A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK M R. CHURCHILL'S mention of the fact that
15 German raiding bombers have been shot down by our fighters without the loss of a single machine of ours, while highly gratifying so far as it goes, emphasises pointedly the small- ness of the scale of air-warfare to date, and the consequent caution to be observed in drawing conclusions from the results so far achieved. There has, of course, been considerable aerial activity at the front, but even here contests have been relatively few and casualties light. Some early impressions pretty clearly need to be corrected. It was a matter of general astonishment that the R.A.F. should be able to carry out reconnaissances far into Germany with almost negligible loss ; but it now appears that German planes are doing the same thing over France with equal impunity—though there is little doubt that British aviators have been much more enterprising and taken greater risks. Similarly there is no doubt that our fighters beat German raiding bombers every time, but German fighters beat British raiding bombers badly on one of the only two occasions where they are known to have encountered them. What we have not seen is a contest between fighters and fighters; nor can the result in such a case be predicted, though the belief that in this as in all other types British pilots and British material is superior seems to be well-founded. But so far only a fraction of each air-force has been engaged, and not a fraction large enough to justify very broad generalisations.
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