Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-11
By the Associated Press
with the British Army in France,

July II.
Superiority in the air, clean-cut ana
unquestionable, rests with the British
flying men today. There have been
periods in times past when it seemed
that a very slight addition of strength
to either one side or the other might
tip the balance temporarily. but no such
period exists now. British armen are
supreme.
Not only have the Kings flyers been
maintaining a decided upper hand in
the intense fighting in the air, but the
work of British bombing squadrons has
far exceeded that of the enemy in vigor
and results. In the more spectacular
field of operations, aerial fighting, the
British have bounded hostile pilots until
I the greater part of their battles have
occurred east of the German lines, and
in numerous engagements, staged every
day when the weather permitted great
T, numbers of hostile machines have been
destroyed. One British aviator alone
has sent twenty-five crashing to the
earth in the last few months and others
of his comrades are not far behind in
their total.
The work of bombing suuadrons has
been growing steadily and the British
have been reaching further and further
into German back areas in search of
military objectives. There has been no
let up. Day and night, squadrons of
British planes have kept up an almost
endless Commandment of important posi-
tions and their accuracy in bomb drop
ping is testified to in scores of photo
graphs of destructive hits.
Take Heavy Toll of Life
Not only have railways, airdromes
l.. 49, rffs ,ol
ly bombed. but the loss of life among
German troops in concentration camps
has been exceedingly heavy. Captured
documents bear testimony 10 this and
prisoners admit it.
The British have consistently con-
Quoted their raids from an exceedingly
low height, some times coming down TO
within fifty feet of the ground to loose
bombs The Germans. on the other hand
seldom venture below 10000 feet be-
cause of their fear of the British anti
aircraft defenses, which have reached
state of perfection never before
achieved. The differences in the ac-
curacy of the two services in bomb
dropping thus has an obvious eXplana-
ton.
The straight shooting of British
bombers is eXemplfied by the work OF
one pilot who attacked two German
trains near Hermies the other day. He
obtained a direct hit on the first train
and then blew up the track in front OF
1t. Diving or another train nearby, he
knocked two trucks off the track viii
explosives. Having stalled these trains
he proceeded to rake them Viciously
with his machine gun. incidentally he
opened fire with his machine gun or
seven other trains shortly afterwart
with good results.
Invaluable Infantry Aids
There have been few infantry bat
ties of late on the British front in which
airmen could play a striking part. hu
in the combined Australian-Americal
attack south of the Somme on July 4
the British pilots did outstanding ant
invalua BILE work. German infantr!
columns, concentration points. am
munition trains and batteries wer
heavily bombed throughout the engage
ment and numerous machine gun ant
battery crew were knocked out b,
these low-fying terrors. Even in
dividual infantrynlen were run dow
and shot by pilots, who swooped ant
swirled over the field like dragon flies
An example of the methods employee
was seen southeast of Lamotte-en-Sen
terre Here a British pilot blew up
German lorry and blocked a highwa