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.