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On May 25, 1917, the first Gotha raid on England was made by 21 Gotha GIVs. From then on until the last raid on May 19, 1918, there were 23 Gotha raids, each consisting of from 4 to 38 aircraft. In the course of the raids, 22 Gothas were destroyed, 12 by anti-aircraft fire and 10 by aircraft. 42 more crashed on landing on the return flight probably due to damage from AA or aircraft.
Credit for those shot down by Defense Aircraft is difficult since the British usually attacked in flight strength, making it a cooperative effort. There are three occasions when the individual(s) are known: December 18, 1917, Capt. Murlis-Green; May 19, 1918, by Major F. Sowery, 143 Squadron, along with Lt. E.E. Turner and Air Mechanic H. Barwise in a Bristol of 141 Squadron; and on the same raid another Gotha was shot down by Camel pilot Capt. C. Brand of 112 Squadron.
One of the reasons for placing Lewis guns on the upper wing was because it was considered dangerous to fire explosive or incendiaries through the propeller. Murlis-Green was temporarily blinded when a tracer hit his propeller.
Camels eventually came to be preferred for Home Defence rather than S E 5as and Bristols because the latter were difficult to land at night on small fields. Also, rotaries could be flown off without the need for warm-up.
In both airship and aircraft raids on England, more people were killed or injured by falling shrapnel from the AA guns than by the bombs.
Incidentally, why were Gothas more "beastly" than Handley-Page 0/400s or the later 0/1500 which was scheduled to bomb Berlin and stopped only by the Armistice?
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