ?eeiniT what kind of person the object in petticoats would turn out to be ! When the boat came alongside him he saw that even his most high-flung ideas had not orepared him for what his eves showed him. She was lying exhausted, with eyes closed, and her long lashes showed up • the delicate contours of her cheek. He was told that one arm had been fractured bv the explosion. They had done what thev could for her. Bird scratched his head and

ruminated how he could save beauty in distress. His small Blimp was incapable of taking another passenger, and they were a good twenty miles from the coast. He decided to swap her for his engineer. The thermos was passed over and some hot liquid was forced between her pale lips. The colour flowed back into lier cheeks and she opened her eyes. The gallant young airman found himself looking into what seemed to him to be the most wonderful violet eyes in the world. She was gathered tenderly into his craft and the mechanic got out. They wrapped her up and made her as comfortable as possible in the bottom of the car. With great difficulty he took the boat in tow and brought it several miles nearer the land. Then he released some water ballast, rose from the water, and shaped his course with all despatch for home. He reported by W/T the sinking of the submarine, and gave the position of the survivors so that surface craft could pick them up. A short while later he landed and the landing officer was astonished to see, not the honest, grease besprinkled face of the mechanic climb out of the car, but the exhausted, though still lissom, form of a slip of a fair-haired girl of eighteen. Needless to say, that exploit of FlightLieutenant Bird long remained unique in the annals of the airship station. Some months later a certain merry pealing of the bells of the old-fashioned village church laughed out the joyous ending to that strange episode of the Blimp Patrol.