It was, therefore, rather difficult to bring these machines down as, once they were warned of our presence, surprise attack failed and one had many times to be satisfied with driving them away and so preventing them from doing their job.
There were other two-seaters of a very different type, fast machines possessing great climbing powers; their mission generally was photo-
-graphy well behind our lines and long distance reconnaissance and they were very difficult to shoot down on account of the height at which they operated. I have found these machines as high as 19,000 feet, and at this height manoeuvre was more difficult than at a lower altitude owing to the more rarefied atmosphere; a sudden turn at such a height might easily make one drop into a dangerous position. In spite of the difficulties, a fight against one of these machines was usually quite a thrilling affair; one was so cut off from the world, nearly three miles above the earth’s surface and almost out of sight of the naked eye. A victory over one of these was particularly valuable, as the enemy were robbed not only of two highly skilled men and a valuable machine, but also of the undeveloped photographs of our lines and positions, which might prove of such value that the whole course of war on one front might be affected.
I have made no mention so far of twin-engined aeroplanes and, although on one or two occasions daylight raids were carried out over England in these aeroplanes, as a general rule their scope was limited to night operations. A certain amount of night fighting was carried out against these machines, but there were comparatively few victories owing to the difficulty of finding them in the dark. If an enemy Gotha passed across the moon one could then possibly keep it in view or if one got near enough to see the red hot exhaust pipes glowing one could engage the enemy, but one had to remember that these enemy night fliers were heavily armed, some even having a gun tunnel pointing downwards to guard attack from underneath.
The act of firing one’s guns at night made one a perfect target to an enemy, for he had merely to fire at the point whence he saw the tracer bullet coming; it was thus that Flight Commander Little lost his life at night, while testing his guns preparatory to attacking a Gotha.
Towards the end of the War, scout aeroplanes were used for low flying raids against enemy aerodromes, troops on the march, transport or any form of enemy activity and this work was decidedly unpleasant, for the air was full of all manner of projectiles and one became a target for anyone’s fire.
