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INFLUENCE OF AIR FOWER.-III. 
COOPERATION OF AIRCRAFT WITH ARTILLERY. 
By L. BLIN DESBLEDS. 
IN a previous article the writer endeavoured to show that 
the advent of aircraft relieves the cavalry of certain 
tasks for which it is not really suited, thereby increas- 
ing the value of that arm, provided always that the 
latter is capable of taking full advantage of its air 
service. The ascendancy, for instance, which our air service 
seems now to possess over that of the enemy is due not only to 
the superiority of the service itself, but also to a very careful 
and intimate co-operation that, for efficiency, must exist 
between air squadrons and the forces to which they are 
attached. Destroy that close co-operation and you destroy, at 
the same time, aerial efficiency as at present known. 
It is not only as a means of reconnaissance, supplement- 
ing the cavalry, that aircraft have already exercised an in- 
direct influence in the present war. The aeroplane has also 
rendered invaluable service to the artillery. 
The employment of smokeless powder by the belligerents 
Las rendered the location of targets for artillery a very diffi- 
cult matter indeed, and has resulted in a great waste of 
ammunition and a great amount of useless wear and tear of 
big guns. This is especially the case where the equipment of 
the gun enables fire to be delivered from positions hidden to 
the opposing artillery. 
Ascendancy in the air now enables a commander to use 
his aircraft to co-operate with, and to assist, his artillery. The 
assistance which an efficient air service can render to the artil- 
lery can be classified under four heads : — 
(i.) Discovery of hostile batteries, their strength and 
arrangement. 
(ii.) Indication of concealed targeta. 
(iii.) Observation of fire and assistance in the process of 
ranging. 
(iv.) Information concerning the effect of the fire. 
Thus, suppose that, as indicated in Diagram II., an artil« 
lery commander at A wishes to determine exactly the distance 
A B oi a. hostile battery B hidden from him, and that ho 
decides to have recourse to the services of one of Lis airmen 
for that purpose, he would indicate to his aerial observer the 
direction of B, and would decide with him at what altitude he 
would fly over the enemy's battery. The airman would then 
go to some suitable place, C, behind A, and from there would 
rise to the prearranged altitude, 11. In passing, it is interest- 
ing to note that the aeroplane reaches its altitude by moving 
in a spiral until the required height, H, has been reached. 
It then flies out, keeping at that height, towards B. At D 
it is immediately over B, and it has to make this fact known 
to the artillery officer by means of a system of signals which 
the writer cannot indicate in an article meant for publication 
during the war. 
If the artillery officer at .1 knows the exact moment when 
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In Diagram I. an illustration is given of a position where 
an enemy's battery B is concealed from the artillery at A. 
The battery B may be so concealed by trees and bushes that 
the ordinary methods of reconnaissance cannot easily locate 
it. An aeroplane, flying from A over B, may determine the 
position of the battery, unless the battery itself is rendered 
Invisible from above. In most cases, however, there will be 
some sign of activity near B which will attract the aerial 
observer's attention and which will enable him to make a 
detailed observation of B. 
In assisting an artillery commander the airman is most 
often given the general direction of the enemy's battery rela- 
tively to his own, and his task consists in locating the target 
along that direction. 
In such a case the aeroplane rises to a prearranged height 
behind his artillery commander's battery in order to run fess 
danger from hostile fire. When the airman has reached the 
required altitude he flies out towards the battery, in the 
indicated direction, to locate exactly the target. The location 
of the battery enables the artillery commander to determine 
the distance of the target with a great degree of accuracy. 
the aircraft is at B, a point vertically above B, then all he 
has to measure in order to determine the distance A B i% the 
angle DAB. He has then sufficient data either to obtain 
the range A Bhy calculation or by means of a range-finder. 
It is impossible to over-estimate the value of exact and 
quick range finding. Its importance is threefold : 
(a) It is conducive to a quicker destruction of the 
enemy's battery. 
(&) It reduces the waste of ammunition and the wear 
and tear of the guns. 
(c) It reduces the time to which batteries may be 
exposed to the enemy's fire. 
In other words, an aerial ascendancy which allows the 
co-operation of aircraft with artillery, whenever the situation 
demands it, is of such great moment that no country possessing 
such an asset should run the risk of compromising itj 
effectiveness. 
It must not, however, be forgotten that the influence of 
air power resulting from the co-operation of aircraft with 
artillery is just as indirect as that arising from its use with 
the cavalry or any other arm. An artillery commander can- 
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