The Commander of the aeroplanes will make a note of what the
Commander-in-Chief desires; then he will return to the aeroplane camp,
and get to work. It is probable, in the ordinary course of affairs, that
organised reconnoitring flights will be made, in wartime, either in the
early hours of the morning, or during the evening. This will suit the
convenience of the airmen by giving them the best weather conditions to
work in; and it will also be satisfactory for the Commander-in-Chief to
know at the beginning, and again at the end of a day’s fighting, what
the dispositions of his enemy are.
In the French manœuvres, and also in other experiments made, it has been
shown that information, concerning an enemy’s movements, is generally
required in the morning and in the evening; and this applies,
particularly, to news gleaned in the early morning, soon after it is
light. It is then, before the movements of the day, that an enemy’s
dispositions may best be noted.
A good deal of interest has been aroused, lately, in the suggestion
that, in war-time, machines would be required to reconnoitre at night.
It has been pointed out, in this connection, that large movements of
troops are often made under cover of darkness.
That night reconnoitring is practical there is no doubt. How much an
observer would be able to report, without the use of a searchlight,
experience must prove. There seems little doubt but that an air-scout
could descend low enough, at night, to detect the movements of large
bodies of men.
When he has returned to the aeroplane camp, after his consultation with
the Commander-in-Chief, the officer who is in charge of the aviation
depot will seek an interview with the officer who is directly in control
of the military pilots and observers. Maps will be consulted, and a
general plan of reconnoitring drawn up; and, at this stage of the
proceedings, the time will come to decide how many machines are to be
sent out upon the scouting expedition.
This decision will be governed, very largely, by the extent of the area
to be traversed, and also by the urgency of the mission. Although all
news obtained will naturally be needed at Headquarters as quickly as
possible, there will be occasions when the need for haste is very great.
In such instances, more machines will be sent out than at ordinary
times.
If he has a complete and rapid reconnaissance of an enemy’s position to
make, covering the entire area of operations, and not any one section of
the battle-front, the Commander of aeroplanes will probably order a
large number of machines to go upon the trip.
The value of numbers is self-evident. One machine, acting upon
instructions, can be piloted over a narrow and previously-indicated
route. It reports all that is seen, but its observations are necessarily
restricted to what lies in its path.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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