The neighbourhood of this lightship naturally became
a very favourite hunting ground of the new flying boats, which used to
bomb the Huns whenever one of their submarines was sighted either on or
below the surface. Forty flying boats were launched in 1917, and
forty-four submarines were bombed. The "Porte Baby," as the flying
boat of '17 was called, measured a hundred feet across the wings and
carried a small aeroplane, complete with its own airman, on top. The
"Porte Super-Baby" of 1918 could lift no less than fifteen tons and was
easily the strongest aircraft in the world. The "Baby's" crew was
four--pilot, navigator, wirelesser, and engineer. The "Super-Baby"
carried more. Two gigantic Zeppelins and several submarines were
destroyed by the "Babies." The "Super-Babies" had no proper chance of
showing what they could do, as the Armistice came (11 November 1918)
before they were really at work. Porte had many Canadians in his
crews; and Canadians brought down the first Zeppelin and sank the first
submarine.
But the five chief kinds of fighting craft are only half the battle.
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