FLYING IN PALESTINE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14647, 3 July 1918, Page 4

FLYING IN PALESTINE.

TASMANIAN AVIATOR'S STORY. • SCENES '^FD INCIDENTS. Captain, S. Addison has forwarded to his brother in-Hobarta graphic- account of the- Work of." the Australian Aviawon; Sqjdadron m Palestine, iln the days of peacfc Captain Addison was a Tasmanian. joutnalist. H«'ias.now a flight-com-mander; and ther6 are six more-Tasman-ian aviators with him m Palestine. - * "I am pleased to say ouiv progress coiftiiiues, and was 'marked, by still an-, other notable aolw'evement a few days jigQ^M-he ca'ptuie of the ancient town of Jericho arid the hills to the north of the, Derfd^ea, dominating th© Jordan Valley. Oir'tte mbtnirig of the atfack I left the aerodrome- at dawii, and did a reconnais-, sancfe'of the area, and had the pleasure of Seeing 'the Turk making liis retreat acr6Bß ■ to thfc eastern baiik; of tho River Jordati" with all the expedition that circurfiitance^ would 1 permit, while being, - rathe* : badly Jiarassed hy the Australian •Ligiht H»vgej Vfho Were dlready m hot. pur^tiitf/ At this point- there is only one' bridj^e across 'the river, and we "found trafljio^considerably congested there. It affow[e.d' it glorious"' target, into which .1 artd''my 4 ob!Berver put 300 rounds from our ''^rtachirie-guns, thereby causing no, ' smallt aittountf 1 of coilfusion below. Unless' -oVi^-h'as actually' witnessed a spec-, tacle»'of -this kind, it is 'difficult to form ahytbifj^Hkea -true conception of what it riteihs. we passed over clusfcer^ of .oUr ! 'supports'^it i*est with their? mounts "on*: the reverse slopes of 'the hilWf4other9"fcoTild be seen winding their' r wuy t! ialotig : sh«Slt»re'd tracks or tho beds, of sinuotte VatfdiesVin country so rugged. anoV^Wpblien one marvelled at the' facfc'thatyhoWes codld negotiate: it at all.^ Tlic*!i?wer& ; movitfg .up' to the' attack. 1 '^ej& w^sa^thosfc' actually ■* m contact. withHhe eaiiemy. Then came' what, m thi^-iSftße w«S the 'eriemy rearguard. 1 striving m their vain effort 1 ' to ' retai'd our advance, and 'finally "tho main body they were "Coyeringi beating a basty re*' treat iucross tlie ancient ..waterway of: the ;J/irdaU; ' Our right- flank rested on the Wge-tof the Dead iSe»y our left dis-< appeared ! iiti .the folds of the historic 1 Jordan yHills.' on the top of whfch Jei*tisalem.'iind "Bethlehem stood out con-spiG^ousiy.-in^reaTir'iwhile m >the fore-' Rroiinjd« was the River Jordan; ; winding its-k-Oourfie i up. the- ?picture's<3|ue' -. valley ■whiebi bear* />its" name. >'Such was the parifrpamarr' that ■ we- looked 'down tipOhi : '• : "Fi?irWA6ome: days past wa have had' .wifh'us the official, photographer of the 1 A'.liF. '• 'He i obtained a very fine cqlJec-, tion>'ol 'picture^ including a corisidevable ; amounti of -kinema film' showing our machin©^rtakinsr^off,'landing,' l *nft; -in' ri the fl,ir.''i;(.W;evhad hia kineitt*; camera mount- r: ed- on? a 'inachine in/iwhich(U>ne«f ( 6uv ! pilots took liMinover Jidrusalem, Jericho. Jaffa. ?nnd alongthe Jordttri Valleiy. and' .. he ,took ; . a-' bipscopic .vieiw of each of; these> ■ Historic v places *hile m- flight. Ori : anotlMar-'ocoasroir he went up'!and tried! to get' a film of my mhchine- looping and negqWat ing various othor serial jrvjiinns-' ticfl : bnti unfortunately, he found it im-' practicable to keep me vrithin the camera

off our bomb raids, -when he obtained some fine Views, of the machines flying m formation, and. actually engaged m bombing their target. I '"understand, these- films arc -to be presented m Aus- i tralia at an early Sate, and they should be well- worth seeing. Captain Hurley, who took air these pictures, -has already won a Rood deal of fame m this department of art, as' the official photographer who accompanied both the 3MCawson aid Shackleton, expeditions to th£. Antarctic. As a result of the fearlessness he has displayed at all times m the pursuance of his work. here, we might expect *to finct 'Jth'at . many of the pictures, he ; has obtained will rival, m pofnt of . interest, the best of' his illustrations of the southern regions.' ': . , .. ' THE^SUPREME ARGUMENT. "X%yioTV tiin'e -ago." we' % had 1 quite a little Avar all to ourselves at- our. aei'odrorae. A number of railway trucks on to which a squadron that was. '.'on the move' had loaded: about 9000 gallons of petrol, 500 gallons of oil, and 9000 bombs, were standing m the siding, about 200 jOr 300 yards from ■ our quarters. At aWifc 7.30 p.m. the alarm was given that the petrol had ignited, and before anything could be done the whole locality was , brightly illuminated by flames shooting' oo to 3G feet in' the air.' Thei'e was a diffexencevof 'opinion as to whether 1 the bombs, which 'had not been detonated, and "were'in 1 ai separate 1 truck would be exploded! by heat. The questioji was being keenly debated m the officers' mess,, and' those 'who argued against this possibility advanced various theoretical reasons ; m support of their dontentioh, and', seemed to' be making out a rather good .case; » when' JbheV'Were. suddenly interrupted' by. a terrific report, that literally k 'blew' .the sbottom ont of ; tlieir argument... It, naturaliy Caused no 's^nall ■ amotuit of amusement. • ' .. ; i "Before very long- -it r was clearly evident that the me^ss.. quarters were a rather- unhealthy spot. , Bombs continued to exploiole/ 'ins rapid succession, and shrapuelvrairied down round rmost of the tents, several of which werei pierced. Irt 1 one case one of the men found a piece of the ironwork ©f the WiWay came through/,hi» tent and fell at the foot of hi&/,bunk. fortunately be was not 'at home' at the t-ime ;. indeed, few of us were. We found ifc a- good deal rtioj'o henlthy m- the! centre of . the aerodrome, boiiig content to watch from there this. pyrotechnic display-kindly ar-: ranged' for us by our squudron. It ccVntinued for some hours, and was quite an impressive spectacle while it lasted. '-•■ • ' "A rather amusing incident .happened m connection with \ the affair. An engine was* hurrieil along from an adiacentißtatidn; with 'the v intention of drawing the' burninsr petrol trucks away from''ithdse cohtnining" the 'bombs and other tpaterial.' ".Thfe" engine put into tlie ' siding, t and .was s approaching 1 the burn- ' ing mass when the first bomb exploded, ifhe driver promptly reversed his -engine, and put up excellent time for the first half-mile.. As. a matter -of fnct,\it <was the most sensible thing to do. as the trucks were very soon mutilated by the< Explosions that followed.".