machines at Antwerp had
been taken out of their shed and planted in the middle of the aerodrome,
to avoid damage by splinters if the shed should be hit by a shell. On
the forenoon of the 8th the weather was misty, so Squadron Commander
Spenser Grey and Flight Lieutenant Marix spent the time in tuning up
their Sopwith Tabloid machines. In the afternoon there was no
improvement in the weather, but if an attack was to be made from Antwerp
it was important to start, for the Germans were about to enter the
city. Flight Lieutenant Marix, starting at 1.30 p.m., flew to
Duesseldorf, dived at the shed, and let go his bombs at a height of 600
feet. The destruction was complete. The roof fell in within thirty
seconds and flames rose to a height of 500 feet, showing that an
inflated Zeppelin must have been inside. The aeroplane was damaged by a
heavy rifle- and shell-fire, but Lieutenant Marix managed to get back to
within twenty miles of Antwerp, and to return to the city by the aid of
a bicycle which he borrowed from a peasant. Squadron Commander Spenser
Grey, starting at 1.20 p.m., flew to Cologne, where he found a thick
mist and failed to locate the airship sheds. He dropped his bombs on the
main railway station in the middle of the town, and got back to Antwerp
at 4.45 p.m. At six o'clock the general evacuation of Antwerp was
ordered, and the officers of the Naval Air Service succeeded in reaching
Ostend by noon on the following day. The transport and stores had
preceded them. Since the 3rd of October Wing Commander Samson's force
had been employed in assisting the naval division at Antwerp. Some
seventy motor omnibuses, taken off the streets of the cities of England,
and driven by their civilian drivers, who made up in cheerfulness and
skill for what they lacked in military science, had been employed to
carry the stores of the naval division, and were escorted by the
armoured cars. Their stay in Antwerp was brief. Where once the Germans
had succeeded in bringing their big guns within range the end was
certain. 'I used to find the streets of Antwerp', says Air Commodore
Samson, 'a most depressing sight, thronged as they were with Belgians;
beautifully dressed ladies were apparently carrying on their usual life,
shopping and promenading as if the siege was a minor affair.' The people
of a great commercial city are slow to realize the facts of war. When
the realization comes it comes with panic swiftness. The crowd of
refugees wh