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.