Arizona republican., 1921-08-09

heavy armor and from torpedo and mine attack by minute compart- mentation. The skin itself is by comparison thin, although made Of the finest steel Before the bombers appeared Mitchell himself flew along side the Henderson in his trim little twoman plane. bearing his briga- dier-generals pennant at her cock pit He waved his hand to those who stood on her decks. They waved back at him. Some of them did. Others laughed.
 Planes Not of Best Type
 "It's a bad day for Bill" said an army officer who stood near me
 The big bombers came overhead from their port one hundred miles away. Not one of them -s of the boat type. If motor had failed they would have plunged nose-on into the water. The men might have been rescued by some nearby destroyer. or they might have drowned. Only men with real nerve take that sort of a chance. A fall into the water would have spelled finish of the plane, of course. But none fell. They circled overhead until they got the signal from the Shawmut-the mothership of the airmen on which the board of observers were stationed-to go ahead.
 Then they wheeled once more over the target ship. They wheeled again, | 1.500 feet in air, to drop their sight 1 ing bombs. Then again they came on. in long procession. The planes seemed miles apart.
 They scored five direct hits out of | the eight dropped. Not one, in fact. was a hit on the superstructure.
 But five of the eight fell so close alongside that they must go as "di-
 rects.' Twice bombs fell on the | farther side of the ship. A huge fountain of water tore toward the
 heavens. Then. on the near side of
 the Ostfriesland, came a geyser of
 foam. The bombs had exploded so near the level of the keel that the water had been forced under the ship. The great structure visibly lifted and shuddered at the impact | The blow against the Henderson s
 sides was like that of leaden ham mer The roar of the blast was all
 most uncomfortable.
 How the Leviathan Sunk I She began to settle. First down by the stern and then as the water 1 entered she began to list. The gray black stern went under and inter mittently there came spurts of water as the imprisoned air forced itself 1 through tke shattered ports. She I turned on her side. as though the I leviathan were tired and would seek a kindly bed on the ocean bottom. l Then over, on her back, so that the twin keels of her bilges might be
 seen as she pointed her heavy nose in air. One saw ragged tear or two
 in her plates where they had been | torn by the explosions. Then down, ! her t..i1 racfod n ff1 O ! ocean floor fifty fathoms deep. A
 moment of pause. Then with a sigh she lifted herself and sank again and
 disappeared forever.
 Just as she did so. the Handley-
 Page came overhead with another ton ] bomb and fired parting salue. The Il meager equipment of the bombers | was then revealed to the interested | congressmen. So slender has been the appropriation for the air service I that the men drag these ton bombs ! across the field to the planes by I ropes and elevate them to their places on the underbodies with ordi-
 nary automobile jacks. The releas- I ing mechanism is as yet so crude that the Handley Page had not been | able to release her bomb when her time had come. So her men crawied
 under the body while she roared about through the upper air and
 made the necessary adjustments She rid herself of her bomb in per } haps the most spectacular fashion
 of the day as the enemy boat went down.
 The Henderson rang with cheers
 Bill Mitchell. general in the army ana
 hero of the day, swept past In ms runabout and congressman and sen- T fRf h a i, rushed to the rail to cheer and wave . their hands.