A new type of British aeroplane was developed during the war, capable of
rising from the ground at a very sharp angle and of developing a speed
of 150 miles an hour. And in their operations in France and Belgium the
British army aviators proved themselves highly efficient and earned
unstinted praise from Field Marshal Sir John French, in command of the
British forces on the continent. One of their notable exploits was an
attack, October 8, on the Zeppelin sheds at Dusseldorf and Cologne, in
German territory. The attack was made by Lieut R.S.G. Marix, of the
Naval Flying Corps, in a monoplane, and Squadron Commander Spencer Grey,
with Lieut S.V. Lippe, in a biplane. Flying from Antwerp at a height of
5,000 feet, to escape the almost continuous German fire, Lieut.
Marix succeeded in locating the Zeppelin hangars at Dusseldorf. Then
descending to a height of only 1,000 feet he released two bombs when
directly over them, damaging both hangars and aircraft. A German bullet
passed through Lieut. Marix's cap and the wings of his aeroplane were
pierced in a dozen places, but he succeeded in returning to the burning
city of Antwerp, which he was ordered to leave the same evening.
During the same raid Commander Spencer Grey flew to Cologne. He was
unable to locate the Zeppelin hangars but dropped two bombs into the
railway station, which was badly damaged.
A night or two later a German Zeppelin flew over Ghent and dropped a
bomb near the South station. On October 11 two German aviators dropped a
score of bombs on different quarters of Paris, killing three civilians
and injuring fourteen others. The property damage, however, was slight
and the effectiveness of bomb-dropping as a means of destroying a city
or fortifications remained to be proved to the military mind. It was
noted that a large proportion of the bombs dropped by German aviators
failed to explode.
HEROIC ACTS BY AIRMEN
Stories of heroism displayed by aviators on both sides of the great
conflict have abounded. One story of the devotion of German airmen,
told to a correspondent by several German officers, he succeeded in
verifying, but was unable to learn the name of the particular hero of
the occurrence. This story was as follows:
"In one of the battles around Rheims it became necessary to blow up a
bridge which was about to be crossed by advancing French troops coming
to relieve a beleaguered fort. The only way to destroy the bridge was
for an airman to swoop down and drop an exceptionally powerful bomb upon
it.
"There were twenty-four flyers with that division of the German army. A
volunteer was asked for, it being first announced that the required task
meant sure death to the man undertaking it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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