long last, came retribution. Flying very high, they seem to have
encountered an aerial storm which drove them helplessly over
French territory. Our allies were swift to seize this golden
opportunity. Their airmen and anti-aircraft guns shot down no
less than four of the Zeppelins in broad daylight, one of which
was captured whole. Of the remainder, one at least drifted
over the Mediterranean, and was not heard of again. That was the
last of the Zeppelin, so far as the civilian population was
concerned. But, for nearly a year, the work of killing citizens
had been undertaken by the big bomb-dropping Gotha aeroplanes.

The work of the Gotha belongs rightly to the second part of this
book, which deals with aeroplanes and airmen; but it would be
convenient to dispose here of the part played by the Gotha in the
air raids upon this country.

The reconnaissance took place on Tuesday, November 28, 1916, when
in a slight haze a German aeroplane suddenly appeared over
London, dropped six bombs, and flew off. The Gotha was
intercepted off Dunkirk by the French, and brought down. Pilot
and observer-two naval lieutenants-were found to have a
large-scale map of London in their possession. The new era of
raids had commenced.

Very soon it became evident that the new squadron of Gothas were
much more destructive than the former fleets of unwieldy
Zeppelins. These great Gothas were each capable of dropping
nearly a ton of bombs. And their heavy armament and swift flight
rendered them far less vulnerable than the air-ship.