COMEDY OF AIR ATTACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 148, 23 June 1923, Page 19

COMEDY OF AIR ATTACK.

"TOMMIES" TOO SICK TO FIGHT DESERT "REBELS." An amusing story has leaked out of tbe unhappy ending to a demonstration in Egypt, which was staged to show how great were the possibilities of troop-carrying aeroplanes in warfare. The unfortunate finale (writes a "Daily Chronicle" special correspondent) was aue to the "humpy" nature of Eastern skies, where a pocket, which moans a sudden fall of 40ft or 50ft, is frequently met with, and, also, to the fact that the troops, who were whirled through the heavens at more than a hundred miles an hour, were not experienced air travellers. A small body of men had taken up a position In the desert, and were intended to depict a tribe of insurrectionary natives. As soon as ue\v s of the "rising" was received by wireless at a Royal Air Force station a picked body of troops, including machine-gunners, were to jump into tne aeroplane and be rushed to the spot to deal with the rebels. A crowd, which included distinguished Service officers, gathered to see the display, and soon the gigantic aeroplane was seen hurtling high up above the sand and rock to the venue of the insurrection.

An excellent landing was made, but the soldiers seemed to be a long time dismounting from their aerial chariot. The onlookers g.rew impntiont. Then from the cabin of the machine there staggered down a soldier with his machine-gun, tlis gait was unsteady and his movements awkward and slow. Isut he managed to fix his, weapon pointing towards the "enemy. Then he collapsed on the ground. Others followed him, but nearly all suggested that they had been served with a large ration of rum in error. Some were even not fit to descend from the aeroplane, and they lay spread-eagled across the floor. Then the truth dawned. The exceptionally "bumpy" atmosphere had wrought all the damage, ani had caused so many "casualties" before the enemy had been met. The men were suffering from air sickness. It was an unfortunate climax, for tne general percentage of those who suffer In this way is exceptionally small. On the Continental air routes, where the air is much more free from pockets than in Egypt, a passenger seldom experiences air sickness. When another display is held in Egypt a rehearsal will probably be held to ensure that the soldiers are all able to stand an air trip. Not once in a hundred times would a journey have ended in such fiasco.