"BULLDOG FIGHT."

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1329, 17 May 1918, Page 9

"BULLDOG FIGHT."

AIR COMBAT IN THE NORTH SEA.

We have received an aceount by a naval officer who took part in the encounter of the air engagement on March 12 between two British seaplanes an.l five enemy aircraft in the southern part of the North Sea, official details of which were given by the Admiralty on March 14, says the "Observer." In the engagement, which lasted for about 30 minutes, one enemy two-seater was shot down and destroyed, the observer of a secoml machine was killed, and a third seaplane was driven down on the water. The engagement terminated when the British seaplanes had expended all their ammunition. Both British machines returned safely. The writer says: —

'' Three of us were on patrol in the morning, an«l just beyond the North Hinder five Huns drove on our tails. We fought for 45 minutes, and in the middle of it a submarine bobbed up right under me. We had to drop all oar bombs at the start of the fight, so that all I could do 'was to give him a few shots which drove them to close the hatch and the boat to duck. Well, it was a running fight, and the chief was not pleased a bit. He picked two crews that he felt confidence in, and I was picked. We had orders to keep our. bombs, to run from nothing (no matter what the odds were against us), and to show the Hun that we could fight.

"So out we went and ran on to five Huns sitting in the water near their coast. They jumped in, and we weat for them. We started with a stern action, and we were landing too hot for them. They fell into a circle as quick as you could wink and circled below us We simply riddled them, and they did the same for us. One tried to cross our bow to ram us, but misjudged, and as we held on he had to go below us. "I was using the bow gun, and was leaning over when he came right unde' me with the gunner, who sat aft, looking at me and pointing his gun in my face. I shot him, and the machine went up on its ear and .into a nose dive. It levelled out just at the water and withdrew. I don't know how much damage was done. We had no time to look. Then my pilot rushed the remains of the circle and broke it up. They ran away in column ahead, but again this proved to put us at an advantage, so they formed a larger and higher circle and really started to lav us cold.

"My wireless man, who was using a rear gun, got shot through the neck, and my gun had got so hot by then that the sights had rolled off, and I took what ammunition I had left and crawled back over the lower plane. They saw me crawling in and made it quite hot. Luckily for me, I slipped on his blood and missed a very good burst that was meant for my head. Then I used his gun until we had put it over them, and our ammunition ran low. We used 2300 rounds between the two machines. "Most of the action was at aboit 200 feet. It* was a regular bulldog fight and very dirty work. We made them change their minds, I think. It is the best fight we ever put up from this station, and the first pilots of the machines simply stuck them into it. The air was literally full of lead and traces of smoke. You would have enjoyed it." '