THE EARLY PILOT.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15453, 4 December 1915, Page 5

THE EARLY PILOT.

EXPERIENCES IN THE AIR. SEARCHING FOR TROOPS. (from orn owv correspondent.) LONDON, October 22. A member of the Royal Flying Corps gives sonio interesting impressions of early-morning, reconnaissances over - tho enemy's ti'cnchcs. "l : gh! Out of the comfortable doivny bed to .sec if by any chanco the vrathtr is bad enough to warrant getting buck again!" lie writes.' "But no; the' clock on the church tower just across tho {Square has struck lour, and, although it'.is too dark to see the streets; yet the stars shining above in a steely black sky hold forth the promise of a. clear morning. ... Can it merely be imagination, or is it really freezing? \\h.'«t will it bo like at ten th.c-usand leet up there amongst tho stars? . . .

"However, the reconnaissance :s to start at 1.30 a.m. There is no timo for speculation of this kind. One dab with a sponge, clothes are flung on, and off goes the car.to the aerodrome. I here 111 the murky gloom, the rime-' .covered wings of' thD monoplane seem to shiver in unspoken sympathy as she stands ready to take, the air." "With h wave of his hand, tho pilot signals to tho mechanics to pull away the chocks placed under tho wheols to prevent the machine going forward while tho engine is being tested; an? other wavo to them to stand clear, and as tho roar of the engine increases tho machine rolls off along tho grass, slowly at first, but as the tail lifts off the ground she soon accelerates, until, almost imperceptibly, the wheels are clear, and she is skimming above tho grass like a lingo bird. A few seconds later the tail seems to drop, the froab rises, and the whole machine, slanting upwards into the semi-darkness, climbs aloft in huge spirals, until at last the wings are caught by the earliest ravs of tho sun, which still lies beneath the ordinary mortal's horizon. "Tho early pilot is not quite an ordinary mortal. Ten thousnnd feet above the sleeping earth, he is glorying in a heaven of clcar blue sky, brilliant golden sun, and a cold keen air, which cuts liko a blizzard. His whole being is merged into the fr.agilo machine in which he sits. He has become the soul of tho bird. Twenty minutes gone, and already the strange network of trenchcs is passing underneath. Over there in the West is X., and the machine is making its way thither; not always in a straight line, but more often dodging like a snipe, t swerving to left and right, and with good reason. Wouff! Wouff! Wouff!

. . . >Six little balls of smoko like pulled cotton wool appear almost simultaneously on one side. On the other a series of vicious metallic zip-bangs! And rolls of greeny yellow smoke, with a red tongue of flame in the centre of each, announces that "Archies" (antiaircraft guns) are not asleep, and that thov arc firing shrapnel and highexplosive shells in tho endeavour to wing this early wanderer of the skies.

"For an hour or more they vent their morning hate, firing hundreds of rounds, while tho pilot ranges tip and down over all the area which he nas to reconnoitre, taking no more notice of them than if they had been balls of cotton wool. Every now and again an extra woulf. however, and a sudden uncomfortable lurch of the machine make him look round to see 'tli.3 extent of tho damage. Bits of fabric gaping open, a strut with cutsi in ifc, perhaps a few wires beating loose in tho wind; it is only a matter of luck. One must be hit sooner or later, and then a fluttering twisted mass of sticks and cloth, crashing earthwards from the sky. "The ground spreads out on all sides like a huge patchwork quiltj Tho roads are whito aiid stand out clear from tho green and brown squares of grassland and plough. Winding away to tho south and west that silvery blue streak is tho river Z. 3>irectly beneath a black line curving gently into a network of glittering rails, trains, and rolling stock massed together, with an occasional fussy little toy engine puffing out white smoke, show the nilot that ho is over a railway station. Two minutes, later he is busy searching U]i and down the street, in the squares and stations, on canals and railways, for anv signs of movements of troops or material. X. is the town which lies below. like a huge map crowded with detail. Ever and again a tiny black speck nnpears on the white riobon roads. -Moving? Yes; just creeping along. A covered car. with perhaps a load of loathsome Huns. How one longs for a dozen well-placed ■bombs. Now over "V\., the machine ".3 heading south unti!_ it reaches the river '/». again at . Following np in a few minutes the network_ of the trendies comes into sight, with the old H. "Wood spread out just behind like a natch of dark green gorse. A last salvo of '-Archies" and then back goes the throttle, down goes the nose, and tho machine glides down on a long and gentle glide to where tho landing tee on the aorodronv? is laid out to show the direction of the wind."