AIR DUELS FOUR MILES HIGH

Hokitika Guardian, 12 October 1928, Page 8

AIR DUELS FOUR MILES HIGH

TWENTY-FIVE SQUADRONS IN ACTION. LONDON, August 24. During last week the open spaces of the air above London were the battle ground of two forces known as Eastland and Westland. At 0 o’clock each evening the roar of many planes could be heard. People in London were entertained night after night with spectacular air battjes. All through the dark, Hours the mar of the planes continued, and when morning dawned one cou.'d see the squadrons returning to their stations. Twenty-five squadrons wore flying over London diir.ng 15 hours daily and nightly for four successive days.

Tlie attacking force, with 13 day and night bombing squadrons at its disposal, put out to sea and approached the southeast coast at places and times chosen by themselves, and flew .in the direction of London. The attack was between 6 in the evening and 9 in the morning. It was the business of the defenders, with 12 fighting units at their disposal, aided by observers, sound locators, searchlights, and antiaircraft guns, to defend Ixmdon and other vital points to the best oF their powers.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT,

Many lessons have been learned, but the authorities were, non-commit-tal. After the exercises the following official communique was published :

1. During the air exercises which have just cometo’an end approximately 250,0CX) miles were flown by aircraft taking part. (The only mishap . involving injury oeemred to a pilot of a fighter which turned over. He suffered minor, injuries to' his nose.

. 2. Tlie total weight of bombs whi h could have been carried by bombers was nearly 202 tons. This is without making deductions for those whom the umpires judged to have been shot down before reaching the objectives. 3. By, day clouds and strong winds high favoured the bombers on the whole, particularly those approaching the targets from the south and west with the wind behind them. 4. The day bombers made in all 57 raids. These were attacked 39 times on. the way in and 37 times on the way out. Only nine raids succeeded in evading the defence both ways. One hundred and fifty-one day bombers wore adjudged to have been brought 'down by fighters, and 20 by anti-aircraft, while J 39 fighters were iost. 5. In the operations after dark tlie weather so favoured the defence on three of the four nights that a, very large percentage of bombers were intercepted . 6. The interception of bombers by fighters has shown a. decided Improvement since,last year, as did the standard of air pilotage and the use of clouds by- bombers. 7. The; auxiliary and cadre squadrons played an important part creditably in the first exercises in which they have co-operated, and invaluable work was do>ne by the Observer. Corps and seneblights. 8. The Air Officer Oonuna.ndin.g-in Chief, Air Defences. Great Britain, is very satisfied with the efficiency shown by all units. The exercises were not designed to test the efficiency of the London defences, but mainly to-'test the operational efficiency of individual units. 9. In conclusion, thanks are due to those who kindly allowed searchlights to be erected within their grounds and to' those civilians who looked after the flares on the emergency landing grounds.

THE SPEEDY “FOX.”

The sensational feature of the manoeuvres has been the ability shown by a high performance bomber, the “Fox,” to escape interception and deliver raids with which it hits appeared impossible for the defence to deal adequately. Built to attain speed at considerable altitudes, a number of these “Foxes ’ have run the gauntlet of the defences again and again, coming in high through clouds, driving upon their objectives, and then flashing off again at tremendous pace. One evening a formation of defensive fighters got to, grips with the “Foxes,” and claimed to have shot a couple down.

On two other occasions, however, after a squadron of aeroplanes had managed to intercept them, the “Foxes” actually stripped the machines that were intended to cut them off and m dashing out of the war zone unseat iiered. A remarkable fact is that the particular “Foxes” used in the manoeuvres arc not by any means the fastest machines of this type available. An improved “Fox,” fitted with a new high-powered British engine, which offers a minimum of head resistance at high speed., is now attaining astonishing speeds in the trials it is undergoing. SAVED BY PARACHUTE.

There were fine spectacles every night, but one evening the public had the privilege of seeing a flying officer save his life by the use of a parachute. Thousands of people in the riverside districts of Kew.and Richmond watched the whole thing from the moment? they saw flames coming from the airplane high up in the sky. The machine was flying in a group of seven fighters, when suddenly the flames were seen.

A few moments later the startled onlookers held their breath in terror as they saw the airman leap from his machine. He fell swiftly for some distance, and then the fright of the onlookers gave place to a- feeling of re-

lief as they saw the airman’s parachute open. His drop was checked, and ho drifted gradually down towards the ground. Excited men and women in motor cars and ta.xi cabs dashed along the roads in the neighbourhood, and when lie actually landed on the roof of a house a large crowd had arrived on wheel and on foot. They cheered wildly as he- came safely down on the roof.

Flying officer Rennet said that he was at a great height when lie noticed gas fumes coming from the machine, and a few moments later he saw some flames and smoke. In a flash it appeared to him that his machine was on fire, and ho leaped for safety, after having headed his machine towards the open space in Kew Gardens. One of bis feet was injuredjwlightly as lie leaped from his machine, and his boot mus torn from. It is foot. It- was sub,soquently found in Kew Gardens. As the pilot jumped into the air, the machine took a steep nose dive and crashed li.ee a stone from about 8000 feet. It must have struck the ground at 300 miles an hour. There were only two other forced landings during the exercises. A big bomber carrying out a raid oh Kidbirook made a forced landing in a ploughed field at Stifford, near Grays, Essex, owing to a broken oil pipe, which caught fire. The three oceup-pant-s-—pilot observer, and one of the umpires—were unburt.

A I).H. 9A machine came down at Cooling Marshes, opposite Cauvey Island, on the Kent side, its pilot and mechanic were unhurt.

STOPPING A RAIDER. Stories wore told of the exercises from many points of view. Here is oue from the prosiac ground position beside a 25,000 candle .power searchlight. , “The huge light, its lens shaded by a large cover, stood in the centre of a raised circular rail, upon "which was a small carriage carrying a sighting telescope. An arm connected the light with the telescope. “ When the raider’s engines , were heaid a man 1 on the •telescope, judging by the sound, picked the machine up and sighted bis instrument on it. By doing so- he automatically aimed the searchlight as well. In a moment the order was given, “Expose,” the cap was removed from the giant lens, and a jet of white light spurted into the sky. “From ylose by the? searchlight it was impossible to see if the machine had been caught in the beam, owing to the blinding effect of, the light which leaks round the sides of the lamp, but at a, few yards away the aeroplane was visaole, shining in the. blaze of light and turning as.it attempted to dodge the beam.

“After the r,aider, had been caught by the , light, events, followed with dazzling, swiftness, -There was the rising scream of the engine of a fighter as from ■ somewhere in the blackness beyond it swept to the attack. Then its, .wings flashed in the light as it closed to point blank range behind tlie bomber. The bomber's navigation lights were put on, and a green Verey light was fired to sign fy that the bomber.had been attacked and put out of action. “The order ; was given to cover the searchlight, and tne crew waited in readiness for the aproncli of the next mac-nine. ” DODGING THE SEARCHLIGHTS

Here, is the story of a press representative who had the. privilege of going up with, a bombing pla.ne, “Suddenly, with the, brilliant lights of London in sight, a long white arm stabbed into the sky just to our left. The sound of engines had been caught in the director instruments of the ground defence forces. Speedily the searchlight was joined by others until beams wore all round. One swept towards us, and the machine was flung into a steep dive while the searchlight groped vainly above. “Another appeared pointing straight upwards directly in our path. Again the ipachine swung over until the wings were almost perpendicular, and we passed round the beam. The searchlight crews were beginning to gauge our position with more accuracy.

“Surrounded by a dozen or more beams, we dived, climbed, twisted and turned, sometimes facing our objective, sometimes heading again for the coast, (Sometimes hundreds of feet above, sometimes hundreds of feet below, the height which the pilot judged the best for the raid.

“The game of hide-and-seek lasted for about 20 minutes, until, seizing his opportunity, the pilot,' using every ounce of speed of which the machine was capable passed between two beams, and once more we headed for London, while our enemies continued to search the circle from which we had escaped. “Eventually we reached Hackney Marshes without having seen a single defence machine, and without having been caught even for a second by a single-searchlight. Our objective was readied.

“A white light now glowed beneath the machine to tell the umpires that we were bombing our target, while the machine’s call sign was flashed so that, the identity of the successful raider might be known.”

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