August 8, 19 1 8 
Land & Water 
M 
The Fourth Year in the Air: By Boyd Cable 
R.A.F. Photograph of Enemy Huts, taken while flying low 
Official Photo 
YEAR by year the intensity of air warfare has 
grown, and year by year the uses of aircraft 
have extended, until now, at the end of the fourth 
year of war, it is so subdivided that there is 
almost required a separate history of the year to 
deal with each branch of the work. 
Both sides have many more machines in the air, and both 
sides are plainly well aware of the advantage that lies in a 
superiority of numbers, so that each month it is becoming 
more evident that the struggle hes not only on the battle- 
fronts but extends back to the workshops, to the designers 
and producers. 
The increased number of machines in use is reflected in 
the figures of air losses, although in this respect it must also 
be borne in mind that the systematic destruction of machines 
has become more highly developed and, Uke the other branches 
of air work, is being brought to a pitch of method and organisa- 
tion at first undreamt of. A comparison of figures about the 
beginning and end of the fourth year is interesting. 
The figures for August, iqiy. were a record up to that 
date, and the highest record up to now is the number for 
May, 19 18 (July figures will not be obtainable before this 
article is pubhshed). 
The total claims for August, 1917, were almost all for 
the western front by British, French, and German, so that 
for the purpose of comparison it will be best to take the 
similar claims for May, 1918, leaving out other fronts and 
the numbers brought down on the west by Americans, 
Belgians, and Italians. The complete totals, it may 
noted in passing, rose from 428 to 1,248. 
be 
Aug., 1917 
May, 1918 
The German 
British 
claimed. 
189 
520 
claim for 
French 
claimed. 
108 
273 
Germans 
claimed. 
131 
258 
Total 
428 
1,051 
May, 1918, is for 37 more than 
claimed in their daily reports. The British reported -86 
"missing" in May, and 128 in August. (The Germans ad- 
mitted a loss of 5 in May.) 
But although these figures may be expressive they do not 
perhaps convey a true idea of the intensity of the air fighting 
of either period. This is much more easily understood if 
we look at some of the performances of individual Squadrons 
and the records of air combat. All through the first half 
of the fourth year the air fighting was hot and heavy. On 
the ground the battles of the ridges round Ypres were going 
on and the air services were playing their full part in artillery 
observation, reconnaissance, photography, bombing, night 
flying, fighting, contact patrols and "ground strafing," 
although this last was not systematically developed until 
the time of Cambrai and Bourlon Wood. 
As the enemy were driven back from ridge to ridge they 
"dug in" new trench systems with extraordinary speed. 
It is too soon to tell yet of the valuable work that was done 
by the reconnoitring and photographic squadrons in keeping 
the staff informed of the position and extent of these new 
defences. It was work performed under difficult conditions 
l)oth of weather and enemy action, because the enemy were 
fully aware of the advantage it gave us to gather this informa- 
tion, and strained every nerve to attack and bring down 
our air observers. But the work was carried through against 
all opposition and difficulty. Our fighting machines did their 
best to cover the others doing reconnaissance and artillery 
observation, and if attacks on these latter came when no 
escort was near, they were met and stood off with magni- 
ficent spirit. 
In similar fashion the artillery observing machines carried 
on, despite every attempt of the fighting enemy aircraft to 
interfere with and shoot them down. In this work again 
it is impossible for the public to realise the enormous advan- 
tage to the side which is able to fly over the Unes, locate 
enemy batteries and troops", and by wireless messages from 
the air direct artillery fire accurately on to the targets. 
Even in the line it is difficult for men to understand the value 
of this work. They hear our guns at work, but the shells 
are falling far beyond their range of vision and they have no 
means of judging the accuracy. of the fire. It is true that if 
our artillery fire is not heavy and accurate our hne suffers 
in proportion, but thejine knows nothing of how much the 
weight and accuracy of our fire is due to air observation, 
how the devastation of our trenches, the slaughter of our 
infantry is kept down by "counter-battery" work where the 
air observer pifks out the spot an enemy battery is firing from, 
directs our artillery on to the hostile position, silences the 
guns and stops the shells from that particular battery. It 
has been said with absolute truth that every artillery observ- 
ing machine put into the air saves from dozens to hundreds 
of men who would otherwise inevitably be killed or wounded 
by shell-fire. One squadron of R.E. 8 ("Art. Ob.") machines 
in one of the ridge battles was reported to have put out of 
action 83 batteries. In one week from August 14th to 21st, 
pubhshed reports showed that with air observation our guns 
were ranged on over 700 German batteries, that in these 
128 gun pits were totally destroyed, and 321 explosions of 
ammunition caused. 
In this work of reconnaissance and "gun-spotting" no 
account of air war would be complete without reference to 
the excellent services perfornjed by the kite balloons or 
"sausages" as the troops irreverently dub them. The 
balloons are close enough to the line to be well within shell 
range, and at times they carry on their work ranging our 
batteries on enemv positions, guns, troops, and trenches, 
while shells burst about them, rip holes in their covers, kill 
' or wound the observers, or set fire to the balloon.. " Balloon- 
strafing" by plane, too, has become another popular game 
on both sides, and on any favourable opportunity a dash is 
liable to come on the helpless balloon, a burst of bullets is 
poured in, and the aeroplane is gone. The observers have 
no choice but to leap and trust to their parachutes opening 
properly and bringing them safely to the ground thousands 
of feet below. There are plenty of pilots with hundreds of 
combats to their credit, and firm-established reputations 
for daring and courage, who openly confess they would 
"funk" a jump from a burning balloon. But the work 
goes on steadily, and on no fine day can you approach 
