The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-02-17
GERMAN AVIATORS
HIGHLY REGARDED
No Longer Looked Upon with CONTEMPT
by the Allies Turks Also Be
coming Proficient.

CONSTANTINOPLE Feb. 17.-One
OF the most serious mistakes of the AZ
hes was the contempt with which tbev
treated the German aviators durino The
hrst stages of the war. From the fact
that French flyers had created a nun-
Der OF sport records the French and
Ehgilsh press drew the conclusion that
Germany was hopelessly outelassed in
the air. The people of the allied and
the neutral countries were made to he
IeFe that the air was as completely
dominated by the French, as the seas
by the English
however. By September. 1914. the
London Times had TO concede that the
successes of the Germans on the western
front were largely due to the excellent
scouting service of their aviators.
When Turkey entered the war the
Iohstantlnople papers expressed fear
that the supremacy Of the French and
En9hsh aviators would bring disaster
to the Turkish armies. The Turks At
that time only possessed four flyers.
VINO were trained in Germany and used
antlquated machines OF French origin.
Inc creation Of a respectable Turkish
AR fleet seemed almost impossible. The
arsenais began at once the construction
OF aeroplanes, but many parts of them
could not be produced in Turkey and
had to be brought from Germany and
Austria Hungary through its territory.
About dozen machines were built in
germany and delivered in Constantine
PIE, but before they could be used Bi-
lots had to be trained for them.
Early IN January of last year Capt.
oerno, German expert, arrived with
a number OF German flyers and me-
ehanlcs to take charge Of the organiza-
ton of the Turkish aviation corps. A
large aeroplane factory was erected at
San Stefano under the direction of
capt. Ser1o and within three months
TINS energetic young officer had created
an ehclent ar fleet out of practically
nothing
In March the Turkish army had over
IuO lying machines and their number
mas been growing steadily ever since.
The Turkish officers selected as ayi-
ators surprised their German teach
ers They went into their work en-
thuslastlcally a1d with the greatest dar-
ing, All of them mastered the secrets
or aviation IN very short time.
/ AT first the Turkish airmen We're
only used to reeonnoitre the positions
OF the allies on the peninsula of CALI
poh, but they soon flew far out over
the aegean sea and the islands of Lem
nos, Labores and Mytilene to observe
the movements of the French and Eng
iish warships and transports.
Later they began to attack. They
destroyed seven or eight English and
french aeroPlanes on Gallipoli and in
the Dardanelles and almost daily threw
bombs on the ships of the allies. One
small English cruiser was sunk by them
and l45 men of the crew were killed
Since last fall the Turkish aviators
nave also been very active in the eau
easus, IN Mesopotamia and along the
Suez canal. In December they brought
down five British machines north of
hut-el-Amara. Four of the aeroplanes
captured IN Mesopotamia were repaired
by the Turkish aviators and are now,
used against the enemy.
Although hardly year old the Turk
ash aviation corps is already formidable
and highly efficient The number of
Flyers has been increased to more than
500. '''i'