THE DAY'S WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16098, 11 December 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE DAY'S WORK.

,-.- :r; AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE' A DOSE OF MORNING HATE ''■■ Tire following is an extract f roTO a ktllll written by a member of the Royal Fl ■ " Corps. It describes an early morning> «?- connaisar.ee:— ™ **• .'. With a wave of his hand the pilot S U nais to the mechanics to pull aw a «£ chocks placed under the wheels to* vent the machine join:; forward while & engine is being tested : another wave t! them to stand clear, and as the roar t the engine increases the machine roll* off along the grass, slowly at hrst. but as th tail lifts off t.he ground she soon acoeterales, until, almost imperceptibly a wheels are clear, and she ls skiing aoove the grass like a bird. A. /J* eeconas later the tail swi u i 0 drop ih front rises, and the v. hole machine L. 6 ing upwards into the semi-darkness' clink aloft in huge spirals, until at last th wings are caught by the earliest rav 3 J the sun, which stiii lies beneath the « dmary mortal's horizon. The early pilot is not quite'an ordinary mortal. len thousand feet above th sleeping earth, he is glorying in a heaven of clear blue sky, brilliant golden gm and a cold keen air. which cuts like a hi' ' zard. His whole being is merged into a' fragile machine in which he sits. He has become the soul of the bird. ~

Twenty minutes gone, and alreadv the strange network of trend u rw**iiur „_ derueath. Over there in the west is Y and the machine is making its ,'. thither : not always in a straight line but more often dodglmg like a snipe, swerv ing to left and rigut with good reason' Wouff! Wouff! VVouff! . .g?little balls of smoke, like pulled cotton wool appear almost simultaneously on one side. On the other a series of virion* metallic zip- bangs ! And roils of greenvyellow smoke, with a red tongue of flam in the centre of each, announces that "Archies" (anti-aircraft guns) are not asleep, and that they are "firing shrapnel and high explosive shells in the endeavour to wing this early wanderer of the skies For an hour or more they vent their hate, firing hundreds of rounds while the pilot ranges up and down over all the area which he has to reconnoitre taking no more notice of them than*if they had been balls of cotton wool. Evennow and again an extra wouff, however arid a sudden uncomfortable lurch of tie machine make him look round to see the extent of the damage. Bits of fabric waning open, a strut with cuts in it, perhaps a few wires beating loose in the windit is only a matter of luck. One must be hit sooner or later, and then a flut. teriiig twisted mass of sticks and cloth crashing earthwards from the sky. '

Activity Below. ■» The ground spreads oat on all sides like a hag© patchwork quilt. The rnads are white, and stand out clear from the green and brown squares of rTass land and plough. Winding away to the south and west that silvery blue streak is the River Z. Directly beneath a black line curving \ gently into a network of glittering rails trains, and rolling stock massed together with an occasional fussy little tov engine puffing out white smoke, show the pilot that he is over a railway station. Two minutes later he "is busv searching up and down the street, in the squares and stations, and canals and railways far any signs of movements of troops or ma- . terial. X. is the town which lies below ' like a huge map crowded with detail' Ever and again a tiny black speck appears""-! on the white ribbon roads. Moving?" Yesjust creeping along. A covered car, with perhaps a load of loathsome Huns.' How one longs for a dozen well-placed bombs." Now over W., the machine is heading • south until it reaches the River Z. again Following up in a few minutes the net- • work of the trenches comes into sight r-I with the old H. Wood spread out just be - hind like a patch of dark green gone. A last salvo of " Archies," and then bilk goes the throttle, down goes the nose; and! the machine glides down on a long and gentle glide to where the landing tea on the aerodrome is laid out to show ths direction of the wind. A few turns brings the machine facing the correct way : gently back on the elevator: the f machine is already on the ground and rotting- along smoothly towards the shed*.: ''What's the damage, sergeant?" "Two V holes through the engine cowl, one in the ,; Longeron, same bracing wires in the fusel* age shot away, and a few holes in the r planes." "That's all ' " Yes, sir." Not much, to be sure, but an inch or two ens way or the other and the result would have been very different. . . , . ,:;v Off to the office, and to write oat a, report of all that has been seen, and so to breakfast.