LATEST RAIDS ON LONDON.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 11400, 20 November 1917, Page 5

LATEST RAIDS ON LONDON.

DEFENSIVE TACTICS.

GERMAN DISORGANISATION. (Aust, and N.Z. Cable Association.) London, Nov. 3. In the latest air raid on London the engines of the aircraft were unusually distinct above the heavy cannonading. The Gothas were invisible to the naked eye, though star-like points of light revealed the defenders above harassing the enemy in co-operation with the gunners, who fired in concerted bursts with long spells of silence, during which the defending machines wore occupied in grim air fights at a tremendous altitude. The tactics adopted scattered and disorganised the raiders, which were compelled to hurriedly drop their bombs, with the result that little damage was done in most of the districts, considering the opportunities the'Gothas had. Seven bombs wore dropped in one district, killing six persons, ami flattening n number of bouses. There were the usual marvellous escapes. Viscount Cowdray, President of the Air Board, speaking in Ltmdon, said that Britain was now producing at a great rate aeroplanes that could rise four miles at a speed double that of the fastest expresss train, necessitating the use of oxygen to assist the breathing of the occupants. The Times correspondent at Amsterdam states that tjie Germans are practising at Koolkerke and Zeebrugge with new aeroplanes, Juiving twin motors and propellers, which are intended for a series of attacks on England. The machines require skilful handling. The bodies of inexperienced pilots are frequently found on the Dutch and Flemish coasts.