Evening star., 1917-09-23
Find Germans Too Strong.

-
Find Germans Too Strong.
This done, we made a second attempt
te-cross the lines This time we man
aged to get couple Of photographs
us in force, and again we had to skip
We thought we would give them a rest
so~e went fifteen miles down our lines
TO-, do some work over some of our
newly constructed battery positions
These positions were supposed to be
perfectly hidden from hostile aviators
and 1t was our business to find out
whether or not the concealment was
Sufficient. This was not pressing work,
and served only to fill in what other
wise would have been wasted time.
After half an hour Of that we again
Dloyed back to our original objective.
By rights the Germans should have
left long before, but our calculations
proved to be wrong-they were still on
the job. Apparently our previous un-
Hno1ested promenade had been reported
and they had been posted as sentinels
TO prevent repetition. This time they
wsrs3 little further within their own
line. A and we were able to cover some
. little stretch at the far end remained
toNbe photographed. To get that we
wSnt very low and came in from the
other direction. We received a warm
this time one of the German aeroplanes
get close enough to open fire, but the
range was still too long for effective
shooting.
;Ehet gave me an excuse to try out the
winchester, but think that it affected
@ pilot worse than It did the German.
6afore the German could get close we
Ssre down to 100 yards and behind our
ct Sn Ines My pilot never even waited
straight for home. When l picked up the
c4fpine again to put on the safety catch
ne cut on the motor and yelled that IL
didn.t put 1t down he would land in the
nearest wheat field. When we were once
mege back home we found that We had
been over two hours in the air Under
tayorable conditions we would have done
me work IN one-fourth the time.
Work That Is Not Spectacular.
So far as flying was concerned, the
paornings work was over. but there were
soxne other details to be finished up. As
R9erman Zeppelin commander once said.
pfter he had returned from a raid on Lon
don. TT would be pleasant work If il
ware not for those - reports that must
be'nfade out"
When l went TO the observers room
enere were a dozen men. observers and
officers from the infantry and ARTILLERY
werking over the photoeraphs we had
urAsde' on our first trip. II was the first
ane that any except vertical photographs
mad been taken from SO far behind the
enemy hnes, and in addition to the dupout
entrances they showed other Interesting
Details An observer subconsciouslv no.
tices features Of the country he is pho
eeHTapning and can assist more than
any one else in the INTERPRETATION" OF
the photographs he has taken All dur
ING the noon period had my work cut
oot for me.
nsr~{
n SO "bumpy" that there is usually no
work. Even the mechanics take their
e.estas. But this Sunday that part Of
TIE DAY, too, was fun. We had long
rom. the end Of lunch till O'Clock I
stuck to the map room. This mission
wes Of wholly different sort than either
Of the two had made in the morning
They were Short range work. over a
particular objective: this was to be a
9saeral reconnaissance Of the whole sec
Tor to depth of about seven miles II
meant covering about ninety square miles
OF hostile territory.
Two Machines at Task.
This was too much for one to do at a
single trip. SO rather than leave part of
st~to be finished later two machines
vefs assigned to the task Lieut.. De
1anEs. the other observer, and I split
haif. We planned to keep together. he
Tying above and protecting me while !
was working. then changing positions
80 1 would be guard for him during
bis portion, Having an escort serves a
double purpose: 1t not only helps in
caas OF actual attack. but to some ex-
tent 1t relieves the observer of the ne
oessity Of keeping continual lookout
3or hostile fighting craft The morning
reconnatssances had both been made
hn a.
atsH.o00. Instead OF the slow, poor
1y armed machine that had served in
the morning, we would use our best
ana fastest. capable of making nearly
100 miles An hour. Both pilots were old
AndAxperfenced hands at the game
~ tim. type Of machine communica-
doAsbetweenf pilot and observer is din
cult. so to avoid a misunderstanding all
foUrsofsuS had duplicate maps with the
cossrses laid out. The itinerary was SC
s,TaReed that we would cover the
gr6ateat possible area In the shortest
possible time ySt deaving no gaps and
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