showing shape and spread of planes and tail, and position of pilot and passenger.
VIEW FROM IN FRONT,
showing the position of the body and the construction of the landing gear.
A. Covered-in body, with seats for pilot and passenger; B. Motor (to minimise wind resistance, only the lower cylinders are exposed to the air); C. Propeller; D.D. Main-planes; E. Rudder; F. Elevator; G. Landing gear.
Fig. 60.—Grahame-White Military Biplane.
This report was one actually prepared, after an early morning flight, by an officer-observer in the French manœuvres of 1910, and it shows how successfully an air-scout may detect a movement of troops. The report has an additional significance. Before he sent out his aeroplanes, on this particular morning, the Commander-in-Chief had assumed, but could not substantiate, the theory that his opponent was retreating. And now this report by aeroplane, showing that nothing save cavalry and rear-guards had been seen over a specific tract of country, served to confirm the rumour that the enemy was giving ground.
Once the value of aerial reconnaissance had been proved, France proceeded to the development of a scouting aeroplane; and the need, in such a machine, is that the observer shall have a clear view ahead and below. The construction of machines was, for this reason, modified. The front elevating plane was moved to the rear, where it was fitted in the form of a flap—as in the case of monoplanes—and the pilot and observer placed in a covered-in body, which projected in front of the main-planes, as shown in [Fig. 60]. By placing the body before the planes, the observer has a clear view ahead and on either side; and even when he leans over the side, and looks directly downward, there is no surface to obstruct him.