The War in the Air; Vol. 1: The Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air ForceRaleigh, Walter Alexander, Sir
History
The War in the Air; Vol. 1: The Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force
Raleigh, Walter Alexander, Sir
Great Britain. Royal Air Force; World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations, British
Air Commodore C. A. H. Longcroft, who flew in Major Burke's squadron on
the attacking side, has kindly set down some of his memories of this
time. The work of the Flying Corps, he says, was impeded by the enormous
crowds which used to collect round the hangars. But the weather was
good, and it was soon found that no considerable body of troops could
move without being seen from the air. To avoid observation the troops
moved on either side of the road, under the hedges. They even practised
a primitive sort of camouflage, covering wagons and guns with branches
of trees, which, while they were on the road, made them more conspicuous
than ever. This first experience of moving warfare taught many lessons.
The difficulty of communication between pilot and observer when the
voice is drowned in the noise of the engine was met by devising a code
of signals, and many of these signals continued in use throughout the
war, after speaking-tubes had been fitted to machines. The selection of
landing grounds when moving camp, the methods of parking aeroplanes in
the open, and the means of providing a regular supply of fuel, were all
studied and improved.
In another way these manoeuvres, which were witnessed by General Foch,
were a date in the progress of army aviation. No weapon, however good,
can be of much use in the hands of those who have not learned to trust
it. The progress of the aeroplane was so rapid that the education of
commanding officers in its use became a thing of the first importance.
Some of them, even when war broke out, had had but few opportunities of
testing the powers of aeroplanes.
After the manoeuvres No. 3 Squadron returned to Larkhill, to do battle
all the winter with the old difficulties. The officers were accommodated
at an inn called the 'Bustard', about two and a half miles to the west
of the Larkhill sheds; the men were at Bulford camp, three miles to the
east of the sheds. After a time the men were shifted to the cavalry
school at Netheravon, which, though it was a little farther off, gave
better quarters. Meantime a new aerodrome was being made, with sheds
complete, at Netheravon, for the use of the squadron. The winter was
passed in the old exercise of co-operation with the artillery and in new
experiments. At Easter a 'fly past' of aeroplanes took place at a review
of a territorial brigade on Perham Down. General Smith-Dorrien, who
reviewed the troops, took the salute from the aeroplanes. There was a
cross-wind, so that the symmetry of the spectacle was a little marred by
the crab-like motion of the aeroplanes, which had to keep their noses
some points into the wind to allow for drift.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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