Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-06
CONFLICT RACES
FOR AIR MASTERY
British Fliers Down 1856
German Craft in Three
Weeks
BASES BOMBED
Teutons Losing in Final Effort
for Supremacy in
Clouds

June 8.
Just as events or the ground are
shaping themselves for the final crash,
which must inevitably decide the fate Of
the world. the aerial offensive is daily
waxing fiercer.
The mutual struggle for mastery Of
the air, since May ia stupendous
battle miles above the earth-has
scarcely ceased day or night.
British airmen brought down 336 Ger
mans In less than three weeks, up to
June 2, of which 2S3 were totally de-
etroyed. In many cases enemy planes.
spinning from the sky toward the
ground like rockets crashed and burned
until only black smudges were left.
sometimes. in their agony, pilots and
observers leaped> from their flaming
planes in mdair. whirling over and
oyer and landing far from the wreck
OF their machines
during the same period more than
o26 tons of high explosives were dropped
behind the German lines-or well over
2 million pounds. The Zeebrugee Mole,
the Bruges docks and railway stations
ana munition works in cities far inside
/ VI,
karlsruhe and Cologne-were attacked
repeatedly and set aflre again and again.
In one day British airmen, often mere
boys, shot thirty-four Prussians from
the SKY and dropped 59k tons of bombs
on enemy military centers, going as far
rs Bruges. Dsdaining the anti-aircraft
Shells which burst about them and
swooping low to the ground. they start
eo a disastrous fire along the water
front.
Drop Bombs In Karlsruhe
The next day, the same sky-riders
charged number of German air fleets.
oemolishing twenty-siN craft, the wrecks
railing in somersaults to the ground.
Elsewhere they dropped fifty-three tons
OF high explosives. going as far as Karls-
rune, where during ferocious attack by
bocne planes they bombed trains, rail-
ways and war works. The bombing
squadrons were protected so perfectly
py fighting patrol that only one Brit
isn plane failed to return. 1t was seen
isnolng near Karlsruhe. under control.
Some vital part had been hit.
These two exploits occurred during the
last two days and nights of Nav,
II On June / an air battle continued
notly after twenty-five planes had been
brought down in duels. high UP in the
due haze. The same night twenty
seven tons of bombs were dumped on
the Zeebrugge mole and other tender"
spots in that vicinity.
Teutons Attack HOSPITALS
Meanwhile German war planes have
been more daring than ever before.
Many towns and villages behind the
Allies lines have been bombed. Hospitals
seem to be the worst sufferers. Several
hundred patients, doctors. sisters and
attendants have been killed outright,
some have been burned alive and many
have been wounded. The most pitiful
cases. perhaps. were wounded soldiers,
whose horrible compound fractures were
just beginning to hea0 Their wounds
were reopened and their limbs re-
broken by the great shock of the ex-
plosions.
The Americans are now able to in
crease rapidly the Allied advantage
above the ground. The airmen here are
confident the enemy soon will be COM
pletely outdone. Even now he seldom
ventures to fly alone. Nearly always
the German planes are found in great
droves. When one Is alone, 1t is pretty
certain he is acting as decoy, hoping
to be attacked by a single Allied plane
whereupon whole squadron will dive
from the clouds.
When a German observer is ordered
to reconnoiter >behnd the Allied lines
ne usually is accompanied by at least
seven battle planes. Even then the
enemy airmen dislike the job.
Day by day the crossing of our lines
Is becoming a stiffer task. Among the
clouds. as on the fields of France, Ger.
lii I.a G,,aI