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The bombing planes must have a very large radius of action, particularly those that are used in night bombing operations. The Gothas in bombing London fly several hundred miles from their base, and recently a Handley-Page bombing plane flew from London to Constantinople, Turkey, making only a few stops on the way. Starting out from Hendon, England, the Handley-Page machine flew to Paris, down the Rhone valley to Lyons and Marseilles, and then to Pisa, and Rome (Italy), where they landed. From Rome the machine passed over Naples, over Oranto and then over the Albanian Alps to the base at Salonica. Making preparations at this base they flew the final stage of the trip to Constantinople, a distance of 250 miles over hostile country. The bombing of the Turkish capital was done at night after a flight of 2 1/2 hours from Salonica. When over the sea of Marmora, the ship "Goeben" was bombed, and in addition a hit was scored on the two submarines lying at her side. Four bombs struck the "Goeben" directly, from an altitude of 800 feet. Two more bombs were dropped on the German ship, "General," which was the headquarters of the German staff. Finally, after 30 minutes over the city of Constantinople, the Turkish War Office was the recipient of two more bombs. In the words of the Turkish communiqué this "Was not entirely destroyed." On its return to Salonica it was found that the machine had been struck by 26 shrapnel bullets. This disabled one of the power plants so that the greater part of the return journey was made on a single motor.


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