The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1918-09-24
WHEN BRITISH A|RMEN
30 NIB BY NIGH 7
CAPTAIN TELLS OF THRILLS
IN ATTACKS ON HUN
U-BOAT BASE

London, Sept. 25.-Correspond
ence Of The Associated Press)-Per
lis risked by British airmen in nigh
bombing of Bruges, most import.
ant German submarine base in Bel
GUM, are graphically described b,
Captain Paul Bewsher, d. s. c., ot
the British ROYAL Air Force. BRUCE.
has been subjected to air attacks SC
often that it is now considered one
OF the best defended cities on the
western front.
The pilot and observer OF Brit
ish light bombing machine proceed
ing to Bruges have usually no diff
fculty in finding their way, as a
haze OF light from the searchlights
can be seen twenty or thirty miles
off, the Captain writes. As they
draw nearer, they see maze OF fiji
teen or sixteen searchlight moving
restlessly over the town, looking for
some machines whose engine has
been heard. Suddenly, they see the
red flash OF bursting bomb and
then another and another. AT once
chains OF brilliant emerald colored
balls OF fire pour upwards in cease
less lines, filling the sky with green
bubbles OF light The machine is
not picked up, however and gradu-
ally, the lights and shell-iire die
away.
Now they are drawing nearer.
and the observer crawls through 4
little door into the nose OF the ma
chine, examines his bomb handle,
and adjusts the bomb-dropping
sight AS he kneels, a heavily muf-
fled figure, in his little wooden cock
pit, ten thousand feet over nothing
he is so absorbed in watching the
ground that his surroundings seem
to him perfectly normal; he is en-
tirely at his ease.
Below. he sees the black line Of
the canal which he is using as a
guide. He turns the pilot TO the left
with a wave OF his hand. and then
again to the right, and stops him
with an uplifted arm.
Lies Dark and Quiet.
Ahead he can see the dark mass
of the town, and to the left the long
basins of the docks. Far to the LEI:
les the dark line Of the Belgian
coast, and over Ostend and Zee
brugge move the sentinel search
lights. Bruges lies dark. snatching
a brief rest from its tumultuous
night.
The observer waves his hand and
he roar of the engine dies away into
silence, as the machine dives toward
It's target. He unStrapS his bomb
handle and leans lar over the front.
looking down TO the shining water
NJ the dock, absorbed in following
he course OF the little metal bar
on the sight, 1t touches the docks
and crosses them. With quick ges-
lure he guides the pilot TO the left,
and the bar sweeps round and cross
IS the section OF the quay he wishes
20 attack.
"lle checks the pilot and holds his
bomb-lever in readiness. Hundreds
II Germans stand waiting at their
guns, machine guns, searchlights, /.
and green ball machines. but he
kinks Of nothing save the passage
Of the metal bar across the black /.
mass between the two shining strips .
# water.
Suddenly his sight REGISTERS the
-angc He pushe, the lever forward .
slowly. pulls it back again. and .
again pushes it forward. and again,
and again. From behind there comes
The click and clatter OF fourteen
dropping bombs.
He shouts t. the pilot TO turn,
and ore huge wing climbs toward the
stars as the machine sweeps round
and away from the welter of she'll,
md searchlights that the explosion
of the bombs will bring.
AS They Blow Up.
Gazing downward, the observer
'ees at the edge of the quay red
,purt OF flame which slowly dies
away. Two others follow, in the
water where lie destroyers and sub
marines, and then more and more
,urst on the sheds in the middle A
white sheet of flame bursts from one
he'd. and fading slowly leaves
ed glare. An ammunition store has
,een blown I'D. The other bombS
,urst across the wharves and crowd
d basins. leaving huge clouds OF :
White smoke where they have {
destruction.
Simultaneously with the burst
1g OF the first bomb, hundreds OF +
reen balls come streaming in sway I
rs curves from the ground, and {
our upwards past the wings on .
9th sides. Like a handful OF rib =
ons the searchlightS have been :
brown up. and fill the sky with :.
'ands OF light which wave strange
attern all around the machine. Gun =
re flashes round the town, and I.
ose to the machine now bursts the !,
barrage. !,
1T is an awe-inspiring din, but 7
trough it, the observer has heard =
le thud of the bursting bombs be- |,
wv. He scrambles back to the pilot .
nd laughs. Searchlight sweep TO :
nd fro, fantastic strings of green .
ais bubble upwards, and the flash
: ,to eLoIfe -aar,e 20 Gil +l,a al, oIo