https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/airmens-part-in-arras-battle-l5rpds0qt?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1616303
Airmen’s part in Arras battle
Probably to the airmen, almost more than to anybody else, we owe the completeness of our victory
April 20, 1917
The weather continues impossible. In place of the howling wind and squalls of the last few days steady rain set in during the night and has been falling all day, shrouding everything in a thick, November-like mist. It is as if the elements themselves hated the war.
Unthinking people may say it is the same for both sides, but this is not true. Apart from the difficulty of rapid movement necessary to the attacking party, the thick mist robs us of all the advantage of our air supremacy and observation. We have the high ground now commanding the battlefield and a mastery in the air hardly less complete than in the Battle of the Somme. Each day enemy machines make, perhaps, a dozen crossings of our line, sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less, but, on an average, about a dozen, and every time a German machine comes over it scurries back again.
Since the Battle of Arras began we have made daily over 400 crossings of his line - not hasty dashes, but deliberate reconnaissances, with careful observation, taking thousands of photographs and making long-distance raids and excursions over German territory. Probably to the airmen, almost more than to anybody else, we owe the completeness of our victory, for it is the information brought by our airmen that enables the guns to smash up the enemy’s batteries and pound his defences to pieces. Our guns smothered every enemy battery within range; the observation of our airmen and the practice of our guns being equally admirable.
It is wonderful to see everywhere along the line in the captured German positions, not only heavy guns knocked out by direct hits, but small machine-gun emplacements, and always the firing is done as the result of aeroplane observation. Our flying men have paved the way for victory. The nation will never be grateful enough to the Royal Flying Corps for what it did on the Somme and is doing here today, in spite alike of the enemy and the storms.
In the thick mist which veils everything as I write, enemy aeroplanes stay at home, safe from attack, and his infantry and gunners know they are safe from the eyes that watch from above, and the immediate sequel to whose watching is the terrible work of our guns. The bad weather is all in his favour, and all to our disadvantage.
The official communique informed you that the number of guns we have captured now amounts to 230. I understand that at the beginning of the battle the enemy had out 600 guns on the front attacked. We have taken, therefore, considerably over one-third of his artillery. Of course the much larger part of it was further back than the positions to which we have penetrated. In the country overrun the number of guns he got away was very small, and, as already reported, in almost all cases, he left ammunition behind.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-airmans-three-flights-zwh89kt38?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1616303
Unthinking people may say it is the same for both sides, but this is not true. Apart from the difficulty of rapid movement necessary to the attacking party, the thick mist robs us of all the advantage of our air supremacy and observation. We have the high ground now commanding the battlefield and a mastery in the air hardly less complete than in the Battle of the Somme. Each day enemy machines make, perhaps, a dozen crossings of our line, sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less, but, on an average, about a dozen, and every time a German machine comes over it scurries back again.
Since the Battle of Arras began we have made daily over 400 crossings of his line - not hasty dashes, but deliberate reconnaissances, with careful observation, taking thousands of photographs and making long-distance raids and excursions over German territory. Probably to the airmen, almost more than to anybody else, we owe the completeness of our victory, for it is the information brought by our airmen that enables the guns to smash up the enemy’s batteries and pound his defences to pieces. Our guns smothered every enemy battery within range; the observation of our airmen and the practice of our guns being equally admirable.
It is wonderful to see everywhere along the line in the captured German positions, not only heavy guns knocked out by direct hits, but small machine-gun emplacements, and always the firing is done as the result of aeroplane observation. Our flying men have paved the way for victory. The nation will never be grateful enough to the Royal Flying Corps for what it did on the Somme and is doing here today, in spite alike of the enemy and the storms.
In the thick mist which veils everything as I write, enemy aeroplanes stay at home, safe from attack, and his infantry and gunners know they are safe from the eyes that watch from above, and the immediate sequel to whose watching is the terrible work of our guns. The bad weather is all in his favour, and all to our disadvantage.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-airmans-three-flights-zwh89kt38?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1616303
British airman’s three flights
At last I got into a good position and attacked one of them from above, having another on my right. I closed on the latter, turning in on him so close that I could get a sight actually on the pilot’s head. I saw my bullets strike the pilot’s head, and the machine then simply heeled over and span to the ground
April 23, 1917
Here is the record of a single flight of one of our airmen, made within the last few days. I have cut out only the names of machines and such small details as might conceivably be useful to the enemy. Otherwise the record is precisely as it was written:
When our machines were attacked at Cambrai I attacked a hostile aviator at about 8,000ft. I saw that I hit his engine as we closed with one another. I half-looped to one side of him and then he dived, with a large trail of blue smoke. I dived after him to about 4,000ft and fired about 50 rounds into him, when he went down absolutely out of control. I watched him spinning down to about 1,000ft, the trail of smoke increasing.
I was immediately attacked by three enemy machines, which drove me down to about 200ft. We were firing at one another, whenever possible, when at last I got into a good position and attacked one of them from above, having another on my right. I closed on the latter, turning in on him so close that I could get a sight actually on the pilot’s head. I saw my bullets strike the pilot’s head, and the machine then simply heeled over and span to the ground. The other two machines cleared off.
Having lost sight of all the other machines and being so low, I decided to fly home at about that height, namely, 200ft. A company of German cavalry going east along a small road halted and fired on me; also several machine-guns opened fire. After going west for about five minutes, I was again attacked by an enemy single-seater, and as he approached I rocked my machine until he was within 50 yards. I side-looped over him and fired a short burst at him. He seemed to clear off, and then attacked me again.
These operations were repeated several times with slight variations in the way I looped over him, until within about five minutes of crossing the line (flying against a strong wind), when he was about 160 yards behind me. I looped straight over him and, coming out of the loop, fired a good long burst. I saw where I hit the pilot in the back, just above the edge of the cockpit. He immediately dived straight into the ground.
I then went over the German trenches, filled with soldiers, and was fired on by machine-guns, rifles, and small field-guns - in or out of range. There was a lot of artillery firing going on, and many of our shells bursting in and about the German trenches, somewhere in the vicinity of the Cambrai road. I saw many small companies of infantry and cavalry, about 10 to 50 in each, going east along small roads. I noted no convoys or movement of artillery. I landed at the first aerodrome I saw. My machine was badly shot about.
During this battle, besides their daily and chief job of observation on the enemy’s guns and positions, our airmen have been continually raiding far into the enemy’s country, and in these few-days alone have dropped, in daylight, some 27 tons of explosives on enemy stations and depots and stores and positions of all kinds. They have come down to spray the German infantry in the trenches and on the roads with their machine-guns, and they have even attacked, and killed, when there has been no bigger game in sight, individual horsemen.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-air-patrols-n59pn3bwz?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1616303
When our machines were attacked at Cambrai I attacked a hostile aviator at about 8,000ft. I saw that I hit his engine as we closed with one another. I half-looped to one side of him and then he dived, with a large trail of blue smoke. I dived after him to about 4,000ft and fired about 50 rounds into him, when he went down absolutely out of control. I watched him spinning down to about 1,000ft, the trail of smoke increasing.
I was immediately attacked by three enemy machines, which drove me down to about 200ft. We were firing at one another, whenever possible, when at last I got into a good position and attacked one of them from above, having another on my right. I closed on the latter, turning in on him so close that I could get a sight actually on the pilot’s head. I saw my bullets strike the pilot’s head, and the machine then simply heeled over and span to the ground. The other two machines cleared off.
Having lost sight of all the other machines and being so low, I decided to fly home at about that height, namely, 200ft. A company of German cavalry going east along a small road halted and fired on me; also several machine-guns opened fire. After going west for about five minutes, I was again attacked by an enemy single-seater, and as he approached I rocked my machine until he was within 50 yards. I side-looped over him and fired a short burst at him. He seemed to clear off, and then attacked me again.
These operations were repeated several times with slight variations in the way I looped over him, until within about five minutes of crossing the line (flying against a strong wind), when he was about 160 yards behind me. I looped straight over him and, coming out of the loop, fired a good long burst. I saw where I hit the pilot in the back, just above the edge of the cockpit. He immediately dived straight into the ground.
During this battle, besides their daily and chief job of observation on the enemy’s guns and positions, our airmen have been continually raiding far into the enemy’s country, and in these few-days alone have dropped, in daylight, some 27 tons of explosives on enemy stations and depots and stores and positions of all kinds. They have come down to spray the German infantry in the trenches and on the roads with their machine-guns, and they have even attacked, and killed, when there has been no bigger game in sight, individual horsemen.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-air-patrols-n59pn3bwz?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1616303
The air patrols
When the torpedo has found its mark it is frequently the seaplane which first sees the shipwrecked crews in their boats, sends wireless messages for assistance, and directs the rescuers to the right spot
December 5, 1917
Particulars are available of the work done by naval aircraft during September. The total distance covered by the patrols was more than 170,000 miles, of which 90,000 miles was covered by seaplanes, and 80,000 miles by airships. On seven occasions ships which were being attacked by submarines sent SOS signals, which brought seaplanes to their assistance in time to save them by compelling the submarines to dive.
Several hundred ships were convoyed during the month by aircraft, and in no instance has a submarine attacked a ship while under aircraft escort. When a destroyer sights a submarine some five or six miles away, it goes to the attack at about 30 miles an hour, so that the submarine has 10 minutes or so in which to dive beyond the reach of the destroyer’s depth charges. But when a seaplane sights a submarine at the same distance, it flies to the attack at anything from 80 to 100 miles an hour, so that the submarine has only three or four minutes before bombs begin to fall round her.
A seaplane recently sighted a German submarine on the surface, flew directly over her before she had a chance to dive, and dropped on her a bomb, which was seen to make a large hole in the deck. Immediately afterwards the seaplane pilot saw through the mist three more German submarines, in line abreast, followed by three German destroyers, and escorted by two German seaplanes. All six vessels fired their anti-aircraft guns at our seaplane, but the German seaplanes did not attack, because they could not get through the barrage put up by the fire of their own destroyers and submarines. Our seaplane turned, dropped another bomb on the wounded submarine, saw her sink amid a pool of oil in which fragments of her floated, and then retired from an unequal contest, at the same time sending a wireless message as to where three of the enemy’s destroyers were to be found.
Our seaplanes save life in other ways. Their presence has often saved a merchant ship when a submarine has been attacking it, and when the torpedo has found its mark it is frequently the seaplane which first sees the shipwrecked crews in their boats, sends wireless messages for assistance, and directs the rescuers to the right spot. The seaplanes and the other aircraft sight mines, and so help the mine-sweepers in their task. Without a constant stream of new aircraft to replace the inevitable heavy wastage in machines, the struggle against the German submarines will he prolonged, food become dearer, and the lives of our sailors exposed, and in many cases needlessly lost.
Several hundred ships were convoyed during the month by aircraft, and in no instance has a submarine attacked a ship while under aircraft escort. When a destroyer sights a submarine some five or six miles away, it goes to the attack at about 30 miles an hour, so that the submarine has 10 minutes or so in which to dive beyond the reach of the destroyer’s depth charges. But when a seaplane sights a submarine at the same distance, it flies to the attack at anything from 80 to 100 miles an hour, so that the submarine has only three or four minutes before bombs begin to fall round her.
A seaplane recently sighted a German submarine on the surface, flew directly over her before she had a chance to dive, and dropped on her a bomb, which was seen to make a large hole in the deck. Immediately afterwards the seaplane pilot saw through the mist three more German submarines, in line abreast, followed by three German destroyers, and escorted by two German seaplanes. All six vessels fired their anti-aircraft guns at our seaplane, but the German seaplanes did not attack, because they could not get through the barrage put up by the fire of their own destroyers and submarines. Our seaplane turned, dropped another bomb on the wounded submarine, saw her sink amid a pool of oil in which fragments of her floated, and then retired from an unequal contest, at the same time sending a wireless message as to where three of the enemy’s destroyers were to be found.
Our seaplanes save life in other ways. Their presence has often saved a merchant ship when a submarine has been attacking it, and when the torpedo has found its mark it is frequently the seaplane which first sees the shipwrecked crews in their boats, sends wireless messages for assistance, and directs the rescuers to the right spot. The seaplanes and the other aircraft sight mines, and so help the mine-sweepers in their task. Without a constant stream of new aircraft to replace the inevitable heavy wastage in machines, the struggle against the German submarines will he prolonged, food become dearer, and the lives of our sailors exposed, and in many cases needlessly lost.
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