"MASTERS OF THE AIR."

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 1018, 10 November 1917, Page 8

"MASTERS OF THE AIR."

There was a glorification of G<-rmanyX air Hun- at. a. recent meeting in Berlin, at which iin- principal speaker was Major Sieger!. inspector of the living Knxe.«. They were depicted as the "masters of the air about both land and -,ea. and as paragons of humanity who, “with, touching piety notify the enemy when one of his airmen is shot down, drop a parachute with iho fallen enemy’., person:-, i effect. over his own lines, and, it possible, send a photograph of his last resting place to Ins bereaved family.” “Though undoubtedly daring and extraordinarily tenacious.” he said, “the English have grown so rowdyi-h through sport that they are not filled with any sense of the terribly deep meaning of war. They iook upon it merely a- ; thrilling change from tootball or boxing-. It has ever happened that an English airman will challenge us to a duel, asking us to inert in tnc air at a certain place, ami time, tinned only with one machine gun, and light to a finish.’ Siegerl- gave au interesting ro.-ume ol the vs.st- progress Hying has. made during the war. “In 1914 our airmen could carry, comfortable, tla-ee bombs in each, oi their two pockets TM dav thev drop bombs the me of torpedoes, in 1914 they travelled with 80 to 100 h.p. engines. To-day they van hy three, times faster than the swiftest espies* Main The tricks of IVgoud, v.nien m BIT 1 made the world _ hold its breath, are now every-day teats.