Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-09-21
AERIAL Reconnaissance
HIGH UP IN CLOUDLAND
Allies Mastery OF Air Has Been OF
Great Aid in Recent
Offensive.
FORMER METHODS OBSOLETE
Tree Climbing Now Not Necessary.
Mountains, Woods and Streams
Present No NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
ton Can BE Obtained Quickly.

ton Can BE Obtained Quickly.
international News BurcauJ
ny II. NJ. FORBES.
FRANCE. September 20.-The influ-
cnces which follow in the wake Of the
recently established air supremacy OF
the allied airmen arc almost without
number but hardly any single one of
these Is of nearly so great Importance
as the all but unlimited scope now af-
iorded to our gallant air Scou;s-thc
men on whose powers OF observation
again and again has depended the
safety OF the allied armies.
TO obtain any really iirst.class re-
suits. the first essential of successful
reconnaissance. is the power OF com
name would ever permit an aerial
scout deliberately to fly over his lines
without immediately attempting TO de,
accommodating party sets out on IT'S
en,erprising little journey over the
enemy trenches. the first thing that is
seen TO is that the party is accom-
panied by thoroughly equipped
escort.
Once the air scouts are aware that
well guarded, the amount of work they
can get through in an nour or two is
simply remarkable. This is not to say.
Of course. that there are certain re-
suits which an air scout cannot obtain
in an eighth or a tenth of that time;
but the amount of Photographic work,
in an hour or two. as has been said.
would never be credited by one who
has not actually seen 1t:
certain section OF the new school
OF learning there is to which such
words as revolution certainly make no
distinct appeal. TO say that since the
reconnaissance has been revolutionized
by the airplane, however. is to state
nothing but a cold-blooded fact.
labor OF the brigade scouts, for in
stance. preparatory to the new recon
noissance. Think Of the hours they
ticn which, in the long run, was by no
means always what was hoped for;
think Of their endless tricks through
over one-strewn tricks Uttered will
debris; fields hedgcd in with whole net
works of barbed wire; auagmires which
little better. in truth, than traps dc
liherately set by the enemy.
METHODS OF FORMER YEARS
ARE RENDERED OBSOLETE
Think for a moment of all the tree
and stack climbing. the roof-scaling
swimming icats the new reconnois
sance has at stroke. rendered OBJ
solete and elfcte.
Woods and streams which. in the old
service for whole hours, the airplane
now Elidcs over with mastery as
complete as IL is astounding. And not
only is il matter OF woods ana
streams vast rivers, mighty lakes,
aye, mountain ranges themselves. and
the plane can as readily dispose OF.
Information which, two or three
years ago might have taken a forenoon
TO obtain, can now be obtained in ten
minutes; while SO vast Is the inilr.
tactics. If not strategy itself has been
hugely affected by it.
In the old days a commander in the
field seldom knew for certain exactly
tain shoulder hid from his view This
was the case. as will be remember
in regard to one OF the greatest Of
taking far-distant body of enemy
troops Viewed from a mun,ain cresD
for the rear guard instead of the main
body of the opposing army. Auvereau
action which, so far from proving
1as it actnaiiy did PERHAPS the
OF NapNeon's marshals. might quite
readily have ended in an annihila ing
defeat. Nowadays such an cNigcncy
could never possibly arise: the advent
OF the airplane has ruled such thing
out of court.
This. however. is only one single
mcmbered that naval strategy is also
immensely affected by the new recon
nossance.
FORTUNES OF AIR SERVICE
HAVE ELUCrUATED GREATLY
The fortunes OF our own and the
considerably since August. 1914 At
tie present moment II Is the enemy
who is having bad time of II. The
wav in which his secrets are daily
trench systems. his battery positions.
his redoubts. his supply depois. his
stan buildings, his epaulments and
half Il hundred other items of his vast
lighting machine have for miles and
miles longitudnally, and for many
photographed and the photographs
a movement OF the slightest import
ance on the part of Il single German
division. linking of which Is not al
most Immediately discovered by our
redoubtable flying men. Local sur
been made under cover OF dense fog,
but even these have only been secrets
of the most tiecting and temporary
nature--no sooner did the mists dis
perse than eager eyes ferrctcd out the
information and hasty wires reported
the crafty movements OF the foe.
Then again, let IL not be forgotten
there is another great advantage which
We owe TO our mastery of the air.
The same power which renders IL next
to impossible for tho enemy TO pre-
vent us spying out the territory in his
possession, makes II Impossible for
him to spy out our own Considering
the immense stores OF supplies. heaps
of munitions and armies OF reserves
the allies have maSSed on the western
front. one can Imagine the prodigious
amount OF information with which the
Germans would have been supplied had
the mastery of the air been theirs
instead Of ours.
In conclusion. it need only be said
that no amount of she'll nrc has IN
timidatcd our men; or prevented them
when circumstances seemed to render
it desirable from winning any informa-
Hinl N -,
lannon's mouth. 1t Is TO our aerial
scouts, indeed. that we owe the art
OF low flying, an art which the foe has
so far never succeeded in perfectiig
in any way arable with the per-
formanceS OF our own men. All honor
to the men who are the eyes of our
mighty army!--Copyright 1918.
TRY SILT THIRD TIME