Fighting the Big Guns with Wireless 



Thrilling adventures of the airmen while 

 signaling the range to the artillery gunners 



By Captain A. P. Corcoran, Late of the British Army 



The airman signals to the gunners the range necessary to make a hit, after seeing where a shell has 

 dropped and exploded at or near the enemy's lines. When a hit 'has been made he glides away 



IF you are interested in wireless, you have 

 probably at one time or another tried to 

 operate an instrument of your own. 

 And to do so, you have probably repaired 

 to the seclusion of your own room, well 

 removed from outer disturbances. Even 

 then you have probably found difficulty in 

 getting signals. Perhaps a cat howled, or 

 your sister put her inconsiderate head in at 

 the door, and diverted your attention for a 

 moment. You know how little it takes to 

 upset the accuracy of an operator. 



And now, if you are to get an adequate 

 idea of the task of the wireless man in this 

 war you will have to try to put yourself for 

 the moment in his place. You will have 

 to imagine yourself not safely housed, but 

 up six thousand feet in the air, with only a 

 few pounds of wood and a few yards of 

 canvas between you and a very certain 

 death. You will have to imagine that all 

 round you dozens of shrapnel shells are 

 bursting, and that to right and left of you 

 are enemy airplanes, hot on the trail of 

 your car. Through the midst of this sea of 



peril you are piloting your ship, with one 

 eye on the dangers immediately threatening 

 you; another on the ground for the 

 information you are seeking; and still a 

 little attention centered on the tiny wireless 

 set, without which all your work would be 

 in vain. 



You have heard the airplane pictur- 

 esquely described as the "eyes of the 

 army." That is a very accurate descrip- 

 tion of the part it plays. It is through the 

 airplane that the artillery gets an effective 

 range on the enemy batteries, or locates the 

 enemy ammunition dumps, or a light field 

 battery, or convoys, etc. It is through the 

 wireless set attached to the airplane that 

 the firing is directed. Without the wireless, 

 the airplane would be of little use. 



There are various types of machines used 

 in the war, but the two principal ones are 

 the Hugh battleplane and the small Bristol 

 biplane, the latter being used for scouting 

 work alone. But no matter what the car, 

 the wireless set is the same. It is the Wil- 

 son set. 



443 



