The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1918-10-16

> Great Britain's air force is waging
a successful war against the U-boats
while continuing to harass the Ger
man airmen over land and, bomb Hun
towns.
Cooperating with the coastal
motorboats planes patrol the Eng
lish shores ready to pounce upon
submarines. The efficient work Of
these patrols accounts for the low
number of ships sunk in the war zone.
The coastal motorboats, known as
| &C. NJ. B's.' played important parts
in the raids on Zeebrugge and Os-
tend.
Among the many wonders of the
war nothing is more striking than
the development Of the Royal Air
Force.
Four years ago the British pos
sessed considerably fewer than 100
!airplanes. Now the Royal Air Force
alone destroys in an average week a
considerably larger number of enemy
I.airplaines than Britain Possessed
when war began.
Figures Show Effectiveness.
The officially recorded figures for
single month illustrate the COM
batant activities of the Royal Air
Force; in the month of June last,
the number of enemy aircraft
brought, down, (Which means de-
stroyed) by the British alone was
314, while the number driven down
out of control was 16S.
AS against that total of 4S2 enemy
machines destroyed or driven down,
16S British machines were reported
missing for the same period. An
other month shows SIS enemy air.
craft accounted for. and only 1913
British machines missing,
During one month. British airmen
fired at ground targets 915, 1903
rounds of machine gun ammunition.
During the same month British
airmen dropped S53 tons of bombs
over different military detectives
and made no fewer than seventy
four separate bombing raids over
Germany itself; apart from work
over the battle area, and engaging
nearly 1000 enemy batteries.
These are figures of combatant
work only. In a single month the
Royal Air Force have taken well
over. 10000 photographs over the
enemy lines.
Airmen Air Artillery.
There is also the work carried out
by the airmen in cooperation with
the artillery, by means of which the
fire of the gunners is directed with
precision upon enemy guns and gun
emplacernents, billets, transports,
dumps, railways and concentrations
of troops.
During the year ending June 80,
1918, British airmen have accounted
for considerably over 1000 enemy
aircraft, while the number of British
machines reported missing in the
same period was just over 1000.
The Royal Air Force now adds to
its resources every few days as much
as it's total resources at one period
of the war, while it's personnel has
now been multiplied more than 200
times.
Apart from new production, which
is, Of course. enormous, the Royal
Air Force now reconstructs many
more machines in a month than
Britain possessed altogether at one
stage of the war.
It is no uncommon thing for Brit
ish airmen to bomb military object
ives in Germany itself three times in
one day.
The. visitor to the battle zone in
France today will find a single
ROYAL Air Force Fotor Transport
Repair Park, 1000 hands working day
and night on the repair alone Of one
Royal Air Force Motor Transport
transport. Though important motor
transport is but one of the minor fac
tors in vast many sided industry
which enables almost every known
trade and handicraft; which, SO far
from shrinking, will nightly expand
when victory brings peace, and with
it the beginning of commercial avla-
tors for the British Empire.