AERIAL RECORD.
April 1—British airmen bombard German submarines which are being built at Hoboken, near Antwerp.
April 2—French aeroplane squadron drops thirty-three bombs on barracks and aeroplane hangars at Vigneulles, in the Woevre region; French and Belgian aviators drop thirty bombs on aviation camp at Handezaema; allied aviators drop bombs on Mühlheim and Neuenberg, doing slight damage; Adolphe Pegoud, French aviator, attacks and brings down a German Taube near Saint Menehould by shooting at it; he captures the pilot and observer, unhurt.
April 3—French bring down a German aeroplane at Rheims, the aviators, unhurt, being captured.
April 4—German Taube drops bombs on Newkerk church, near Ypres; twelve women and Abbé Reynaert are killed; many persons injured; bombs are dropped from a British aeroplane on the forts at the entrance to the Gulf of Smyrna; the tenth Zeppelin to be constructed at Friedrichshafen has its trial trip; the latest type is longer and faster than preceding models.
April 5—French War Office announces that in the British raid on Belgium, at the end of March, 40 German workmen were killed and 62 wounded; at Hoboken two German submarines were destroyed, a third damaged, and the Antwerp Naval Construction Yards were gutted; French aviators bombard Mühlheim, killing three women.
April 6—German seaplane is brought down by the Russians off Libau, after dropping bombs on city, the aviators being captured.
April 7—Austrian aviators drop bombs in the market place of Porgoritza, Montenegro, killing twelve women and children, and injuring forty-eight other persons; many buildings are destroyed.
April 8—One Austrian aeroplane beats three Russian machines in mid-air, all the Russian aeroplanes falling to earth.
April 9—It is reported from Furnes, Belgium, that Garros, French aviator, recently won a duel in mid-air against a German aeroplane, shooting down Germans.
April 11—Captain of British steamer Serula drives off two German aeroplanes with a rifle; the aviators drop twenty-five bombs, all missing; German aeroplane bombards an allied transport near the Dardanelles.
April 12—German dirigible drops seven bombs on Nancy, doing slight damage.
April 13—French aviators bombard military hangars at Vigneulles, and disperse, near there, a German battalion on the march; according to a report printed in a Swiss newspaper, Count Zeppelin's secretary told this journal's correspondent that Germany is preparing for a great air raid on London in August, with two squadrons of five dirigibles each.
April 14—A Zeppelin makes a night raid over the Tyne district of England; inhabitants of the whole region from Newcastle to the coast, warned by authorities, plunge the territory into darkness, which has the effect of baffling the airship pilot; bombs, chiefly of the incendiary kind, are dropped from time to time haphazard; a Zeppelin, while flying over the Ypres district, is shot at and badly damaged, coming down some hours afterward a complete wreck near Maria Aeletre; a Zeppelin drops bombs on Bailleul, the objective being the aviation ground, but this is not hit; three civilians are killed; two German aeroplanes are forced to come to the ground within the French lines, one near Braine and the other near Lunéville.
April 15—Fifteen French aeroplanes drop bombs on German military buildings at Ostend; German aviator drops bombs on Mourmelow; French aviator drops five bombs on the buildings occupied by the German General Staff at Mazières; French aviators bombard Freiburg-in-Breisgau, killing six children, two men, and one woman, and injuring fourteen other persons, including several children; three allied aeroplanes make a flight of 170 miles over the Sinai Peninsula, aiming bombs at the tents of Turkish troops.
April 16—Two Zeppelins attack the east coast of England in the early morning, dropping bombs at Lowestoft, at Malden, thirty miles from London, while one of the raiders is seen near Dagenham, eleven and one-half miles from London Mansion House; one woman is injured and considerable property damage is done; a German biplane flies over Kent, dropping bombs, which do little damage; at Sheerness the anti-aircraft guns open fire, but the machine escapes; a single bomb, dropped by a German Taube on Amiens, kills or wounds thirty persons, mostly civilians, while twenty-two houses are destroyed outright and many others seriously damaged; French aviators drop bombs at Leopoldshöhe, Rothwell, and Mazières-les-Metz; two civilians are killed at Rothwell; a combined attack is made by one British and five French aeroplanes on a number of Rhine towns; two allied hydroplanes fall into the Dardanelles as a result of Turkish fire; Garros kills two German aviators in their aeroplane by shooting them from his aeroplane.
April 17—French airship bombards Strassburg, wounding civilians; two German aeroplanes drop bombs on Amiens, killing seven persons and wounding eight.
April 18—Garros brings down, between Ypres and Dixmude, another German aeroplane, his third within a short period.
April 19—Two French aerial squadrons attack railway positions along the Rhine, and bombard the Mühlheim and Habsheim stations; at Mannheim huge forage stores are set on fire; Garros is captured by the Germans at Ingelmunster, Belgium, after being forced to alight there; German aeroplanes drop bombs in Belfort; Germans repulse French aeroplanes at Combres.
April 20—German aeroplane squadron drops 100 bombs at Bialystok, Russian Poland, killing and wounding civilians; a Zeppelin bombards the town of Oicchanow, doing slight damage; the Rhine from Basle to Mülhausen is the scene of a considerable engagement lasting two hours, in which two French and two British aeroplanes attack a larger German squadron and are driven off; returning with reinforcements and now outnumbering the German squadron, they drive off the Germans; no report as to losses; reports from Swiss towns around Lake Constance on which the Zeppelin works are situated, state that Emperor William has ordered much larger Zeppelins constructed; each of the new Zeppelins, it is stated, will cost over $600,000, and will throw bombs double the size of those now used.
April 21—French aeroplanes bombard headquarters of General von Etrantz in the Woevre; French aeroplanes bombard German convoys in the Grand Duchy of Baden and an electric power plant at Loerrach, at the latter place injuring civilians; British aviators drop bombs on the German aviation harbor and shed at Ghent; Russian aeroplanes bombard the railroad station at Soldau.
April 23—Russian aeroplanes drop bombs on Mlawa and Plock, and bombard the German aviation field near Sanniky; Germans bring down a Russian aeroplane at Czernowitz, the pilot being killed.
April 24—French aviator drops two bombs on Fort Kastro, at Smyrna, killing several soldiers; official German statement says a British battleship was badly damaged in the recent Zeppelin attack on the Tyne region.
April 25—Aviators of the Allies are making daily attacks on the Germans between the Yser and Bruges; a Zeppelin throws bombs on the town of Sialvstok.
April 26—A Zeppelin drops on Calais large bombs of a new type, with greatly increased power; thirty civilians are injured; a Russian aeroplane drops three bombs on Czernowitz, injuring children.
April 27—British airmen bombard eight towns in Belgium occupied by Germans; Russians damage and capture two Austro-German aeroplanes; Russian aviators drop bombs on German aeroplanes at the aviation field near Sanniky; French aviators drop bombs at Bollweiler, Chambley, and Arnaville; French airman throws six bombs on the Mauser rifle factory at Oberdorf.
April 28—A German aeroplane throws three bombs at the American tanker Cushing, owned by the Standard Oil Company, the attack taking place in daylight in the North Sea; the ship was flying the American flag; splinters from one bomb strike the vessel and tear the American ensign, according to the report of the Cushing's Captain; Russian giant aeroplane drops 1,200 pounds of explosives on the East Prussian town of Neidenburg; allied airmen drop bombs on Haltingen, Southern Baden; German aeroplane drops bombs on Nancy, three persons being killed and several injured; allied airmen bombard Oberdorf, killing six civilians and wounding seven; six allied aeroplanes bombard the hangars of dirigibles at Friedrichshafen; French aviators drop bombs on the station and a factory at Leopoldshöhe; French capture or destroy four German aeroplanes.
April 29—Three German aeroplanes drop bombs on Belfort, four workmen being wounded; German aeroplanes bombard Epernay.
April 30—A Zeppelin drops bombs on Ipswich and other places in Suffolk; no lives are reported lost, but a number of dwellings are set on fire; four Zeppelins are sighted off Wells, Norfolk; they change their course and head out to sea; French airship bombards the railway in the region of Valenciennes; a destroyed French aeroplane falls within the German lines; British bring down a German aeroplane east of Ypres.