Aviation camp

“ Thousands of cadets and officers were delayed in the ground schools, at the flying schools, and at Camp Dick, Texas, the concentration post for aviation, because of the ruinous shortage of planes, just when the American forces newly brought into the battle zones needed the efficient help of a great fleet of aircraft. Airplanes are rightly called "the eyes of the army." ”

“ The balance of their stay in the experimental camp was passed in trying to learn all they possibly could about things connected with aviation.
"Those who observe the trend of events closely," Lieutenant Green told them, as he only too gladly showed them many clever devices calculated to increase the efficiency of aeroplanes when in action, "are firmly convinced that should we ever get embroiled in a war with any first-class power, which we all hope will never happen, aeroplanes are bound to occupy a very important place in the field." ”

“ Serious difficulties affecting the mobility of aircraft were the means of providing a regular supply of fuel and the selection of landing grounds when moving camp, which had to be close enough behind the front line as not to entail waste of time in flying out and back over friendly territory. ”

“ If at a future date we should be found and made prisoners we could show our tallies and call ourselves Italian aviation officers who had been compelled to land in a camp near Aviano, because of a sudden damage to the motor. We could say we had ordered the pilot to destroy the plane and that we had obtained civilian clothes from some peasants in which we attempted to reach our own lines. The pilot instead of destroying the plane perhaps had succeeded in adjusting the magneto and had departed leaving us in enemy territory. ”

“ Up on the hill back of the town where they are billeted there is an American aviation field. The camp was abandoned after the armistice, but twelve boys from the air service were detailed to stay and guard the property. These boys find that the chief end of their life is to chase the Chinks out of the stores; they are quite persistent and perfectly unabashed. ”

“ From information later received from deserters we learnt that the wagons were empty, that the cannons were of wood, and that the enemy had planned all that complicated demonstration show of force as a fiction to deceive us about its real center of reinforcement. The Germans were also in the habit of constructing entire fictitious aviation camps so as to induce Allied aviators to believe that great offensive preparations were being centered at that point whereas in reality the enemy planes were gathering quietly elsewhere. ”

“ We can not place dependence on civilian aviators, for they have not had the training along the highly technical and specialised lines that are necessary. We can not rely on enlisted men of the army, for the same reason.
There is another class of fliers that will, undoubtedly, be of use in war time. These are the men to drive fast-flying, single-passenger machines for speedy messenger service between detached bodies of troops, or to drive the heavy ammunition or food-carrying aeroplanes to relieve a besieged place. ”

“ One gallon won't take us all the way home."
"I wish it would, but I know better,'" was the reply. "Listen, Jack! We must keep moving along until dawn comes. Then, if the coast seems clear, we've got to drop down and make a landing."
"Oh! If we do that it's all up with us, and we'll be bound for a German prison camp on our first outing trip."
"I hope not," the pilot replied instantly. "My object is to try to run across a supply of gasolene and commandeer it. It's a toss-up whether we can find any, with the country drained so well by the military authorities. ”

“ We were much better able than most of them to carry our belongings, to [108] endure the fatigue of a long night march to billets or trenches; and we were waiting for the motor in which we should ride comfortably to our aerodrome. There we should sleep in beds, well housed from the weather, and far out of the range of shell fire.
“It isn't fair,” said J. B. “It is going to war de luxe. These old poilus ought to be the aviators. But, hang it all! Of course, they couldn't be. Aviation is a young man's business. It has to be that way. And you can't have aerodromes along the front-line trenches.” ”

“ After that morning, the enemy aviators transported their tents farther back. But the camp remained, and inasmuch as several 84 days ago Austrian planes had landed on the field it seemed highly probable that there had been no recent works such as would obstruct the landing of a plane. At times, a small hole, a rock, or a bush is enough to so damage an aeroplane that it cannot again lift from the field. ”

“ When the biplane bearing Chief Roque and Billy Barry cleared the mountain top, the pilot and observer had a fixed understanding that every Russian camp was to be given a wide berth, for with fuel tanks going dry it would have been the top of folly to invite a long chase from the Muscovite airmen. ”

“ The place, though newly established just back of the French lines, where they opposed the German trenches, was well fitted up for the purpose to which it was to be devoted.
There were a number of canvas hangars for the aeroplanes, there were living quarters for the men, a wireless station and a well defended camp where the aviators might live in comfort during the periods between their flights. ”

“ Even from that elevation, those on board the Ithuriel were able with the aid of their field-glasses to see with perfect ease the commotion which the appearance of the air-ship with the captured aerostat had produced in the Russian camp. The whole of the vast host, numbering more than four millions of men, turned out into the open to watch their aërial visitors, and everywhere throughout the whole extent of the huge camp the plainest signs of the utmost excitement were visible. ”

“ Unlike the conscript "poilu" of the army, every aviator is a volunteer. Aviation is far more dangerous than fighting in the trenches, yet there are many who have preferred the extra risk of being in the Aviation Corps to the tedium of remaining in the narrow-walled trenches. I believe there is at present a waiting list of over six thousand men who have applied for service in the Flying Corps, but for whom there are still no vacancies. A pilot may resign his commission at any time and return to his regiment at the front, but the majority of the "vacancies" are caused by casualties. ”

“ Every wire and strut had been carefully examined and proved, for men's lives depended upon the testing, and oiling, and straining. And now the silent, filmy thing was waiting only for the pilot and observer.
A sound of footsteps upon the soft turf of the aerodrome was heard, and voices carried lightly down the soft morning air.
"Halt! Who goes there?" called the sentry, standing near by, and at the same instant a hand lamp was flashed in the direction of the newcomers. ”

“ It came about that on a memorable day, nearing sunset, and the return of the Turkish airmen from various scouting tours anticipated, the four captives found themselves alone in the makeshift aerodrome.
“Catch on here,” was Billy’s quick summons to the others, who as quickly responded in rolling out the war-planes and into the starting place at the rear of the barracks.
The boy pilots set the motors in motion, and never had the buzzing seemed louder nor more insistent for attention than on this occasion, when every nerve in the four human make-ups was taut and tense with suppressed excitement. ”

“ From new prisoners who arrived at the camp via Nottingham I learned that an aerodrome was being [Pg 193] built near the railway about eight miles from the camp. Two hangars were finished and a third was in course of construction. All our information pointed to the conclusion that a big biplane was already stationed there.
This was extraordinarily favourable. The smaller the aerodrome, the smaller would be the guard. One night-watchman would certainly be the only guard here. ”

“ They have brought tools and a variety of extra materials, planes, propellers, motors, and strips, which are spread about them.
In each camp the machines,—and there are no two alike,—are being assembled or repaired. Groups of the boys' friends and admirers are gathered about each camp, earnestly discussing the merits of a particular model and its chances in the approaching contest. To stroll down the line of camps is in itself a liberal education in aeronautics. ”

“ To accomplish these results the aeroplane must fly at a sufficient elevation to render difficult the hitting of a vital part of the machine or the aviator by hostile rifle or artillery fire. While the modern rifle in use in our army will fire a ball about three thousand five hundred yards straight in the air, it is generally accepted among aviators that an aeroplane would be practically safe, save from a chance shot, at three thousand five hundred feet. ”

“ A bad landing. My first trip was to the aviation school near Bourges, situated on the estates of the Count d'Avord, who has lent the ground to the government for the duration of the war. It is a much larger school than any I had attended, and its instruction covers every type of machine. The most important course given is that in night flying. All the aviators who have been selected for the bombarding-machines and for the work of guarding cities are sent here. Their life is the exact opposite of that led by the average pilot, for they sleep all day and work all night. ”

“ The Aboukir aerodrome was within a couple of miles of the camp, and Walz's thoughts as an airman naturally turned in that direction. I was compelled to prevaricate and tell him that the aeroplanes there were all training machines and seldom had more than one hour's petrol on board, and also that the place was well guarded. At this discouraging news, I hope and believe he gave up all attempts to escape. He told me that two German airmen, who had been captured by the English shortly after my own capture, had reported that I had broken my parole when escaping. ”

“ Aviation fields are easily recognized by the hangars, often with “funk hole” trenches alongside for the men to take shelter in during air raids (Fig. 172) . Other characteristic features are the “T” which shows the direction of the wind to the returning pilot, and of course the planes themselves, standing on the ground. But the field may be inactive, and the planes merely canvas dummies, so that to pierce the disguise, all paths, ruts, and other indications of activity must be minutely studied. ”

“ Theoretically, machines of the Independent Air Force should not have been utilized for attacking purely military objectives in the Army zone, such as aerodromes, and their co-operation with the Army for this purpose shows that their true rôle was either not appreciated or not favoured by the French and other Commands. ”

“ The garrison of the place having just been disposed of at Lejjun, few enemy troops were found here, but the Germans had an aerodrome close to the station, and this was captured intact, with three aeroplanes and their pilots and all the mechanical staff. A fourth aeroplane succeeded in getting away in the general confusion. So unconscious was the enemy of the fact that our cavalry were on the plain, that, shortly after this, an enemy aeroplane, returning from a reconnaissance, actually landed on this aerodrome, and was promptly captured intact with its pilot and observer! ”

“ Out of the mist there emerges suddenly an anti-aircraft section; then a great Army Service dump; and presently we catch sight of a row of hangars and the following notice, "Beware of aeroplanes ascending and descending across roads." For a time the possibility of charging into a biplane gives zest to our progress, as we fly along the road which cuts the aerodrome; but, alack! there are none visible and we begin to drop towards Amiens.
Then, outside the town, sentinels stop us, French and British; our passes are examined ”

“ Owing to the fact that skilful landing is the most difficult thing for a flier to acquire, and because more accidents occur to the novice when he brings his machine to the ground than at any other time except, perhaps, when stunting too near the ground, night flying is especially hazardous. With properly lighted landing-fields in peace-times much of the peril of landing after dark can be eliminated, provided the night is clear and no fog or mist has settled over the aerodrome since the aviators set out. ”

“ In order to inspire the new pupils with confidence, the older flying men—not always older in years—would go aloft in their single planes and do all sorts of trick flying. Some of the pupils—the more daring, of course—wished to imitate these, but of course they were not allowed.
The pupils were first allowed merely to go with an experienced man. This, of course, they had done at the flying schools in the United States, and had flown alone. But they had to start all over again when on French soil, for here they were exposed, any time, to an attack from a Hun plane. ”

“ Can a man act as aviator and at the same time manipulate the mechanism that may be found necessary to the killing of the other fellow? If not, can an aeroplane be built that will carry at least two men, one as aviator and the other as manipulator of the death-dealing apparatus, and, at the same time, carry enough extra weight, i. e., fuel, to keep aloft long enough to accomplish the necessary flight and also carry the projectiles and dropping device? ”