August 8, 19 1 8 
Land & Water 
19 
control, and then his observer's gun having jammed, the pilot 
pretended to be driven down and attempting to land. The 
two remaining enemies swung up and clear to allow him to 
make his landing, when the Bristol pilot opened his engine 
out at twenty feet from the ground and got back to his own 
drome. Tliis particular pilot had then a tally of 21 machines 
crashed to his own gun, 31 between him and his observer. 
The speed of the fighting and the numbers of macliines 
brought down by individual men and squadrons has become 
a prominent feature of air fighting. It is not so much in 
the rare and occasional man who has a long list of crashed 
Huns to his credit that the strength of the British Air Force 
lies, but rather in the great number who have brought down 
anything from 10 to 20 or 30 apiece, while odd star fighters 
run up into the 40's, 50's, and Go's. For long it vyas a record 
for a man to have brought down four machines in one day ; 
then th,e number went to five ; and suddenly one pilot got 
six in a day and immediately after another got a similar 
six. A Frenchman quickly tied with them, so that at least 
three Allied fighters have destroyed six enemy machines in 
one day. 
The outbreak of the first German offensive intensified the 
fighting, and also brought proof of the wisdom of the Air 
Staffs in so thoroughly developing and organising the work 
of low flying and "ground-strafing." It was now that the 
early experiments were to prove such an inestimable boon 
to the allied armies. 
Thanks to the constant and systematic air work the locality 
of the first German attack and the approximate date were 
known with remarkable accuracy to the Allied Higher Com- 
mands. Long before it came on the Arras — St. Quentin 
front considerable damage to men and material and, no 
doubt, delay to the enemy plans and concentration, were 
effected by our artillery's long-range fire directed from 
planes and kite balloons, while regular and heavy day and 
night bombing raids on railheads, lines of communication, 
and ammunition dumps must have sorely harassed the 
German movements and preparation. 
When the blow came, the rapid falling back of our line 
increased tremendously the work of the air squadrons, and 
the rate at which the aerodromes behind the original hne 
came within reach of the enemy and had to be abandoned 
might well have disorganised and rendered ineffective to a 
great degree the whole of our air work. That it did not, that 
the air work rose rather to as high a level as ever it has done 
in the war, is due to the daring and energy of the airmen, 
the handhng of the squadrons, the strenuous and unceasing 
work of all ranks on the ground, and the staff work which 
kept touch with the rapidly changing conditions and main- 
tained the organisation. Only those who were in touch with 
the H.Q. and other staffs can know the days and nights of 
strain, of constant work and worry which were gone through ; 
and only those in the squadrons know the full tale of the work 
done in the air and the driving labour which kept machines and 
engines repaired and fl5nng, and which, despite the hurried 
evacuation of aerodromes and taking up of new ones, never 
failed to rise to the emergency. This ground-work gets 
httle or none of the "hmehght," and one can only say the 
pubhc would be amazed and impressed if they knew the long 
hours and fierce work put in on it, and the cheerfulness and 
willingness with which it is performed. 
The air fighting was hot and heavy. The German Air 
Service did its best to hold the air, to carry out reconnaissance 
and artillery observation, to bring down our men doing 
similar work over their lines, and carrying out the tremendous 
bombing raids which did so much to hamper and hold up 
*he offensive. • 
In the air fighting our men constantly upheld a strong 
superiority. The records are packed with accounts of actions 
where our men attacked without hesitation against any 
odds, destroyed numerous enemies and drove off the re- 
mainder. Well might their G.O.C. in the field report that 
they had "their tails well up." They had, and the "air- 
Huns" had theirs correspondingly well down and hardly 
dared stay to fight unless with tremendous odds in their 
favour. 
The Captain of a "Camel" squadron put up a new record 
by destroying six enemies in air fighting in one day, and 
shortly after another Captain of the same squadron tied with 
him, destroying three during a morning patrol and another 
three in the' afternoon. His squadron in the fighting of this 
one day destroyed thirteen enemy single and two-seater 
machines. 
In March, April, and May a " Bristol Fighter " Squadron put 
down 63, 52, and 55 enemies, and in all that time had only 
9 men killed and 3 injured, lost only 3 machines over Hunland 
and I "crashed" on their own drome by accident. 
Even the artillery observing and photographing machines 
refused to be driven from their work by superior numbers, 
although these types, being designed and built for their own 
special work, are at a disadvantage in speed and handiness 
in tackling fighting machines. One R.E. 8 was attacked by 
O/liciat Pholo 
OgiLia! Photo 
R.A.F. Photographs of an Enemy Village taken before and after a prolonged bombardment 
by British Artillery 
