Very valuable information was acquired on several occasions by the air scouts, who flew over wide tracts of desert, marking the position of Turks and Arabs, and ascertaining their movements preparatory to making attacks on Italian positions. The aëroplanes were fired upon by the enemy, and sometimes the wings of an aëroplane were riddled by shot without resulting accident, proving that the riddling of the wings, so long as sufficient supporting surface remains, is not the greatest evil to be feared. On one occasion Lieutenant Rossi, while making a reconnaissance, nearly fell into the hands of the Arabs. The motor suddenly stopped, and his machine was rapidly falling; the motor, however, recovered just in time for the aviator to remain in the air, and he was able to return to Tripoli.
Regarding the offensive use of aëroplanes in this war, it was related that Lieutenant Gavotti threw from his machine upon an Arab camp a bomb made of picrate of potash; he was at the time 700 feet above the oasis of Aïn-zara, when he discovered beneath two masses of Arabs, numbering each about 1,500 men. He took out the bomb from a bag at his side with one hand, while with the other he manœuvred the machine, and as he passed over a group of Arabs he dropped the bomb. He could follow its course for a moment or two while he was passing over the bright green verdure of the oasis, but it was speedily lost to sight, while the noise of the motor prevented his hearing the explosion below. He saw, however, a cloud of smoke and the Arabs flying in all directions. This was the first instance on record of bomb throwing from aircraft. Gavotti was himself of opinion that in bomb throwing the operation should be carried out with the aid of two aëroplanes; the one in advance should throw the bomb, the one following observe the result. The one in advance would have to fly at a lower level so as to drop the bomb; the observer following would fly much higher. The dropping of the bomb in this case produced excellent moral effects. When, on a later occasion, the aviators revisited the same spot, there was no trace of Arab encampments. On another occasion Captain Moizo threw two bombs into the Turkish camp near Aïn-zara, which also had the effect of putting the Turks to flight.
A troublesome feature of flight over sandy deserts is found to be the intrusion of sand into the valves and bearings of the engines; but if aëroplanes can be armoured against shot, doubtless a sufficiently light and effective means of protecting the engines against sand can be devised.
Use of aëroplanes was also made in the Balkan war; and it may be noted that before that war broke out Germans went to instruct the Turks in bomb throwing from aircraft. Bulgaria had a hastily formed aviation corps, and it showed itself useful.
It is, however, in the present European war that the large-scale use of aëroplanes is being daily more and more manifested.
CHAPTER X
THE NEW ARM IN ARMAGEDDON
The question has been often asked why we were so long in this country in grasping the necessity of keeping pace with other countries by having a national flying corps? In an introductory chapter I have stated that a want of public interest was the cause of British dilatoriness in aëronautical matters; but there was also another very potent reason—a meteorological one. From the weather point of view, the conditions for practising flight in this country cannot be compared with those obtaining on the Continent. Our insular position affords an uncertainty of wind force that in the earlier days of the aëroplane would have been fatal to progress had the pioneers chosen this isle for their experiments. Even while the aëroplanes were only calm-weather machines, and even when they first essayed flight in moderate winds, there was an undoubted instinct in the minds of an eminently practical nation that the loss of life consequent upon a systematic military use would be hardly justifiable. So the nation waited for a certain stage of progress in flying machines before launching them into the winds and gusts for serious military work. When they were first used in this country, the nature of our climate proved exceedingly disastrous and swelled the casualty lists of peace. Those who have survived have had a hard and exceptionally strenuous training in the ways of the air, ever having had to be on the alert against the ever-present threatening blasts which tend to upset the stability of flying machines. But is it not the exceptionally hard training that the military aviators in this country have had to undergo that has produced the exceedingly able and successful Flying Corps that is struggling for King and country in the present campaign? It has been seen how they have been commended in the first report of Sir John French. Their efforts have also met with the greatest appreciation of the French. General Joffre in his report specially dwelt on the regular and valuable reconnaissance of the British Royal Flying Corps. In Sir John French’s report, dated September 11th, the following passage appears:—
Quite one of the features of the campaign, on our side, has been the success attained by the Royal Flying Corps. In regard to the collection of information it is impossible either to award too much praise to our aviators for the way they have carried out their duties or to overestimate the value of the intelligence collected, more especially during the recent advance.
In due course certain examples of what has been effected may be specified, and the far-reaching nature of the results fully explained, but that time has not yet arrived. That the services of our Flying Corps, which has really been on trial, are fully appreciated by our Allies is shown by the following message from the Commander-in-Chief of the French armies, received on the night of September 9th by Field-Marshal Sir John French:—
“Please express most particularly to Marshal French my thanks for services rendered on every day by the English Flying Corps. The precision, exactitude, and regularity of the news brought in by its members are evidence of their perfect organisation, and also of the perfect training of pilots and observers.”