Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-18
BLUE PLANES RAID
RED SUPPLY BASE
Attack Came as Complete
Surprise and Resulted in
Tremendous Damage.
BY ]. s. EDGERTON.
STAFF Correspondent OF The Star.

raid of the war now in progress be-
tween the Red and Blue nations over
an aerial battle-ground covering the
greater part of Ohio, was made today
by Blue bombardment and attack
planes on the great Red Army supply
base just east of Columbus, the Red
capital.
Observation pilots having reported
great activity at the Red depot early
this morning Lieut.. Col. II. G. Pratt,
commander OF the BLUE air forces total
ing 100 planes, ordered the second
bonbardment group from Langley Field,
under command of Maj. Hugh j. Knerr,
and the third attack group Maj. j. H.
Jouett commanding, to attack.
Within five and one-half minutes SO
planes were In the air and on the way
to Columbus, nearly 100 miles to the
east The attack planes. which are
the most wicked fighting ships the
Army has yet produced, were ordered
to attack first paving the way for the
bombardment of the enemy depot. The
mission of the attack planes was TO
neutralize the enemy anti-aircraft tlre
with smoke screens and augmentation
bombs.
Fire Effect Of Division.
Air Corps officers pointed out that
the Is attack planes comprising
SQUADRON have a combined effective flre
OF an entire infantry division OF 30,0oo
men, with divisional artillery. during
| the period of a single diving attack
which is limited to about 100 SECONDS.
During the period of their dive these
| 18 planes. each of which carries SIN
heavy machine guns, can pour nearly
81 GOO bullets into their target and let
! "A % accumulation bombs.
| Owing to the terrific speed OF their
! dive and the fact that they break out
| of the dive at low altitude, the attack
/ planes offer an exceedingly elusive
| target to ground gunners.
| The raid was complete surprise TO
! the Reds and the attack was Delivered
without mOleStation from the Red ar
forces, resulting i'll tremendous damage
! to the Red base, which is believed TO
| have been an engineer. ordnance, sup
| ply and general depot for the Red
! Army, II was indicated in preliminary
report from Mai. Walter H. Frank,
! Army Air Corps. chief umpire. The
precise amount of damage to the Red
| base has not yet been determined by tile
umpires, but it is believed to have been
the most serious blow they have SUI
| fered since hostilities began at l2:0l
| am. Thursday.
| barrass the Red ground forces. which
are concentrating along the line OF Big
| Darby Greek. II miles west of Column
| bus. for the defense of that city against
the impending attack OF the Blue LIST
| Amy.
! Flashlight Pictures Taken.
| Last night Capt. Albert w. Stevens,
| Army Air Corps crack aerial photog-
| Aach1iul1t mixtures pf
| the Red airdrome at Columbus and Of
| the Blue airdrome here to demonstrate
| the value of the newly developed art
OF night aerial photography. 1t was the
/ second time in history such pictures
| have been made. The first successful
| attempt was made by Capt. Stevens
over washington March 3. when he took
| pre- Inauguration day pictures of the
| Capitol and White House. Last night
Capt Stevens used multi-lens camera,
making four exposures OH each fash
| light explosion. His plane was piloted
| by Lieut.. John D. Corkille.
A party Of Congressman is expected
here this afternoon from Washington
i'll an Army tri-motored transport plane
! piloted by Lieut.. Judah B. Hadden.
| A speed test OF the Curtis pursuit
! plane equipped with the new cooling
! fluid and condensed radiator system
| devised by Air Corps engineers was
made here this morning and speed
! in excess of 1870 miles per hour was
made. This plane finished third in a
race yesterday with two new Boeing
! pursuit planes, one of them equipped
! with the new National Advisory Com
mittee for Aeronautics cowling.
The long distance bombardment
/ fight from this field to New York and
back with aerial refueing over Wash
ington both ways today was advanced
| from Wednesday to Tuesday. The big
plane. piloted by Lieut.. OdaS Moon. will
leave here about 10 am. Tuesday and
will refuel over Boiling Field in the
middle of the afternoon and again
shortly before midnight. Capt. Ross G..
Hoyt Of the office Of the chief OF Air
| Corps, will pilot the rafueling plane.
The hard-pressed Red air forces,
| after witnessing the destruction OF their
! armv regulating center and railroad
yards and army depot at Columbus
| Yesterday struck back at the Blue air
| fighters and savage fighting occurred
| over the entire Ohio war zone.
| Under cover of the aerial warfare
! the blue ground troops Of the first Blue
army moved closer to the "interna-
tional boundary between Dayton and
! Columbus I'm preparation for an assault
! upon Columbus, the Red capital, early
| next week.
! After cessation of fighting yester-
| day morning to permit umrires to
| check on the results Of "a hours of I'M
| interrupted aerial activity. maneuvers
! began again at noon yesterday. Sun
! down last night brought another halt
! to the fighting until dawn today When
/ the sun sank below the horizon OF the
! fiat Ohio landscape yesterday honorS
for the day appeared to be nearly
| even.
Blue Forces Suffer Losses.
Blue air forces lost heavily in an UNI
! successful raid on a Red motor held
! transport column at Hebron, 20 miles
east of Columbus and nearly 40 miles
| behind the enemy lines. Their losses
| were due largely to the failure OF Blue
pursuit planes OF the s5th pur-
/ suit Squadron to protect them during
/ the attack Four of the Is Blue bomb
ers were shot down the umpires
ruled The remaining bombers put up
q savage fight ai subsequently,
brought down eight he Red pursuit
Three more of the Blue lombard
ment planes were destroyed on their
home airport here later III the after
| noon, the umpires ruled, when forma-
| ton of five Red bombers broke through
| the Blue defenses.
Blue attack squadrons completed
successful raids upon Red motor and
animal transportation concentrations
near Lockbourne, 10 miles south of Co
lumbus, and on Red infantry camp
nearby, causing severe damage at both
! points.
Checking up by the umpires at night
fall revealed that the Blues had lost
seven bombing planes and two observa-
ton planes, shot down over Columbus
during the days fighting, and that the
Reds had lost eight of their fighting