Read "Green Balls" by Paul Bewsher online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"The cunning searchlights haunt the midnight skies, Where chains of emerald balls of fire rise, To mingle with the spark of bursting shells -- High in the darkness where the bomber dwells! We know the meaning of the sudden glare Of dazzling light which blossoms in the air: For us the green and scarlet rockets blaze And whisper urgent secrets through the haze. " -- _The Night Raid._
From the aerodrome at Dunkerque five Short night-bombing machines were operating. These were large single-engined machines with a very long stretch of wings, and, apart from the Handley-Pages, were the biggest machines in use on the Western Front, and carried the heaviest weight of bombs.