x\o 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



delay in American aircraft production is not from lack 

 of spruce. 



Think what would have happened if the lieutenant's 

 machine had not been able to stand up under the punish- 

 ment it received. At least part of this ability may be 

 traced directly back to our spruce forests and to the men 

 who have fought a small but bitter war in their own mills 

 and camps in order that the spruce needed by our own 

 and the Allied governments might be supplied. 



The letter, with a few personal paragraphs eliminated, 

 follows : 



"A description of a few hours of the day's work of a 

 pilot and observer in France 

 may interest you. Now 

 that 1 am away from 

 France, and as long as I am 

 not too detailed, the censor 

 should not object. 



"First, let me say, that 

 different squadrons have 

 different types of machines 

 suited to their work. All 

 have their particular duties. 



"Corps squadrons control 

 the artillery fire from the 

 sky by wireless, work with 

 the infantry in air attack, 

 photograph the Hun lines, 

 battery positions, etc., and 

 occasionally do day and 

 night bombing as well. I 

 was in such a squadron. 

 Their machines were large 

 two-seaters not very fast 

 and not designed for attack, 

 though adequately equipped 

 for defense in case they are 

 attacked, having a machine 

 gun shooting forward through the propeller synchronized 

 to it. This is worked by the pilot who is in the front. The 

 observer sits in the rear and has a Lewis gun mounted 

 on swivel mounting. 



"Then, there are scout squadrons small, fast machines 

 which can climb like smock. They work in formations 

 of from five to twenty, patrolling behind the Hun lines 

 looking for trouble (and find it). 



"There are fighting two-seaters, not quite so fast as 

 'scouts' but capable of flying and working far higher. 

 They work far out of sight from the ground 18,000 to 

 25,000 feet up. Then there are night and day bombing 

 squadrons. 



"The following incident took place about the end of 

 August, not far from Lens. My pilot and I were de- 

 tailed to take some two dozen photographs of Hun posi- 

 tions; some of them 15 miles behind their lines and over 

 a front of about 18 miles. 



"War 'photo' is not considered a healthy job. It means 

 probably an hour for one lonely machine over hostile 

 territory exposed the whole time to anti-aircraft fire 



Underwood and Underwood British Official Photograph 

 A WRECK OF A. GERMAN PLANE 

 This British Official Photograph might readily picture the Hun machine 



of this story so gallantly downe 



('Archie' we call it) and the possibility of attack by 

 superior numbers of Huns. One or two won't usually 

 attack us. 



"This day we left the ground with a camera fitted into 

 the bottom of the machine, with plenty of ammunition 

 (and be it said a nasty feeling in the pit of the stomach 

 for photos have been taking a heavy toll of late). This 

 feeling, I must tell you, commonly known as 'hund up' is 

 purely anticipatory and disappears when the reality is 

 faced. 



"We climbed to 8,000 feet and then headed East. I 

 took a last good look at the camera, then loaded and 



cocked my gun and as we 

 approached the lines fired a 

 few rounds to see that it 

 was working well, and then 

 scanned the sky for Hun 

 machines. All was clear, 

 which I indicated to the 

 pilot. Speech is impossible 

 owing to the roar of the en- 

 gine. The increased vibra- 

 tion told me that the pilot 

 had 'opened out.' I glanced 

 over his shoulder to look at 

 his instruments. They told 

 me that our 180 H. P. (240 

 American rating) engine 

 was turning over 1,500 rev- 

 olutions per minute, and 

 that we were cutting the air 

 at 95 miles an hour. We 

 had barely crossed the lines 

 when the 'Archie's' gun- 

 ners let fly at us. Six 

 ominous black puffs ap- 

 peared ahead of us, accom- 

 panied by that fear inspir- 

 ing 'Wuff' 'Wuff as the high explosive shells burst 

 (they use 4 inch and 6 inch shells on us). The pilot 

 swerved sharply and opened the engine out a bit more 

 and 'stuffed' her nose down a bit so that the indicator 

 climbed up to 120 M. P. H. just in time, too -for a 

 dozen or so shells burst just behind us. Thus we went 

 zig-zagging hither and thither, now opening out and then 

 throttling back. Even at that an occasional shell would 

 burst close to us driving the machine from the shell con- 

 cussion up or down or sideways according to where it 

 burst, and the hiss of the flying shell fragments making 

 me instinctively dodge. 



"Gradually we worked over our objectives and one by 

 one got the 'snapshots.' We had still a half dozen to 

 take when to my annoyance I saw that the camera had 

 jammed. I wrote a note to the pilot telling him and say- 

 ing that I'd try and fix it up. This was risky as it meant 

 taking my eyes off the sky and getting down into the 

 bottom of the machine, thus courting surprise, for the 

 pilot has only a limited field of view. I got down and had 

 just got the camera fixed when I heard a ta-ta-ta-ta which 



the air battle here described. 



