Sea Air Fighting by David Bilton

Author:David Bilton [Bilton, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, World War I, Aviation, Naval
ISBN: 9781473867079
Google: T3ObDQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2016-11-30T00:24:57+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE DAYLIGHT RAID

By MRS C.S. PEEL

The raid which made the most impression on Londoners was perhaps the daylight raid of 13 June 1917. A Special Constable says, ‘I was returning to Walton Street after inspecting the Albert Hall patrol when I was told by a constable that a warning was out. I hurried home to warn my wife, who I found was just starting for the Ministry in which she worked. She decided to make a start, and I walked to the Oratory with her and saw her into an omnibus, as I thought it would turn out to be a dash raid by one or two planes and that she would hear the guns in plenty of time to take cover. It was before the days of maroon warnings. I walked as far as Yeomans Row (a turning out of Brompton Road) on my way to Walton Street Police Station, and as I passed the mews I saw a constable and asked if anything was on. ‘‘If you look over there you will see what’s on,’’ he replied, and on looking northeast over the houses I saw a cloud of aeroplanes. Then the guns began. I walked down Yeomans Row ordering the women and children into the houses, but on reaching the yard doors of the police station I looked round and saw they had all come out again, so I returned to repeat my orders. It was quite useless, come into the street they would. One woman, I recollect, stood with her baby in her arms pointing up, and saying, ‘‘Look at the airyplanes, Baby, look at the airyplanes.’’ So I returned and stood in the yard and watched the airyplanes myself. There appeared to be about thirty huge black planes going very slowly, and a large number of much smaller planes flying very much faster. Some of these seemed to drop out of the clouds – evidently firing at the larger planes, which seemed to take no notice and continued in formation, led by one machine well ahead of the main body. Shells appeared to be bursting all round them as well as 2 or 3 miles away. The planes when I first saw them were, I think, heading directly for South Kensington via Piccadilly Circus, but when I was standing in the yard they seemed to turn south. I judged them to be over the city, and I put their height at about 5,000 feet. I believe actually it varied from 12,000 to 15,000, my mistake no doubt being due to the fact that they were the first twin-engine bombers I or anyone else had seen, and were twice as large as any we had used in this country at that time. I was rather alarmed at the idea of forty or fifty machines heading directly for our part of London, but the sight was so magnificent that I stood in the yard spellbound. The noise of the air being churned up by this fleet of aeroplanes was very loud.

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