"Green Balls" : The Adventures of a Night-BomberBewsher, Paul
History
"Green Balls" : The Adventures of a Night-Bomber
Bewsher, Paul
World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations
We cross the railway, and I identify a branch line running away from it.
We turn N.E., and at the end of seven or eight minutes I see the bold
black line of a canal whose peculiar curves it is very easy to identify.
The volcano of Bruges flames up into the night to our left, while beyond
it we can see the aerial lighthouses of Ostend and Blankenberghe
flashing regularly on the hazy horizon. Flushing sparkles cheerfully
ahead of us, and along the Scheldt glitter the Dutch villages.
We turn round to the right and fly on. We are now moving on a straight
course, and I identify in turn each bend in the canal, each thin road,
each queer-shaped forest. The aerodrome draws near. I see in the
distance the little wood near which it lies. Then I can see the pale
shape of the landing-ground, which looks slightly different to the
surrounding fields owing to its made-up surface. We sweep round in order
to be able to face the wind and to approach it in a good line. We turn
again and begin to fly straight ahead.
"I'm getting in the back now, Jimmy," I shout. "Fly straight on. If I
give two greens or two reds swing her round quickly. Turn very slowly
for one green or one red!"
I crawl into the back, throw myself on the floor, kick my legs out
behind me, and slide to the right the door beneath the pilot's seat. A
biting wind beats on to my face, making my eyes water and blowing dust
all over me. I remove a safety-strap from the bomb handle to my right
and look below. There lies a square of pallid moonlit country. The
aerodrome is not in view yet. I push my head out, turn it sideways, and
look forward.
A mile or two ahead I see the little forest. I try to calculate whether
we are steering straight for it or not. It seems to me that we are
flying too much to the left. I pull myself inside the machine again,
take off a glove, shine a torch on a little row of buttons on the frame
of the door, and press the button on the right. A green light glows in
the cockpit, and, looking at the bomb-sight, I see that the machine is
swinging towards the right.
I poke my head through the bottom of the machine again and see the
position of the aerodrome a good deal nearer. Now, however, we are too
much to the right. Inside I pull my head and press the left-hand button.
A red light glows in front of the pilot. I look down again. The small
wood is in view, but even as I look the bomb-sight travels across it
from the right well over to the left as the pilot swings the machine
round in obedience to my signals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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