CHAPTER XV

FROM VICTORY TO VICTORY

At a later date (September 12, 1916) a writer in the _Daily Chronicle_ remarked: ‘All reports, official and unofficial, concur in warm praise of the daring, resourceful, and effective work of the British airmen. Our supremacy over the Germans in the aerial arm is incontestable. Every day’s fighting brings evidence of it. Not only are the exploits of our airmen the theme of admiring comment by our own soldiers, but they also extort reluctant tributes of admiration even from the enemy. Were it not for the accurate observation of these fearless, hawk-eyed scouts of the air, the marvellously effective results achieved by our gunners in the recent fighting would not have been possible, and the difficulties in the way of our heroic infantry would have been vastly increased.’

By general consent, then, our aerial scouts far surpass those of the enemy in this work. Our aeroplanes have constantly hovered over his lines, his seldom over ours. Casualties have been inevitable in these perilous enterprises, but such is the dexterity of our fliers that the price paid has not been nearly so high as the risks run would suggest. In point of fact, our losses in the air have been less than those of the enemy, despite the greater enterprise and the bolder initiative of British airmen. ‘From July 1 to September 17 in France we destroyed no fewer than 104 German aeroplanes.’ These figures, compiled from the official reports, are the more impressive when it is remembered that it is the British rule not to include enemy machines damaged as lost, but only those that have, in fact, been actually destroyed. It is not surprising, in the light of the remarkable achievements of the British air service in the battle-line, that its critics, so loud-voiced a few months ago, have been silenced. Fresh in everybody’s recollection is the ridiculous fuss made by some sensational newspapers over the Fokker and its wonderful qualities. Where is the Fokker now? Where have those scribes vanished who were daily ‘crabbing’ our air service, now admittedly the best in the world? Will they, wherever they are, have the assurance to claim that it is their criticisms that have wrought what they would call the change? If so, it would be a baseless claim, absolutely without justification of any kind. Our Air Service has evolved steadily in strength and efficiency ever since the outbreak of war. Of course mistakes were made in the process of evolution and expansion. They could not be avoided in a new service, rapidly extending, and necessarily involving experimental changes in design and structure. But the progress has been steady and uninterrupted ever since the war began.

The truth is, the original expeditionary force was well equipped with aeroplanes and well-trained pilots. Later came the rapid expansion of the army, which imposed heavy new demands on the Royal Flying Corps. Those demands have all been met. It is to the credit of the late Lord Kitchener that from the first he recognized the great importance of the aeroplane in this war. ‘When in the early autumn of 1914 authorization was sought for the manufacture of a sufficient number of machines to equip thirty new air squadrons he at once doubled the number, ordering not 720 aeroplanes, but 1,440.’ This was a notable instance of Lord Kitchener’s prevision as to the scale of the war. Early in 1915 a very large new constructive programme was embarked upon, and the output since then has progressively increased. At first we relied chiefly on France for the engines of our flying-machines. Now some of our best engines are made at home.

The interim report of Mr. Justice Bailhache’s Committee, issued early in August, 1916, said: ‘There has been an enormous expansion of the Flying Service since the war; and all the critics of the Service, without exception, have borne testimony to the great progress made in its efficiency—a progress which, although most noticeable since the beginning of this year is, in the opinion of the Committee, the result of many months of strenuous work. To this efficiency the recent reports from the front bear eloquent witness.’

Early in September, 1916, one who enjoyed facilities for visiting flying centres, and learning at first hand of the progress of aviation in the country, remarked that ‘there was no need to be an expert to appreciate the remarkable change that had come over certain districts, where, what a few months ago were mere country villages or stretches of pine wood, have been transformed into industrial centres, with as many signs of bustle and industry as are to be found in the great shipbuilding centres of the British Isles.

‘A really remarkable thing is the enterprise and adaptability of firms who had never tackled the job before in organizing their work so that Britain’s output of machines was marvellously increased. Now the fruits of long and costly experimental work are being reaped, and the rate of output increases every week. This applies not to one establishment, but to the hundreds of works throughout the kingdom. So much is this the case that a country which at the beginning of war was believed to be behind in this branch of warfare is able not only to supply its own needs but also those of its Allies.’

The same careful, persistent, and unobtrusive research work that has brought British aircraft to the top has also resulted in great improvements in the construction and invention of bomb sights and dropping appliances. British engines, too, are now second to none in point of power, and great improvements are to be recorded in carburettors and special appliances for flight at high altitudes. The same progress is to be recorded in the matter of speed. The average speed of aeroplanes as used by our Air Service two years ago was from sixty-five to seventy miles per hour. Nowadays it is much higher.

As regards the future, a British officer remarked at the time now in mind: ‘With all the results achieved so far, and the knowledge gained by this great war, there is no reason to doubt that the British Air Service—like the British Navy—will be the premier in the world. That is our constant aim.’