10
THE HONGKONG
FIGHTERS
HAVE fought for seven months in Spain as the commander of the España Air Squadron. I have fought at times as a pursuit phot against German and Italian planes, Heinkels and Flats, and also as lender of the formation of hombers I have poured explosives on many an enemy position.
I have faced the accurate and deadly fire of the German anti- aircraft guns.
In this article I am going to sum up the value, combativity
and
efficiency of all the forces present
in the Spanish skies.
GERMANS
I shall start with the Germans. Everybody knows that the Ger- mans are remarkable soldiers.
I am only thirty. I was too young to fight against them in 1914. But some of my older comrades, such as Henry Lacloche and Jean Dary, have experienced the courage of the Oermans in the World War. I found this out for myself in Spain.
The Germans have a wonderful fighting spirit and a gripping tenacity. When you fight agairis2 a German you know for sure that one of the two antagonists will not come out of the battle alive.
The German flyer always holda on, he never gets glttery, even when his aeroplane has been severely damaged by well-placed machine gun fire.
As long as the pilot is not re- verely wounded, as long as the vital parts of the aeroplane are in- tact he goes on fighting.
He looks for trouble. His ma- chine gun fire is always accurate. As soon as his opponent weakens he brings him down. The Germans aro experienced fighters..
Though our convictions and poll- tical opinions vary greatly, I am obliged to show my admiration for these marvellous pilots, these re- markable
these sharpshooters, soldiers.
The Germans are real soldiers... I had the luck to bring down twa German pursuit planes. How- ever it is not the purpose of this article to tell you the story of these epic Oghts, I undoubtedly had lots of luck. My machine was filed with lend each time.
If I finally brought down my op- ponents, it is because my plane was better than the Heinkel. climbed faster and W13 manœuvrable.
ITALIANS
It more
They ran away at Caporetto, they ran away (those who were not killed) at the Guadalajara, but 1 must confess that their air-force is much more efficient than their Infantry.
The Italian airmen are very good
To-day's Thought-
rendezvous with
I HAVE a Death At some disputed barricade... And I to my pledged word am
true.
I shall not fall that rendezvous. -ALAN SELGER,
in the
Spanish
Skies
by.
ABEL GUIDEZ
The author is thirty years old. At the age of 18 he en- Isted in the Frenc, military Ale Force. He soon graduated
As pursuit allot. Later he left
the Army and became a mail nitat.
When the Spanish war broke out he was called by ANDRE MALRAUX to take charge of As the España Squadron. commander-in-chief of the Squadron his courage won lic everybody's admiration.
brought down five enemy pur- suit planes. Lately he has fought on the Bilbao front.
pilots. They are well trained, have many hours of flying time, and are well accustomed to the usual tac- tles of modern aerial warfare. ... But something is undoubtedly wrong with them. Their nerves are not as strong as those of the Germaus. When the fight goes on, their quality fades away. When their aeroplane is damaged by machine gun fire, their courage malts slowly, but surely.
Of course there are exceptions. Some Italian pilots fight to the end, but very few of them.
Usually, when the tracing bullets of our machine guns came pretty close to the Italian pilot, we did feel that we were going to con- quer him, The man in the Fiat was becoming less and less aggres- Hive.
We had to pull the throttle, we would start simultaneous bursts of our fout machine guns. We would alm at the Italian, we would bring him down or force him out of the fight.
The Italian Flat is a very good 1ghting machine, It is superior to the German Heinkel..
RUSSIANS
We
The Russian volunteers are without any doubt the most fer- midable pilots of the lot. admit this, and not at all for pro- paganda purposes.
We worked on many occasions
Portsmouth
By Commander
RUSSELL
GRENFELL
Portsmouth, July 22. have been bombarded,
with the Russians and we always That's why admired their skill. we can ascertain that they are the the most redoubtable pilots of Spanish sky.
Their technique, their natural gift for the most complicated acro- batics, the mathematical precision of their machine-gun fire, their extraordinary contempt for death, place them above all others.
A lone Russian pilot will carry without hesitating a fight against ency pursuit eight or more planes. He will succumb, perhaps, but he will never give in.
I must admit that they are well helped by first-class material. The Russian aeroplanes are superior to all the types which have been sent to Spain, they are far more dangerous weapons than the Italian and the German machines.
Unfortunately, the Russians sent only very few aeroplanes, and those at the beginning of the war.
As a rule, one Ands in Spain six Italian or German machines for one Russian plaie. So it is only on account of the Incredible quality of the pilots and of the machines. that the Russians can face, and often victoriously, the tremendous the quantity of material that Italians and Germans keep on pouring to Franco.
The Russians are exceptionally well-trained pilots.
At the age of 25 most Russian military pilots can boast of a fly-
TELEGRAPH.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1937.
ing time of well over 2,000 hours, Some of them who were under 30 had around 3,000 flying hours. That is one of the reasons for their marvellous knowledge regarding aerial tactics. Individually they the are at least as rood us Germans.
In group formation they outclass all tho air armies in the world,
their strategic approach when in tho disconcerting to group is enemy.
Their mass attacks are like light- ning-murderous lightning.
SPANIARDS
Most of the trained and experi- enced Spanish air officers are on Franco's side. Some were pilots of Average ability, others were plainly bad. Only two Spanish pilots are equal to the foreign fighters.
On the Government side there is the young captain-plot Lacalte. He is the most brilliant aviator of the present Spanish aerial army. He has officially brought down fifteen aeroplanes since he pilots the newest type of Russian mono- plane.
& Lacalle, whose audacity and temerity have no equal, is con- the sidered as death itself by enemy pilots.
Alas. He is not the only brilliant Spanish airman.
Captain Acedo who fights with the Rebels in his red Fiat has more than ten brought down loyalist aeroplanes.
The Spanish Government is do- Ing everything in its power to build up an Air Force of Spanish pilots. We have trained ourselves mechanica and many young students, some the sons of wealthy families, who did not carry the of their opinions conservativo parents.
All these youngsters will give before long to democratie Spain a brillant and strong Air Army.
BRITISH
We can only judge the English from the way the few volunteers fought in Spain.
All were very brave men. They could not give all their worth on account of the lack of fighting machines.
Doherty, who saved my lie, was as good a pursuit pilot as any.
He fought six Flats single- handed to protect me in my Potez bomber. ile brought two Flats down and managed to land safely In our lines with five machine-gun bullets in his body. He is now back in Cape Town nursing his wounds and his plantations.
Ben Lyder, aged 10 years, had the courage of a lion, and was finally killed
when, singlehanded, he fought for 17 minutes against a group of four Heinkels.
Many men have been killed in -the Spanish civil war. But I think that it was not all for nothing. The Spanish war has demonstrated the terrific power of the air-arm. The complete destruction of a town like Guernica makes the civilised world wonder as to the proportiona any International. confilet would take nowadays.
arc
The anti-alteraft guns accurate, but they can only bring down a certain percentage of the planes they are aiming at. There is really no way of preventing the destruction of a town by enemy aircraft.
The only answer to destruction is destruction
Bombed-So What?
originally sighted at B
W the sea and bomb off and on, were also made on Falmouth and constallerat.
for two nighis and a day. We are now waiting for the umpires to tell
us whether we are alive or dead.
•
*
knowledge of naval
Now
there's
a boom wool
in
H
OUSES go up in America. The price. of wool goes up in
England.
You think that the connection be- tween the two is very vogue? No!, at all.
There is a bullding boom in the United States. When people bulld carpets for the houses they want floors.
So there is a demand for the strong wools which make the carpet yarns -the fleeces of Lincoln Longwools, Mashams. Devon, and the Black- faced Scotch,
We have had a building boom of our own. From one cause anil an- Wools other the stocks of coarse throughout the world are at exhaus- tion point.
So wool goes up like a rockel, 50 per cent. on last year.
THE British public are earn-
THE
ing more money. So they are buying more suits and healery, knitting themselves more ind Jumpers.
All these bring in the soft fine wools of the Southdowns, the Hamp shire Downs, and various other down and crossbred sheep.
Come and see your clothing in the
raty.
The English wool sales are at their down height in the heart of the country on which the shorn flocks are grazing.
At Winchester is held the oldest wool auction sale in the country.
And it was at Winchester that the firat wool factory was erected in England. The Romans saw to that.
Your clothing in the raw lopks rather wild.
It forms out of the huge sheets
have been spilt of sacking which open for inspection.
At irst glance it tooks rather ke that creamy foam which is left high on the shore by the receding waves.
BUT it does not look like
It
that to the staplers. looks like good or indifferent wool to them.
There is no wool-gathering about the stapler's methods.
Before it is unrolled, he sees the health chart of the sheep on the skin-side of
freece. Its "Here's a sheep that has not bein too happy. Ilad a cold, I expect."
A poor, "Look at this scrubby lot. old root-fed ewe that has got to the end of its tell
of its tether."
"Take a smell at that one. Musty, Means that they were shorn damp, That makes the staple tender Inter," That word runs through the talk like a retrain...the staple....
The staple is the lock which is from the fleece to test the
Seneral quality.-
Its name comes down from the days when the wool trade was the staple trade of England.
What is looked for in the staple? Length in the course wools, fineness. wools, In the down
strength and elasticity in both.
EXCE
XCEPT for the mountains of wool in the background, the sale tent looks rather like a village hall laid out for a whist drive. With their catalogues as scoring- cards, the staplers sit down to battle, The bidding is like the rattle of machine-gun fire, with farthings as the bullets,
All this vast bulk of wool is sold by the pound, so the smallest coin of the realm is the unit of bidding.
The bidders rop out their shots against each other with bewildering swiftness, and from his high, pre- caricus sent upon a table, the nuc- tioneer shoots back.
The fight goes on without cessa- tion. punctunted by loud, sharp volleys when six shots ring out al
anec.
Then the auctioneer has to decide whose was the winning shot.
The hush when the battle is end-
ed falls over the tent like soft wool, Filty-two thousand Beeces have
minutes. The auctioneer could do
drink.
If we are dead, we have at least Pression which moved up Channel before the exercise atarted. A car- can wholly supplant the warship, been sold in two hours and nine
this comfort that in real
evidently In analysing such exercises there for a better steamed eastward at high speed. is therefore need to make allowances tacties on the part of those who may have to participate in naval opera- Courageous was fired at by a sub- for what is necessarily unreal.
The immunity of the Courageous loas. marine in position F about 12.30 .m.
The weather helped provide At dawn she was operating off the from air attacks is an example.
the imme- perhaps the best lesson of all." On the other hand, Isle of Wight, and her aircraft were
Wednesday showed us that in good attacking Portsmouth. At the same fate concentration that was urder- time cruisers and destroyers bom- ed against her the moment she was weather, aircraft can fare better at naissance work than the sur- barded the harbour and were en sighted indicates what is likely to reconna
be in store for carriers which ven- fuce ship. gaged by the shore defences.
Thursday
showed that
in bad of hostile within the range Night alr attacks from Furious ture
weather is value falls away much For this reason, it seems a pity more rapidly than that of the war- Portland.
that the Blue Fleet was brought to ship. Taking the whole year round, Thursday brought a complex de- within 50 miles of the Red Coast it is clear that the day when aircraft rler which is sending her aircraft to even in constal warfare, has not yet from West to East.
Bad weather in its path. severely bomb a lund objective will hardly come. limited air operations, but warships venture any closer inshore than sho attacked Portsmouth, Portland, and has to.
The possible loss of the Coura- Plymouth areas, and were engaged
attacks geous did not matter in this exer- by shore batteries. These
matter insignificant. But it would But the loss of the Courageous also continued during last, else because the opposing navy was alrcraft carriers, lot the enemy had a strong navy. fleet and air exercises to an abrupt Courageous remained off the Isle of In such cases admirals are likely to end. So the umpires, let her stay Wight and Furious off Cornwall. be very chary of hazarding on consi- afloat.
As the day went on, the weather al raids the carriers which they cer- will want badly in a dicet The exercise began in fine weather began to improve in the west, and fainly at 4.10 p.m. aircraft from Furious action. at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
It is also important to know how The Blue forces might at that time attacked Plymouth across the land. have been anywhere up to 600 miles They were followed bock by Red far out shore-based aircraft can keep to the westward.
aircraft which attacked and claim up regular and emetent observation Within an hour Blue unlis had to have runk Furious in position G. patrol over the sea. As it was the Later in the afternoon, better close proximity of the Blue Forcea sighted by Red flying boat
and at the start of the exercises made! patrols at points A and B on the weather reached Portsmouth map. Among the ships sighted was enabled a further air attack to be the flying boats problem compara-
on Courageous. This much tively easy. Courageous, one of the two aircraft made
battered vessel nevertheless carried
warfare the aircraft carrier Courageous, from which most of the attacks
came would probably have been sunk by own defending aircraft on our Wednesday evening.
would have brought the combined
been
carriers.
night.
the
two
A concentration of attacking planes out a series of raids on Portsmouth upon her was immediately organised, and Southampton during the night. The attack took place two to three
hours
later, and under war condi-
a
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An Interesting minor episode was
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by the flying boat which first sight-
All Fleet exercises of this nature ed her, with the result that the fly- tions there is not much doubt that have to be a mixture of artificiality ing boat was adjudged to have been ave bomber squadrons would have and realism. The only way to test shot down.
It defences is to attack them, and to
In put her under water.
an accepted principle in naval certain defences may mean warfare that the first duty of a scout- By nightfall all Blue forces had bean located, some at D and others and certain cer
would not be ing vessel which sights the enemy is to relain contact, and not risk losing It may also involve keeping ships touch by indulging in a fight. The Red aircraft had undoubtedly done anoat that would in war have been action of the flying boat in ignoring well. During the night, the ships demolished two or three times over, this well-known rule argues the need
at E, the latter including the carrier taken in war. -
#urious? DAERA
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THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH
SEVENTH ANNUAL
Amateur Photographic Competition
Closing Date: 30th September, 5 p.m.
Owing to pressure on space the list of Prixes have boon unavoidably left out for this issue, but the Sections, Rules and Entry Form are printed below:
SECTION ONE:
FOR STORY-TELLING PICTURES
SECTION TWO:
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SECTION FIVE:
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ANIMAL STUDIES),
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The fallowing Rules will govern the Competition;
Is confined ex- 1.The Competition
clusively to amateur photographers. 2-No employce or member of any firm in the photographic trade is per
milted to compote.
what
The prizes will be awarded to the competitors sending 1
Broj adjudged to be the best photographs In each section. Each entry must de accompanied by a form which will be published during the period of the Competition, and which must be lightly posted on back of entry. 4.Tho right to publish any or all of
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1 to the Telegraph reserved.
All photographs entered must have been taken in the Colony of Hong- kong, Photographs which have been already entered in other Competiitan6. ure ineligible.
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--All entries to be either black, septa, or toned pictures, and must be mounted, Tand-coloured photographs aro Ineligible. 8.-Pictures submited in sepia tones should be accompanied by a smaller print in black and white."
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than ane Section.
10-Mounts to be only white or cream, and, except in the Children's Sections. mt be of one of the following sizes:-10 by 14", 10" by 17", 10" by 0.
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.Kina).
15-At the conclusion of the Competi
tion, entries wil ug returned to application at the competitions on Telegraph offices within seven! days,
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