AEROPLANE OBSERVATION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16037, 23 January 1918, Page 8

AEROPLANE OBSERVATION.

(By Major C. J. Street.) It has become a truism that the development of the aeroplane has revolutionised modern warlare, but the direction which it has done so k not always quite clear. The imagination is apt to be captured by the. more spectacular side ot military aviation, lighting in the air, bombing raids, and the like, and to lose sight of its most imi>ortant function, mat of observation, to which all others are more or less subsidiary. The subject of observation is such a vast one that it would be impossible to deal comprehensively with it, in an article, or in half a dozen articles, oven if military censorship permitted, ingenuity has nowhere reached a higher pitch than in devising means for ootaining information 'through the agency ot aeroplanes: means which obviously cannoi be made public. But a short sketch may be attempted of one of the commoner forms of aerial observation, that in which it is used in co-operation with artillery to direct the fire of guns upon a target which is invisible except from the air. It is not too much to say that the science" of aviation has enormously assisted the science of artillery, has endowed the latter with powers which otherwise it would have sought in vain. The due appreciation of this fact has brought about a close 00-operation between the two arms; a co-operation that, tested by actual experience, is far more efficient in the allied armies than in that of the Germans. A typical target for the engagement of which a battery would welcome the assistance of an aeroplane observer would be a hostile battery. The latter may be hidden behind a‘crest or a belt of trees, iso as to he invisible from any point within our own lines. But its' presence is soon detected, 'and in a very short time, by piecing together the evidence obtained by the many other means of observation at his i disposal, the artillery commander is enabled to mark its position on the map within a very few yards, when he promptly orders one of his batte.rios to engage it. Or perhaps it is rash enough to fire while one of onr scouting aeroplanes is about, when the latter, proclaims its position to' all our batteries within 'range, who joyfully open fire upon it. In either case wo will suppose the observer to bo in the air, and try to imagine what he sees of the performance. The aeroplane manoeuvres for a position from which the observer can get a clear view of the target, and which is as secure as possible from the antiaircraft guns that surround him with bursting shell whenever he comes within their range. Having found a favourable beat, he warns the battery that he is ready, and the fun begins. There arc trees all round the target, which might hide the burst of the shell from him at first, but the battery- commander Knows all about this, he has a photograph of the place before him, and he sends his first shot wide, into the open country. A cloud of brown earth and a puff of black smoke reveal the bursting shell. The observer signals to the battery the point where it fell, and turns to .await the next round,- which in a few seconds falls on the other side of the target. This too is signalled to the battery, and the process continues until the battery commander is satisfied with the results. No gun in the world will drop every round in the same place, the art of, ranging is to find the gun elevation that will ensure the greatest possible proportion of a shell falling on the target. Having found this elevation 'to his own satisfaction, the battery commander informs the observer of the fact, and proceeds to carry on. The observer flies comfortably up and down his beat, signalling a sort of running commentary of the shooting. Guns once sot on a target are not likely to got off it again, if conditions remain the same, but sometimes these alter and the stream of shell drifts slightly wide. The observer notifies this, and the battery corrects accordingly. The former can see everything so distinctly, the country spread out beneath him like a map, the bolt of trees that hides the guns, now so torn and shattered that one of the gun-pits lies plainly open to view. The shell fall regularly around the unlucky battery, sending up brown spurts of earth when they strike the open fields, sometimes hitting one of the trees, when a. blaolt wreath of smoke with a heart of fire bursts out, clearing to show a great gap in the green verdure. Now and again a. round falls right into one of the pits; shapeless lumps of timber and concrete rise far above the pall of smoke, a. jagged edge can be seen where a few seconds ago a straight, line revealed the edge of the cover.

A shell bursts beneath the trees, the observer misses it for an instant until wisps of ismoke, ascending through the branches, shows him whore it fell, fifty yards or so from the guns. It was an abnormal round, such as sometimes occur, hardly worth worrying the battery hbont. But ten seconds after.it falls, a livid flash shoots _np from the place, followed by a rolling cloud- of grey smoke that spreads until it hides the whole position. That stray round must have fallen into an ammunition store, setting fire to it and its contents. The cartridges are burning now; perhaps, with any luck, the fire will spread to the shell slacked near by. Thd 1 whole countryside is obscured, making observation .impossible, for the time. The observer signals the battery to wait, and circles round to keep an eye on events. Suddenly the smoke is rent by a gust of flame, the aeroplane rocks with a viqlent concussion, needing all the observer’s attention for a moment. When he has leisure to look .again, a patch of trees has disappeared, revealing a jagged_ crater from, which black smoke still rises slowly.- The. enemy’s shell have exploded, adding to the chaos already produced in his battery. The explosion has blown tho ismoke away, and all is clear again; tho observer -signals tho battery to go. on. The shell fall rfegularly once more, continuing until the battery commander considers that further firing will be waste of ammunition. Then the aeroplane, after one last circle round tho shattered position to survey the amount of daniage'done, sets off towards its distant aerodrome, while the battery cleans its guns and prepares, for tho next shoot upon its programme.