So it was seen that there was need for something in the nature of the automatic camera, specially designed for military work. In Germany, where great interest has been evinced in aerial photography, a camera with a special telephoto lens, operating almost like a gun, has been devised for use in an aeroplane. This machine the observer holds to his shoulder, "aiming" it at the object which he wishes to photograph, and making the exposure by the pulling of a trigger.
In England, where private enterprise has outstripped any official action, Mr Thorne Baker has devised a very ingenious camera. This is suspended below the aeroplane, in such a position that it points directly downwards; and the whole operation of the camera is automatic.
The airman or observer puts the machine in action by pressing a button. This causes a photograph to be taken of whatever the aeroplane is passing over at the moment. Then, by means of another piece of automatic machinery, a plate is changed for a fresh exposure. Such a camera as this will, undoubtedly, prove of very considerable value as an adjunct to survey work with an aeroplane.
At the end of August, 1911, several military officers in France carried out special tests with aerial photography. They made flights over fortresses, for example, and secured excellent pictures. Tracts of country were also photographed, as were troops on the march.
The result is that photography has joined wireless telegraphy, in the
French air-corps, as a definite aid to aerial reconnoitring.
[Illustration: WAR MONOPLANES "VOL PLANE." In the above picture, a two-seated, military type Bristol monoplane is seen descending, with engine stopped and propeller motionless, from a reconnoitring flight. Pilot and passenger are plainly discernable.]
NINTH SECTION DEVELOPMENT OF ALL-WEATHER WAR AEROPLANES
I. Flights in thirty-five-mile-an-hour winds—Arguments of sceptics—What the great contests of 1911 proved.
Reference has been made to the fact that, as soon as engines became reliable, and airmen gained confidence, winds of an appreciable velocity were successfully combated.
But even now, despite the strides which the aeroplane is making towards becoming an all-weather machine, those who belittle it from the military point of view, and uphold an official policy of inactivity, are found ready to argue that the heavier-than-air machine is still purely a fine-weather craft. Such an attitude is governed, not so much by deep-rooted conservatism, as by ignorance.