1937-08-26 — Page 22

+

10

THE

HONGKONG

FIGHTERS

HAVE fought for seven months in Spain as the commander of the España I havo

fought at times ne a pursult and pillot against German Italian planes, Heinkels and Flats, and also as leader of the formation of bombers I have poured explosives on many an enemy position.

I have faced the accurate and deadly fire of the German anti- aircraft guns.

up

In this article I am going to sum the value, combativity and

efficiency of all the forces present in the Spanish ckles.

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 nome of my older comrades, such na Henry Lactoche and Jean Dary, have experienced the courage of the Germans in the World War. I found this out for myself in Spain.

The Germans have a wonderful gripping Aghting spirit and a

tenacity. When you fight against a German you know for sure that one of the two antagonists will not come out of the battle alive.

The Oemian flyer always holds on, he never gets gittery, even has been when his acroplane severely damaged by well-placed machine gun fire,

As long as the plot is not se- verely wounded, as long as the vital parts of the aeroplane are in- tact he goes on fighting.

Jle tooks for trouble. lita ma- chine gun fire is always accurate. As soon as his opponent weakens he brings him down. The Germans are experienced fighters.

Though our convictions and poll- tical opinions vary greatly. I am obliged to show my admiration for these marvellous pilots, these re- these niarkable sharpshooters, soldiers.

The Germans are real soldiers... 1 had the luck to bring down twu German pursuit planes. How- ever it is not the purpose of this article to tell you the story of these eple.nghts. I undoubtedly had lots of luck. My machine was Alled with lead each time.

If I Anally brought down my op- ponents, it is because my plane was better than the Heinkel. It moro climbed

Was faster and manœuvrabic.

ITALIANS

They ran away at Caporetto, they ran away (those who were not killed) at the Guadalajara, but I must confess that their air-force in much more efficient than their Infantry.

The Italian nirmen are very good

-To-day's Thought

HAVE a rendezvous with Death

At some disputed barricade... And to my pledged word am

true,

I shall not fall that rendezvous. --ALAN SEEGER.

in the

Spanish

Skies

by

ABEL GUIDEZ

The author is thirty years old. At the age of 18 he en- Ilated in the French military Air Force. He soon graduated

as pursuit pilot. Later he left

the Army and became a mail Bilal.

When the Spanish war broke ont he was called by ANDRE MALRAUX to take charge of

AK

of

the

W011 Ke

the España Squadron. commander-in-chief Squadron his courage everybody's admiration,

brought down five enemy pur- Lately be has sult planes. fought on the Bilbao front.

plots. They are well trained, have many hours of flying time, and are well accustomed to the usual tac- tics of modern aerial warfare.

But something is undoubtedly wrong with them. Their nerves are not as strong as those of the Germans. When the fight goes on, their quality fades away. When their aeroplane is damaged by machine gun fire, their courage melts 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 Flat was becoming less and less aggres- slve.

We had to pull the throttle, we would start simultaneous bursts of our four machine guns. We would aim at the Italian, we would bring him down or force him out of the fight.

The Italian Flat is a very good fighting machine, It is superior to the German Heinkel.

RUSSIANS

volunteers Arc The Russian without any doubt the most for- midable pilots of the lot. admit this, and not at all for pro- paganda purposes.

with the Russians and we always That's why admired their skill. we can ascertain that they are the most redoubtable plots of the 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 Russlan pliot will carry without hesitating a fight against pursuit more enemy eight planes. He will succumb, perhaps, but he will never give in.

I

ог

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 than the weapons dangerous Italian and the German machines. Unfortunately, the Russians sent only very few acroplanes, and those at the beginning of the war.

As a rule, one finds in Spain six Italian or German machines for one Russian plane. So it is only on account of the incredible quality of the plicts and of the machines. that the Russians can face, and often victoriously, the tremendous quantity of material that the Itallans and Germans keep pouring to Franco.

OL

We

The Russians are exceptionally well-trained pilots.

24

At the age of 25 most Russian military pilots can boast of a fly-

We worked on many occasions

Portsmouth

By Commander RUSSELL GRENFELL

TELEGRAPH.

THURSDAY,

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 morial tactics. Individually they

As the. are at least no good Germans.

In group formation they outclass all the air armies in the world, their strategic approach when in group 24 disconcerting to the enomy.

Their mass attacks are like light- ning-murderous lightning.

SPANIARDS

Most of the trained and expert- enced Spanish air officers are on Franco's side. Some were plots of average ability, others were plainly bad. Only two Spanish pilots are equal to the foreign fighters.

On the Government aldo there is the young captain-pilot Lacale. 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.

Localle, whose audacity and temerity have no equal, is con- sidered as death itself by the enemy pilots.

Alas. He is not the only brilliant Spanish airman.

Captain Acedo who fights with the Rebels in his red Flat han than ten brought down more 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 and mechanics young many students, some the sons of wealthy familles, who did not carry the their of opinions conservative parents.

All these youngsters will give before long to democratie Spain a brilliant and strong Air Army.

BRITISH +

We can only judge the English from the way the low 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 life, was as good a pursuit pliot as any.

He fought six Flats single- handed to protect me in my Potez bomber. He 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 19 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 Bpanish 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 proportions any international conflict would take nowadays.

guns Arc The anti-aircraft 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 evidently steamed

castward

In analysing such exercises there for a better knowledge of naval

at high speed. is therefore need to make allowances tactics 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 tons. inarine in position F about 12.30 a.m. At dawn she was operating off the from air attacks is an example.

On the other hand, Isle of Wight, and her aircraft were

*

*

The weather helped to provide the imine- perhaps the best lesson of all.

Wednesday showed us that in good

At the same diate concentration that was order- Portsmouth. attacking time cruisers and destroyers bom- ed against her the moment she was weather aircraft can fare beller at en alghted intiluales what is likely to reconnaissance work than the sur- barded the harbour and were

be in store for earriers which ven- face ship.

Thursday showed that in bad of hostile gaged by the shore defences.

within the range

weather is value falls away much from Furious ture Night Portsmouth, July, 22.

nlr bilncks WE have been bombarded, from were also made on Falmouth and coastal aircraft. WE

For this reason, it seems n pity more rapidly than that of the war- the sea and the air, off and on, Portland.

that the Blue Fleet was brought to ship. Taking the whole year round, *for two nights and a day. We are

Thursday brought a complex de- within 50. miles of the Red Const it is clear that the day when aircraft now waiting for the umpires to tell us whether we are alive or dead.

pression which moved up Channel before the exercise started. A car can wholly supplant the warship,. rler which is sending her aircraft to even in coastal warfare, has not yet If we are dead, we have at least from West to East.

Bad weather in its path severely bomb a land objective will hardly come. this comfort that in real warfare the aircraft carrier Courageous, from limited air operations, but warships venture any closer inshore than sho which most of the attacks came attacked Portsmouth, Portland, and has to. would probably have been sunk by plymouth areas, and were engaged

by shore. batteries. These own defending aircraft

continued also Wednesday evening.

were the night.

the would have brought the combined

our

on

during

two aircraft

be very chary of hazarding on coast-

The possible loss of the Coura- attacks geous did not matter in this exer- last cise because the opposing navy was insignificant. But it would matter corriers, a lot if the enemy had a strong navy. feet and air axercises to an abrupt Courageous remained off the Isle of In such cases admirals are likely to end. So the umpires let her stoy Wight and Furious oft Cornwall. afoot.

As the day went on, the weather al ralds the carriers which they cer- ly will want badly in a fleet The exercise began in fine weather began to improve in the west, and tainly at 4.10 p.m. aircraft from Furious action. at 3 p.m., on Wednesday.

The Blue forces might at that time attacked Plymouth across the land. It is also important to know how They were followed back by Red far out shore-based aircraft can keep have been anywhere up to 000 miles

which attacked and claim up regular and efficient observation As It was the to the westward.

Within an hour Blue units had to have sunk Furious in position G. patrol over the sea.

Later

in the afternoon, better close proximity of the Blue Force and at the start of the exercises made been alghted by Red flying boat

reached Portsmouth patrols

at polnis A and B on the weather

much tively easy. map, Among the ships sighted was enabled a further air attack to be the flying boats problem comparn- on Courageous. This Courageous, one of the two aircraft made

battered vessel nevertheless carried

carriers.

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 Inter, and under wor condi-

.

An interesting minor episode was the attack made on the Courageous

by the dying 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 five bomber squadrons would have and realism. The only way to test shot down.

defences is to attack them, and to put her under water.

It is an accepted principle in naval By nightfall all Blue forces had attack certain defences may mean warfare that the first duty of a scout- risks which would not be ing vessel which sights the enemy is been located, some at D and others taking

to retain contact, and not risk losing et E, the latter including, the carrier taken in war.

It may also involve keeping ships touch by indulging in a fight. The Red Flrofeft had undoubtedly done afloat 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

AUGUST 26,.

1997.

Now

there's

a boom

in wool

H

OUSES go up

in

America. The price of wool goes - up

England.

in

You think that the connection be- Not tween the two is very vague? at all.

There is a building boom in the United States. When people build carpets for the houses they want floors.

So there is a demand for the strong wools which make the carpet yarns the fleeces of Eincoln Longwools, Mashams. Devons, and the. Black- faced Scotch.

We have had a building boom of our own. From one cause and on- wools other the stocks of coarse throughout the world are at exhaus- tion point.

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Canal and Havans.

Pres. Hoover Pres. Lincoln

Pres. Coolidge

Pres. Wilson Pres. Hoover Pres. Cleveland

TO SEATTLE, VICTORIA "THE EXPRESS ROUTE"

yla Shanghai. Kobe and Yoko-

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3 Pres. Grant

8.00 a.m. Nov.

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7 Pres. Jackson 8.00 am, Nov.

Pres. Hayes

So wool goes up like a rocket, 50 per cent, on lust year.

Pres. Monroe

Pres. Adama

THE British public are carn

ing more money. So they are buying more suits and hosiery,

themselves knitting and Зитретя.

more

All these bring in the soft nne, wools of the Southdowns, the Hamp- shire Downs, and various other down and crossbred sheep.

Come and see your clothing in the

raw.

"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 I was at Winchester that the factory was erected in first wool England. The Romans saw to that.

Your clothing in the raw looks rather wild.

It foams out of the huge sheets have been split of sacking which open for inspection.

At first glance it looks rather like that creamy foam which is left high on the shore by the receding waves.

܀

IL

BUT it does not look like D that to the staplers. looks like good or Indiferent 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 its fleece.

"Here's a sheep that has not been too happy. Hnd a cold, I expect."

"Look at this scrubby lot. A poor, old root-fed ewe that has got to the end of its tether."

"Take a smell at that one, Musty, Means that they were shorn damp.. That makes the staple tender later." That word runs through the talk like a refrain...the staple..

is the lock which is The staple

to test the pulled from the fleece general

quality. Its name comics 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 in the down wools, strength and elasticity in both,

TXCEPT for the mountains of wool in the background,

jooks the sale tent

rather like a village hall laid out for a whist drive. With their catalogues as scoring- cards, the staplers ait down to battla. The bidding is like the rattle of machine-gun fire, with farthings as the bullets.

All this vast bulk of wool is cold by the pound, so the smallest coln of the realm is the unit of bidding.

The bidders rap out their shots against each other with bewildering swiftness, and from his high, pre- carious sent upon a table, the auc- tioneer shoots back.

The fight goes on without cessa- tion, punctuated by loud, sharp volleys when six shots ring out at

onec.

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. Fifty-two thousand lecces have been sold in two hours and nlno minutes. The auelloncer could do with a drink.

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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 Prizen have been unavoidably left out for this issue, but the Sections, Rules and Entry Form are printed below:

SECTION ONE:

FOR STORY-TELLING PICTURES

SECTION THREE: STUDIES IN STILL LIFE

SECTION FOUR: SNAPSHOTS TAKEN BY CHILDREN UNDER 14 YEARS

SECTION TWO: GENERAL FICTORIAL SECTION (VIEWS, ARCHITECTURE, LANDS- CAPES, SEASCAPES, HUMAN AND FOR PICTURES OF HONGKONG

ANIMAL STUDIES).

SECTION FIVE:

CORONATION CELEBRATIONS

READ THE RULES CAREFULLY

the

The following Rules will govern Competition:

1. The Competition is confined ex-

clusively to amateur photographers. 2-No employee or member of any firm in the photorfaphic trade is per- mited to compete.

the 3.The prizes will be awarded to

are sending in what competitors adjudged to be the best photographis in each Section. Each entry must be accompanied by a form which will be published during this period of the Competition, and whieli must be lightly posted on back of entry. 4-The right to publish any or all of the entries in the Telegraph reserved. į

7-All entries ft be either black, Sepis. or toned pictures, and must be mounted. Hand-coloured photographs are ineligible.

Pictures submitted in copla tores should be accompanied by a smaller print in black and white.

Na picture to be entered in more than one Section.

10-Mounts to be only while or cream. and, except in the Children's Section, must be of one of the followi aizes:-10 by 14", 10" by 12", ID by U".

11-No correspondence will be entered into. in connection with the Competi- tion. 2413-Members of the Staffs of Hongkong South China Telegraph and, the Morning Port are not permitted to compete

B-Alt photographa entered must have been taken in the Colony of Rong- kong Photographs which have been already entered in other Competitions are ineligibla,

4.-No responsibility will be accepted for non-delivery of loas of, or damage to entries.

14-The decisions of the Judges shall be

final.

15-At the conclusion of the Competi- tion, entries will be returned to competitions on application at the Telegraph otices within seven days.

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