Milford chronicle., 1915-05-28
AIRSHIP SCOUTING
The AerOplane as a Range Finder
In Modern Warfare.
AIDiNG TIE MAN AT THE GUN.
How the Enemy Target Is Located and
the Information Conveyed to the Ar
tillery Officers-A Code System That
is Simplicity Itself.

Range finding by aviators is rec
ognized part of modern warfare, a;
carefully worked out as any other
branch of the service.
The big guns range is estimated in
miles nowadays instead of in yards, as
formerly More often than not the
gunners do not see the target at which
they are aiming, and the men in the
target do not see the spot whence de
struction is being pumped at them.
High hills and broad valleys probably
intervene. But circling about in the air
is the busy aeroplane which is estab-
fishing contact between the gun and its
objective point.
1t is essential, of course, that the
man in the airship and the man ut the
gun have a constant system Of com
munication. Seemingly difficult, this
is a feat that is simplicity itself The
airship carries certain lights or smoke
bombs with which it can convey infor-
nation to the watchers on the ground
The guuners have great strips of white
material which can be formed into let
lNlS VI llt dlIlLautA anu Ndu ut seen
from the airship.
The rest is merely Il letter of codes
and mechanics. If the letter y means
observe for range" and the letter V
means observe for effect of fire" the
air man can convey to the marksman
whatever information they may de
/ sire.
/ The first thing. Of course, is to locate
the target. The air man goes up to a
/ prearranged altitude and scouts about
until he finds it. When he is directly
over it he drops various lights in some
understood combination of numbers or
colOrs. The aviators height is known
and the distance at which the lights
are dropped can he ascertained by in
struments. The distance then between
the gun and the target becomes sim
pie problem of trianGulation.
The location and distance being
known, as well as the proper direc
ton, the aviator gets the signal. "Ob-
serve for line of fire" A shell or so
is thrown in the general direction of
the target. As soon as the correct line
is found the aviator gives the proper
signal and then gets the signal to cob
serve for range" The first shell falls
short. The second perhaps Overshoots.
The third perhaps reaches its mark.
The aviator signals Range" and the
real bombardment is on.
If the gunner wishes to know wheth-
er his shells are timed to explode at
the right place he signals to the avia-
tor. observe for fuse" If he wishes
to learn the effect of the cannOnade he |
signals. Observe for effect of fire.
In this way a complete check Of all |
that is going on is obtained.
Rarely. except on the preliminary |
scouting expedition, does the aviator
attempt to fly over the enemy's posi-
ton. Once he has located the target |
that part Of his work is done. 1t is
naturally the riskiest part, for his ap-
pearance is certain to make him the
target for defensive aerOplane bat
teries and probably for a duel with
hostile aeroplane So he flies back into
a safer zone.
His subsequent position is decided
largely 10y weather conditions When
the sun is shining he tries to keep from
being between his battery and the sun.
because if the Gunners have to face the
sun to find him it is hard for them to
read the signals accurately. If the sun
is shining toward the target the avi-
ator gets behind his battery. If the
sun is behind the battery the aviator
gets between it and the target
In the early maneuvers, when he is
signaling the line of fire, he tries to fly
in a regular ellipse at a stated altitude.
When observing for range" he flies
in an elongated figure 8. The purpose
OF this is to enable him to move to-
ward the target in his turns. In this
way fire can be observed at every mo-
ment.
1t is obvious that to insure the eff
fectiveness of all this scientific and
mechanical knowledge must be re-
quired. Modern shells are so construct
ed that they can be exploded at any
desired height or distance. A shell
that bursts too soon is practically val.
ueless, while one that bursts too late
loses much of its efficacy. An error Of
n few feet in the calculation Of the
aeroplane's height or in the targets dis. .
tance would seriously impair the ef.
Of the fire.
The captive balloon is used for simi.
lar observation purposes, but it is not
nearly so valuable as the aeroplane be
cause Of the latter's greater mobility
and its ability to get right over the
target and then get away against
Louis pOst-Dispatch.