AIRPLANE FLARE.
HOLT WING-TIP FLARE HOLDER.
The squadron fields near the front were kept as dark as possible at night for obvious reasons. The first inkling that a squadron commander might have of the approach of one of his aviators at night would be the sudden appearance high in the air of a green or red or white Roman-candle ball. This would be the signal inquiring if the landing field were clear. A pyrotechnic star of a predetermined color, shot from the ground, would answer the homing birdman; and, if the signal were in the affirmative, he would descend through the sheer blackness, unable to see clearly, yet confident that he would make his landing safely.
As the plane neared the ground suddenly under one of the wings a flare of dazzling power would commence to burn, for a few seconds flooding the field with light. In that brief space of time the plane would have made its landing, and soon field and quarters would again be obscured under the protecting blanket of darkness.
Every service airplane at the front was equipped with one or more signaling pistols. In appearance these weapons were more murderous than the "gat" carried by a desperado of the movies, but, like the prize bulldog with the undershot jaw, they were more deadly in looks than in deeds. Their formidable-appearing cartridges were larger than the shells used in shotguns, resembling the latter almost identically in appearance; but every one of these shells contained only a Roman-candle ball and a sufficient charge of powder to eject the star a good distance into the air. The sound of the discharge was a mere whisper of the shattering roar that might be expected from such a redoubtable piece of ordnance. These aviation pistols were similar to the Very signal pistols used in the trenches.
The stars shot were three colors, red, green and white, and the color of a cartridge's star was painted on the end of the shell. This base was also ridged with a different pattern for each color, so that the aviator at night could feel with his fingers and tell the color of the cartridge without seeing it.
Codes of numerous messages were worked out in different combinations of these three colors. The stars were quite visible in broad daylight, too, and were used for many signaling purposes. They indicated the position of enemy troops or the presence of hostile aircraft, they called for help from other airplanes, and they signaled squadron orders when the machines were flying in formation.