Night-Moths and Their Guiding Flames 



Electric lights and gasoline flares 

 to help the night-flyers land in safety 



By Lieutenant Henry A. Bruno 



Late of Imperial Royal Flying Corps, Canada 



A NEST of the German machines 

 that make frequent air raids on 

 London when the weather is favor- 

 able was discovered by a solitary airman 

 of the British Royal Flying Corps, who 

 had been on coast patrol and, as often 

 happens, lost his way in the darkness. 

 From his report I write this description. 



The aerodrome is protected by three 

 anti-aircraft batteries, consisting probably 

 of three guns each. There are five 

 hangars, as the pictures show. How 

 many planes they house is not known, 

 but a rough guess 

 places the number at 

 about thirty. There 

 are two large repair 

 sheds at one end of the 

 field, one of which con- 

 tains a power house 

 where electric current 

 is generated. 



In order that squad- 



Heavu non-breafe-able plate qlai-5 



I 



Electric ^^XSheet metal reflector running 

 Liqhtf ::;=;;= alonq tre.ncti on bottom and sides 



The electric lights within the 

 trenches send up a bright glow 



rons which fly at night might find their 

 home again, the Germans left nothing to 

 chance. They filled ten buckets with 

 rope and rags, soaked in gasoline, and 

 arranged them as follows: Seven in a 

 line over a distance of seven hundred 

 yards to form the long leg of the letter 

 "L," and three more over a distance of 

 four hundred yards for the short leg. 

 Near the first bucket, at the beginning of 

 the "L," they erected a pole twenty feet 

 high, with a red electric light on top. 

 When these gasoline flares, as they are 

 called, are lighted, they 

 can be seen from a 

 great height on a clear 

 night. The aeroplanes 

 land toward the short 

 leg of the "L," and 

 run inside and down 

 the long arm. 



This system is also 

 used by the Allies; but 



To assist their night flyers in making safe landings, the Germans have developed an ingenious 

 system of illumination for their aerodromes. Within two line parallel trenches, electric lightt. 



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