THE WAR IN THE AIR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17074, 30 August 1917, Page 6

THE WAR IN THE AIR

SIGNIFICANT RECENT EVENTS

IMPORTANCE OF BRITISH

SUPERIORITY

Claude Grahame-White, the famous aviator, and Harry Harper, in a recent article in the," Morning Post" point out that aerial operation.., on the Westera front, influenced by those on land, are growing rapidly more important] while one cannot as yet mention facts, of like conclusions to be drawn from them, they point out, it is possible, none the less, to write a Short sketch which, while making public nothing which ought to be withheld, should at the same time add to the knowledge £ general readers; and which should, above all, prevent them from falling into the error of imagining, because they read of tlie loss "of an'increasing'number of machines —and without any knowledge of the extreme difficulty and danger of the work our air service is now doing—that the Germans are gaining a superiority over us.

Merely to make comparisons between the lo.ise.s in the rival air services tells us practically nothing. It may, indeed—if we assume from it that the German flying corps h serving its headquarters better than is ours—lead us to jump to a . completely erroneous conclusion. What we mu.:t know before we can form any considered judgment is the'number of machines engaged at any given time, the tasks the machines are endeavouring to accomplish, and their success or failure in accomplishing these tasks, as judged by the only people who are in a position to judge— that is to say, by the Headquarters Staff. But "we cannot as yet, for obvious reasons, expect any such complete information from Headquarters.

FLYING IN BAD WEATHER

The Germans' attempted, prior to their withdrawal from the Somme front, and by constant fighting, to prevent an aerial reconnaissance of their territory. But, though they inflicted lossej among our scouts and fighting craft, theiy were unable to establish any effective screen.. We maintained our reconnaissance—that'ig to say, whenever atmospheric conditions^-pennitted an observation. Here it must be understood that we refer no longer to gusty winds. It is 1 a fa<jfc 3 of course, that, in the early days of flying,.high winds did prevent aeroplanes' from ascending. But it has now become po-sible, owing to the use of machines which are inherently stable, and to the employment of motors of higher power —not forgetting the growing skill and experience of aviators—to navigate aeroplanes even in. gales of wind; to send them up, and to get them back safely to the ground, in any wind, no matter how violent, that tho power of their engines allows them to make reasonable headway against. Weather conditions, however, which still continue to hamper aerial reconnaissances are the presence of heavy, low-lying: clouds; the prevalence of .mists or fogs; or the darkening and thickening of the atmosphere when, snow is» falling or about to fall. The Germans made their preparation for retirement very skilfully, being aided during 'the hours of daylight by heavy mists, which interfered with our reconnaissance. A point also s that the actual withdrawal of the large masses of their troops, was made under cover of darkness. But the unfavourable weather, so far as mist was concerned, was only temporary. Our aviators, flying with great : boldness, and taking heavy risks by flying law,- were soon -oroviding Headquarters with news of extreme importance as to the changing position^ of the retreating enemy. TiiTthese scouting fights yielding news : and photographs as they did, which the Germans desired-by every means possible to prevent \is from securing, our machines were attacked ceaselessly, and with determination, by enemy craft.

ADVANTAGES OF DEFENSIVE

ACTION

The German air service, operating defensively, has &n important advantage over ours. "We, who are acting oh the offensive, have to send machines over the enemy's lines, which, in order that they make long out-and-return flights, must be loaded heavily with fuel. And suoh v a heavy fuel load —in addition to the weight of the occupants of the craft and of machine guns and ammunition — i educes somewhat the climbing and manoeuvring power of a machine, and also to a certain extent its horizontal speed. The German airmen, on the other hand, acting on the defensive, and needing to fly only over limited areas, are able to ascend in lightly loaded, high-speed machines, with which they endeavour to attack and bring down our heavily-laden, inoi-« slowly-flying scouts. To protect oiu scouts against such attacks they are escorted, whenever possible, by fighting machines, v-.iich intercept and engage enemy craft, and prevent them, if possible, from interfering with t;be scouts. But such an unremitting offensive a» our corps* has adopted —the gaining of information, that is to say, by means 01 long flights over enemy territory, and in the face cf constant opposition—is bound to prove costly. Statements have been made that the Germans are now using aeroplanes which, it is alleged, are superior to ours. But the mistake is often maae oi comparing a German fighting machine not with one of our own armed machines of an equivalent type, hut with the machines we use for reconnaissance, and which axe not, of couyse, the equal of a purely figliting craft. The question which should be asked is this: Are the German fighting machines/ either large or small, superior in any general wa^y to those of a corresponding type we are using? In answer one may ,s>ay this: While developments in 'lesigji arid increases in engine horsepower have given fivrst one side and then the other some temporary advantage, which.has been almost inevitable—hay-ing-regard to the period off transition through which construction, is passing — it is an undeniable fact that our fifflitinr machines,' and the pilots who handle them* have been consistently superior to. those of the enemy; and there is no reason for us to fear tliat such is not the ca«e to-dmv.

Standardisation in war machines is