SIXTEENTH SECTION AERIAL WORK IN THE FRENCH AND GERMAN AUTUMN MANOEUVRES, 1911
I. French successes—Proof of the value of organisation—Flights in high winds.
Previously we have dealt with the remarkable results obtained, from the first use of aeroplanes, in the autumn manœuvres in France, in 1910. Now we have an opportunity of describing the fruits of a year’s progress, as shown in the triumphs achieved during the autumn operations in 1911. Nothing could, indeed, be more encouraging to the French authorities than this one year’s work.
By the time the autumn manœuvres of 1911 came along, there were eighteen military air-stations in various parts of France, and a preliminary organisation of much interest had been created. It was decided, therefore, to make a far more thorough and drastic test of the value of the aeroplanes in war than had been attempted in 1910. Thirty machines, comprising biplanes and monoplanes, and representing aircraft of the principal makes, were detailed to co-operate with the manoeuvring forces. They were divided into equal corps, and were instructed to operate with the Commanders-in-Chief of the two forces.
The importance of the results obtained lay, very largely, in the successful use of the adjuncts to the air service, which had been organised during the flying season of 1911. The military aeroplanists established their camps near the Headquarters of the troops they were serving, and collapsible sheds, for their machines, were brought up on special motor-lorries.
A striking feature of the organisation, also, was the travelling "atelier," or workshop. These vehicles, huge motor-vans, with a skilled staff in attendance, were here, there, and everywhere. Their equipment included tools capable of dealing with any break-down, large or small.
All the practice work carried out during the summer, at the various military schools, bore fruit. The airmen knew their work and their machines; the observers had made themselves thoroughly proficient in their duties; and the mechanics were quick and competent. And it is such details as these, as has been said, that spell success in aerial work.
Naturally the question arises, "What did the air-men do?" The answer may, truthfully, be made comprehensive. They did everything—everything, that is, that was asked of them. The officers of both manoeuvring forces were amazed at the accuracy of the reconnoitring reports brought in.
Another feature of the military airmen’s work was represented by the adverse weather conditions in which they flew. Here was a distinct and unmistakable evidence of progress. In 1910, at the autumn manœuvres, a wind of from twenty to twenty-five miles an hour had been the limit in which pilots had cared to ascend. But, in the 1911 manœuvres, reconnoitring machines were boldly taken up in winds of as great a velocity as thirty and thirty-five miles an hour; and, in one or two cases, machines were reported to have weathered winds blowing at the rate of forty miles an hour.
From the military point of view, the actual demonstration of this wind-flying capacity of the modern aeroplane was of the utmost value. It meant that there was practically no delay in carrying out instructions. Instead of waiting, as he would have been obliged to do, occasionally, the previous year, before carrying out a reconnoitring flight, the airman was promptly in his machine, and away—despite the fact that a strong and gusty wind might be blowing.
Another point demonstrated, beyond question, was the reliability of aeroplane engines. Pilot after pilot returned from aerial journeys without any mechanical trouble whatever; engine failure, at first so common a fault, was proved to have been almost eliminated.
It was not merely a case of engine improvement; the careful work of the mechanics, in "tuning up" the motors, had a great deal to do with this immunity from breakdown. Such a proof of reliability was, as may be imagined, of great significance to those who were gauging the work of the aeroplane purely from, the military point of view.
Practice, as has been said, permitted the observers in the reconnoitring aeroplanes to obtain significant results. A test which was carried out, purely to determine the accuracy of aerial observation, is worth describing. In this case, a fortified position, some little distance away from one of the aeroplane camps, had been largely redesigned. The officer in charge of the aeroplanes decided to call upon three observers, who knew nothing of the alterations to the position which had been carried out, to make a reconnoitring flight over the spot, and prepare rough maps showing the location of the defences. This, he thought, would provide a severe test of the accuracy of each officer’s observation.
Previous to sending away the three machines upon their errand, the officer had obtained, from the Commander of the fortifications, an exact plan of the new defences; he was, therefore, in a position to check, even in details, the maps furnished by the air-scouts.
The three airmen who set out upon this special reconnoitring mission, each carrying an observer with him, approached their destination by different routes. Each, as he came near the fortified position he was to reconnoitre, flew at an altitude of more than 3000 feet—the height specified as being fairly safe from artillery-fire.
All three observers did their work, making brief notes, and rough maps, as they flew over the fortifications. One of them, using a special camera with a telephoto lens, secured a series of photographs from a height of 4000 feet.
But the point of the test was this: when the three observers had returned safely to their starting-point, their reports and maps were compared with the exact details of the fortifications, which were in the hands of the Commander of the air-corps.
The result was instructive. Without any previous knowledge of the changes which had been made in the fortifications reconnoitred, the three observers had been able to indicate, with clearness, the position of all the defences. From their material, indeed, it was found possible to prepare a map which corresponded with that previously provided by the officer in charge of the fortifications.
The test was considered a very effective one. It showed that an aerial observer could—even when at a considerable altitude—carry out a reconnaissance with accuracy, and prepare maps which could compare favourably with those drawn up at leisure, and as a result of detailed survey work carried out on the spot.
As regards the reconnoitring flights carried out by the officer-airmen during the manœuvres, there is not a great deal to be said, for the reason that they were uniformly successful. The Commanders-in-Chief stated what they required, and the airmen carried out their orders.
With the information thus provided for them, both Commanders-in-Chief found it necessary, more than once, to alter their plans.
Not one day, but practically every day, the airmen were able to carry out their appointed tasks, and their work of reconnaissance became an adjunct which could be definitely relied upon.
II. Work in the German manœuvres—An instance of the utility of air-scouts—Reconnoitring from high altitudes.
In the German autumn manœuvres, 1911, the aeroplane may be said to have made its first practical appearance in connection with military operations in this country; and, here again, complete success marked the tests. One instance, regarding these German manœuvres, is forthcoming of the manner in which vitally-important information may be obtained by reconnoitring airmen.
The Commander of the Red forces, suspecting some definite move on the part of his enemy on a certain morning, sent out several aerial observers. They performed a successful flight, and returned quickly with the information that a large body of the Blue troops was beginning to advance against the Red right.
Taking instant action, upon the receipt of this intelligence, the Red Commander pushed forward a very large body of men to a point of strategic importance, and so was able to checkmate, very neatly, the advance of the Blue troops.
The German military authorities, although led to expect much from scouting aeroplanes, were surprised by the results which were, in actual practice, obtained. One after another, in fact, the military experts who were following the manœuvres were forced to declare that it would be almost hopeless, in future operations, to hide the movements of troops from the air-scouts of an enemy.
It was, of course, recognised that this only applied to fairly clear weather, in which the observers could obtain their bird’s-eye view of the land below them. In thick mist, or fog, it would admittedly be useless to send out air-scouts. But such weather conditions, although encountered with some frequency, do not, as a rule, last for long. After a few hours’ delay, while waiting for a fog or mist to clear, the airmen should be able to carry out their work.
What actually happened, in the German manœuvres, was this: by 8 a.m. on the morning of the first day of the operations, each side had sent up its observing aeroplanes, and had obtained a concise report as to the position of the enemy’s forces. This result was, naturally, claimed to be a complete triumph for the aeroplane, particularly seeing that such traps as sham entrenchments had been prepared to deceive the airmen—but without succeeding in their object.
Here, indeed, lay another illustration of the growing skill of aerial observers. In the manœuvres of 1910, when observation officers were new to their work, they had been deceived, on several occasions, by dummy entrenchments; but in 1911—a year later—they made no mistakes of this kind. Their observation powers had been perfected by innumerable practice flights—proof of the value of constant work at the flying schools.
Another feature of the work achieved in these autumn manœuvres of 1911 was particularly worthy of note, also. This was the altitudes at which the reconnoitring aeroplanes carried out their observations. In 1910, the criticism had been freely passed that the machines would have been blown to pieces, in actual war, had they passed over troops while flying so near the ground.
As a matter of fact, being so new to their work, and not having great experience in the difficult duties of aerial reconnaissance, some of the airmen in the 1910 manœuvres were, undoubtedly, flying too near the ground. A height of a little over 1000 feet, which they maintained, would, almost surely, be perilous in times of war.
But, in the 1911 operations, this was changed. The minimum height at which any of the scouting aircraft flew, when near the enemy, either in the French or German manœuvres, was 2000 feet. Generally speaking, the altitudes maintained were from 2500 to 3000 feet; and, in some cases, the airmen flew even higher than this.
This increase in altitude, so necessary in escaping an enemy’s gun-fire, did not in any way affect the accuracy of the news obtained by the air-scouts. It was, indeed, proved beyond question that reports of complete reliability might be obtained from the altitudes mentioned.
Opinion was naturally divided as to the question of the vulnerability of the aeroplanes to gun-fire. But unbiased observers, noting the height at which the aeroplanes flew, and the speed at which they came into range and disappeared again, were found to declare that special artillery, however cleverly handled, would have its work cut out to make anything like effective practice.
The destructive possibilities of the aeroplane were not demonstrated in these manœuvres of 1911. That, perhaps, will be left to the operations to be held in the autumn of 1912. And, still remaining unsolved, of course, is the question of war in the air between rival air-fleets.
In the case of the 1911 German manœuvres, for instance, this problem of offensive work has particular interest. Both manoeuvring forces sent out their scouts, and each side obtained detailed reports concerning the doings of the other side. The two Commanders-in-Chief were, therefore, upon an equality, so far as their aerial observations were concerned.
In actual warfare, probably, this would not have been the case. The two air-fleets would have come into contact; and it is probable that one of them would have suffered more severely than the other, with the result that its subsequent reconnoitring work would have become inferior to that of the squadron which had triumphed in the fighting.
III. Aeroplanes in actual warfare—What Italian airmen accomplished in
Tripoli—Scouting and bomb-dropping under service conditions.
While referring to the operations carried out during the autumn of 1911, it is certainly necessary to refer to the first war test—made by the Italians in their Tripoli campaign—of the aeroplane as a reconnoitring instrument.
What was done in Tripoli, although not on a large scale, was, none the less, instructive; and there is little doubt but that the success achieved by the Italian military airmen, under arduous service conditions, had much to do with the decision of the authorities in England to make a definite move with regard to airmanship.
The circumstances in Tripoli were these: the Italians held the town, with their troops in a sort of half-moon formation, and with unknown forces of Turks and Arabs moving about on the desert, inland, and threatening unexpected attacks at all points.
Obviously, the business of the air-scouts was to reconnoitre as wide a tract of desert as possible, and endeavour to obtain news as to the movements, and particularly the numbers, of the enemy which menaced the Italian position.
Several Blériot monoplanes, and an Etrich monoplane, were, at first, at the disposal of the Italian Commander-in-Chief. Later on, quite a large number of machines, many of them handled by civilian volunteers, were on the scene. The scouting machines were employed to the best possible advantage. Trouble, it is interesting to note, was at first experienced in connection with the engines. Sand from the desert worked into valves and bearings. This was one of those little practical difficulties which are only encountered under actual service conditions.
The courage of the officer-airmen, in carrying out scouting flights, was marked. They flew over the Turkish and Arab lines. Had their engines failed them at a critical moment, and they had descended among a horde of wild Arabs, there is little doubt but that their plight would have been uncommonly awkward.
Working, generally, soon after dawn, the airmen made wide, sweeping half-circles over the enemy’s positions, and brought back detailed and practical reports concerning the disposition, and movements, of all the bodies of men they saw. More than once they were able to provide the Italian Commander with accurate and very valuable information regarding the sudden moving up, and massing, of large bodies of the enemy. The Italians were, in consequence, ready for an attack when it was delivered.
Hurriedly sent to the front, and working under a good many difficulties, it was, indeed, remarkable what the military pilots were able to do. They made a large number of flights without any untoward incident—beyond that of being fired on, spasmodically, by Turkish and Arab foemen.
The effect of this fire was, it is interesting to note, practically nil. The wings of the monoplanes were, it was reported, pierced more than once by bullets, but this had no adverse effect upon the machines; although, in one instance, an observer was reported to have been slightly wounded.
There was, of course, no artillery, with special guns, to test its ability in bringing down the scouting machines. Practical data, concerning what a specially-made aerial gun can do, will only be forthcoming when an army with more up-to-date equipment than that of Turkey is circled over by reconnoitring machines.
In connection with the Etrich monoplane used in Tripoli a test was made, on one occasion, with bombs. A number of small explosive bombs were carried up in the machine, and the officer-pilot dropped them over some parties of the enemy. The report, regarding these tests, was that damage had been done by the bombs; but exact details are wanting. The experiment cannot be regarded as a conclusive one, or as one illustrating in any striking way the destructive capabilities of the aeroplane.
The value of the lesson taught by the Tripoli operations cannot, however, be overestimated. Sent out to the front like any other part of the army’s equipment, the aeroplanes were assembled quickly, and flown successfully by their pilots—amply justifying their inclusion in the scheme of affairs by the extremely valuable work they were able to accomplish.
What the Tripoli flying certainly demonstrated was the value of the scouting aeroplane when used in difficult, or inaccessible country. In the future, when a force has to penetrate some awkward and hostile region, in which land scouting is almost impossible, and a lurking enemy has to be located, the work of an aerial reconnoitring officer will be of outstanding importance.
Rather more from this point of view, than from that of any lesson as to the value of aeroplanes in operations between two scientifically-armed European nations, should the use of machines in the Tripoli campaign be regarded.
IV. A final word—Conclusions to be arrived at—Problems outstanding.
In view of the most recent tests which may be described, the war aeroplane stands in the following position: for scouting work it has, both in 1910, and again with far greater force in 1911, proved its value in a way that cannot be denied. Its destructive potentialities, although clearly apparent, have not yet been demonstrated in a practical way. That, as has been said, should remain a matter for definite experiment in 1912.
There remain two problems which may be said to be outstanding. One of them is the effect which gun-fire will have upon the aeroplane; and the other concerns the result of the actual fighting which must inevitably take place, between hostile aircraft, when they meet under conditions of war.
As to the former, a reader may be able to judge, more or less, from what has been written in previous sections. Experiments, for what they are worth, have been in favour of the aeroplane. In the future, too, it will have increasing speed to help it. That it can fly 3000 feet high, and carry out its reconnoitring work efficiently, has been demonstrated.
The wise view to take of this question, in consideration of the most recent data, is that a certain percentage of war aeroplanes will fall victims to gunfire, but that this percentage will be a very small one, and that it will be in no way sufficient to mar the success of the work that a squadron of air-scouts will be able to undertake.
The suggestion is now made that, in order to secure some conclusive results, power-driver aeroplanes, without occupants, should be made to ascend, and be directed on a pre-arranged course, while subjected to artillery-fire. Such a method would be costly, however; but it might certainly yield remarkably interesting data.
Then there is the question of hostilities between aircraft, to which several references have been made. Here, again, theory has to take the place of practice. It is perfectly certain that, as machines cross from their own lines to those of the enemy, engagements will take place between them and hostile craft—which will seek to check them in their aerial spying.
[Illustration: TRAVELLING WORKSHOP. Photo, M. Branger. In the French manœuvres, a completely-equipped aeroplane repair shop, in the form of a motor-wagon, followed the military airmen as they moved from point to point. One of these invaluable "ateliers" is pictured above.]
That special fighting machines will be built is practically certain, also; and it is probable that, in wars of the future, engagements between these aerial opponents will precede reconnoitring work. How such flights in the air will end it is, however, difficult to predict. If some form of light explosive shell is fired, one well-placed shot will probably wreck a machine, or render it unmanageable. An aerial duel promises to be over quickly. The skill will, no doubt, lie in getting in the first shot, and in making that an accurate one.
Although, in some respects, the future is obscure, there is, upon one important point, most definite data to proceed upon. This is that the aeroplane is an instrument which will entirely change military reconnaissance.
"We are in the presence of a new and formidable science that will
revolutionise warfare." So spoke Colonel Seely, Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State for War, at a special gathering of the
Aeronautical Society on 18th December, 1911.
At the moment, all other problems are subservient to this: whatever its destructive powers may prove to be, and whatever may be the result of well-directed artillery-fire upon aerial scouts, no great nation can afford to neglect this new weapon.
If any country dare to do so, and others go ahead, then the nation which lags behind will stand in imminent peril in war-time. It may have a fine army, or a great fleet, but if it does not possess aeroplanes, and its opponent has them, it will be at a very serious disadvantage.
This point is no longer a matter of any supposition. It has been proved, beyond all question. It was, as a matter of fact, proved in 1910, and it was proved again in 1911. It needs no further proof. The aeroplane has shown what it can do, not in easy experiments, but under rigorous test conditions.
If our War Office buys a few more foreign machines, and makes a small stir at our military school on Salisbury Plain, that cannot be regarded as any serious step towards making up our leeway. The whole problem needs taking in hand in a way that England has not yet done.
Military flying is not a thing to be trifled with, or played at; France and Germany realise this. In 1912 they will be spending far more money upon aviation than they did in 1911. Germany, as an instance of determined purpose, intends to amplify, to the extent of £100,000, the grant for military aviation. They will be increasing their air-fleets, gaining in experience, and preparing themselves for that use of aircraft, on a very large scale, which so many experts are ready to predict will be the ultimate development.
So, with each improvement that the aeroplane makes, the peril of inactivity grows. Not only the action of foreign nations, but the warnings of far-seeing military experts in our own country, have pointed to the danger of a policy of "wait and see."
Aeroplanes, and men constantly using them—that is what we need. Money must be spent, not extravagantly, but ungrudgingly. There must be practical encouragement.
Both in the Army and Navy it has been shown that we have men, ready and eager for air work, who win compare favourably, in point of skill and resource, with the pick of the air-corps of foreign countries.
We spend millions, willingly, upon other forms of armament. All that is required is that we should spend thousands—in the right way—upon aeroplanes.
Finally, it is possible to summarise, briefly, such points and suggestions, concerning the use of war aeroplanes, as represent the most recent pronouncements of international experts upon this difficult problem.
It is now urged that machines would need to reconnoitre at night, seeing that important movements of troops are made under cover of darkness. In this regard, although it is probable that an airman would be able even at night, by flying low, to detect large bodies of men, further data is necessary in the way of practical tests.
For a scouting expedition of unusual importance—in which the safe return of the aeroplane is a point subservient to all others—it is held that a machine equipped with a dual engine-plant ought to be used, so that, should one motor fail, the pilot could fly on with the power of the other. Experiments with machines so equipped have already been undertaken.
A subsidiary, but practical use of a weight-carrying machine, during the course of an action, is suggested in the carrying of ammunition, when urgently required, from point to point.
The silencing of engines—previously referred to—and the fitting of all machines with dual control, so that, should the pilot be wounded, the observer can instantly assume control of the machine, are points now urged as being essential.
Protecting the vital parts of a fighting machine, with some form of light armour, is advocated; and it is emphasised that, for a scouting craft, flexibility of speed would be invaluable, seeing that, with an aeroplane capable of reducing its pace, the scouting officer should be able to amplify the detail of his observations.
By way of a final word, this much may be said: the flying season of 1912 will, beyond all doubt, yield results of the utmost significance in the further development of aircraft for military and naval use.