Evening star., 1917-11-04

across your path with trailing wings
when her brood Is close by. A moro
sinister motive impels the apparently
reckless Fritz Ambushed behind some
more of his kind, waiting for the
chance to assail the biplane IL we are
lured into their trap and leave 1t with
out it's full protection. so that the
odds would be In their favor. The
chance would come II our formation
swerving of in the hope of adding an
other boche scalp to their string.
Those pictures are worth dozen Ger
man planes. They must be brought
back. Every personal consideration,
meaning army citations and palms.
must be sacrificed to the execution of
this military mission.
Moreover, the plates are not the only
treasures that we are conveying. The
machine that carries them is one in
itself. The planes used on an expedi-
tion of this sort are the much discuss
ed .'Spads," with the Hispania-Suissa
motors of 200 horsepower. Ordinarily
their speed is 100 miles an hour. but
they can do 140 if crowded. But there
are certain wrinkles about the picture
taking machine that are brand-new.
None of the late model planes thus
far has fallen into the hands of the
boches. SO they don't know all about
our system of mapping yet. And We.
the fighting escort, must see that they
don't.
Members of the convoy have been
trained in group flying and tactics
ceivable situation. There is scarcely
an attack possible that will not set in
motion series OF plays" or maneuv-
ers. much in the fashion that foot
ball team will run of a series Of plays
on a single set of signals. OF course,
all these evolutions have for their OBJ
ject the protection Of tho plates and
the machine carrying them.
If the boche patrols fail 70 see US.
the black puffs Of their anti-aircraft
guns soon tell them of our presence.
and they aim to cut US off from our
lines. But we must return with our
plates: we must dodge. however much
We might prefer to fight it out with
him. Often over our own lines our
first intimation Of the presence of an
enemy plane is the white puffs of the
allied shrapael seeking him out. The
5oches use black bursting charges.
while ours are white. White puffs near
home. are danger signals.
The boche seldom attacks US unless
he has superior numbers on his side.
w u,
his whole bag OF tricks in an endeavor
to entice US into combat. He has some
pretty fair tricks. too. In case the
boche is waiting for US with superior
numbers and actually does assail one
of our planes. the squadron is arranged
to afford the best possible defense.
An attack on the first plane in the
would bring the second machine and
the one In the center to the rescue.
An attack on the second plane would
nd
of the trailers. The formation was
adopted for this very purpose. II. how
ever, the challenge developed into an
air engagement which drew of two.
three or even four of our planes (and
It would take more boche fiiers than
they can often spare to accomplish
this) the remainder of the convoy adopts
a prearranged formation and pursues
It's course homeward- II one of the
trailers is attacked he fights it out by
himself or. at most, with the assist
ance of his companion trailer The rest
go on without them. That is why the
The pictures must get to headquarters.
That Is the rule that governs every
move in the game
-
Although the machines are uniform
in appearance and color. it is easy
enough to pick out individuals once
you know them No two pilots fly ex-
actly the same. They have peculiar
tiles, just as men have in their walk
ing. There is. Of course. no means of
communication between the planes
while in flight, except by the execution
OF certain maneuvers, each having a
oennfte meaning. Each pilot will have
some Identifying mark painted on his
machine. like the war paint on an In
dams face. or 1t may be that he has
painted his or some dear ones initials
on It. This all helps when he has to
whip out from dizzying circle and
snap back into formation.
As soon as we reach our own aero
drome the formation is broken and we
laboratories is waiting. He and bjs
assistants rush to the observers ma
chine. and. almost before II has STONED
rolling. dismount the cameras and the
rla.es are on their way to the de-
veloping rooms. These are camions
tmotor trucks) fitted up with dark
rooms. tanks, drying racks. etc. with
the e., newest photographic appliances
Inc pictures are developed and the
plates are then dried by a chemical
process SO swiftly that prints can be
made and sent to headquarters within
an hour after the return of the mis-
sion. rive experts are at work con-
tinuously reducing these pictures to
scale. determining the overlapping
lines and pasting together a marvel,
Gus Photographic map. This work con-
tinues until the entire sector has been
mapped.
In the meanwhile a different type
OF work is going on. Duplicates of
the photographs have been rushed to
the general staff Office, where artil-
lery observers with high-powered
microscopes search them carefully for
indications of new works of military
mportance-ammunit.o dumps, COM
munfcatin: railroads. fortifcations
troop concentrations or anything else
tio.1 of heavy guns. The moment such
place is located its position is flashed
to artillery headquarters. and in a few
seconds shells are dropping on the spot
Once having viewed these maps 1t
is easy to see that they are the only
ones of real military value in prepar-
Ing to make an attack or to resist one
Every road and every shell-hole on it,
every house. every barrack every am
munition dump. every railroad. every
siding. every depot is shown in detail
Scouting trips now and then. with a
few pictures snapped here and there
serve to keep the great map correct to
within a period of hours.
For these corrections sometimes a
smaller squadron is used, consisting
only of three or four planes. To these
the boche pays little attention. think
ing the group merely patrol. The
observation plane with these small
groups is a single scatter like its