"
"D----n!" we said: "if only that machine had been working right
yesterday."
We took our car down to the arsenal, and I left Sava to take it to bits
and get it opened out, for there had been a bit of a knock in the crank
case. The remains of the smashed aeroplane were piled in the yard, and
from the way it had twisted up without breaking one could see from what
beautiful metal the machinery was made. Some of the French experts
denied that the guns had hit it--giving as their reason that one of its
own bombs had exploded. But one of the engineers put his hand into a big
hole which was beneath the crank case and drew out a shrapnel ball. I
thought that would settle it, but the Frenchmen were not convinced. The
shells were bursting fifty metres too low, they said. Fifteen bombs had
fallen about the arsenal, and one man, a non-commissioned officer, had
been killed.
Met Hardinge and Mawson: they both saw the aeroplane fall, and were not
fifty yards from the place where it struck.
Walked back to the Stobarts' camp for lunch.
Pages:
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257