The raid on Croydon aerodrome was seen by people living for miles around. A woman living in a nearby district saw about 30 planes, British and German, in the air at the same time. Passengers on top of a bus had a grandstand view of the air battle.
"As we were going along," writes a Reuter reporter who was in the bus, "we saw two or three dozen planes high up. Suddenly we heard the rattle of machinegun guns and the thunder of anti-aircraft fire. Three German machines appeared to be shot down. A.group of soldiers cheered each time a raider crashed."
A man who lives near the aerodrome was watching the manceuvres of nine planes circling high above the airport when "from nowhere a swarm of machines hurtled out of the sky. There was a terrific melee, followed by a hot anti-aircraft barrage. After remaining over the spot only a minute or two, the German planes went off like hell, with our fighters hot on their heels."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.