Evening star., 1928-11-18

i ing article the author, who is chief OF
| the armament branch of the Army Air
Field, Dayton, Ohio described the early
history of cay and night bombing.
BY LIEUT.. RAYMOND c. ZETTEL,
Army Air Corps.
| The sensations of the night lombard
ment crew in a raid over enemy terri
tory have been graphically described
by German officer in the following
account:
Let us accompany a night flying
machine on its flight. Half an hour
before the time fixed for the start the
entire personnel of the aeroplane, con-
sisting of pilots, observer, gunner and
machanic. will be waiting by their ma
chine to make the final preparations.
Both the 260-horSepoWer engines have
, been run up for the second time, bombs
examined and secured, and the instru-
ment lighting set and machine guns
/ tested. Everything is ready. The re-
4 COrding officer appears, and having in
spected the machine signals with his
lamp for the pilot to take off. There is
thunderous roar from the engines as
! the pilot onenS the throttle. Ponder
ously and groaning beneath the weight
which it has to bear, the gigantic black
bird begins to move. 1t gathers speed.
We skim across the aerodrome. A
slight bump, we are in the air. The
earth beneath disappears into the dark
ness of the night. The moon, that
faithless friend. forsakes us and sinks
beneath the horizon. Only the stars
remain to light us upon our ghostly
flight through the depths of the night.
Pilot Notes instruments.
THE engines throb with their deep
organlike note. Long plumes of flame
from the exhausts mark our passage
across the sky The pilot switches on
his lighting set and casts a glance at
the instruments. All is in order. The
observer sits ahead in the nacelle,
watching his compass and his map and
pointing out the course to be followed
with his hand. The pilot obeys his
directions and turns the machine in the
given direction. The consultations BY
which he is now flying safeguard him
from error.
I'VE approach the lines. Searchlight
beams in ever-increasing numbers wan
der nervously to and fro. A broad bar.
rier of light floats before US, showing
that the enemy is still we'll supplied
with material. We have got to gel
through thcs barrier. Several search.
light beams catch our machine ano
hold it fast. Suddenly all around us
it is as light as day. The bursting
shells creep nearer until their explo.
sions almost drown the roar of the
engine.
Only by sudden turn and rush OF
speed can we escape from the danger
Gus glare. The experience and skill oi
the pilot brings us through in safety
and-Heaven be praised!- !-once more
we are swallowed up in darkness.
turn around to watch another machine
! that is having bad time with the
searchlightS and "Archie"-p~obably
some young pilot lacking experience,
think to myself.
Bombs Dropped on Works.
I'VE near our objective. The ma.
chimes ahead of us have stirred up the
wasps' nest and started the defenses in
full swing. Ring upon ring of search
lights encircle the cbjective-large ones
small ones, and some great. enormous
| ones which are capable of reaching any
! height possible to us. From all high
points above the objective there is con-
| tinuous flashing. Strings of coloreo
lights come up from the ground
/ flaming onion ba"rage! A ma chine
| has got directly over the objective and
dropped its bombs. A fire leaps up
growing ever larger. We can recognize
| the blast furnace of the steel works in
its light. Now comes our turn, and we
plume into that blazing inferno of light
ana flying metal. The illuminated blast
furnaces give us good mark. We are
no. yet discovered. The SearchlightS
are still busy with the machine in front
We are flying at a fair height. The
observer stands up in his nacelle, star
ing through his bomb sight, and makes
signal to the pilot. Now! He pulls
the lever of the bomb rc'oose. and one
bomb after another slips from the
| clutches Of the machine.
THE first explosion causes the de-
fenSe to notice the fresh enemy ALI
the Searchlights are suddenly concen-
trated on the space above the target
They try to seize us with their mighty
arms and pull us down. We endeavor
to escape into safety by sudden burst
beam succeeds in catching us and holds
lis fast. Immediately all the other
searchlights turn their attention to US.
It is not possible to escape from their
embrace. The anti-aircraft batteries
blaze away, and moment later some
thin" happens-there is terrific crash
between the two left-hand planes. Then
indeed we think that all is lost But
no. not yet! 1t is only fving splinter
that has struck the left propeller and
shattered it, The pilot switches off
the engine on that side. We must now
get on with the power of the other one
alone. BY this time we have gone so
far from the objective that both search
lights and anti-aircraft guns leave us
and turn their attention to our sue
ceSSor.
"One engine alone is not sufficient to
maintain the machine in horizontal
fight, and we gradually lose more and