Bomb-dropping, however, has not been indulged in to any great extent by
either of the combatants, and the chief use to which air machines have
been put is that of scouting. The Germans use them largely for range
finding, and they seem to prove a very accurate guide to the gunners.
"We were advancing on the German right and doing splendidly," writes
Private Boardman (Bradford) "when we saw an aeroplane hover right over
our heads, and by some signaling give the German artillery the range.
The aviator had hardly gone when we were riddled with shot and shell." A
sergeant of the 21st Lancers says the signaling is done by dropping a
kind of silver ball or disc from the aeroplanes, and the Germans watch
for this and locate our position to a nicety at once.
As scouts--and that, meantime, is the real practical purpose of
aeroplanes in war--the British aviators have done wonders. Their
machines are lighter and faster than those of the Germans, and as they
make a daily average of nine reconnaissance flights of over 100 miles
each it will be understood that they keep the Intelligence Department
well supplied with accurate information of the enemy's movements.
French airmen are particularly daring both in reconnaissance and in
flight, and the well-known M. Vedrines, whose achievements are familiar
to English people, has already brought down three German aeroplanes.
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