Norwich bulletin., 1921-06-22
sEAPLANES MADE SHORT
 WORK OF SUBMARINE

On Board U. S. Henderson, Off Cape Charles. Virginia, June 21.-(By The A. P.) Within sixteen minutes after the first division of naval seap.anes had attack ed the former German submarine U-117 today, the submersible was resting on the bottom of the Atlantic, fifty miles from the Virginia Capes. A direct hit with a 16S-pound bomb did the work. Only three naval planes had chance to attack.
 The direct hit abruptly terminated the first of series of experiments by the army and navy to test the ability of naval vessels to withstand damage in- flicted from the air
 The bomb that settled the fate of the U-117 was one of 8 salvo of nine dropped from three planes that constituted the first and only aerial division to enga se in the actual attack. few minutes be- fore the fatal saivo was fired the same division had dropped three bombs to get the range The projectiles were hurled from a height of about eleven hundred feet while the planes were making more than one hundred miles an hour It was only six minutes after the second salvc was launched that the U-117 made its last crash dive" to find resting place | fifty fathoms deep.
 The sinking in so short a time came as a surprise to. most of the army and navy officers who witnessed the expert ment, many of whom had been frankly skeptical regarding the ability of the l planes to even hit the submarine, re- gardless of the fact that all the condi tions favored the attacking force and nc effort was made to stimulate actual wal conditions The U-117 was securely an. chored and the bombing planes were furnished with charts showing the exac' position of the target
 The division that sunk the U-117 wa; commanded by Lieutenant Delos Thom as. The three planes were commanded by Lieutenants Kenne, Rumill and Gar vey, and approached the target in bat tie formation. As the division swung round for the run past the U-117, tho planes dropped down to about clever hundred feet and when the head of the formation was almost over the bow oi the U-117, observers saw three bombs one from each plane drop in a graceful curve toward the submarine. An in stant later a great column of water sho up over the craft, almost entirely obscur ing it.
 As the spray and mist cleared away it was evident that while no direct hi had been made with the first salvo, fireC for ranging purposes, the aviators hat calculated the range so closely that no a bomb fell more than the length of tn submarine away from the target. Tn bow of the U-117 was lifted clear of tn water by the force of the explosion ant as the vessel settled back it was though for time that it was slowly sinking
 In the meantime the three planes hat circled around and were again approach ing the target against the wind. Thi time each plane launched three bomb which formed an almost perfect patteri around the U-117 as they struck the wa ter. A cloud of black smoke and duH centered with the red flash of the ex plosion, flew into the air along with tn water and the submarine seemed almos lifted from the water by the terrific i'm pact. Two more of the former U-boat will be the target of guns of the Allan tic fleet destroyers tomorrow. The mex of the bombing experiments will talk place June 2s when the airlnen will at tempt to find the radio controlled battle ship Iowa in the area between the Vir ginia and Delaware Capes and bomb th vessel with dummy bombs.