i8 
Land & Water 
August 8, 191 8 
opponents. They were fitted with racks for the carrying 
of a few light bombs, and sent out laden with ammunition 
for their machine guns^. They bombed and shot into troops 
on the road coming up into the firing hne, and into the Ger- 
mans holding the trenches and shell holes, into transport and 
guns and limbers moving up into position, scattering the men, 
bolting the terrified hotses, exploding the limbers, over- 
turning the guns and waggons. They attacked batteries 
in action and off their own bat put several of them out of 
action. Four De Haviland scout machines attacked one 
group of batteries and guns in pits. One of the four strayed 
and lost touch with the others. (There was a lot of very 
confusing mist and low cloud about, it may be remembered). 
The three circled over the guns for half an hour at a height 
of from 50 to 200 feet, under a heavy fire, deliberately choos- 
ing their targets and making sure of their aim, dropping 
bombs on the guns and shooting at the gunners, obtaining 
direct hits on guns and pits, sending the crews bolting into 
dug-outs, shelter-pits, trenches, under wagons, and into 
broken buildings. One pilot saw a crowd of stampeded 
gunners running for one of these buildings, swooped down 
shooting on them, drove them in a wild rush into the door- 
way where they jammed in a struggling heaving mass into 
which he continued to pelt his bullets. After the three had 
exhausted their ammunition and left the scene a full half hour 
another of our machines passed over the batteries, and on com- 
ing in, reported them completely silenced, the guns deserted, 
the ground Uttered with dead men and horses, exploded and 
overturned limbers and waggons. The fourth machine,, 
on losing the others, hunted round for "suitable targets,"^ 
found them in a couple of hotly firing machine guns which 
he dived on and silenced, a train which he chased until 
driver and stoker to escape liis pouring bullets stopped and 
abandoned in a wild leap and rush for the ditch, an ammuni- 
tion dump on which he dropped his remaining bombs and left 
blazing merrily. 
The Enemy's Defence 
Unprepared as the Germans then were for an organised 
defence against these low-fiying tactics they naturally did 
their best with machine-gun and rifle fire to bring down our 
machines, and the work was not carried through without 
loss. A number of machines were shot down, but there wfere 
some miraculous escapes of the pilots recorded. 
One squadron flying "Camels" and "Pups" (single-seater 
scouts) had a long tally of such escapes. One pilot had his 
machine badly hit and "the spar of the bottom plane smashed. 
He managed to carry on over our lines, flop down in a splinter- 
ing crash, and emerge unhurt from the wreck. Another, 
while bombing and gunning German infantry, had his machine 
badly shot about, the tank and several vital parts of the 
frame-work being pierced. In tliis damaged condition he 
was attacked by a German two-seater, and although by now 
he was badly wounded in the hip he drove the enemy away 
and brought his battered machine back to his own drome. 
A captain of this Squadron, with some others, badly mauled 
some German infantry coUecting for a rush on Fontane 
fought and drove down an enemy machine, and then had his 
machme hit by a shell which burst directly below him. He 
lost all control, and the machine swooped wildly crashed in 
the open between- the opposing trenches, and wrecked. 
I he pilot crawled out, ran back under heavy machine-gun 
J°u,l°? y^'^'^^- ^"^ dropped breathless into a sunken 
road held by our men. From here he started presently to 
make his way back to the "Squadron, availing himself of the 
guidance of one of the infantry also making for the rear 
As they passed through a shelled village a shell burst on a 
house beside them and the pilot was Hfted and blown clear 
across the street. He picked himself up, found he was unhurt 
turned to help a wounded Highlander and assisted to brin? 
him back to an advanced dressing station, helped another 
Jot of stretcher bearers with a wounded man, and finally 
rejoined his squadron. A few days later the same pilot in 
the attack on Gozeaucourt dived firing on groups of infantry 
attacked shot down, and crashed an enemy two-seater 
expended all h.s bombs and ammunition, returned, landed 
took in a fresh stock and went back into action He ex- 
pended over 1,300 rounds that day 
winS''^l"°^u^'' ^^u ^^^-^ squadron was hit and badly 
wounded in the chest, but although he has no recoUection 
of how he did it, he brought his machine back well over ^ 
vifthin ^'1 ''"t- ^°^J!^ '!"' ""'>' d^^«"t bit of landing ground 
witfun miles brought his machine down and landed there 
w?e"' TtnorAr''''^ "'^f '"^ ^ i°-^ or'Sin'g": 
TctuaUv in ?L ""T Squadron was shot down and fell 
fhi,r^ in the enemy front lines, and as his machine hit 
the planes npped and smashed off. He got out of his machine 
picked up a German rifle and ammunition and stood off a 
party of snipers, ran, crawled, and jumped from shell hole to 
shell hole, and so made his way to the No Man's Land, across 
it and into touch with our advanced patrols. He picked 
up a wounded man in the open and carried him in some 
600 yards, and then finding a party of our infantry without 
an officer and hesitating whetiier to advance, retire, or stand 
fast, he collected them and led them forward. Then setting 
about his own business of getting back to the squadron, 
' he came across an abandoned machine which he recognised 
as belonging to his own squadron — the same one, in fact, 
which had boon abandoned by the pilot who was shot in the 
chest and had made a successful landing — and finding there 
were still a couple of bombs attached and some ammunition 
on board he decided to get up, go back, and distribute the 
bombs and rounds, and fetch the machine home. To his 
disgust he was unable to start up the engine, so was forced 
to foot it back again to the Squadron and a new machine. 
Another man, shooting into shell holes and trenches, had his 
machine hit by a trench mortar shell, which smashed, amongst 
other things, his compass and his slioulder. But he turned 
and went hunting for his trench mortar enemy, found him 
and put a bomb neatly down in a direct hit on him. Se.eing 
other mortars in action he went for them, but another one 
caught him with a smashing hit which wrecked the body 
of his machine and blew a wing to pieces. He was under 
50 feet up, but by luck his machine was flung swooping in 
the • right direction and crashed in the No Man's Land. 
Wounded in hip and shoulder, with a ripped ear and head, 
and a wrenched ankle, he still managed to work his way frorti 
hole to hole until he was picked up by a couple of Highlanders. 
A pilot had his machine hit by a shell and crashed close 
to our front lines, wriggled out and into a ditch held by our 
men. While here he saw one of our machines brought 
smashing down into some trees near by, went over and found 
a squadron mate wounded in the head and pinned down by 
the leg under the engine. He worked him free and brought 
him back until he found a tank returning from the firing 
hne, begged "a hft" for the wounded man from the accom- 
modating tank crew, and so brought him back to the dressing 
station. 
After the Cambrai fighring the ground operarions slowed 
down for the winter, but in the air they only eased up when- 
ever the -weather made flying impossible. Otherwise the. 
fighting was as brisk as ever and the reconnaissance and 
artillery squadrons missed no moment of good weather for 
their work. Air fighting was growing in intensity still, as 
one may gather from the figures if it be remembered that 
there were very many "dud days" on which there was 
practically no fl)ang. 
Records of the Work 
There were 399 British, French, and German planes 
reported down in October on the western front, and 370 in 
November, the latter including 52 of October's 'not notified 
until November. The French claimed 51 and British i 
of these, and of the remaining 318 British claimed 108, French 
84, Germans 126. British numbers include machines brought 
down by the R.N.A.S. during raids on and patrols along the 
Belgian coast. They destroyed 9, drove out of control 8 and 
damaged i, without losing a single machine. 
In December the Allies claimed 171 machines and the 
Germans 61. The British got loi, including 23 by the 
R.N.A.S., the French 69, and Belgians i. 
In January, the total claims were for 390 machines brought 
down on the western and Itahan fronts. Of these the 
British on the western front got 133. In February, 361 
machines were reported ddwn, 213 on the west 5 in Italy 
4 in Palestine, and i in Mesopotamia. Allied airmen got 
11^ „.^™^" ^"^ Austrian machines, and the Germans claimed 
88 allied machines. There wete many blank days, so that in 
proportion to fighting days the numbers are high. On the 
four days, i6th to 19th, British fighters destroyed 40 Germans 
and downed "out of control" 14, with a loss of only 12 miss- 
'i^^T^r ^ f -^ *^'' ^"'''^ ^^'^'^ ^1^° doing well. Italians and 
K.1\C. destroying 45, French 2, and anti-aircraft fire 3. 
From January 26th to February 21st, 58 enemy aircraft 
were destroyed in Italy with a loss to us of only 8 
fv, . ^Ir""^^ ^''^'^ ^'^"'"''^ S'^^ a poor impression of the fact 
that Allied supremacy was growing rapidly and strongly. 
It IS m the individual stories of combat that one best gathers 
the sense of this. There is, for instance, the tale of one "Bristol 
Fighter (two-seater) which, when out on reconnaissance 
m misty weather suddenly became aware of nine enemies 
looming up. one after the other, out of the haze. The Bristol 
£hTl\''^ ^^'^i .'*™Sht at them, and in the resulting 
hght shot down and destroyed four, drove three down out of 
