THE WORK OF OUR AIRMEN.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 47, 18 June 1915, Page 5

THE WORK OF OUR AIRMEN.

BY CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE

SOME STRIKING SIDELIGHTS ON

THE WORK OF AIRCRAFT IN THE

GREAT FIGHT.

Large airships have proved disappointing. The Zeppelin lias been unable to rise high enough to escape gun-fire from the ground. In making a bomb raid by day she courts destruction; and at night she cannot see to drop her bombs with accuracy. Germany, when war came, was better equipped in regard to her air service than any other nation. It is fair to assume that, when hostilities bgan, the German fleet numbered more than one thousand mahines. A typical British officer —cool, adroit, and with that daring which is seen to advantage in an emergency makes the ideal aviator; while the typical German, who learns to fly with meticulous carand handles his machine with a high average skill, does not possess at a ciisis just the spirit of initiative which, in aerial fighting more than any other, spells the difference between victory and defeat.

FINEST TYPES OF MEN

Tho British air service has, from its inecption, attracted the finest types ot men—the sort of men who would have gone cheerfully with Columbus or sailed to capture gold ships on the Spanish Aeroplanes can fly at night, but only pt grave risk. If a motor fails, and the airman has to descend, darkness prevents him from choosing a landing ground, and he may crash into a wall or a hedge, or the side of a house, or find himself in the tree-tops of a wood. Unless he has unusual judgment, and unusual luck also, an airship pilot is bound, ere long, to lose his craft by ■run-fire or the bombs of hostile craft. Half-a-dozen Zeppelins had, during the operations up to nnd-December, been brought down by the Allies guns. Anti-aircraft guns, weapons which may be pointed upwards and counted, as a rule, on motor-cars, so that the} may be moved rapidly from place to place, have been handled in this w a with skill. They fire a shell which can be made to explode at a given atitude, and when it bursts it emits a cloud ot bullets which scatter on all sides. These guns have a long range; they can send a shell higher than any aeroplane will fly when scouting.

WIND REALLY CONQUERED NOW

So far as the wind is concerned—one« the airman's greatest foe lie has conquered definitely. Even a gale nowadays has no terrors for an expert pilot, 11 his machine is of the latest type, an lias fin engine as powerful as it should be, he can fly in a wind of sixty miLes The airman has a dashboard of instruments to watch —height recorder, speed cause, engine revolution counter; ana he must keep an ear also for the running of his motor, so that he may be able to tell instantly if a valve or a rod has broken, or a cylinder ceased to (ire He has a map fixed before him which he must study, and a compass. In many cases in this war, when under fire, it has been the effect of bullets on his machine and not on himself, that has brought a pilot to earth. The chief task of the aviator m war is definitely outlined. He may fight sometimesupon occasions he may drop bombs; but essentially he is the scout augmenting the work of cavalry, ana doing work they cannot do.

AIRMAN IS CHIEFLY A SCOUT

When lie looks down upon the earth, say, from a height of 7,000 or 8,000 feet, an airman sees it spread out like a map —a map raised in a slight relief. If there are troops marching along a road, and it is a dry summer's day, the airmail's task is ono of no complexity. He looks down from his vantage point and sees a low, thick cloud of dust, which hangs over the road, twisting and turning here and there. Aviators cannot recognise, as a rule, what particular regiments of the enemy may bo moving below, the reason, ol uourse, being that they cannot get near enough to note such details. But this information is required, none the less, and here it is that cavalry scouts augment the work of the aeroplane. Russian troops have a method ol marching that has proved perplexing to Berman air-scouts, lliey open out upon a road, straggling along in an uneven and undisciplined formation, and from above, when one of these ragged streams of men is seen, it is extremely diffiult to estimate what its numeric!!, strength may be.

H\XDS SORE AFTER TWENTYFOUR HOURS.

The long-distance record, held by the Germans now stands at twenty-four hours This was a continuous flight, made by a pilot who was alone in his machine. When lie came down lie complained little of fatigue; his chief trouble had been that the palms ot his hands grew sore by the constant gi ip upon the steering wheel. Wireless telegraphy, m its application to air-craft, is still much in its infancy. There is little room in the hulls ot existing craft for the stowage ot apparatus. while the noise of the motor, when a era it is in (light, interferes with the receiving of a message. \s a coastal patrol, passing from harbour to harbour, sea-plaiie.s have done ii,eful work; and there are gun-carriage craft at our naval air-Nations, intended for defence against air-raider*. which iire bv no means to be despised, and will show'what they can do :i the chance should collie. (The above e\tr:et. are made f,,, m - Aircraft in the dreat \\ar. sl just-published I'.v J-'aiuh-(lrahaiue-White. r '' mous Hntisn airman, and li. ; : V : TYfIW authority on the m. 0 • Jj' The book, which co-t- se\en-.illd-sixpenee. and is published by 1' islier I'll win. gives a clear and thorough exposition of all that aircraft haw accomplished in the war so far and it is certainly a book to read and to keen for reference.)