MOCK AERIAL WAR

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 255, 27 July 1927, Page 11

MOCK AERIAL WAR

VALUABLE LESSONS PROVIDED DARING “ENEMY” RAIDS MANOEUVRES MARRED BY TRAGEDY The Royal Air Force manoeuvres to test the defences of London have already provided valuable lessons. Unfortunately they were marred by a tragedy, two machines colliding and Flying Officer Anderson being burned to death. By Telegraph—Press Association. Coptbight. (Rec. July 26, 7 p.m.) London, July 25. The inock war has already provided valuable lessons.A The “enemy” made a series of most daring raids from the east and south, in a continuous attempt to break the defence cordon. Low clouds aided the attackers, but all five raids were quickly detected, thanks to small fighting ’planes. Within ten minutes of the first appearance of each of the five the raid direction was traced out and met by superior forces of defending ’planes. . It is not yet known what casualties the raiding bombers experienced, .but poor visibility enabled them to sccte some success upon the targets, which were tlie Duke of York’s School, Chelsea. and the stores depot at Kidbrooke. The enemy scored at least one direct hit on the’ Duke of York’s School from 15,000 feet, the results being registered bv camera obscura methods. "The defence included an artillery barrage, as well as squadrons of aeroplanes working in the inner zone. The defence was conducted from the map room i of which the whereabouts was a profound secret, and from which orders were flashed by wireless. As the position of each attaqker was noted, a black disc was placed on a map showing trie height and direction in which it was moving. , > The manoeuvres were marred by « tragedy at the Northoft Aerodrome. When the Seventeenth Squadron was returning, Flving Officer Anderson collided with the next machine, crashed, and was burned to death in the sight of hundreds, who were unable to approach the blazing machine. The other pilot managed to land safely.

1 EIGHT RAIDS MADE SEVERAL REACHED OBJECTIVES (Rec. July 26, 7 p.m.)’ London, July ,25. Later reports indicate that there were eight raids during the day, and of these several reached their objectives without being intercepted in the morning, necessitating a rearrangement of the plans for defence later. ATTACKERS SUFFER CASUALTIES PHOTOGRAPHS TO TEST ... I ACCURACY OF WORK (Rec. July 26, 7.25 p.m.) London, July 25. No attacking squadron reached its objective without several casualties. In one case a squadron crossed the coast at Havant at 8.14 a.m. and attacked the Chelsea area at 9.30. At 10.5 the umpire noticed the machines were only 300 yards from the Chelsea target, despite the fact that the attack -was obscured by low clouds. A patrol squadron failed to intercept it, so this raid was an enemv success. Another raid from Shoeburyness, at 8 o’clock, failed owing to low clouds. Remembering the speed of modern aircraft and that such a raider travels a mile while a shell from an Archie is climbing to h’m, it is difficnlt to see whv anv raid should fail. A squadron which crossed the coast at Bognor at midday attacked Chelsea at 1 o’clock, inflicting severe casualties on the defending aircraft and others. The attackers were beaten off in me afternoon. A squadron at 3 o clock bombed Chelsea from 15,000 feet a patrol searching for two hours without making contact with the raiders. . Each bombing force was accompanied by a photographer, whose pictures will be built up in a Mosaic map Iniaddition each machine took photographs as it dropped bombs. The photos will be used to test the accuracy of the weather defeated the night raids. The defence fighters were in readmes* from 10 o’clock to set out at a moment’s notice against the enemy, who was reported to have crossed the coast before 11.30. The raiders however, encountered low clouds and drizzle and were forced to give up before approaching the capital, and returned without the home defence forces taking the air.