‘A Gotha falls foul of the Belgian guns’, 1917 (b/w photo)

‘A Gotha falls foul of the Belgian guns’, 1917. Photograph, World War One, Air Operations (1914-1918), 1917. On the night of 6-7 June a Gotha bomber was brought down on the Belgian lines. It was engaged on a bombing expedition against Dunkirk and was flying at top speed when it was picked up by search lights and damaged by anti-aircraft fire. The Gotha managed to descend having first jettisoned its cargo of bombs. The crew, a captain, lieutenant, and a non-comissioned officer tried to escape in the darkness but were discovered by Belgian soldiers hiding in a ditch. One of 193 British and Allied official photographs taken on the Western Front.