THE NEW AIR FIGHTING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9690, 19 June 1917, Page 8

THE NEW AIR FIGHTING

AMBUSHES IN THE CLOUDS. Even the amazing communiques issued recently give no real idea of the nenfighting in the air. The latest aeroplanes on both sides are of a quick, breathless speed, according to Mr W. Beach Thomas. "At one moment aeroplanes swish over you like a covey of birds: at another you see or hear no sign of their presence: a minute later faint, mysterious sounds as of a hammer on soft wood come from viewless heights, and then one of the 'planes, either' winged or too weak for the combat. dives for the harbourage of its own lines. I am told that all records were broken by one of our newest and fastest machines which, destroyed five of the enemy in one flight." The art of high diving has increased beyond telling. from 16,000 ft, where they are scarcely visible, or from the ambush of a cloud, the ’planes come down like a plummet to bomb a train, to fire a balloon, or to riddle a body of men with machine-gun fire, firing at small objects on the ground is daily practised like the game of tent-pegging. So quickly do the divers come and go that men with loaded rifles on the very spot are often in their astonishment too slow to fire till the 'plane is well out of range. The German authorities complain bitterly that their infantry fail altogether to nse their rifles on such occasions. , , , , The enemy has concentrated a number of his best airmen, just as earlier ha concentrated a group of, his best gunners, in what is known as the travelling circus, which gathers wherever he meditates an offensive. It is a mobile unit of expert fighters and photographers. The clear air and compact clouds with well-defined edges give ideal conditions for air manoeuvring, and some of the experts on both sides have exhibited almost uncanny skill in ambushing in clouds and escaping back into them. This activity is visible all over the have fonght several hot fights as far behind the Gorman lines as Douai, and considerable groups of ’planes in as regular fighting formation as attacking infantry, have both bombed and bombarded much more distant spots.