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unpacked at the Mukden aerodrome and that Captain
Mackenzie, the British instructor there, pointed out to
him the machine gun rings on these machines as well as
the bomb-racks fitted on the undersides of the wings.
These were on the planes when they arrived and were not
fitted later, and it seems improbable that these machines
were destined for commercial use.
2.
That these or very similar aeroplanes were
in fact eventually employed in active military operationa
may be inferred from information given by Lieutenant-
Commander Leeds of H.M. S. "Hawking" on the Commander-in-
Chief's staff, who was sent as naval observer to Chinwangtao,
to a member of my staff to the effect that Monsieur Boixo,
one of the senior partners of the French aeroplane
importing firm of that name in Tientsin, whom he met at
Chinwangtao, while the fighting was at its height had openl.
boasted to him of the prowess of the French machines
and had even hinted that, had it not been for the fact that
the aeroplanes had been flown by French and Russion pilots
who were anxious not to damage foreign property, the dana, re
done to the wharves and the property of foreigners at that
port would have been considerably greater. The actual
harm done, however, was in point of fact, negligible.
3.
I have the honour to submit also copy of an
interesting report compiled from information supplied by a
ajor J.3.L. hunter enclosed in Shanghai despatch 1.131 of
10th October on the subject of the recent fighting on the Chekiang Kiangsu front, to paragraph seven of wliol: I would draw your special attention. This report contains definite evidence conceming the non-commercial nature of certain
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