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+Project Gutenberg's Night Bombing with the Bedouins, by Robert Henry Reece
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Night Bombing with the Bedouins
+
+Author: Robert Henry Reece
+
+Release Date: October 11, 2008 [EBook #26879]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NIGHT BOMBING WITH THE BEDOUINS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+   [Illustration]
+
+
+   NIGHT BOMBING
+   WITH THE BEDOUINS
+
+   _By One of the Squadron_
+
+   ROBERT H. REECE
+   LIEUT. D.F.C., R.A.F.
+
+   _With Illustrations_
+
+   [Illustration]
+
+   BOSTON AND NEW YORK
+   HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
+   The Riverside Press Cambridge
+   1919
+
+
+
+
+   COPYRIGHT, 1919, ROBERT H. REECE
+   ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+
+
+
+   DEDICATION
+
+
+
+    _In a spirit of the deepest reverence I dedicate this unworthy effort
+    to the memory of a true sportsman, a loyal friend, and a gallant
+    officer who was killed in action while serving his Country as a
+    Pilot in the American Air Service,_
+
+    LIEUTENANT SAMUEL PIERCE MANDELL
+
+    _America has given of the finest of her Youth to uphold the Cause of
+    Right, but she has given no one of more splendid promise than he,
+    whose service was an example of devotion to duty, of readiness for
+    action, and of undaunted courage._
+
+    _His life was an inspiration to the living "to carry on" and finish
+    the great struggle for which he died, that he and those like him may
+    not have died in vain._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+   I. PER ARDUA AD ASTRA                                               1
+
+   II. THE "BEDOUIN" SQUADRON                                         12
+
+   III. THE BEDOUINS AT OCHEY AERODROME                               39
+
+   IV. A NIGHT RAID                                                   50
+
+   V. SOME EPICS OF NIGHT BOMBING                                     71
+
+   VI. THE GUIDING HAND                                               86
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+   LIEUTENANT ROBERT H. REECE, R.A.F.         _Photogravure Frontispiece_
+
+   JIMMIE WALKS UP AND DOWN THE TRENCH                                14
+
+   ENTRANCE TO OFFICERS' MESS                                         40
+
+   THE PATRIOTIC, SCIENTIFIC MECHANICS                                44
+
+   AFTER THE LANDING                                                  84
+
+
+
+
+NIGHT BOMBING WITH THE "BEDOUINS"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PER ARDUA AD ASTRA
+
+
+In prehistoric times the first man to make for himself a stone hatchet
+probably became the greatest warrior of his particular region. He may
+not have been as strong physically as his neighbor, but with the aid of
+so marvellous an invention as a stone hatchet he undoubtedly conquered
+his enemies and became a great prehistoric potentate, until some other
+great man made a larger and stronger hatchet; so down to the present
+invention has followed invention and improvement has been added to
+improvement to such an extent that it is difficult to imagine what new
+weapon of destruction man can develop in the future.
+
+What would the past generation have said of a man who had prophesied
+great armies fighting in the air? Even in the early months of the war
+there were but few who realized what an important part of the war was to
+be carried on in the newly conquered element. When the infantry saw an
+occasional box-kite-looking machine drifting slowly over the lines,
+struggling to keep itself aloft, how many, I wonder, foresaw that in a
+few months these machines would be swooping down on them like swallows,
+raking them with machine guns by day and bombing them by night? How many
+artillery officers laughed at the suggestion that a day was coming when
+thousands of great guns would be directed from the air? Yet in a few
+short months two great blind fighting giants, their arms stretching from
+the Belgian coast to the Swiss border, learned to see each other; and
+their eyes were in the air.
+
+The first aeroplanes to cross the lines carried no armament; they were
+for reconnaissance work only; they would fly a few miles back of the
+enemy lines, have a good look around, and then come back and report what
+they had seen. Often British and German machines would pass quite close
+to each other. Flying was considered sufficiently dangerous, not to add
+a further danger to it by attacking enemy machines.
+
+The Germans, however, because they greatly outnumbered the British in
+the air, had more eyes to see with; something had to be done; so rifles
+were carried by the British and a finer sport than shooting ducks came
+into vogue. This quickly led to the carrying of machine guns. Ingenuity
+in devising sights to compensate for the speed of our own machines and
+to gauge a proper deflection according to the speed and angle of
+approach of the enemy machine, soon decreased the advantage the enemy
+aviators had through superior numbers.
+
+For example, if our machine was flying at the rate of one hundred miles
+per hour and the enemy's machine was travelling past us in the opposite
+direction at an equal rate, our fore-sight nullified our motion and
+enabled us to shoot as if from a stationary base, while our back-sight
+helped us to gauge that imaginary point at which to shoot where our
+bullets and the enemy machine would meet. In other words, we shot at an
+enemy machine although we ourselves were travelling rapidly, exactly as
+a sportsman shoots at a bird on the wing.
+
+Then a new aeroplane was developed, the single-seater tractor, with a
+Vickers gun, synchronized to shoot through the rapidly revolving
+propeller so as to avoid the blades. These machines were used to patrol
+the lines and keep enemy machines from crossing, or to accompany a
+reconnaissance machine as protector; for they were very much faster,
+easier to manoeuvre, and altogether very much more efficient fighters.
+At first they operated singly, but it was soon discovered that two of
+these scout machines operating together invariably obtained better
+success than when operating alone. This led to formation flying, and up
+to the cessation of hostilities these formations grew in size and varied
+in shape.
+
+The reconnaissance work was soon divided into classes: long and short
+reconnaissance and photographic reconnaissance. The long reconnaissance
+dealt with enemy movements far behind the lines; the short
+reconnaissance with enemy activities near the front. The photographic
+reconnaissance consisted of taking aerial photographs of everything of
+military importance within flying radius. These photographs pieced
+together showed the enemy defences along the entire British front and
+their changes from day to day.
+
+Wireless apparatus was soon attached to aeroplanes, and this enabled an
+aviator to communicate with people on the ground many miles away; and so
+what was called artillery observation was developed. Roughly speaking,
+this is the direction of the fire of our batteries against enemy
+targets; but, just as specialization came in reconnaissance and
+fighting, so now machines specialized in artillery observation. To-day
+the efficiency of the artillery depends largely upon its direction from
+the air. For instance, when a battery takes over a new area the gunners
+may be called upon to fire at certain targets, such as cross-roads or
+houses used as infantry headquarters or ammunition and stores dumps, at
+a moment's notice. Consequently, if these targets are registered by
+aeroplane, all the gunners have to do when called upon to open fire is
+to refer to their registration book which will give them the necessary
+angles to use on their sights, then, by allowing for the temperature of
+the day and the direction and velocity of the wind, their shooting is
+certain to be far more accurate than it would be if the target had not
+been previously registered. The registration of targets to-day without
+the use of areoplanes is very often impossible.
+
+The registration of targets from the air, however, is not the most
+important part of this work. For instance, a machine will be flying over
+enemy territory; the observer will see the flash of an enemy gun and
+will pin-point its position on his map, which is marked off into large
+and small lettered and numbered squares. This operation enables him to
+send by wireless what is known as a zone call, giving the exact
+location of the enemy battery to all of our batteries within range. The
+enemy battery then has to move suddenly, if it is ever to move at all.
+
+Barrages can also be controlled very efficiently from the air, so,
+considering the comparatively short time that aeroplanes have been used
+in this work and the wonderful results that have been obtained, it does
+not take much imagination to see the necessity for all future artillery
+officers to be trained as aviators.
+
+In the earlier stages of the war it was very difficult for Headquarters
+to keep in close touch with the infantry during a "push"; consequently,
+considerable loss of life might result from one portion of the line
+advancing out of contact with another. Probably the eagerness of raw
+troops to keep on advancing regardless of their objective has led to a
+considerable and unnecessary loss of life. The aeroplane can be used in
+these situations to great advantage, and after the development of what
+is known as "contact patrol" the aeroplane became the connecting link
+between Headquarters and the infantry.
+
+It was not until 1916 that the full powers of the aeroplane as an
+offensive weapon began to be realized. Bombing was done, but it was of a
+desultory nature, and although the number of machines engaged in this
+work steadily increased, and the work itself became more and more
+diversified and specialized, it was not until 1918 that the
+possibilities of the aeroplane as a purely offensive weapon were
+appreciated.
+
+An aeroplane can operate far back of the enemy lines, both in the day
+and at night; enemy troops in transport can be bombed: railway stations,
+sidings, etc., damaged; transports of all kinds delayed; and ammunition
+dumps, when located, can be blown up. In fact, military targets of all
+sorts can be attacked from the air that cannot be reached in any other
+way. The very foundation of a nation's strength in war, its industry,
+can be attacked from the air and, if attacked on a large enough scale,
+can be destroyed. For instance, eighty per cent of the German steel
+industry was within bombing range of the Allies. The Westphalian group
+of high-grade steel industries centred at Essen is about two hundred
+miles from Nancy. If this group had been bombed on a large scale the
+source of supply of German guns and munitions could have been destroyed;
+for a blast furnace destroyed cannot be replaced within nine months, and
+the destruction of the central electrical plant of a steel factory would
+place the entire factory out of operation for at least six months. The
+hundreds of bombing machines which the English aeroplane factories were
+turning out at the time hostilities ceased, and the thousands of men
+being trained for bombing, make one wonder what would have happened to
+the German industries if the war had continued through the spring of
+1919.
+
+Besides these hundreds of aeroplanes under construction and the
+thousands of men in training, the Royal Air Force had in operation,
+November 11, 1918, over twenty thousand aeroplanes, over thirty thousand
+aviators, and over two hundred thousand mechanics and other personnel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE "BEDOUIN" SQUADRON
+
+
+The "Bedouin" Squadron, so called because as a unit it was constantly
+moved from place to place, and because its members as individuals were
+wanderers at heart, was formed in September, 1917, equipped with the
+large Handley-Page bombing planes, and sent to the Nancy front to carry
+out pioneer work in long-distance bombing. The "Bedouins," as the
+officers of this squadron were called, first saw the light of day in
+England, Scotland, Ireland, America, India, Canada, South Africa, and
+Australia. Before becoming aviators many of them had fought in the
+infantry on the western front, in Gallipoli, and in Egypt; some as
+officers, some as privates, but for no general reason, unless the law
+of nature which prevents squirrels from remaining on the ground also
+applies to men, they one by one in divers ways drifted into the Flying
+Corps, and flew different types of machines on different fronts until
+brought together and formed, "willy-nilly," into the Bedouin Squadron.
+
+
+I
+
+There was "Jimmie," whose insides had been shot away in Gallipoli. He
+was the envy of the officers' mess, because his newly acquired digestive
+apparatus, composed principally of silver tubes, could assimilate more
+wine without producing ill results than any other five members of the
+mess. Jimmie was not a flying officer; by all the laws of nature he
+should have been a corpse, but he had a heart which disregarded an
+intestine designed by a surgeon who must have been a plumber in some
+previous incarnation, and this great heart carried him through four
+years of war, and made of him an energizing force to all who came in
+contact with him. It was not until after the cessation of hostilities
+that the soul of this hero was liberated from the poor maimed body with
+its mechanical digestive system.
+
+Jimmie was the First Lieutenant of the Station; it was his job to see to
+the discipline of the two hundred and fifty mechanics, riggers,
+carpenters, armorers, drivers, and officers' stewards. He did this in
+such a way as to make all the men love him except the few, very few, who
+were surly slackers, and these feared him worse than death itself.
+Jimmie was always just, but he demanded results. To those who shirked he
+was a just judge and an unsympathetic jury; so, under Jimmie, slackers
+soon became demons for work, and later on learned like the others to
+love him. To those who produced results, he was a father.
+
+[Illustration: JIMMIE WALKS UP AND DOWN THE TRENCH]
+
+I remember that shortly after the squadron took up its residence on the
+Nancy front, the Huns came over and bombed us severely; many of the
+mechanics were fresh from the factories in England and were quite
+unaccustomed to seeing the damage that one hundred pounds of high
+explosive can do to the delicate anatomy of the human being; panic
+seized them; but a greater fear possessed them when Jimmie's orders
+burst upon them like the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun; they marched as
+if on parade into the trenches, recently dug behind the hangars; then
+Jimmie, smoking an occasional cigarette, strolled up and down in front
+during the three hours' bombardment.
+
+So the men soon learned, under Jimmie, the value of discipline; it meant
+their safety when under fire, and it meant freedom from military
+punishments. They were quick to grasp the fact that any negligence on
+their part might mean death to the aviator who flew in the neglected
+aeroplane. Flagrant neglect they soon learned might cause other deaths
+than those suffered by the unfortunate aviators.
+
+
+II
+
+There was Sammie, a prototype of the caricatured Englishman in our comic
+papers. Every American theatre-goer has seen Sammie exaggerated on the
+music-hall stage.
+
+Sammie was a small boy with an eyebrow on his upper lip and an
+apparently permanent window over his right eye. Before joining the
+Flying Corps he had served seventeen months in the trenches as a
+private; finally, driven mad with filth, rats, and other vermin, he
+captured an enemy machine-gun emplacement single-handed, and was given a
+commission. Shortly afterwards he joined the Flying Corps, probably
+because he could not keep his new uniform clean while in the trenches.
+
+Sammie was always immaculate, and as a uniform gives one very little
+opportunity to express one's individuality in dress, Sammie carried his
+handkerchief up his sleeve. Even Generals envied Sammie's field boots
+and every one who met him wanted to know the name of his tailor.
+
+In peace-time Sammie would have looked like a toy Pom with a ribbon
+around its neck; but a more imperturbable man in the face of danger
+never lived.
+
+"My word" was the expression used by Sammie to denote every degree of
+human emotion. If it was Sammie's lot to draw the occasional egg served
+in the Bedouin mess, his only remark when it hopped out of reach would
+be, "My word."
+
+I remember one night when both of our machines were out of action,
+Sammie and I, who slept in the same hut, went to bed at the early hour
+of twelve o'clock; at about one in the morning the Huns dropped their
+first bomb very close to us; a picture of Sammie's mother was on a stand
+beside the head of his cot; a fragment of the bomb came through the wall
+of the hut and shattered this picture; I landed, as far as I know
+involuntarily, in the middle of the floor with a lighted torch in my
+hand; Sammie saw the shattered remains of his mother's picture; "My
+word, mother will be pleased," he said, turned over and was sound asleep
+instantly. I know Sammie slept because he never remarked on my taking a
+short cut to the trenches through the window.
+
+Another time when a Hun bomb dropped in the officers' trench and failed
+to explode, Sammie, who was but two feet away, tried to lift it, failed,
+and then lay full length upon it, believing it to be of the "delay
+action" variety; when our Major, a bomb expert, appeared on the scene a
+few moments later and laughingly declared the bomb a "dud," Sammie's
+embarrassment expressed itself in "My word." If the detonating apparatus
+of this bomb had been all that the Huns intended it to be, Sammie would
+have returned to minute specks of dust and his name would have been
+added to the long list of dead heroes; but since the bomb was a "dud,"
+Sammie was made the butt of his friends' wit.
+
+Sammie was always philosophical. He was once ordered to take a new
+machine on a very long raid. We had all examined this new aeroplane and
+declared it a "dud"; so we cheered Sammie up as well as we could by
+drinking his health and inquiring into his taste in flowers. Undismayed,
+Sammie took the machine off the ground, with the wheel held into his
+stomach; the rigging of the machine was such that it would fly on an
+even plane longitudinally if the wheel was kept back as far as possible.
+By all the laws of aeronautics this aeroplane should have crashed before
+leaving the ground, but it did not. Sammie climbed it to five hundred
+feet in an hour and a half. As Sammie now had seven and one half hours
+petrol left and was still four hours away from his objective, it would
+have been quite justifiable for him to return without going any farther;
+in fact, it was the only reasonable thing for him to do; but Sammie
+always trusted to luck rather than reason, and his luck did not fail
+him. One engine "conked" and he was forced to turn back. He fired his
+forced landing signal when approaching the aerodrome, but the aerodrome
+was being bombed by the Huns in a very thorough manner and Sammie had to
+land in complete darkness, the inevitable result being a crash. Sammie
+extricated himself from the wreckage, found that both of his companions
+were dead, rescued one of the machine guns from its damaged mounting,
+together with several drums of ammunition and practised his marksmanship
+on the enemy planes until an enemy bomb ruined his clothes and left him,
+after a few months in the hospital, minus an arm.
+
+
+III
+
+There was "Jock," a "wee bonnie laddie," from the south of Scotland. He
+stood five feet three inches tall when wearing field boots with
+exceptionally high heels, but that did not prevent him from braining a
+Hun with the Hun's own wrench some sixty miles back of the enemy's front
+lines, and this is how it happened.
+
+One morning, about three o'clock, information arrived, together with a
+complete and undamaged Hun aeroplane and two friendly Hun aviators,
+that at a certain German switch station a troop train and an ammunition
+train were due to pass at a certain hour. Jock and his pal left the
+congenial beer barrel, turned the friendly Hun aviators over to the
+guard, made themselves acquainted with the Hun aeroplane, refilled it
+with petrol and oil, and departed on a merry adventure. Forgetting that
+the Hun machine would be subject to attack by our own aviators, Jock and
+his companion were in a great dilemma when so attacked. Of course, they
+could not protect themselves by a counter-fire, but when a man is born
+in Scotland, and is a direct descendant of oatmeal-eating bandits, he
+naturally has a keener brain than even the Jews can boast of;
+consequently, by spinning nose dives and other signs of lack of control
+the wily Scot gleefully gained the enemy's side of the lines. Here he
+was unmolested, although Hun aviators must have been astonished to see
+one of their own machines engaged in the British sport of
+"hedge-hopping"; i.e., flying close to the ground and "zooming" up over
+trees, houses, etc.
+
+In due time Jock and his companion landed in a small field a few hundred
+yards away from the all-important switch station. Here they descended
+and under pretence of examining their engine, although the first one of
+the ever-curious crowd was still several fields away, they looked up the
+word "wrench" in an English-German pocket dictionary; they then marched
+off to the switch station. Fortunately there was but one occupant, for
+neither Jock nor his companion could talk German, and the idiocy of not
+carrying a more serviceable weapon than a pocket dictionary never
+occurred to the mad Scot until his companion began to make weird
+gurgling sounds, evidently intended for the language of the Hun,
+addressed to the astonished station-master.
+
+Then down through generations of oatmeal-eating bandits came a glimmer
+of sense to Jock. He grabbed the first thing within reach, a wrench, and
+brained the Hun station-master with a blow; then the mad but somewhat
+sobered adventurers found and pulled the switch lever so as to bring the
+approaching trains into collision, and departed. When Jock saw the crowd
+which had collected about his aeroplane, he took a solemn oath never to
+touch beer but to stick to whiskey; but the crowd, which included a few
+Hun soldiers, respectfully made way for the "camouflaged" British
+aviators and a few moments later, wet with cold perspiration, they were
+in the air. Thoroughly sobered, they made for home with their engine
+"full out." Six weeks later "intelligence" reported that a German troop
+train and ammunition train had collided.
+
+
+IV
+
+There was "Mac," a North of England man. Before the war he was a typical
+English sportsman; he lived for hunting, and polo was his hobby. Like
+the rest of his class he pushed his way into the fighting line as soon
+as possible, as a private in the First Hundred Thousand. But eventually
+his genius expressed itself and leaving the known walks of man he became
+a master of the newly conquered element. Mac's mind was not limited by
+science, his soul was not dwarfed by religious prejudice, he held no
+political position, and he had no personal military ambition. He fought
+to defeat a threat to the civilization he believed in, to preserve a
+form of government that his ancestors had bled and died for, and to
+secure a future for his tiny son free from the hell of war. Mac, like
+every other man who had the courage to fight, and if necessary, die for
+his beliefs, hoped that the fighting man would be allowed to fight on
+until these ends had been achieved so that those who had died should not
+have made the great sacrifice in vain. He hoped, like all other fighting
+men, that politicians would not be given the power to render valueless
+to posterity the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of lives; but Mac
+was merely a man, of fearless integrity, honesty of purpose, with
+humanitarian ideals, and a believer in Democracy; he could not realize
+that a large majority, because of selfishness, ignorance, and a lack of
+the spirit of self-sacrifice, do not deserve the right to vote. But Mac
+was a sportsman and a gentleman, the descendant of generations of men
+who faced death willingly in a cause they knew was honorable and who
+died happily in the thought that their death made life easier for
+future generations. So Mac did not worry about the selfish ambitions of
+men; he did all he could to win the World War.
+
+I first met Mac a few months after he flew a Handley-Page machine from
+London to Constantinople and back to Salonica, a distance of over two
+thousand miles. Mac was a Captain then, he is a Captain now, but no
+living man has done more damage to the Hun than Mac has done. A far
+greater leader of men than his great uncle, who was a General in our
+Civil War, Mac gave a soul to the Bedouin Squadron. To Mac's leadership
+is due the first bombings of Mannheim, Coblenz, Thionville, Frankfort,
+and Cologne.
+
+It was Mac who flew a German aeroplane to Sedan, followed a "spotted"
+train to a near-by station, swooped down as the German High Command left
+the train and opened on them with his machine gun. It was Mac who
+landed over ten times near Karlsruhe at night and returned with
+invaluable information. But it is not because of the innumerable
+suicidal adventures of which Mac is the hero that every Bedouin, no
+matter in what part of the world he may be, always drinks a silent toast
+to Mac whenever possible; it is because every Bedouin realizes that a
+great man carried out a small man's job in a great way.
+
+
+V
+
+"Gus" was the president of the Bedouin mess, and probably because of an
+early education at Heidelberg, he believed in starving the British
+aviator. At all events, while Gus was mess president we all starved with
+agonizing slowness, for Gus had but two ideas of what constituted a
+menu. Our meals consisted solely of "bully beef" and Brussels sprouts;
+this meal was varied occasionally by leaving out the sprouts. To every
+indignant complaint from long-suffering members of the officers' mess,
+Gus would answer with the incontrovertible statement that
+"humming-birds' tongues cannot be purchased with tuppence"; this
+incontrovertible statement always reduced the complaining member to
+frothings at the mouth and other signs of inexpressible rage.
+Nevertheless, under the starvation system of Gus's stewardship a large
+credit balance was established at the Soci�t� G�n�rale, which enabled
+the succeeding mess president to replace the expert electrician, who by
+army wisdom had been converted into a poisonous cook, with a Frenchman,
+whose cooking was not cooking at all, but an art which filled the
+Bedouins with admiration and destroyed their waist lines. Six-course
+banquets, ending with a rare old yellow Chartreuse, became the order of
+the day, and whenever some seductive delicacy defied analysis we would
+ask Gus if it contained the tongue of the humming-bird.
+
+But Gus, although a failure in always satisfying the epicurean tastes of
+the Bedouins, won fame by being the first to bomb Cologne.
+
+
+VI
+
+"Mid" was a Yank who joined the squadron a few months before its
+"bust-up." Mid had been a private in the first American contingent to
+arrive in France; but because he was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and knew
+that automobiles were manufactured in Detroit, Michigan, he was given a
+commission. The Bedouins first met Mid in January, 1918. He had run his
+car--Mid was always driving a car--into a snowdrift, and wandered a
+couple of miles through a blizzard in search of help. Fortunately for
+us, he tumbled into our mess in the midst of a "storm celebration";
+i.e., a celebration in honor of a storm which forces birds and all other
+inhabitants of the air to seek shelter. Mid was pounced upon, placed in
+front of the fire, and given hot rum. A crew of men were sent off to dig
+his "benzine buggy" out of the snow and convey it to Mid's station, it
+having been decided that Mid should spend the night with the Bedouins.
+
+Mid soon won the hearts of the Bedouins by showing a proper appreciation
+for hot rum, and when he prefaced his first remark to the C.O. with
+"Say, kid," the Bedouins realized that Mid gave every promise of making
+this "storm celebration" unique in Bedouin history, and as far as Mid
+was concerned it certainly was.
+
+Mid entered into the spirit of the occasion with Western thoroughness
+and learned a lesson in a few hours which it has taken some men years to
+learn--that hot rum when taken on a cold and empty stomach must be
+treated with respect; in fact, a certain amount of coyness is not out of
+place. Mid was soon being supported on a chair while he delivered an
+epic on the "soul of a jellyfish"; he was then tossed in the "sacred
+blanket" and put through other Bedouin initiations; after which he was
+tucked comfortably in Jock's bed, while Jock, bound hand and foot and
+rolled in blankets, made horrid Highland remarks from the draughty floor
+of the hut.
+
+Dear old Mid, however, bore no ill-will to the Bedouins for what he
+might have considered unceremonious treatment of an American officer who
+was an honored guest. The next morning with a humble but dignified mien,
+Mid apologized for everything that he had done. As a matter of fact, the
+only disreputable thing Mid had done while under the influence of an
+excess of hot rum on an empty stomach was to make friends with a few
+men whom the Huns had sworn to kill on sight.
+
+Nothing daunted, Mid soon "wangled" permission to become attached to the
+Bedouin Squadron, and a more dare-devil spirit and lovable comrade than
+Mid did not exist among the Bedouins. He was always as keen for work as
+he was "full out" for a party, and he was always the life of a
+celebration. I remember one night when the C.O. read out at dinner a
+telegram which concisely stated that His Majesty the King had awarded to
+one of the Bedouins a very great honor, Mid broke loose. "Say, kids," he
+said, "I want to say right here that it's a great honor for my mother's
+younger son to be a Bedouin, and since it's a 'dud' night I want to ask
+your permission, Sir" (turning to the C.O.), "to present every Bedouin
+with a quart of the best." Permission being given by the C.O. on the
+condition that the C.O. himself would be allowed to share in the
+"largess," every Bedouin had placed before him a quart of Heidsieck
+Monopole. Songs and speeches followed, and Mid, since he could not "take
+the air," took the floor.
+
+"Fellow citizens," he said, balancing himself on an upturned beer
+barrel, "it gives me great pleasure to be able to stand before you this
+evening"; support given and applause. "It has always seemed to me that
+the greatest country in the world might be considered a bit slow in
+entering the war." [Hear! Hear!] "But, gentlemen, now that we are in, I
+want to say that we will be the first out." [Loud applause!] "I want you
+to understand that because the United States has always been considered
+the historic enemy of Great Britain, Germany was enabled to persuade an
+ignorant electorate that the United States and Germany were friends.
+But now we are in, we are in to the finish. When I say finish,
+gentlemen, I mean a finish to the fighting, but I beg of you to be
+careful of the non-fighting part of my country's population, and their
+representatives. More I cannot say, except this, if ever your King or
+your sea-power is threatened, you may depend upon every true American;
+we owe you a debt, and depend upon it every descendant of the founders
+of our country will die before that obligation is allowed to be
+repudiated." With loud cheers, Mid was lifted from his perch.
+
+
+VII
+
+The Bedouin who held the unenvied record for crashes was known
+throughout the service as "Killem." Almost every time he went on a raid
+he crashed his machine, fortunately for him on this side of the lines.
+One night, returning from a raid on the Boche magneto works at
+Stuttgart, he lost his way and was forced to land, because of engine
+trouble, in France, near the Swiss border. The topography of the country
+here being mountainous, he was fortunate in merely "writing off" his
+aeroplane. He might easily have killed himself and his two companions,
+but he came out of the crash quite unhurt except for a severe chill
+contracted by a forced sojourn in the icy waters of a shallow pond.
+Pinned beneath the wreckage of his machine with an unpleasant ripple of
+water in close proximity to his chin, Killem had an excellent
+opportunity to think over his past sins while his companions in misery,
+who had been thrown clear for no other reason apparently except that the
+devil takes care of his own, struggled manfully, one with a broken arm
+and the other with a wrenched knee, to release him from the pressure of
+wreckage which held him helpless.
+
+A few nights after this unpleasant experience the mad fellow "took off"
+down wind. This idiotic method of leaving the ground resulted in his
+being barely able to rise above the roofs of the near-by village and
+brought him into direct contact with the church spire. The spire being
+of solid construction withstood the impact; the aeroplane did not. So
+Killem and his companions, together with the wrecked Handley-Page and
+one thousand five hundred and sixty-eight pounds of undetonated bombs
+descended onto the street below--UNDETONATED. It was exceedingly
+fortunate for the inhabitants of the French village that the bombs
+remained undetonated. Killem crawled out of the wreck, looked ruefully
+at the church spire, and muttered, "I've always felt that I should have
+gone oftener to church in my youth. Now look at the damned result of my
+negligence."
+
+It was Killem who tested out a new aeroplane one day while a south wind
+equal to the air speed of his machine was blowing. While flying north he
+travelled over the ground twice as fast as he travelled through the air,
+but when he turned around over the city of Toul he remained stationary.
+He was travelling through the air as fast as before, but now he was
+headed south, and as the wind passed over the ground toward the north as
+rapidly as Killem travelled through the air toward the south, the
+inhabitants of Toul were amazed to see a heavier-than-air machine
+remaining stationary above their heads. This situation greatly alarmed a
+dear old lady of Toul, who eventually arrived at our aerodrome in a
+donkey cart with the astounding information that one of our planes "had
+run out" of petrol and was stalled directly above her house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE BEDOUINS AT OCHEY AERODROME
+
+
+If you had visited the Bedouin Squadron at about eleven o'clock in the
+morning you would have received quite a shock when entering the
+officers' mess. In the first place, you would have found the mess
+deserted except for several dogs of unknown species and innumerable
+cats,--some proudly nourishing recent offspring, others in various
+stages of anticipation of a similar pleasure. Secondly, you would have
+been surprised at the comfortable, if not artistic, interior of our
+exteriorly unattractive hut. In the centre of the "ward-room" or
+sitting-room was an open fireplace of ingenious design. On a stone and
+earth base, covered with sheet iron, rested a large cast-iron box with
+many peculiarly shaped apertures resembling as far as possible the
+incomprehensible design of a lady's lace mouchoir. The fire-box was
+supported by four cast-iron "whirly-gigs," the artistic effort of a
+mechanic detailed to construct legs for the support of the aforesaid
+fire-box. Above this box a large hollow pyramid, the apex of which
+connected with a pipe, which in turn after divers wanderings led through
+a hole in the roof, offered an exit for the smoke. Needless to say, this
+offer was frequently ignored. Around this fireplace was a foot-railing
+constructed from the main spar of a crashed Handley-Page. The rest of
+the furniture fortunately was not homemade. Large easy-chairs and
+lounges, the gift of a friendly merchant of Nancy, often made progress
+from one end of the room to the other,--a feat requiring considerable
+skill in navigation. A piano was wedged into one corner of the room;
+"Sin-fin," a mad Irishman, appeared with this piano one day together
+with an exhilarated French officer driving a lorry. No one ever found
+out how the piano had been secured, but since a sweet little
+"demoiselle" now rides "Sin-fin's" Irish hunters, we may believe, if we
+wish, that a rickety piano formed the basis of an international romance.
+
+[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO OFFICERS' MESS]
+
+The walls of the room were draped with rich damask; as the officers'
+steward who produced this incongruous luxury was an ex-convict, no
+inquiries were made concerning it.
+
+In the same hut with the ward-room and adjoining it was the mess or
+dining-room and beyond this was the "galley" or kitchen. While the
+Bedouins were inflicted with a cook who had been in pre-war days an
+expert electrician, the kitchen would not have been your most attractive
+route to the officers' sleeping-quarters.
+
+Presuming that you left the mess through its more congenial exit, the
+ward-room, the next hut you would have come to was the officers'
+quarters. There at eleven o'clock in the morning you would have heard a
+full symphony rendered by twenty lusty sleepers. "Is this war?" you
+might have asked yourself if you did not have in mind that you were
+visiting a night-bombing squadron. The officers in this hut had returned
+but five or six hours previously from an all-night raid over Germany.
+
+Beyond this hut are the men's quarters which are deserted at this hour.
+Across the road is the workshop or repair factory which, under the eye
+of "Bill," the engine officer, runs "full blast" from six in the morning
+to nine or ten at night. Next to this miniature factory is the armorers'
+hut where all the machine guns are overhauled daily, ammunition tested
+as regards rims, sunken caps, etc., and every possible precaution taken
+to render the guns thoroughly efficient.
+
+Near by are the huge, camouflaged hangars, or buildings containing the
+aeroplanes. Here the mechanics are "tuning up" the engines; the riggers
+are trueing up the aeroplanes, tightening a flying wire here, loosening
+a landing wire there, testing controls; in fact, doing all that
+scientific knowledge and care can do to reduce the chance of accident
+from mechanical imperfection. And upon these patriotic, scientific
+mechanics, working for their country and their ideals and recompensed
+from a pecuniary point of view with a shilling or two a day, rested to a
+large extent, the lives of the aviators and the success of their various
+adventures.
+
+Back of the hangars and near the officers' quarters is the squadron
+office. Here are several clerks constantly engaged in recording all the
+details relating to the men's pay, their military records, their issues
+of clothes, blankets, etc.,--in fact, recording and filing everything
+dealing with the squadron's activities.
+
+Next to the squadron office is the large map-room. If a squadron on
+active service can be compared to the human body, the map-room is the
+brain of the squadron, for here is kept all the information essential to
+the aviators. On one wall is a huge map of the whole war zone from the
+coast to the Swiss border. On this the front-line trenches are
+accurately marked, with their changes made from day to day. On the wall
+next to this map and at right angles to it, is a large-scale map of the
+entire region over which the squadron operates. On this map are numerous
+conventional markings which would have no meaning to the casual
+observer.
+
+[Illustration: THE PATRIOTIC, SCIENTIFIC MECHANICS]
+
+In maps of the enemy territory are hundreds of red drawing-pins. These
+mark the positions of enemy anti-aircraft batteries. As soon as
+information is received of the movement of one of these batteries,
+the pin which represents that particular battery is moved to the new
+position. Small yellow squares or oblongs with minute black marks
+represent the enemy aerodromes and hangars. These conventional signs
+correspond accurately to the aerial photographs of these aerodromes.
+
+Small blue crosses represent the position of enemy balloon barrages and
+their height. The position of these barrages must be known accurately,
+for to run into them is fatal and at night they are very apt to trap the
+unwary. Roughly, they are a series of balloons supporting a huge wire
+net or cable streamers. The balloons, anchored to the ground and
+carrying the nets with them, are sent up to a considerable altitude
+about large cities and important industrial centres. They are to the
+night aviators what the spider's web is to the fly.
+
+Another conventional sign of this map which is always puzzling to the
+uninitiated is a series of small pins with streamers attached. These
+streamers are marked with green dots. One streamer will have one green
+dot, another two green dots, another three, etc., while others will have
+different spaces between the dots. These pins mark the position of what
+is called the "Hun green-ball batteries," and these green balls, fired
+up to a height of about six thousand feet, direct the Hun aviators to
+their respective aerodromes when returning from a night raid.
+
+A better system than this for directing aviators at night has never been
+devised, for low clouds or mist cannot obliterate the signal and they
+are visible to the aviator for over fifty miles. In fact, this type of
+signal was so very excellent that our knowledge of the exact positions
+of the various batteries was of great assistance to us in our raids
+over Germany.
+
+On our side of the lines this map was marked with conventional signs
+similar to those which marked the position of enemy anti-aircraft
+batteries, aerodromes, and balloon barrages; but on our side of the
+lines there were large areas marked in red to indicate what was called
+"prohibited areas"; i.e., areas over which no aeroplane, Allied or
+enemy, could fly without being subjected to the fire of our
+anti-aircraft batteries.
+
+There were also white drawing-pins, each bearing a letter, placed at
+irregular intervals. These located accurately the position of small
+lighthouses which are usually about fifteen miles apart and from three
+to ten miles back of the front-line trenches; the letter marked on each
+drawing-pin designates the letter flashed in Morse code by that
+particular lighthouse. This system of signals, used by the British to
+direct their night aviators to their aerodromes when returning from a
+raid, had but two great faults. In the first place, the signal was
+obliterated by low clouds and mist. In the second place, the flash of
+the light only carried a few miles even under the best conditions. On
+the other hand, the letters which the lighthouses flashed could be
+readily changed and consequently were of very little assistance to Hun
+aviators.
+
+On the third wall of the map-room are aerial photographs of enemy
+aerodromes, railway stations, sidings, etc., and large-scale plans of
+German towns and factories.
+
+On the table in the centre of the room are the various instruments by
+the aid of which the aviators are enabled to figure out their magnetic
+courses. Every afternoon the map-room is crowded with aviators. Here all
+the plans for the raid are made, the courses figured and marked on
+individual charts, the photographs or plans of targets studied and the
+best methods of approaching the target discussed. In the evening the
+wind soundings made by the meteorological expert are reported and again
+the map-room is crowded with aviators figuring out "drift" and "ground
+speed" and making out charts which will facilitate their navigation when
+in the air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A NIGHT RAID
+
+
+Every precaution having been taken, the engines run, the controls
+tested, the compasses swung, the courses made out, the charts prepared,
+and the drift figured, the Bedouins sat down to dinner free from care or
+worry. The dinner hour was always set, winter or summer, at least two
+hours before the night's raid was to start.
+
+A guest of the Bedouin mess on the night of an important raid would have
+been surprised if told that the jolly, laughing officers, who apparently
+had no thought in the world other than the enjoyment of various wines
+and viands, were soon to set out on a pioneer raid against a far-distant
+German industrial centre. For the Bedouins made the best of the
+present; they all knew what a long-distance raid over Germany usually
+meant; many of their jolly comrades would not be seen again. So they
+made merry at dinner and drank each other's health. The wine, however,
+was light, and even the most reckless Bedouin drank it in tiny sips, for
+the work to be done was important. The personal dangers of the raid the
+reckless Bedouins might ignore, but they knew that these raids fitted
+into the general tactical plan of operations; consequently, every
+Bedouin was imbued with a spirit of determination in spite of an
+apparent frivolity.
+
+On entering the ward-room a few moments before dinner, the guest of the
+Bedouin mess would have been greeted joyfully by the officers who were
+singing lustily in perfect tune with a piano which was very much out of
+tune. A few moments later he would see these rollicking fellows stand
+silently at attention on the entry of the Commanding Officer until
+"Good-evening, gentlemen," from the C.O. granted them permission to
+"carry on."
+
+Before the chief steward announced dinner, "ap�ritifs" were passed
+around; then the C.O. led the way from the ward-room into the adjoining
+mess, where the officers stood at attention on each side of the long
+table until the C.O. said, "Gentlemen, be seated." If any one came in
+late to dinner, he apologized to the C.O. before taking his place at the
+table; and no matter how oily and dirty he may have been a few moments
+earlier, he entered the mess clean, freshly shaven, and in neat uniform.
+This mess etiquette, as it was called, did not interfere in any way with
+the good-fellowship existing between the C.O. and his junior officers;
+but it prevented men who had been away from home and the society of
+ladies for many years from growing lax in manners and careless of
+personal appearance.
+
+After dinner, decanters of port were passed around and the King's health
+was drunk: "Gentlemen, The King."
+
+This toast means nothing to us Americans unless we have drunk it among
+British officers at the front. Under such conditions, "Gentlemen, The
+King," is a call to patriotism, a spur to endeavor, and an ideal of
+courage which must be lived up to. We Americans are so apt to think of a
+king as a despot or tyrant that it takes us a long time to understand
+the love which the Englishman has for his King. The King of England is
+as much of a symbol to Englishmen as the Stars and Stripes are a symbol
+to us. The King, as an individual, has no power, except the power of
+influence. This power is great when the influence exerted is in the
+right direction, but the King has no dictatorial power similar to that
+which may be granted to our Presidents. The King is merely a symbol
+which stands in the minds of Englishmen for patriotism, justice,
+democracy, and humanity. So when the Bedouins raised their glasses to
+the toast, "Gentlemen, The King," they paid a tribute to all that Great
+Britain and her Allies were fighting for--democracy, justice, and
+freedom of the individual from oppression.
+
+After this final toast, every aviator went to his quarters and clambered
+into his bulky but warm flying clothes. There was no hurry or bustle,
+but each aviator, thoroughly equipped for the raid with maps, charts,
+and instruments, arrived at the map-room on a definite moment. Here he
+received a few final instructions from the Commanding Officer; then,
+smoking a last cigarette, he made his way through the dusk to his own
+aeroplane.
+
+While the aviators drank to "Gentlemen, The King," the mechanics were
+warming up the twin motors of each aeroplane, the bomb-racks were being
+filled with fourteen one-hundred-and-twelve-pound bombs, the guns were
+being mounted, and by the time the aviators arrived on the aerodrome the
+huge Handley-Page bombing planes were in readiness for a nine hours'
+flight over Germany.
+
+After climbing up a ladder to their respective positions, the aviators
+made a final survey of the machine on the reliability of which depended
+the success of their adventure. The engines were again run up to see
+that they gave the proper revolutions, the gauges inspected, the
+controls tested, and the return spring of each gun weighed. When
+thoroughly satisfied, each aviator took his place and his pilot
+signalled for the "chocks" to be withdrawn from in front of the wheels.
+
+While the aviators carried on this final inspection of their machines,
+the aerodrome officer, stationed on a high platform situated in one
+corner of the field, awaited the signal to light the "landing T"; i.e.,
+a huge "T" of electric lights headed into the wind, which shows to the
+aviators the taking-off and landing path. Each machine is given its
+respective letter for the day, which is flashed in Morse code on the
+navigation lights by the aviator when ready to leave the ground; he then
+awaits an answer from the directing stand. Simultaneously with the
+lighting up of the huge "landing T," the letter flashed from the first
+machine ready is repeated by the signal officer. The answer received,
+the machine taxies across the aerodrome to the starting-point, turns,
+hurtles down the flare-path and leaves the ground at the head of the
+"T." Under this simple method of direction I have seen twenty aeroplanes
+leave an aerodrome on a pitch-black night in twelve minutes without a
+single mishap.
+
+On leaving the ground the aeroplanes fly dead into the wind for a couple
+of miles, circle back to the left around the aerodrome, and head into
+the wind again until the height at which the flight is to be carried out
+is reached. The first aeroplane to reach this height passes directly
+over the aerodrome and then steers a course to the first lighthouse. A
+comparison of this course with the previously figured course, and a
+comparison of the previously calculated ground speed with the time taken
+to travel from the aerodrome to the lighthouse enables the aviators, by
+the use of instruments and a few simple calculations, to gauge their
+drift. This process is continued on another course to the next
+lighthouse and the previously tested direction and velocity of wind are
+accurately checked in this way and future courses altered accordingly.
+These calculations are all important to the long-distance night bomber,
+for although roads show up in the moonlight like white threads, they are
+too numerous and interwoven to be followed for great distances, and
+although rivers and lakes look like silver ribbons and blotches, the
+moon may be obscured at any moment or the ground itself may be
+obliterated by low clouds or mist. Accuracy in aerial navigation,
+therefore, is of the utmost importance in long-distance night flying.
+
+The night aviator, however, has many things to think of besides a
+constant checking and readjustment of his course according to variations
+in direction and velocity of wind. On his own side of the lines he is
+constantly challenged by searchlights which must be answered immediately
+if the aviator wishes to avoid the risk of being shot down by his own
+anti-aircraft guns or of being attacked by his own night-patrol
+machines. The method of answering these challenges is extremely simple.
+All that is required of the aviator is to shoot at the searchlight with
+a large pistol loaded with an enormous cartridge. The aviator, intent on
+his calculations and annoyed by any interruption, often wishes that this
+pistol was a deadly weapon, but it is not. It merely fires a certain
+colored light which floats slowly down changing in its descent to
+certain other colors, which prove to the officer in charge of the
+challenging searchlight that an Allied aeroplane is above him. The
+colors which are shown on one night, however, will not do on another,
+for these "colors of the day," as they are inappropriately called, are
+changed every night and the utmost secrecy is maintained in regard to
+them. Even the aviators do not know the "color of the day" until ten
+minutes before the start of a raid, neither do the officers in charge of
+the anti-aircraft batteries. The reason for this secrecy became
+apparent to the Bedouins one night when a Hun flew over our aerodrome
+shooting down our "color of the day," blinking his navigation lights,
+and finally firing down a red light which was our prearranged
+forced-landing signal. The aerodrome officer, believing that one of the
+Bedouin machines was returning from that night's raid with engine
+trouble, lit up the "landing T" and brought upon himself a shower of
+bombs which carried him into the Unknown.
+
+After crossing the lines the aviators are intent on steering an accurate
+compass course, checking their position from time to time by various
+landmarks such as canals, rivers, cross-roads, and woods, and figuring
+changes in wind. The bursting shells of the enemy anti-aircraft
+batteries must be disregarded, for a slight d�tour around a particularly
+heavy barrage might mean an error of several degrees in their course
+which, unless corrected, would bring them twenty to thirty miles away
+from their objective after a flight of one hundred and seventy miles or
+more, and an accurate correction of a compass course after a wide d�tour
+is always difficult and sometimes impossible. Therefore, it is of the
+utmost importance for long-distance night bombers to hold their course
+regardless of the enemy's efforts at destruction.
+
+The hatred in the hearts of the Huns, expressed by the constant "whonk"
+of bursting anti-aircraft shells, contrasts disagreeably with the
+loveliness of the moonlit panorama. All man's disfigurements of the
+earth are obliterated by distance and nothing but a scene of inspiring
+beauty is in view from the aviaors' lofty outlook at a height of several
+thousand feet.
+
+The flashings of the guns, the "flaming onions,"--i.e., strings of
+phosphorus balls shot up to light the sky and to ignite any inflammable
+substance with which they come in contact,--and the black puffs of smoke
+from the bursting shells add a weird and startling brilliancy to the
+surroundings. No matter how many times a man may fly at night the
+immensity of the heavens above him, crowded with unknown worlds, cannot
+fail to impress him with his own insignificance in the general scheme of
+the universe, and Death itself appears of small importance compared to
+the way in which he faces it.
+
+The aviators, however, have little time for reflection, for on a long
+flight they must keep a constant outlook for such landmarks as will
+enable them from time to time to mark their exact position on the chart
+and by comparison with their compass course and "ground speed" vary
+their course according to changes in direction and velocity of wind. An
+instrument called the "pitot tube" indicates the speed at which the
+aeroplane passes through the air, but the speed at which the plane
+travels in relation to the ground depends on the direction and velocity
+of the wind. They must also watch the flashes from anti-aircraft
+batteries and pin-point them on their maps if possible; aerodromes which
+are lit up, train movements, the lighting of towns, the blaze of steel
+factories; in fact everything of military importance must be recorded
+and reported upon, if accurately located. The night aviator, however,
+must be extremely careful in his observations, for it is very easy to
+get lost and it is extremely difficult to keep an accurate check, on the
+charts, of your exact position over the ground, even after long
+practice; especially is this true when the flight covers three to four
+hundred miles in distance and lasts from eight to nine hours.
+
+After several hours of intense concentration the aviators approach their
+target, and although they have charted the course constantly they now
+spend some time in flying back and forth while they check off on a
+large-scale map the landmarks about the target and satisfy themselves
+that their long flight will not be valueless if the bombs are dropped
+with accuracy. In the meantime the sound of the motors, together with
+the telegraphed intelligence from other Hun towns, tells the enemy that
+Allied night bombers are in the vicinity. The Huns in charge of the
+anti-aircraft defences stationed about the target direct huge beams of
+numerous searchlights toward the sky and an intense barrage is put up
+above and around the target by the Hun batteries. The air is filled with
+shrapnel from bursting shells at the altitude at which the machine is
+flying, for the Huns have accurate instruments which gauge the altitude
+of an aeroplane from the sound vibrations of its engines. The aviators,
+however, are still intent on picking out their target (probably a
+factory which manufactures war material) and have not yet entered the
+barrage. The Huns, I imagine, often wondered why British bombers flew
+about a town for such a long time before bombing; the inhabitants always
+had more than enough time to enter the dug-outs before the bombs
+dropped. The British bombers, however, were not making war on women and
+children; they were intent on destroying a poisonous gas factory or
+other targets of military importance; so they flew about the town until
+the target was accurately located; then and not till then, they
+throttled down their engines and glided swiftly down between the
+searchlight beams and below the barrage of bursting shells, for once the
+engines are throttled down the enemy's sound instruments are valueless
+and the anti-aircraft barrage ranged at the previous altitude of the
+aeroplane fills the air with shrapnel far above the rapidly descending
+plane. A quick adjustment of bomb-sights to compensate for the altitude,
+speed, and drift of the plane and the front fore-sight soon is in line
+with the target, and after a pause the back fore-sight coming in line
+with the back-sight gives, with the previously adjusted stop-watch, the
+exact moment for releasing the first bombs. The plane passes over the
+target and turns on a steep "bank," while the aviators watch for the
+burst of the bombs. The bomb-sight is readjusted to the reduced
+altitude, another sight taken, the remainder of the bombs released, and
+then, nose down, engine "full out," the huge plane rushes through the
+lowered barrage for more congenial surroundings.
+
+Great care must be taken when bombing a factory, for usually very close
+to it the Hun has located an unprotected prison camp filled with Allied
+prisoners, and we have official information that prisoners have so
+infuriated the Hun guards by singing "God save the King" or the
+"Marseillaise" during a bombardment of the near-by factory that they
+have been bayoneted to punish them for their "insolence." As soon as the
+aviators are away from the barrage, they steer a straight course for
+home, and again an intent outlook is kept for landmarks which will
+enable them to mark their position on the charts and figure their ground
+speed and drift. If their course is correct, they will see after a few
+hours a lighthouse several miles away dimly flashing a letter in Morse
+code. They head straight for this, and when over it they steer a course
+which will bring them to the lighthouse situated near their aerodrome.
+As they approach the aerodrome they fire down the "color of the day" and
+if the aerodrome is not under bombardment by the Huns the flare-path is
+lighted and the pilot spirals slowly down while the allotted letter of
+the plane is being flashed in Morse code on its navigation lights; as
+soon as this signal is answered from the ground, the pilot glides
+swiftly down to the flare-path. When fifteen to ten feet from the ground
+the Holt's flares attached to the wing tips of the planes are lit by
+electrical contact and the landing is made in a momentary but brilliant
+blaze of light.
+
+It is interesting to sit in the officers' mess of a night-bombing
+squadron and watch the returning aviators enter. They are cold and stiff
+and all are very tired, for no man can fly without fatigue from dusk to
+dawn under conditions which demand intense concentration and entail a
+considerable amount of nervous strain, but now is shown the difference
+in temperament; some return with bloodshot eyes and haggard faces which
+indicate a condition of intense fatigue; others come in gaily as though
+home from a late dance; still others thoughtfully quiet. All of them,
+however, show signs of nervous strain and mental tension and they must
+relax their taut nerves before going to bed, especially if the raid was
+but another similar to those that had been carried out on several
+previous nights. So, while relaxing they eat bully beef sandwiches and
+drink hot chocolate or beer or, if the night has been particularly cold,
+a glass of hot rum. Deafened by the roar of the engines and the sudden
+change in atmospheric pressure they either whisper or yell if they speak
+at all, during the first few minutes after entering the mess. But the
+raid is over, so very little is said about it; every now and then some
+one looks at his watch and sees that nine hours have elapsed since the
+raid started; he says nothing but he and all realize that the machine
+which has not returned has used up its supply of petrol and that the
+fate of a dear friend will remain unknown perhaps for weeks, perhaps for
+all time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SOME EPICS OF NIGHT BOMBING
+
+
+I
+
+In the summer of 1917 the Germans were rushing troops up to the Ypres
+front, where the activities of the British threatened them at this point
+in their line. This movement of troops was made at night, as usual,
+_because_ if made in daylight they would have been plainly visible to
+our reconnaissance and artillery observation squadrons. These troops
+were detrained at Menin and were transported by motor lorry along the
+Menin-Gelevelt road. On a certain evening the first night-bombing
+squadron of the Royal Flying Corps, then situated west of Nieppe Forest,
+was ordered to delay in every possible way this movement of enemy
+troops. The result must have been satisfactory, for the General in
+command of the British Army on that front sent us, a few days later, the
+glad tidings that no German reinforcements arrived at the critical
+moment and all the British objectives had been captured and held.
+Whether or not the only night-bombing squadron engaged in that action
+was responsible for the tie-up of the Hun transportation system is
+problematical, but all the members of the squadron remember that night
+and hope that their efforts were of value.
+
+The only thing out of the ordinary that evening in the squadron's
+routine was the mounting of double guns in the aeroplanes and an earlier
+dinner hour; the dinner, possibly, was gayer than usual. The machines
+left the ground in daylight, gained their height over Nieppe Forest and
+crossed the lines at dusk, swooped down over Menin Station and dropped
+their bombs at an altitude of one thousand to five hundred feet. Then,
+nose down, engine "full out," they raced away from Menin and followed,
+in the brilliant moonlight, the road to Gelevelt, flying within one
+hundred feet of the ground.
+
+A heavy fire at close range at the transports on the road and at the
+shadows of the trees cast by the moon, as the case might be, soon
+exhausted the drums of ammunition. Each aviator did his level best to
+get results, all the time trying to avoid landing on the tree-tops; some
+of them did so land; they were shot down by the Huns. As soon as their
+ammunition was gone they headed for home and, crossing the lines at a
+low altitude, were shot at by anti-aircraft batteries and machine guns
+from the ground and "bumped" here and there by the air displacement of
+passing shells from the steadily flashing guns of both their own and the
+enemy's artillery.
+
+When they arrived at their aerodrome there was a breathing-spell for the
+aviators while the bomb-racks were being refilled with bombs, the empty
+ammunition drums replaced with full ones, and the engines replenished
+with petrol, oil, and water. The planes then roared into the air again,
+climbed for a short time, and then headed for Menin, where railway
+communications were again bombed and the Menin-Gelevelt road was again
+raked with machine-gun fire.
+
+After a brief respite on the return from this second raid, the machines
+again took off and raided the Huns for the third time that night. All
+that were left of this weary group of aviators returned from this third
+raid in broad daylight, with nerves strained to the verge of a
+breakdown; some were in tears, some striving to be gay, and some were
+very quiet, but all were happy in knowing that they had "done their
+damndest."
+
+When afterward they learned that the "push" had been successful and that
+the Hun reserves had failed to appear, their grief for the "missing" was
+softened by the thought that _their_ sacrifice had not been in vain; it
+had brought about the full accomplishment of the purpose of the
+raids--C'est la Guerre--
+
+
+II
+
+Probably the first time that a Rhine town was bombed on a densely cloudy
+night was in the spring of 1918 and it was bombed by a small Scotchman
+called "Jock."
+
+The wind that night was from the northeast, a favorable wind from the
+aviators' point of view because it was against them on the outward
+voyage. Shortly after crossing the lines, however, dense clouds coming
+up with the wind obliterated the earth, and all the aviators except Jock
+turned back hoping to find their aerodrome before it was also blotted
+out by the low-lying clouds.
+
+Jock, however, was "keen" on bombing Hun factories, and the objective
+that night was the Badische Works situated on the river Rhine; so Jock
+held to his compass course and flew for over four hours without once
+seeing the ground. When a sufficient time had elapsed to bring him over
+his target, if his previous reckoning, of course, of ground speed and
+drift was correct, and if the wind had not varied in velocity or
+strength, Jock "spiralled" down through the clouds and, finding the
+ground beneath him nothing but dense blackness, glided lower and lower
+until eventually a large town directly beneath him became visible and
+then the river Rhine, passing between Ludwigshafen on the west and
+Mannheim on the east, was lit up by the rays of the moon coming through
+a sudden rift in the clouds. Jock by now was only eight hundred feet
+above Mannheim; he opened up his throttle and circled around the city
+while his navigation officer on his large-scale chart compared the
+landmarks momentarily made visible by the rift in the clouds.
+At last, thoroughly satisfied as to their position, fourteen
+one-hundred-and-twelve-pound bombs were dropped as near the factory as
+possible. If some of these bombs dropped in the town itself, it was not
+due to intention on the part of the aviators, who, blinded by
+searchlights, could not be sure of sending all the bombs with accuracy.
+With over one hundred and sixty miles to travel in a plane riddled with
+shrapnel from the bursting shells, the prominent thought in the minds of
+the aviators was, that their work being accomplished, their next move
+was to "beat it" in the direction where lay friendly country.
+
+After the release of the bombs, Jock climbed up through the clouds and
+steered a direct course for home. Since the ground could not be studied
+because of the intervening clouds, the aviators devoted their entire
+attention to compass, time, and the stars. During this flight above the
+clouds the efficiency of the Hun's sound instruments was thoroughly
+demonstrated, for, although the clouds were too dense for any
+searchlight to penetrate and this effectually screened the machine from
+observation from below, again and again Jock's plane was surrounded by
+the black puffs of bursting anti-aircraft shells.
+
+After flying for a sufficient number of hours to bring them above their
+aerodrome, if their calculations were correct, Jock and his companion
+discussed the advisability of coming down through the clouds; the
+unanimous decision, however, was to continue on until a lack of petrol
+would force them to land, for changes in wind might have created a
+considerable error in their calculations, unchecked as they were by
+observations of landmarks; so after flying for another hour they came
+down through the clouds and succeeded in making a safe landing near a
+small French village just before their supply of petrol was exhausted.
+
+
+III
+
+One evening in August, 1918, there was a strong southwest wind blowing
+across the eastern part of France and severe thunderstorms were reported
+to be approaching. Nevertheless, certain Bedouins were selected to raid
+the railway station and sidings at Frankfort; "intelligence" having
+reported important rail movements in that vicinity. The Bedouins were
+ordered to return if they found, after testing the air, the weather
+conditions unfavorable for a flight of such long distance. As an
+alternative target to Frankfort they were given the Burbach Hutte Works
+at Saarbrucken.
+
+After gaining their height above the aerodrome, Jock and his navigation
+officer steered a direct course for "D" lighthouse, situated north of
+Barcarat and but a few miles from the front-line trenches. Having
+accurately figured their drift and ground speed on this course, Jock and
+his companion calculated that, by steering a straight course to
+Frankfort, spending five minutes over the target, and steering a
+straight course back to their aerodrome, they could make sufficient
+headway against the wind on the return voyage to bring them safely home
+with a ten minutes' supply of petrol left in their tanks; any error in
+course necessitating a deviation, or any increase in the velocity of the
+wind, might mean a prolonged sojourn in a German prison camp if not
+subjection to the well-known tortures of a German hospital.
+
+After an accurate calculation of direction and velocity of wind, a
+course of thirty-nine degrees was steered from "D" lighthouse; the river
+Saar was crossed north of Saarburg; Bitsch and Pirmasens were passed to
+the north and Kaiserlautern to the south and then, the Vosges Mountains
+having been crossed, Jock and his companion looked down on the Rhine
+valley. The Rhine River was crossed north of Oppenheim, and from an
+elevation of six thousand feet, Mainz, at the juncture of the rivers
+Main and Rhine, showed clearly in the moonlight. Still holding their
+course, the aviators looked out to the left, followed up the river Main
+to Frankfort, here they throttled back the engines, glided swiftly down
+through the anti-aircraft barrage and searchlights and released their
+bombs as accurately as possible. Then, after an almost vertical "bank"
+so sudden was the turn, Jock steered a straight course for the nearest
+point in the lines, which was considerably over one hundred miles away.
+Now the aviators had to face a strong head wind and steer straight into
+a rapidly approaching storm. The time taken to fly from Frankfort to the
+Rhine River, together with a change in drift, proved to the aviators
+that the wind had varied slightly in direction and had increased
+somewhat in velocity. They immediately decided not to lose time by
+climbing above the approaching storm, but to pass beneath it. This they
+did, and those aviators never went through a nastier experience than
+this homeward journey. Blinded and stung as they were by the downpour of
+rain, while their aeroplane was hurled about by the wind to such an
+extent that it appeared to be completely out of control, the voyage
+seemed interminable. The clouds above belched flashes of lightning in
+apparent unison with the Hun anti-aircraft batteries below. Held in the
+beams of the enemy's searchlights and plainly visible against the dark
+clouds above, Jock's plane was an easy target for the Hun gunners.
+
+But who can account for the fortunes of war? Jock brought his plane,
+riddled with shrapnel, into the moonlight beyond, showing up
+Kaiserlautern directly below, with its searchlights sweeping the sky
+while its anti-aircraft batteries filled the air with bursting shells;
+but in spite of this "hate" it was a pleasant sight to the aviators, for
+it showed them that their course was correct and that there was still
+time to gain the lines unless the wind increased. Again they passed
+below another dense bank of clouds, to experience again being blinded
+with the rain and shaken by the violence of the wind by which their
+plane was tossed about, all the while subjected to an attack by
+lightning from above and by anti-aircraft guns from below. It is a
+little trying to the nerves to fly for an hour without being able to see
+the earth beneath, and surrounded by the incessant flashings of
+lightning and the "whonkings" of bursting shells, but when homeward
+bound these little incidents are of minor import.
+
+[Illustration: AFTER THE LANDING]
+
+For the second time Jock brought the plane, tossing about like a cork on
+a mountainous sea, out into comparative light. As landmarks were
+recognized, the course was checked and changed, when a third storm was
+encountered. This last storm was furious, and it was impossible to hold
+the plane on a compass course; fortunately, however, the storm lasted
+but a short time, and when Jock brought his plane out into the breaking
+dawn, the Marne-Rhine Canal was visible to the south. A few moments
+later the lines were crossed and a direct course was steered to the
+nearest aerodrome. Just then the engines spluttered, then stopped, the
+petrol was exhausted, and Jock was forced to land in a field near
+Lun�ville after a sustained flight of eight hours and fifty minutes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE GUIDING HAND
+
+
+Mysterious Dick, or "Mystery" as he was usually called, was a slender,
+an�mic-looking boy with deep brown eyes. He was nicknamed "Mystery" for
+several reasons. In the first place, he gave every one on first
+acquaintance an uncomfortable feeling; no one could explain this, but
+every one admitted that he was a "bit queer." When he looked at you his
+eyes never appeared to be focused on you, but to be looking at something
+back of you; I have seen a man to whom Dick was talking suddenly turn
+and look over his shoulder. Another very noticeable trait of Dick's was
+to answer an unasked question, or to interrupt a man at the beginning of
+an argument with a refutation or agreement, as the case might be.
+
+I remember coming into the mess one morning about five o'clock after an
+all-night raid; our machine was the third back. It was a bitter cold
+winter's night and "upstairs" it was absolutely numbing. In the mess
+there were Mac and Dick and one or two others, thawing their congealed
+blood and numbed brains with hot rum. It had been a nasty trip that
+night, dense, low clouds and a head wind on the return voyage; there
+were many machines still unaccounted for, although the supply of petrol
+would "keep them up" but another fifteen minutes. So in the mess we
+sipped our hot rum and sat and thought, or just sat.
+
+"I think they were south of Dieuze"; it was Dick who broke the silence.
+
+Mac jumped and looked hard at "Mysterious Dick," and as we all looked at
+him inquiringly a faint flush rose to his face, he gulped down his rum
+and left the mess.
+
+"It's queer," said Mac, "how often he does that."
+
+"Does what?" I asked.
+
+"Answer your unasked question," replied Mac. "The green balls must have
+been south of Dieuze just as 'Mystery' said, for after leaving Mannheim
+I followed up the Rhine to Hagenau Wald, turned west and crossed the
+Vosges over Zabern; here we went above low clouds and I didn't see the
+ground again for over an hour. I steered my course all right, but was
+fearing a change of wind when just ahead of me I saw the Hun signal of
+two green balls come up through the clouds; as the last 'intelligence'
+placed these two balls at Morchange, I changed my course from 270� to
+245�. It was only luck that about half an hour later a rift in the
+clouds showed me 'F' lighthouse, and as that is about thirty miles
+south of 'B' lighthouse, my original course over Zabern of 270� must
+have been about right to strike 'B' lighthouse. So the green-ball
+signal, as 'Mystery' said, must have been moved from Morchange to south
+of Dieuze, and that is just what I was puzzling out when Dick answered
+the puzzle for me. He's queer, all right." And Mac called for another
+rum.
+
+And "queer" is the best description of Dick that any of the Bedouins
+could have given you, if you had asked them, until one night he was
+finally coaxed after many "treats" to tell about his earlier war
+experiences.
+
+"In 1912 I was a subaltern in the Indian army," Dick said quietly; "a
+row over a woman resulted in my court martial and disgrace.
+
+"When the war broke out I joined as a dispatch rider; I was wounded and
+was in the hospital for over five months. When I came out I succeeded
+in getting into the Royal Flying Corps and eventually was granted a
+commission. But as a pilot I was a complete failure; I 'wrote off'
+several machines and in my last crash I nearly 'wrote off' myself. I was
+unconscious for over a month and it was over eight months before I left
+the hospital.
+
+"I finally got back to France as a recording officer to a Handley-Page
+squadron; here I ran into an old pal of mine, and one night, when his
+navigation officer was sick, my pal took me on a raid without saying a
+word to any one. It was the first time I had ever been in a Handley-Page
+aeroplane and it was the first time I had ever flown at night, but my
+pal was the best pilot in the squadron and the way to the Gontrode
+aerodrome was an open book to him, for he had been there many times
+before; he took me as a passenger for the experience.
+
+"I remember as we 'taxied' over the aerodrome that the roar of the
+engine on each side of me, the flashing of lights, the other machines as
+they passed us or waited with slowly 'ticking-over props' for us to
+pass, the different-colored lights which were being fired down from
+machines already in the air and the lights fired up from the ground, all
+combined and whirled through my excited brain like a meaningless
+nightmare. Then there was a deafening roar and we shot down a path of
+light, bumped hard, bumped less hard, bumped again, and the huge plane
+with its great load of bombs was in the air. Lights on the ground and
+the lights of machines in the air became mixed until I could not tell
+one from the other.
+
+"As we rose higher and higher, ground lights far off in the distance
+came hurtling toward us like the navigation lights of a fast approaching
+machine; I would clutch Jack, yell, and point out the lights in order
+to avoid a collision as it seemed to me; Jack would grin, pull me down
+on the seat beside him, and tell me the lights were on the ground and at
+least ten miles away. Gradually I got control of myself and tried to
+find the aerodrome we had just left; it was nowhere to be seen. There
+was a network of white threads on a black background, an occasional
+winding silver ribbon with here and there a silver blotch and
+queer-shaped blacker blacknesses on the general blackness; these were
+roads, rivers, lakes, and woods as they looked from the air at night.
+
+"How long we had been in the air I don't know. Time seemed nothing, or
+an eternity. We were suspended in a sphere. Lights or stars rushed at us
+or receded or whirled about. Time and distance became mere words without
+meaning and I had fallen into a state resembling hypnotic sleep when
+suddenly roused by Jack. 'There are the lines,' he shouted, and as far
+as the eye could see, to left and right, out of the darkness beneath us
+were the constant flashes of the never silent guns of the Flanders
+front. Every now and then we got a sudden 'bump' as a shell passed near
+us. I had fallen into an almost semiconscious state when
+'tut-tut-tut-tut-tut' jumped me off my seat; I realized that I was
+surrounded by a dazzling whiteness; the machine itself was brilliant.
+Amidst the 'tut-tut-tut' of our own machine guns shooting down at the
+searchlights there was a constant dull 'whonk,' 'whonk,' 'whonk,' and
+the whole machine seemed to be enveloped in puffs of black smoke as the
+anti-aircraft batteries found the range.
+
+"Suddenly the nose of the machine went down and my breath left me in the
+crazy rush, my hands grasped at anything, and somehow, momentarily
+blinded with fright as I was, my right hand involuntarily clutching Jack
+conveyed the truth to my brain. Jack was dead. He had fallen forward on
+the wheel and the giant plane was rushing, roaring down to destruction.
+With a spasmodic effort I pulled his body from the seat onto the floor
+at my feet and pulled back the wheel. With a sickening change and a
+shrill singing of wires we were climbing. How the fuselage and tail
+plane stood the strain of it, God knows. I was in Jack's seat now
+pushing the wheel from me, pulling it toward me, turning it to the
+right, then to the left, pushing the rudder bar with my right foot, then
+with my left. Panic was in control. We must have dropped three thousand
+feet before a sudden calmness came over me and I found this aerial
+monster as gentle to manage as a perfectly bitted horse.
+
+"But there was Jack, huddled on the floor at my feet with part of his
+head gone. I remember leaning down and trying to pull him out of his
+cramped position, and then came an eternity of stargazing. I wondered
+why the stars didn't run into each other and crash. I leaned across the
+fuselage and turned a pet-cock; a little spray of petrol came out with
+the escaping air; the hands of two dials on the left side of the
+cock-pit began turning slowly anti-clockwise; I forgot them and looked
+at the stars. Later I pressed a button on the dashboard and looked out
+at my starboard engine; a small dial was lit up. I looked at the port
+engine, a similar dial was lit up. I took my right hand from the wheel
+and pulled the throttle slightly back; again I star-gazed as if in a
+dream and without any volition I closed the pet-cock which I had
+previously opened.
+
+"This was my first time in a Handley-Page, and I knew nothing of
+pressures or temperatures. How long I flew I don't know; what direction
+I should have flown I did not know at that time. Occasionally I glanced
+at the compass and as well as I can remember the needle pointed west
+generally, but I gave it no thought. Finally I pulled back the throttle
+and began to glide. I leaned over the next seat and pulled two levers.
+Remember that at this time I had never heard of shutters for the
+radiators. Down I came into heavier and heavier atmosphere. I was calm
+and happy. I never even gave the ground a thought, never even glanced at
+it. I remember taking from a rack on my left a stubby revolver with a
+huge bore, pointing it over the side and pulling the trigger, and I
+watched a green light go slowly down and searchlights that were blinking
+up at me went out. A few seconds later a knob on the dashboard seemed to
+rivet my attention; it was a small knob exactly like an electric-light
+switch. I began to play with this. To do this I had to lean forward and
+stretch out my left arm; this action brought my face around to the
+right, and as I played with the knob I saw a light blinking on my right
+wing tip. I remember laughing at this.
+
+"The plane took a sudden dip and I sat up. Just off to my right and very
+little below me were lights on the ground in the shape of a 'T,' and
+other lights were flashing at me. I turned toward the 'T' and stuck down
+the nose of the machine; I pulled the throttle farther back, and just as
+I seemed to be running into dense blackness I leaned forward and pressed
+a button; a brilliant light sprang up under the machine; there was the
+ground not two feet away, apparently. I yanked back the wheel and a
+moment later there was a great bump, another and another, and we came to
+rest on our own aerodrome.
+
+"The doctor told me that he had never seen such a collapse. I had been
+unconscious for hours after being lifted from the machine together with
+my dead pal. I was awarded this decoration, gentlemen, for bringing that
+machine home safely. Since that time I have been awarded these other
+decorations for feats you have all heard of. But I want to tell you,"
+and "Mystery Dick" stood up with flushed face and blazing eyes, "that I
+have never flown an aeroplane in France. Jack, my old pal, dare-devil
+Jack, whose head was blown off beside me during my first trip across the
+lines, flies my machine. Jack, dear old Jack, has won these medals I
+wear."
+
+And Dick, no longer "Mystery Dick," left the mess. I say no longer
+"Mystery Dick" because from that day on there was nothing mysterious
+about Dick to the "Bedouins."
+
+Explain it as you may, call it God, the spirit of a dead friend, or a
+thought vibration to which their mind is attuned, explain it as you
+choose, or try to explain it not at all, every member of the "Bedouin"
+Squadron has felt the "Guiding Hand" and every "Bedouin" knew, as every
+man who makes constant companions of danger and death must eventually
+know, that the dead still "carry on."
+
+THE END
+
+
+The Riverside Press
+
+CAMBRIDGE � MASSACHUSETTS
+
+U � S � A
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Night Bombing with the Bedouins, by 
+Robert Henry Reece
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+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Night Bombing with the Bedouins, by Robert H. Reece.
+    </title>
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+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
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+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+            /*  visibility: hidden;  */
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Night Bombing with the Bedouins, by Robert Henry Reece
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Night Bombing with the Bedouins
+
+Author: Robert Henry Reece
+
+Release Date: October 11, 2008 [EBook #26879]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NIGHT BOMBING WITH THE BEDOUINS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a>
+<img src="images/i002.jpg" width="351" height="600" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+   <h1>NIGHT BOMBING<br />
+   WITH THE BEDOUINS</h1>
+
+   <h2><i>By One of the Squadron</i></h2>
+
+   <h3>ROBERT H. REECE<br />
+   LIEUT. D.F.C., R.A.F.</h3>
+
+   <h4><i>With Illustrations</i></h4>
+
+   <div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
+<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="200" height="207" alt="military badge" title="" />
+</div>
+
+   <p class="center">BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br />
+   HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br />
+   The Riverside Press Cambridge<br />
+   1919<br /><br />
+
+   COPYRIGHT, 1919, ROBERT H. REECE<br />
+   ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="DEDICATION" id="DEDICATION"></a>DEDICATION</h2>
+
+<div class="centerbox">
+<p><i>In a spirit of the deepest reverence I dedicate this unworthy effort to
+the memory of a true sportsman, a loyal friend, and a gallant officer
+who was killed in action while serving his Country as a Pilot in the
+American Air Service,</i></p>
+
+<h4>
+LIEUTENANT SAMUEL PIERCE MANDELL
+</h4>
+
+<p><i>America has given of the finest of her Youth to uphold the Cause of
+Right, but she has given no one of more splendid promise than he, whose
+service was an example of devotion to duty, of readiness for action, and
+of undaunted courage.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>His life was an inspiration to the living "to carry on" and finish the
+great struggle for which he died, that he and those like him may not
+have died in vain.</i></p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Per Ardua ad Astra</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'><b>1</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The "Bedouin" Squadron</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_12'><b>12</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bedouins at Ochey Aerodrome</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_39'><b>39</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Night Raid</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_50'><b>50</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Some Epics of Night Bombing</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_71'><b>71</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Guiding Hand</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_86'><b>86</b></a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS">
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lieutenant Robert H. Reece</span>, R.A.F.</td><td align='right'><a href='#frontis'><b><i>Photogravure Frontispiece</i></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Jimmie Walks up and down the Trench</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_14'><b>14</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Entrance to Officers' Mess</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_40'><b>40</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Patriotic, Scientific Mechanics</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_44'><b>44</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">After the Landing</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_84'><b>84</b></a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2><br /><br />NIGHT BOMBING WITH THE "BEDOUINS"<br /><br /></h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>PER ARDUA AD ASTRA</h3>
+
+
+<p>In prehistoric times the first man to make for himself a stone hatchet
+probably became the greatest warrior of his particular region. He may
+not have been as strong physically as his neighbor, but with the aid of
+so marvellous an invention as a stone hatchet he undoubtedly conquered
+his enemies and became a great prehistoric potentate, until some other
+great man made a larger and stronger hatchet; so down to the present
+invention has followed invention and improvement has been added to
+improvement to such an extent that it is difficult to imagine what new
+weapon of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> destruction man can develop in the future.</p>
+
+<p>What would the past generation have said of a man who had prophesied
+great armies fighting in the air? Even in the early months of the war
+there were but few who realized what an important part of the war was to
+be carried on in the newly conquered element. When the infantry saw an
+occasional box-kite-looking machine drifting slowly over the lines,
+struggling to keep itself aloft, how many, I wonder, foresaw that in a
+few months these machines would be swooping down on them like swallows,
+raking them with machine guns by day and bombing them by night? How many
+artillery officers laughed at the suggestion that a day was coming when
+thousands of great guns would be directed from the air? Yet in a few
+short months two great blind fighting giants, their arms stretching from
+the Belgian coast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> to the Swiss border, learned to see each other; and
+their eyes were in the air.</p>
+
+<p>The first aeroplanes to cross the lines carried no armament; they were
+for reconnaissance work only; they would fly a few miles back of the
+enemy lines, have a good look around, and then come back and report what
+they had seen. Often British and German machines would pass quite close
+to each other. Flying was considered sufficiently dangerous, not to add
+a further danger to it by attacking enemy machines.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans, however, because they greatly outnumbered the British in
+the air, had more eyes to see with; something had to be done; so rifles
+were carried by the British and a finer sport than shooting ducks came
+into vogue. This quickly led to the carrying of machine guns. Ingenuity
+in devising sights to compensate for the speed of our own machines and
+to gauge a proper deflection according to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> the speed and angle of
+approach of the enemy machine, soon decreased the advantage the enemy
+aviators had through superior numbers.</p>
+
+<p>For example, if our machine was flying at the rate of one hundred miles
+per hour and the enemy's machine was travelling past us in the opposite
+direction at an equal rate, our fore-sight nullified our motion and
+enabled us to shoot as if from a stationary base, while our back-sight
+helped us to gauge that imaginary point at which to shoot where our
+bullets and the enemy machine would meet. In other words, we shot at an
+enemy machine although we ourselves were travelling rapidly, exactly as
+a sportsman shoots at a bird on the wing.</p>
+
+<p>Then a new aeroplane was developed, the single-seater tractor, with a
+Vickers gun, synchronized to shoot through the rapidly revolving
+propeller so as to avoid the blades. These machines were used to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> patrol
+the lines and keep enemy machines from crossing, or to accompany a
+reconnaissance machine as protector; for they were very much faster,
+easier to man&oelig;uvre, and altogether very much more efficient fighters.
+At first they operated singly, but it was soon discovered that two of
+these scout machines operating together invariably obtained better
+success than when operating alone. This led to formation flying, and up
+to the cessation of hostilities these formations grew in size and varied
+in shape.</p>
+
+<p>The reconnaissance work was soon divided into classes: long and short
+reconnaissance and photographic reconnaissance. The long reconnaissance
+dealt with enemy movements far behind the lines; the short
+reconnaissance with enemy activities near the front. The photographic
+reconnaissance consisted of taking aerial photographs of everything of
+military importance within flying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> radius. These photographs pieced
+together showed the enemy defences along the entire British front and
+their changes from day to day.</p>
+
+<p>Wireless apparatus was soon attached to aeroplanes, and this enabled an
+aviator to communicate with people on the ground many miles away; and so
+what was called artillery observation was developed. Roughly speaking,
+this is the direction of the fire of our batteries against enemy
+targets; but, just as specialization came in reconnaissance and
+fighting, so now machines specialized in artillery observation. To-day
+the efficiency of the artillery depends largely upon its direction from
+the air. For instance, when a battery takes over a new area the gunners
+may be called upon to fire at certain targets, such as cross-roads or
+houses used as infantry headquarters or ammunition and stores dumps, at
+a moment's notice. Consequently, if these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> targets are registered by
+aeroplane, all the gunners have to do when called upon to open fire is
+to refer to their registration book which will give them the necessary
+angles to use on their sights, then, by allowing for the temperature of
+the day and the direction and velocity of the wind, their shooting is
+certain to be far more accurate than it would be if the target had not
+been previously registered. The registration of targets to-day without
+the use of areoplanes is very often impossible.</p>
+
+<p>The registration of targets from the air, however, is not the most
+important part of this work. For instance, a machine will be flying over
+enemy territory; the observer will see the flash of an enemy gun and
+will pin-point its position on his map, which is marked off into large
+and small lettered and numbered squares. This operation enables him to
+send by wireless what is known as a zone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> call, giving the exact
+location of the enemy battery to all of our batteries within range. The
+enemy battery then has to move suddenly, if it is ever to move at all.</p>
+
+<p>Barrages can also be controlled very efficiently from the air, so,
+considering the comparatively short time that aeroplanes have been used
+in this work and the wonderful results that have been obtained, it does
+not take much imagination to see the necessity for all future artillery
+officers to be trained as aviators.</p>
+
+<p>In the earlier stages of the war it was very difficult for Headquarters
+to keep in close touch with the infantry during a "push"; consequently,
+considerable loss of life might result from one portion of the line
+advancing out of contact with another. Probably the eagerness of raw
+troops to keep on advancing regardless of their objective has led to a
+considerable and unnecessary loss of life. The aero<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>plane can be used in
+these situations to great advantage, and after the development of what
+is known as "contact patrol" the aeroplane became the connecting link
+between Headquarters and the infantry.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until 1916 that the full powers of the aeroplane as an
+offensive weapon began to be realized. Bombing was done, but it was of a
+desultory nature, and although the number of machines engaged in this
+work steadily increased, and the work itself became more and more
+diversified and specialized, it was not until 1918 that the
+possibilities of the aeroplane as a purely offensive weapon were
+appreciated.</p>
+
+<p>An aeroplane can operate far back of the enemy lines, both in the day
+and at night; enemy troops in transport can be bombed: railway stations,
+sidings, etc., damaged; transports of all kinds delayed; and ammunition
+dumps, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> located, can be blown up. In fact, military targets of all
+sorts can be attacked from the air that cannot be reached in any other
+way. The very foundation of a nation's strength in war, its industry,
+can be attacked from the air and, if attacked on a large enough scale,
+can be destroyed. For instance, eighty per cent of the German steel
+industry was within bombing range of the Allies. The Westphalian group
+of high-grade steel industries centred at Essen is about two hundred
+miles from Nancy. If this group had been bombed on a large scale the
+source of supply of German guns and munitions could have been destroyed;
+for a blast furnace destroyed cannot be replaced within nine months, and
+the destruction of the central electrical plant of a steel factory would
+place the entire factory out of operation for at least six months. The
+hundreds of bombing machines which the English aeroplane fac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>tories were
+turning out at the time hostilities ceased, and the thousands of men
+being trained for bombing, make one wonder what would have happened to
+the German industries if the war had continued through the spring of
+1919.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these hundreds of aeroplanes under construction and the
+thousands of men in training, the Royal Air Force had in operation,
+November 11, 1918, over twenty thousand aeroplanes, over thirty thousand
+aviators, and over two hundred thousand mechanics and other personnel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE "BEDOUIN" SQUADRON</h3>
+
+
+<p>The "Bedouin" Squadron, so called because as a unit it was constantly
+moved from place to place, and because its members as individuals were
+wanderers at heart, was formed in September, 1917, equipped with the
+large Handley-Page bombing planes, and sent to the Nancy front to carry
+out pioneer work in long-distance bombing. The "Bedouins," as the
+officers of this squadron were called, first saw the light of day in
+England, Scotland, Ireland, America, India, Canada, South Africa, and
+Australia. Before becoming aviators many of them had fought in the
+infantry on the western front, in Gallipoli, and in Egypt; some as
+officers, some as privates, but for no general reason, unless the law
+of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> nature which prevents squirrels from remaining on the ground also
+applies to men, they one by one in divers ways drifted into the Flying
+Corps, and flew different types of machines on different fronts until
+brought together and formed, "willy-nilly," into the Bedouin Squadron.</p>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>There was "Jimmie," whose insides had been shot away in Gallipoli. He
+was the envy of the officers' mess, because his newly acquired digestive
+apparatus, composed principally of silver tubes, could assimilate more
+wine without producing ill results than any other five members of the
+mess. Jimmie was not a flying officer; by all the laws of nature he
+should have been a corpse, but he had a heart which disregarded an
+intestine designed by a surgeon who must have been a plumber in some
+previous incarnation, and this great heart carried him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> through four
+years of war, and made of him an energizing force to all who came in
+contact with him. It was not until after the cessation of hostilities
+that the soul of this hero was liberated from the poor maimed body with
+its mechanical digestive system.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie was the First Lieutenant of the Station; it was his job to see to
+the discipline of the two hundred and fifty mechanics, riggers,
+carpenters, armorers, drivers, and officers' stewards. He did this in
+such a way as to make all the men love him except the few, very few, who
+were surly slackers, and these feared him worse than death itself.
+Jimmie was always just, but he demanded results. To those who shirked he
+was a just judge and an unsympathetic jury; so, under Jimmie, slackers
+soon became demons for work, and later on learned like the others to
+love him. To those who produced results, he was a father.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/i025.jpg" width="600" height="361" alt="JIMMIE WALKS UP AND DOWN THE TRENCH" title="" />
+<span class="caption">JIMMIE WALKS UP AND DOWN THE TRENCH</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I remember that shortly after the squadron took up its residence on the
+Nancy front, the Huns came over and bombed us severely; many of the
+mechanics were fresh from the factories in England and were quite
+unaccustomed to seeing the damage that one hundred pounds of high
+explosive can do to the delicate anatomy of the human being; panic
+seized them; but a greater fear possessed them when Jimmie's orders
+burst upon them like the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun; they marched as
+if on parade into the trenches, recently dug behind the hangars; then
+Jimmie, smoking an occasional cigarette, strolled up and down in front
+during the three hours' bombardment.</p>
+
+<p>So the men soon learned, under Jimmie, the value of discipline; it meant
+their safety when under fire, and it meant freedom from military
+punishments. They were quick to grasp the fact<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> that any negligence on
+their part might mean death to the aviator who flew in the neglected
+aeroplane. Flagrant neglect they soon learned might cause other deaths
+than those suffered by the unfortunate aviators.</p>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>There was Sammie, a prototype of the caricatured Englishman in our comic
+papers. Every American theatre-goer has seen Sammie exaggerated on the
+music-hall stage.</p>
+
+<p>Sammie was a small boy with an eyebrow on his upper lip and an
+apparently permanent window over his right eye. Before joining the
+Flying Corps he had served seventeen months in the trenches as a
+private; finally, driven mad with filth, rats, and other vermin, he
+captured an enemy machine-gun emplacement single-handed, and was given a
+commission. Shortly afterwards he joined the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> Flying Corps, probably
+because he could not keep his new uniform clean while in the trenches.</p>
+
+<p>Sammie was always immaculate, and as a uniform gives one very little
+opportunity to express one's individuality in dress, Sammie carried his
+handkerchief up his sleeve. Even Generals envied Sammie's field boots
+and every one who met him wanted to know the name of his tailor.</p>
+
+<p>In peace-time Sammie would have looked like a toy Pom with a ribbon
+around its neck; but a more imperturbable man in the face of danger
+never lived.</p>
+
+<p>"My word" was the expression used by Sammie to denote every degree of
+human emotion. If it was Sammie's lot to draw the occasional egg served
+in the Bedouin mess, his only remark when it hopped out of reach would
+be, "My word."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I remember one night when both of our machines were out of action,
+Sammie and I, who slept in the same hut, went to bed at the early hour
+of twelve o'clock; at about one in the morning the Huns dropped their
+first bomb very close to us; a picture of Sammie's mother was on a stand
+beside the head of his cot; a fragment of the bomb came through the wall
+of the hut and shattered this picture; I landed, as far as I know
+involuntarily, in the middle of the floor with a lighted torch in my
+hand; Sammie saw the shattered remains of his mother's picture; "My
+word, mother will be pleased," he said, turned over and was sound asleep
+instantly. I know Sammie slept because he never remarked on my taking a
+short cut to the trenches through the window.</p>
+
+<p>Another time when a Hun bomb dropped in the officers' trench and failed
+to explode, Sammie, who was but two feet away, tried to lift it, failed,
+and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> lay full length upon it, believing it to be of the "delay
+action" variety; when our Major, a bomb expert, appeared on the scene a
+few moments later and laughingly declared the bomb a "dud," Sammie's
+embarrassment expressed itself in "My word." If the detonating apparatus
+of this bomb had been all that the Huns intended it to be, Sammie would
+have returned to minute specks of dust and his name would have been
+added to the long list of dead heroes; but since the bomb was a "dud,"
+Sammie was made the butt of his friends' wit.</p>
+
+<p>Sammie was always philosophical. He was once ordered to take a new
+machine on a very long raid. We had all examined this new aeroplane and
+declared it a "dud"; so we cheered Sammie up as well as we could by
+drinking his health and inquiring into his taste in flowers. Undismayed,
+Sammie took the machine off the ground, with the wheel held into his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+stomach; the rigging of the machine was such that it would fly on an
+even plane longitudinally if the wheel was kept back as far as possible.
+By all the laws of aeronautics this aeroplane should have crashed before
+leaving the ground, but it did not. Sammie climbed it to five hundred
+feet in an hour and a half. As Sammie now had seven and one half hours
+petrol left and was still four hours away from his objective, it would
+have been quite justifiable for him to return without going any farther;
+in fact, it was the only reasonable thing for him to do; but Sammie
+always trusted to luck rather than reason, and his luck did not fail
+him. One engine "conked" and he was forced to turn back. He fired his
+forced landing signal when approaching the aerodrome, but the aerodrome
+was being bombed by the Huns in a very thorough manner and Sammie had to
+land in complete darkness, the inevitable result be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>ing a crash. Sammie
+extricated himself from the wreckage, found that both of his companions
+were dead, rescued one of the machine guns from its damaged mounting,
+together with several drums of ammunition and practised his marksmanship
+on the enemy planes until an enemy bomb ruined his clothes and left him,
+after a few months in the hospital, minus an arm.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>There was "Jock," a "wee bonnie laddie," from the south of Scotland. He
+stood five feet three inches tall when wearing field boots with
+exceptionally high heels, but that did not prevent him from braining a
+Hun with the Hun's own wrench some sixty miles back of the enemy's front
+lines, and this is how it happened.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, about three o'clock, information arrived, together with a
+com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>plete and undamaged Hun aeroplane and two friendly Hun aviators,
+that at a certain German switch station a troop train and an ammunition
+train were due to pass at a certain hour. Jock and his pal left the
+congenial beer barrel, turned the friendly Hun aviators over to the
+guard, made themselves acquainted with the Hun aeroplane, refilled it
+with petrol and oil, and departed on a merry adventure. Forgetting that
+the Hun machine would be subject to attack by our own aviators, Jock and
+his companion were in a great dilemma when so attacked. Of course, they
+could not protect themselves by a counter-fire, but when a man is born
+in Scotland, and is a direct descendant of oatmeal-eating bandits, he
+naturally has a keener brain than even the Jews can boast of;
+consequently, by spinning nose dives and other signs of lack of control
+the wily Scot gleefully gained the enemy's side of the lines. Here he
+was un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>molested, although Hun aviators must have been astonished to see
+one of their own machines engaged in the British sport of
+"hedge-hopping"; i.e., flying close to the ground and "zooming" up over
+trees, houses, etc.</p>
+
+<p>In due time Jock and his companion landed in a small field a few hundred
+yards away from the all-important switch station. Here they descended
+and under pretence of examining their engine, although the first one of
+the ever-curious crowd was still several fields away, they looked up the
+word "wrench" in an English-German pocket dictionary; they then marched
+off to the switch station. Fortunately there was but one occupant, for
+neither Jock nor his companion could talk German, and the idiocy of not
+carrying a more serviceable weapon than a pocket dictionary never
+occurred to the mad Scot until his companion began to make weird
+gurgling sounds, evidently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> intended for the language of the Hun,
+addressed to the astonished station-master.</p>
+
+<p>Then down through generations of oatmeal-eating bandits came a glimmer
+of sense to Jock. He grabbed the first thing within reach, a wrench, and
+brained the Hun station-master with a blow; then the mad but somewhat
+sobered adventurers found and pulled the switch lever so as to bring the
+approaching trains into collision, and departed. When Jock saw the crowd
+which had collected about his aeroplane, he took a solemn oath never to
+touch beer but to stick to whiskey; but the crowd, which included a few
+Hun soldiers, respectfully made way for the "camouflaged" British
+aviators and a few moments later, wet with cold perspiration, they were
+in the air. Thoroughly sobered, they made for home with their engine
+"full out." Six weeks later "intelligence" reported that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> a German troop
+train and ammunition train had collided.</p>
+
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>There was "Mac," a North of England man. Before the war he was a typical
+English sportsman; he lived for hunting, and polo was his hobby. Like
+the rest of his class he pushed his way into the fighting line as soon
+as possible, as a private in the First Hundred Thousand. But eventually
+his genius expressed itself and leaving the known walks of man he became
+a master of the newly conquered element. Mac's mind was not limited by
+science, his soul was not dwarfed by religious prejudice, he held no
+political position, and he had no personal military ambition. He fought
+to defeat a threat to the civilization he believed in, to preserve a
+form of government that his ancestors had bled and died for, and to
+secure a future for his tiny son free from the hell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> of war. Mac, like
+every other man who had the courage to fight, and if necessary, die for
+his beliefs, hoped that the fighting man would be allowed to fight on
+until these ends had been achieved so that those who had died should not
+have made the great sacrifice in vain. He hoped, like all other fighting
+men, that politicians would not be given the power to render valueless
+to posterity the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of lives; but Mac
+was merely a man, of fearless integrity, honesty of purpose, with
+humanitarian ideals, and a believer in Democracy; he could not realize
+that a large majority, because of selfishness, ignorance, and a lack of
+the spirit of self-sacrifice, do not deserve the right to vote. But Mac
+was a sportsman and a gentleman, the descendant of generations of men
+who faced death willingly in a cause they knew was honorable and who
+died happily in the thought that their death made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> life easier for
+future generations. So Mac did not worry about the selfish ambitions of
+men; he did all he could to win the World War.</p>
+
+<p>I first met Mac a few months after he flew a Handley-Page machine from
+London to Constantinople and back to Salonica, a distance of over two
+thousand miles. Mac was a Captain then, he is a Captain now, but no
+living man has done more damage to the Hun than Mac has done. A far
+greater leader of men than his great uncle, who was a General in our
+Civil War, Mac gave a soul to the Bedouin Squadron. To Mac's leadership
+is due the first bombings of Mannheim, Coblenz, Thionville, Frankfort,
+and Cologne.</p>
+
+<p>It was Mac who flew a German aeroplane to Sedan, followed a "spotted"
+train to a near-by station, swooped down as the German High Command left
+the train and opened on them with his ma<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>chine gun. It was Mac who
+landed over ten times near Karlsruhe at night and returned with
+invaluable information. But it is not because of the innumerable
+suicidal adventures of which Mac is the hero that every Bedouin, no
+matter in what part of the world he may be, always drinks a silent toast
+to Mac whenever possible; it is because every Bedouin realizes that a
+great man carried out a small man's job in a great way.</p>
+
+
+<h3>V</h3>
+
+<p>"Gus" was the president of the Bedouin mess, and probably because of an
+early education at Heidelberg, he believed in starving the British
+aviator. At all events, while Gus was mess president we all starved with
+agonizing slowness, for Gus had but two ideas of what constituted a
+menu. Our meals consisted solely of "bully beef" and Brussels sprouts;
+this meal was varied occasion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>ally by leaving out the sprouts. To every
+indignant complaint from long-suffering members of the officers' mess,
+Gus would answer with the incontrovertible statement that
+"humming-birds' tongues cannot be purchased with tuppence"; this
+incontrovertible statement always reduced the complaining member to
+frothings at the mouth and other signs of inexpressible rage.
+Nevertheless, under the starvation system of Gus's stewardship a large
+credit balance was established at the Soci&eacute;t&eacute; G&eacute;n&eacute;rale, which enabled
+the succeeding mess president to replace the expert electrician, who by
+army wisdom had been converted into a poisonous cook, with a Frenchman,
+whose cooking was not cooking at all, but an art which filled the
+Bedouins with admiration and destroyed their waist lines. Six-course
+banquets, ending with a rare old yellow Chartreuse, became the order of
+the day, and whenever some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> seductive delicacy defied analysis we would
+ask Gus if it contained the tongue of the humming-bird.</p>
+
+<p>But Gus, although a failure in always satisfying the epicurean tastes of
+the Bedouins, won fame by being the first to bomb Cologne.</p>
+
+
+<h3>VI</h3>
+
+<p>"Mid" was a Yank who joined the squadron a few months before its
+"bust-up." Mid had been a private in the first American contingent to
+arrive in France; but because he was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and knew
+that automobiles were manufactured in Detroit, Michigan, he was given a
+commission. The Bedouins first met Mid in January, 1918. He had run his
+car&mdash;Mid was always driving a car&mdash;into a snowdrift, and wandered a
+couple of miles through a blizzard in search of help. Fortunately for
+us, he tumbled into our mess in the midst of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> a "storm celebration";
+i.e., a celebration in honor of a storm which forces birds and all other
+inhabitants of the air to seek shelter. Mid was pounced upon, placed in
+front of the fire, and given hot rum. A crew of men were sent off to dig
+his "benzine buggy" out of the snow and convey it to Mid's station, it
+having been decided that Mid should spend the night with the Bedouins.</p>
+
+<p>Mid soon won the hearts of the Bedouins by showing a proper appreciation
+for hot rum, and when he prefaced his first remark to the C.O. with
+"Say, kid," the Bedouins realized that Mid gave every promise of making
+this "storm celebration" unique in Bedouin history, and as far as Mid
+was concerned it certainly was.</p>
+
+<p>Mid entered into the spirit of the occasion with Western thoroughness
+and learned a lesson in a few hours which it has taken some men years to
+learn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>&mdash;that hot rum when taken on a cold and empty stomach must be
+treated with respect; in fact, a certain amount of coyness is not out of
+place. Mid was soon being supported on a chair while he delivered an
+epic on the "soul of a jellyfish"; he was then tossed in the "sacred
+blanket" and put through other Bedouin initiations; after which he was
+tucked comfortably in Jock's bed, while Jock, bound hand and foot and
+rolled in blankets, made horrid Highland remarks from the draughty floor
+of the hut.</p>
+
+<p>Dear old Mid, however, bore no ill-will to the Bedouins for what he
+might have considered unceremonious treatment of an American officer who
+was an honored guest. The next morning with a humble but dignified mien,
+Mid apologized for everything that he had done. As a matter of fact, the
+only disreputable thing Mid had done while under the influence of an
+excess of hot rum on an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> empty stomach was to make friends with a few
+men whom the Huns had sworn to kill on sight.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing daunted, Mid soon "wangled" permission to become attached to the
+Bedouin Squadron, and a more dare-devil spirit and lovable comrade than
+Mid did not exist among the Bedouins. He was always as keen for work as
+he was "full out" for a party, and he was always the life of a
+celebration. I remember one night when the C.O. read out at dinner a
+telegram which concisely stated that His Majesty the King had awarded to
+one of the Bedouins a very great honor, Mid broke loose. "Say, kids," he
+said, "I want to say right here that it's a great honor for my mother's
+younger son to be a Bedouin, and since it's a 'dud' night I want to ask
+your permission, Sir" (turning to the C.O.), "to present every Bedouin
+with a quart of the best." Permission being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> given by the C.O. on the
+condition that the C.O. himself would be allowed to share in the
+"largess," every Bedouin had placed before him a quart of Heidsieck
+Monopole. Songs and speeches followed, and Mid, since he could not "take
+the air," took the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Fellow citizens," he said, balancing himself on an upturned beer
+barrel, "it gives me great pleasure to be able to stand before you this
+evening"; support given and applause. "It has always seemed to me that
+the greatest country in the world might be considered a bit slow in
+entering the war." [Hear! Hear!] "But, gentlemen, now that we are in, I
+want to say that we will be the first out." [Loud applause!] "I want you
+to understand that because the United States has always been considered
+the historic enemy of Great Britain, Germany was enabled to persuade an
+ignorant electorate that the United States<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> and Germany were friends.
+But now we are in, we are in to the finish. When I say finish,
+gentlemen, I mean a finish to the fighting, but I beg of you to be
+careful of the non-fighting part of my country's population, and their
+representatives. More I cannot say, except this, if ever your King or
+your sea-power is threatened, you may depend upon every true American;
+we owe you a debt, and depend upon it every descendant of the founders
+of our country will die before that obligation is allowed to be
+repudiated." With loud cheers, Mid was lifted from his perch.</p>
+
+
+<h3>VII</h3>
+
+<p>The Bedouin who held the unenvied record for crashes was known
+throughout the service as "Killem." Almost every time he went on a raid
+he crashed his machine, fortunately for him on this side of the lines.
+One night, returning from a raid on the Boche magneto works at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+Stuttgart, he lost his way and was forced to land, because of engine
+trouble, in France, near the Swiss border. The topography of the country
+here being mountainous, he was fortunate in merely "writing off" his
+aeroplane. He might easily have killed himself and his two companions,
+but he came out of the crash quite unhurt except for a severe chill
+contracted by a forced sojourn in the icy waters of a shallow pond.
+Pinned beneath the wreckage of his machine with an unpleasant ripple of
+water in close proximity to his chin, Killem had an excellent
+opportunity to think over his past sins while his companions in misery,
+who had been thrown clear for no other reason apparently except that the
+devil takes care of his own, struggled manfully, one with a broken arm
+and the other with a wrenched knee, to release him from the pressure of
+wreckage which held him helpless.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A few nights after this unpleasant experience the mad fellow "took off"
+down wind. This idiotic method of leaving the ground resulted in his
+being barely able to rise above the roofs of the near-by village and
+brought him into direct contact with the church spire. The spire being
+of solid construction withstood the impact; the aeroplane did not. So
+Killem and his companions, together with the wrecked Handley-Page and
+one thousand five hundred and sixty-eight pounds of undetonated bombs
+descended onto the street below&mdash;<span class="smcap">UNDETONATED</span>. It was exceedingly
+fortunate for the inhabitants of the French village that the bombs
+remained undetonated. Killem crawled out of the wreck, looked ruefully
+at the church spire, and muttered, "I've always felt that I should have
+gone oftener to church in my youth. Now look at the damned result of my
+negligence."</p>
+
+<p>It was Killem who tested out a new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> aeroplane one day while a south wind
+equal to the air speed of his machine was blowing. While flying north he
+travelled over the ground twice as fast as he travelled through the air,
+but when he turned around over the city of Toul he remained stationary.
+He was travelling through the air as fast as before, but now he was
+headed south, and as the wind passed over the ground toward the north as
+rapidly as Killem travelled through the air toward the south, the
+inhabitants of Toul were amazed to see a heavier-than-air machine
+remaining stationary above their heads. This situation greatly alarmed a
+dear old lady of Toul, who eventually arrived at our aerodrome in a
+donkey cart with the astounding information that one of our planes "had
+run out" of petrol and was stalled directly above her house.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BEDOUINS AT OCHEY AERODROME</h3>
+
+
+<p>If you had visited the Bedouin Squadron at about eleven o'clock in the
+morning you would have received quite a shock when entering the
+officers' mess. In the first place, you would have found the mess
+deserted except for several dogs of unknown species and innumerable
+cats,&mdash;some proudly nourishing recent offspring, others in various
+stages of anticipation of a similar pleasure. Secondly, you would have
+been surprised at the comfortable, if not artistic, interior of our
+exteriorly unattractive hut. In the centre of the "ward-room" or
+sitting-room was an open fireplace of ingenious design. On a stone and
+earth base, covered with sheet iron, rested a large cast-iron box with
+many peculiarly shaped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> apertures resembling as far as possible the
+incomprehensible design of a lady's lace mouchoir. The fire-box was
+supported by four cast-iron "whirly-gigs," the artistic effort of a
+mechanic detailed to construct legs for the support of the aforesaid
+fire-box. Above this box a large hollow pyramid, the apex of which
+connected with a pipe, which in turn after divers wanderings led through
+a hole in the roof, offered an exit for the smoke. Needless to say, this
+offer was frequently ignored. Around this fireplace was a foot-railing
+constructed from the main spar of a crashed Handley-Page. The rest of
+the furniture fortunately was not homemade. Large easy-chairs and
+lounges, the gift of a friendly merchant of Nancy, often made progress
+from one end of the room to the other,&mdash;a feat requiring considerable
+skill in navigation. A piano was wedged into one corner of the room;
+"Sin-fin," a mad Irishman, appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> with this piano one day together
+with an exhilarated French officer driving a lorry. No one ever found
+out how the piano had been secured, but since a sweet little
+"demoiselle" now rides "Sin-fin's" Irish hunters, we may believe, if we
+wish, that a rickety piano formed the basis of an international romance.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 494px;">
+<img src="images/i053.jpg" width="494" height="600" alt="ENTRANCE TO OFFICERS&#39; MESS" title="" />
+<span class="caption">ENTRANCE TO OFFICERS&#39; MESS</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The walls of the room were draped with rich damask; as the officers'
+steward who produced this incongruous luxury was an ex-convict, no
+inquiries were made concerning it.</p>
+
+<p>In the same hut with the ward-room and adjoining it was the mess or
+dining-room and beyond this was the "galley" or kitchen. While the
+Bedouins were inflicted with a cook who had been in pre-war days an
+expert electrician, the kitchen would not have been your most attractive
+route to the officers' sleeping-quarters.</p>
+
+<p>Presuming that you left the mess through its more congenial exit, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+ward-room, the next hut you would have come to was the officers'
+quarters. There at eleven o'clock in the morning you would have heard a
+full symphony rendered by twenty lusty sleepers. "Is this war?" you
+might have asked yourself if you did not have in mind that you were
+visiting a night-bombing squadron. The officers in this hut had returned
+but five or six hours previously from an all-night raid over Germany.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond this hut are the men's quarters which are deserted at this hour.
+Across the road is the workshop or repair factory which, under the eye
+of "Bill," the engine officer, runs "full blast" from six in the morning
+to nine or ten at night. Next to this miniature factory is the armorers'
+hut where all the machine guns are overhauled daily, ammunition tested
+as regards rims, sunken caps, etc., and every possible precaution taken
+to render the guns thoroughly efficient.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Near by are the huge, camouflaged hangars, or buildings containing the
+aeroplanes. Here the mechanics are "tuning up" the engines; the riggers
+are trueing up the aeroplanes, tightening a flying wire here, loosening
+a landing wire there, testing controls; in fact, doing all that
+scientific knowledge and care can do to reduce the chance of accident
+from mechanical imperfection. And upon these patriotic, scientific
+mechanics, working for their country and their ideals and recompensed
+from a pecuniary point of view with a shilling or two a day, rested to a
+large extent, the lives of the aviators and the success of their various
+adventures.</p>
+
+<p>Back of the hangars and near the officers' quarters is the squadron
+office. Here are several clerks constantly engaged in recording all the
+details relating to the men's pay, their military records, their issues
+of clothes, blankets, etc.,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>&mdash;in fact, recording and filing everything
+dealing with the squadron's activities.</p>
+
+<p>Next to the squadron office is the large map-room. If a squadron on
+active service can be compared to the human body, the map-room is the
+brain of the squadron, for here is kept all the information essential to
+the aviators. On one wall is a huge map of the whole war zone from the
+coast to the Swiss border. On this the front-line trenches are
+accurately marked, with their changes made from day to day. On the wall
+next to this map and at right angles to it, is a large-scale map of the
+entire region over which the squadron operates. On this map are numerous
+conventional markings which would have no meaning to the casual
+observer.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;">
+<img src="images/i059.jpg" width="700" height="409" alt="THE PATRIOTIC, SCIENTIFIC MECHANICS" title="" />
+<span class="caption">THE PATRIOTIC, SCIENTIFIC MECHANICS</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>In maps of the enemy territory are hundreds of red drawing-pins. These
+mark the positions of enemy anti-aircraft batteries. As soon as
+information<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> is received of the movement of one of these batteries,
+the pin which represents that particular battery is moved to the new
+position. Small yellow squares or oblongs with minute black marks
+represent the enemy aerodromes and hangars. These conventional signs
+correspond accurately to the aerial photographs of these aerodromes.</p>
+
+<p>Small blue crosses represent the position of enemy balloon barrages and
+their height. The position of these barrages must be known accurately,
+for to run into them is fatal and at night they are very apt to trap the
+unwary. Roughly, they are a series of balloons supporting a huge wire
+net or cable streamers. The balloons, anchored to the ground and
+carrying the nets with them, are sent up to a considerable altitude
+about large cities and important industrial centres. They are to the
+night aviators what the spider's web is to the fly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Another conventional sign of this map which is always puzzling to the
+uninitiated is a series of small pins with streamers attached. These
+streamers are marked with green dots. One streamer will have one green
+dot, another two green dots, another three, etc., while others will have
+different spaces between the dots. These pins mark the position of what
+is called the "Hun green-ball batteries," and these green balls, fired
+up to a height of about six thousand feet, direct the Hun aviators to
+their respective aerodromes when returning from a night raid.</p>
+
+<p>A better system than this for directing aviators at night has never been
+devised, for low clouds or mist cannot obliterate the signal and they
+are visible to the aviator for over fifty miles. In fact, this type of
+signal was so very excellent that our knowledge of the exact positions
+of the various batteries was of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> great assistance to us in our raids
+over Germany.</p>
+
+<p>On our side of the lines this map was marked with conventional signs
+similar to those which marked the position of enemy anti-aircraft
+batteries, aerodromes, and balloon barrages; but on our side of the
+lines there were large areas marked in red to indicate what was called
+"prohibited areas"; i.e., areas over which no aeroplane, Allied or
+enemy, could fly without being subjected to the fire of our
+anti-aircraft batteries.</p>
+
+<p>There were also white drawing-pins, each bearing a letter, placed at
+irregular intervals. These located accurately the position of small
+lighthouses which are usually about fifteen miles apart and from three
+to ten miles back of the front-line trenches; the letter marked on each
+drawing-pin designates the letter flashed in Morse code by that
+particular lighthouse. This system of signals, used by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> the British to
+direct their night aviators to their aerodromes when returning from a
+raid, had but two great faults. In the first place, the signal was
+obliterated by low clouds and mist. In the second place, the flash of
+the light only carried a few miles even under the best conditions. On
+the other hand, the letters which the lighthouses flashed could be
+readily changed and consequently were of very little assistance to Hun
+aviators.</p>
+
+<p>On the third wall of the map-room are aerial photographs of enemy
+aerodromes, railway stations, sidings, etc., and large-scale plans of
+German towns and factories.</p>
+
+<p>On the table in the centre of the room are the various instruments by
+the aid of which the aviators are enabled to figure out their magnetic
+courses. Every afternoon the map-room is crowded with aviators. Here all
+the plans for the raid are made, the courses figured and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> marked on
+individual charts, the photographs or plans of targets studied and the
+best methods of approaching the target discussed. In the evening the
+wind soundings made by the meteorological expert are reported and again
+the map-room is crowded with aviators figuring out "drift" and "ground
+speed" and making out charts which will facilitate their navigation when
+in the air.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>A NIGHT RAID</h3>
+
+
+<p>Every precaution having been taken, the engines run, the controls
+tested, the compasses swung, the courses made out, the charts prepared,
+and the drift figured, the Bedouins sat down to dinner free from care or
+worry. The dinner hour was always set, winter or summer, at least two
+hours before the night's raid was to start.</p>
+
+<p>A guest of the Bedouin mess on the night of an important raid would have
+been surprised if told that the jolly, laughing officers, who apparently
+had no thought in the world other than the enjoyment of various wines
+and viands, were soon to set out on a pioneer raid against a far-distant
+German industrial centre. For the Bedouins made the best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> of the
+present; they all knew what a long-distance raid over Germany usually
+meant; many of their jolly comrades would not be seen again. So they
+made merry at dinner and drank each other's health. The wine, however,
+was light, and even the most reckless Bedouin drank it in tiny sips, for
+the work to be done was important. The personal dangers of the raid the
+reckless Bedouins might ignore, but they knew that these raids fitted
+into the general tactical plan of operations; consequently, every
+Bedouin was imbued with a spirit of determination in spite of an
+apparent frivolity.</p>
+
+<p>On entering the ward-room a few moments before dinner, the guest of the
+Bedouin mess would have been greeted joyfully by the officers who were
+singing lustily in perfect tune with a piano which was very much out of
+tune. A few moments later he would see these rollicking fellows stand
+silently at attention on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> entry of the Commanding Officer until
+"Good-evening, gentlemen," from the C.O. granted them permission to
+"carry on."</p>
+
+<p>Before the chief steward announced dinner, "ap&eacute;ritifs" were passed
+around; then the C.O. led the way from the ward-room into the adjoining
+mess, where the officers stood at attention on each side of the long
+table until the C.O. said, "Gentlemen, be seated." If any one came in
+late to dinner, he apologized to the C.O. before taking his place at the
+table; and no matter how oily and dirty he may have been a few moments
+earlier, he entered the mess clean, freshly shaven, and in neat uniform.
+This mess etiquette, as it was called, did not interfere in any way with
+the good-fellowship existing between the C.O. and his junior officers;
+but it prevented men who had been away from home and the society of
+ladies for many years from growing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> lax in manners and careless of
+personal appearance.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner, decanters of port were passed around and the King's health
+was drunk: "Gentlemen, The King."</p>
+
+<p>This toast means nothing to us Americans unless we have drunk it among
+British officers at the front. Under such conditions, "Gentlemen, The
+King," is a call to patriotism, a spur to endeavor, and an ideal of
+courage which must be lived up to. We Americans are so apt to think of a
+king as a despot or tyrant that it takes us a long time to understand
+the love which the Englishman has for his King. The King of England is
+as much of a symbol to Englishmen as the Stars and Stripes are a symbol
+to us. The King, as an individual, has no power, except the power of
+influence. This power is great when the influence exerted is in the
+right direction, but the King has no dictatorial power similar to that
+which may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> granted to our Presidents. The King is merely a symbol
+which stands in the minds of Englishmen for patriotism, justice,
+democracy, and humanity. So when the Bedouins raised their glasses to
+the toast, "Gentlemen, The King," they paid a tribute to all that Great
+Britain and her Allies were fighting for&mdash;democracy, justice, and
+freedom of the individual from oppression.</p>
+
+<p>After this final toast, every aviator went to his quarters and clambered
+into his bulky but warm flying clothes. There was no hurry or bustle,
+but each aviator, thoroughly equipped for the raid with maps, charts,
+and instruments, arrived at the map-room on a definite moment. Here he
+received a few final instructions from the Commanding Officer; then,
+smoking a last cigarette, he made his way through the dusk to his own
+aeroplane.</p>
+
+<p>While the aviators drank to "Gentlemen, The King," the mechanics were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+warming up the twin motors of each aeroplane, the bomb-racks were being
+filled with fourteen one-hundred-and-twelve-pound bombs, the guns were
+being mounted, and by the time the aviators arrived on the aerodrome the
+huge Handley-Page bombing planes were in readiness for a nine hours'
+flight over Germany.</p>
+
+<p>After climbing up a ladder to their respective positions, the aviators
+made a final survey of the machine on the reliability of which depended
+the success of their adventure. The engines were again run up to see
+that they gave the proper revolutions, the gauges inspected, the
+controls tested, and the return spring of each gun weighed. When
+thoroughly satisfied, each aviator took his place and his pilot
+signalled for the "chocks" to be withdrawn from in front of the wheels.</p>
+
+<p>While the aviators carried on this final inspection of their machines,
+the aero<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>drome officer, stationed on a high platform situated in one
+corner of the field, awaited the signal to light the "landing T"; i.e.,
+a huge "T" of electric lights headed into the wind, which shows to the
+aviators the taking-off and landing path. Each machine is given its
+respective letter for the day, which is flashed in Morse code on the
+navigation lights by the aviator when ready to leave the ground; he then
+awaits an answer from the directing stand. Simultaneously with the
+lighting up of the huge "landing T," the letter flashed from the first
+machine ready is repeated by the signal officer. The answer received,
+the machine taxies across the aerodrome to the starting-point, turns,
+hurtles down the flare-path and leaves the ground at the head of the
+"T." Under this simple method of direction I have seen twenty aeroplanes
+leave an aerodrome on a pitch-black night in twelve minutes without a
+single mishap.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On leaving the ground the aeroplanes fly dead into the wind for a couple
+of miles, circle back to the left around the aerodrome, and head into
+the wind again until the height at which the flight is to be carried out
+is reached. The first aeroplane to reach this height passes directly
+over the aerodrome and then steers a course to the first lighthouse. A
+comparison of this course with the previously figured course, and a
+comparison of the previously calculated ground speed with the time taken
+to travel from the aerodrome to the lighthouse enables the aviators, by
+the use of instruments and a few simple calculations, to gauge their
+drift. This process is continued on another course to the next
+lighthouse and the previously tested direction and velocity of wind are
+accurately checked in this way and future courses altered accordingly.
+These calculations are all important to the long-distance night bomber,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+for although roads show up in the moonlight like white threads, they are
+too numerous and interwoven to be followed for great distances, and
+although rivers and lakes look like silver ribbons and blotches, the
+moon may be obscured at any moment or the ground itself may be
+obliterated by low clouds or mist. Accuracy in aerial navigation,
+therefore, is of the utmost importance in long-distance night flying.</p>
+
+<p>The night aviator, however, has many things to think of besides a
+constant checking and readjustment of his course according to variations
+in direction and velocity of wind. On his own side of the lines he is
+constantly challenged by searchlights which must be answered immediately
+if the aviator wishes to avoid the risk of being shot down by his own
+anti-aircraft guns or of being attacked by his own night-patrol
+machines. The method of answering these chal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>lenges is extremely simple.
+All that is required of the aviator is to shoot at the searchlight with
+a large pistol loaded with an enormous cartridge. The aviator, intent on
+his calculations and annoyed by any interruption, often wishes that this
+pistol was a deadly weapon, but it is not. It merely fires a certain
+colored light which floats slowly down changing in its descent to
+certain other colors, which prove to the officer in charge of the
+challenging searchlight that an Allied aeroplane is above him. The
+colors which are shown on one night, however, will not do on another,
+for these "colors of the day," as they are inappropriately called, are
+changed every night and the utmost secrecy is maintained in regard to
+them. Even the aviators do not know the "color of the day" until ten
+minutes before the start of a raid, neither do the officers in charge of
+the anti-aircraft batteries. The reason for this secrecy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> became
+apparent to the Bedouins one night when a Hun flew over our aerodrome
+shooting down our "color of the day," blinking his navigation lights,
+and finally firing down a red light which was our prearranged
+forced-landing signal. The aerodrome officer, believing that one of the
+Bedouin machines was returning from that night's raid with engine
+trouble, lit up the "landing T" and brought upon himself a shower of
+bombs which carried him into the Unknown.</p>
+
+<p>After crossing the lines the aviators are intent on steering an accurate
+compass course, checking their position from time to time by various
+landmarks such as canals, rivers, cross-roads, and woods, and figuring
+changes in wind. The bursting shells of the enemy anti-aircraft
+batteries must be disregarded, for a slight d&eacute;tour around a particularly
+heavy barrage might mean an error of several degrees in their course
+which, unless cor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>rected, would bring them twenty to thirty miles away
+from their objective after a flight of one hundred and seventy miles or
+more, and an accurate correction of a compass course after a wide d&eacute;tour
+is always difficult and sometimes impossible. Therefore, it is of the
+utmost importance for long-distance night bombers to hold their course
+regardless of the enemy's efforts at destruction.</p>
+
+<p>The hatred in the hearts of the Huns, expressed by the constant "whonk"
+of bursting anti-aircraft shells, contrasts disagreeably with the
+loveliness of the moonlit panorama. All man's disfigurements of the
+earth are obliterated by distance and nothing but a scene of inspiring
+beauty is in view from the aviaors' lofty outlook at a height of several
+thousand feet.</p>
+
+<p>The flashings of the guns, the "flaming onions,"&mdash;i.e., strings of
+phosphorus balls shot up to light the sky and to ignite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> any inflammable
+substance with which they come in contact,&mdash;and the black puffs of smoke
+from the bursting shells add a weird and startling brilliancy to the
+surroundings. No matter how many times a man may fly at night the
+immensity of the heavens above him, crowded with unknown worlds, cannot
+fail to impress him with his own insignificance in the general scheme of
+the universe, and Death itself appears of small importance compared to
+the way in which he faces it.</p>
+
+<p>The aviators, however, have little time for reflection, for on a long
+flight they must keep a constant outlook for such landmarks as will
+enable them from time to time to mark their exact position on the chart
+and by comparison with their compass course and "ground speed" vary
+their course according to changes in direction and velocity of wind. An
+instrument called the "pitot tube" indicates the speed at which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+aeroplane passes through the air, but the speed at which the plane
+travels in relation to the ground depends on the direction and velocity
+of the wind. They must also watch the flashes from anti-aircraft
+batteries and pin-point them on their maps if possible; aerodromes which
+are lit up, train movements, the lighting of towns, the blaze of steel
+factories; in fact everything of military importance must be recorded
+and reported upon, if accurately located. The night aviator, however,
+must be extremely careful in his observations, for it is very easy to
+get lost and it is extremely difficult to keep an accurate check, on the
+charts, of your exact position over the ground, even after long
+practice; especially is this true when the flight covers three to four
+hundred miles in distance and lasts from eight to nine hours.</p>
+
+<p>After several hours of intense concentration the aviators approach their
+tar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>get, and although they have charted the course constantly they now
+spend some time in flying back and forth while they check off on a
+large-scale map the landmarks about the target and satisfy themselves
+that their long flight will not be valueless if the bombs are dropped
+with accuracy. In the meantime the sound of the motors, together with
+the telegraphed intelligence from other Hun towns, tells the enemy that
+Allied night bombers are in the vicinity. The Huns in charge of the
+anti-aircraft defences stationed about the target direct huge beams of
+numerous searchlights toward the sky and an intense barrage is put up
+above and around the target by the Hun batteries. The air is filled with
+shrapnel from bursting shells at the altitude at which the machine is
+flying, for the Huns have accurate instruments which gauge the altitude
+of an aeroplane from the sound vibrations of its engines. The avi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>ators,
+however, are still intent on picking out their target (probably a
+factory which manufactures war material) and have not yet entered the
+barrage. The Huns, I imagine, often wondered why British bombers flew
+about a town for such a long time before bombing; the inhabitants always
+had more than enough time to enter the dug-outs before the bombs
+dropped. The British bombers, however, were not making war on women and
+children; they were intent on destroying a poisonous gas factory or
+other targets of military importance; so they flew about the town until
+the target was accurately located; then and not till then, they
+throttled down their engines and glided swiftly down between the
+searchlight beams and below the barrage of bursting shells, for once the
+engines are throttled down the enemy's sound instruments are valueless
+and the anti-aircraft barrage ranged at the previous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> altitude of the
+aeroplane fills the air with shrapnel far above the rapidly descending
+plane. A quick adjustment of bomb-sights to compensate for the altitude,
+speed, and drift of the plane and the front fore-sight soon is in line
+with the target, and after a pause the back fore-sight coming in line
+with the back-sight gives, with the previously adjusted stop-watch, the
+exact moment for releasing the first bombs. The plane passes over the
+target and turns on a steep "bank," while the aviators watch for the
+burst of the bombs. The bomb-sight is readjusted to the reduced
+altitude, another sight taken, the remainder of the bombs released, and
+then, nose down, engine "full out," the huge plane rushes through the
+lowered barrage for more congenial surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>Great care must be taken when bombing a factory, for usually very close
+to it the Hun has located an unprotected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> prison camp filled with Allied
+prisoners, and we have official information that prisoners have so
+infuriated the Hun guards by singing "God save the King" or the
+"Marseillaise" during a bombardment of the near-by factory that they
+have been bayoneted to punish them for their "insolence." As soon as the
+aviators are away from the barrage, they steer a straight course for
+home, and again an intent outlook is kept for landmarks which will
+enable them to mark their position on the charts and figure their ground
+speed and drift. If their course is correct, they will see after a few
+hours a lighthouse several miles away dimly flashing a letter in Morse
+code. They head straight for this, and when over it they steer a course
+which will bring them to the lighthouse situated near their aerodrome.
+As they approach the aerodrome they fire down the "color of the day" and
+if the aerodrome is not un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>der bombardment by the Huns the flare-path is
+lighted and the pilot spirals slowly down while the allotted letter of
+the plane is being flashed in Morse code on its navigation lights; as
+soon as this signal is answered from the ground, the pilot glides
+swiftly down to the flare-path. When fifteen to ten feet from the ground
+the Holt's flares attached to the wing tips of the planes are lit by
+electrical contact and the landing is made in a momentary but brilliant
+blaze of light.</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting to sit in the officers' mess of a night-bombing
+squadron and watch the returning aviators enter. They are cold and stiff
+and all are very tired, for no man can fly without fatigue from dusk to
+dawn under conditions which demand intense concentration and entail a
+considerable amount of nervous strain, but now is shown the difference
+in temperament; some return with bloodshot eyes and haggard faces which
+indi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>cate a condition of intense fatigue; others come in gaily as though
+home from a late dance; still others thoughtfully quiet. All of them,
+however, show signs of nervous strain and mental tension and they must
+relax their taut nerves before going to bed, especially if the raid was
+but another similar to those that had been carried out on several
+previous nights. So, while relaxing they eat bully beef sandwiches and
+drink hot chocolate or beer or, if the night has been particularly cold,
+a glass of hot rum. Deafened by the roar of the engines and the sudden
+change in atmospheric pressure they either whisper or yell if they speak
+at all, during the first few minutes after entering the mess. But the
+raid is over, so very little is said about it; every now and then some
+one looks at his watch and sees that nine hours have elapsed since the
+raid started; he says nothing but he and all realize that the machine
+which has not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> returned has used up its supply of petrol and that the
+fate of a dear friend will remain unknown perhaps for weeks, perhaps for
+all time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>SOME EPICS OF NIGHT BOMBING</h3>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1917 the Germans were rushing troops up to the Ypres
+front, where the activities of the British threatened them at this point
+in their line. This movement of troops was made at night, as usual,
+<i>because</i> if made in daylight they would have been plainly visible to
+our reconnaissance and artillery observation squadrons. These troops
+were detrained at Menin and were transported by motor lorry along the
+Menin-Gelevelt road. On a certain evening the first night-bombing
+squadron of the Royal Flying Corps, then situated west of Nieppe Forest,
+was ordered to delay in every possible way this movement of enemy
+troops. The result must have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> satisfactory, for the General in
+command of the British Army on that front sent us, a few days later, the
+glad tidings that no German reinforcements arrived at the critical
+moment and all the British objectives had been captured and held.
+Whether or not the only night-bombing squadron engaged in that action
+was responsible for the tie-up of the Hun transportation system is
+problematical, but all the members of the squadron remember that night
+and hope that their efforts were of value.</p>
+
+<p>The only thing out of the ordinary that evening in the squadron's
+routine was the mounting of double guns in the aeroplanes and an earlier
+dinner hour; the dinner, possibly, was gayer than usual. The machines
+left the ground in daylight, gained their height over Nieppe Forest and
+crossed the lines at dusk, swooped down over Menin Station and dropped
+their bombs at an altitude of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> one thousand to five hundred feet. Then,
+nose down, engine "full out," they raced away from Menin and followed,
+in the brilliant moonlight, the road to Gelevelt, flying within one
+hundred feet of the ground.</p>
+
+<p>A heavy fire at close range at the transports on the road and at the
+shadows of the trees cast by the moon, as the case might be, soon
+exhausted the drums of ammunition. Each aviator did his level best to
+get results, all the time trying to avoid landing on the tree-tops; some
+of them did so land; they were shot down by the Huns. As soon as their
+ammunition was gone they headed for home and, crossing the lines at a
+low altitude, were shot at by anti-aircraft batteries and machine guns
+from the ground and "bumped" here and there by the air displacement of
+passing shells from the steadily flashing guns of both their own and the
+enemy's artillery.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When they arrived at their aerodrome there was a breathing-spell for the
+aviators while the bomb-racks were being refilled with bombs, the empty
+ammunition drums replaced with full ones, and the engines replenished
+with petrol, oil, and water. The planes then roared into the air again,
+climbed for a short time, and then headed for Menin, where railway
+communications were again bombed and the Menin-Gelevelt road was again
+raked with machine-gun fire.</p>
+
+<p>After a brief respite on the return from this second raid, the machines
+again took off and raided the Huns for the third time that night. All
+that were left of this weary group of aviators returned from this third
+raid in broad daylight, with nerves strained to the verge of a
+breakdown; some were in tears, some striving to be gay, and some were
+very quiet, but all were happy in knowing that they had "done their
+damndest."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When afterward they learned that the "push" had been successful and that
+the Hun reserves had failed to appear, their grief for the "missing" was
+softened by the thought that <i>their</i> sacrifice had not been in vain; it
+had brought about the full accomplishment of the purpose of the
+raids&mdash;C'est la Guerre&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>Probably the first time that a Rhine town was bombed on a densely cloudy
+night was in the spring of 1918 and it was bombed by a small Scotchman
+called "Jock."</p>
+
+<p>The wind that night was from the northeast, a favorable wind from the
+aviators' point of view because it was against them on the outward
+voyage. Shortly after crossing the lines, however, dense clouds coming
+up with the wind obliterated the earth, and all the aviators except Jock
+turned back hoping to find<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> their aerodrome before it was also blotted
+out by the low-lying clouds.</p>
+
+<p>Jock, however, was "keen" on bombing Hun factories, and the objective
+that night was the Badische Works situated on the river Rhine; so Jock
+held to his compass course and flew for over four hours without once
+seeing the ground. When a sufficient time had elapsed to bring him over
+his target, if his previous reckoning, of course, of ground speed and
+drift was correct, and if the wind had not varied in velocity or
+strength, Jock "spiralled" down through the clouds and, finding the
+ground beneath him nothing but dense blackness, glided lower and lower
+until eventually a large town directly beneath him became visible and
+then the river Rhine, passing between Ludwigshafen on the west and
+Mannheim on the east, was lit up by the rays of the moon coming through
+a sudden rift in the clouds. Jock by now was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> only eight hundred feet
+above Mannheim; he opened up his throttle and circled around the city
+while his navigation officer on his large-scale chart compared the
+landmarks momentarily made visible by the rift in the clouds. At last,
+thoroughly satisfied as to their position, fourteen
+one-hundred-and-twelve-pound bombs were dropped as near the factory as
+possible. If some of these bombs dropped in the town itself, it was not
+due to intention on the part of the aviators, who, blinded by
+searchlights, could not be sure of sending all the bombs with accuracy.
+With over one hundred and sixty miles to travel in a plane riddled with
+shrapnel from the bursting shells, the prominent thought in the minds of
+the aviators was, that their work being accomplished, their next move
+was to "beat it" in the direction where lay friendly country.</p>
+
+<p>After the release of the bombs, Jock<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> climbed up through the clouds and
+steered a direct course for home. Since the ground could not be studied
+because of the intervening clouds, the aviators devoted their entire
+attention to compass, time, and the stars. During this flight above the
+clouds the efficiency of the Hun's sound instruments was thoroughly
+demonstrated, for, although the clouds were too dense for any
+searchlight to penetrate and this effectually screened the machine from
+observation from below, again and again Jock's plane was surrounded by
+the black puffs of bursting anti-aircraft shells.</p>
+
+<p>After flying for a sufficient number of hours to bring them above their
+aerodrome, if their calculations were correct, Jock and his companion
+discussed the advisability of coming down through the clouds; the
+unanimous decision, however, was to continue on until a lack of petrol
+would force them to land, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> changes in wind might have created a
+considerable error in their calculations, unchecked as they were by
+observations of landmarks; so after flying for another hour they came
+down through the clouds and succeeded in making a safe landing near a
+small French village just before their supply of petrol was exhausted.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>One evening in August, 1918, there was a strong southwest wind blowing
+across the eastern part of France and severe thunderstorms were reported
+to be approaching. Nevertheless, certain Bedouins were selected to raid
+the railway station and sidings at Frankfort; "intelligence" having
+reported important rail movements in that vicinity. The Bedouins were
+ordered to return if they found, after testing the air, the weather
+conditions unfavorable for a flight of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> such long distance. As an
+alternative target to Frankfort they were given the Burbach Hutte Works
+at Saarbrucken.</p>
+
+<p>After gaining their height above the aerodrome, Jock and his navigation
+officer steered a direct course for "D" lighthouse, situated north of
+Barcarat and but a few miles from the front-line trenches. Having
+accurately figured their drift and ground speed on this course, Jock and
+his companion calculated that, by steering a straight course to
+Frankfort, spending five minutes over the target, and steering a
+straight course back to their aerodrome, they could make sufficient
+headway against the wind on the return voyage to bring them safely home
+with a ten minutes' supply of petrol left in their tanks; any error in
+course necessitating a deviation, or any increase in the velocity of the
+wind, might mean a prolonged sojourn in a German prison camp if not
+subjec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>tion to the well-known tortures of a German hospital.</p>
+
+<p>After an accurate calculation of direction and velocity of wind, a
+course of thirty-nine degrees was steered from "D" lighthouse; the river
+Saar was crossed north of Saarburg; Bitsch and Pirmasens were passed to
+the north and Kaiserlautern to the south and then, the Vosges Mountains
+having been crossed, Jock and his companion looked down on the Rhine
+valley. The Rhine River was crossed north of Oppenheim, and from an
+elevation of six thousand feet, Mainz, at the juncture of the rivers
+Main and Rhine, showed clearly in the moonlight. Still holding their
+course, the aviators looked out to the left, followed up the river Main
+to Frankfort, here they throttled back the engines, glided swiftly down
+through the anti-aircraft barrage and searchlights and released their
+bombs as accurately as possible. Then,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> after an almost vertical "bank"
+so sudden was the turn, Jock steered a straight course for the nearest
+point in the lines, which was considerably over one hundred miles away.
+Now the aviators had to face a strong head wind and steer straight into
+a rapidly approaching storm. The time taken to fly from Frankfort to the
+Rhine River, together with a change in drift, proved to the aviators
+that the wind had varied slightly in direction and had increased
+somewhat in velocity. They immediately decided not to lose time by
+climbing above the approaching storm, but to pass beneath it. This they
+did, and those aviators never went through a nastier experience than
+this homeward journey. Blinded and stung as they were by the downpour of
+rain, while their aeroplane was hurled about by the wind to such an
+extent that it appeared to be completely out of control, the voyage
+seemed interminable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> The clouds above belched flashes of lightning in
+apparent unison with the Hun anti-aircraft batteries below. Held in the
+beams of the enemy's searchlights and plainly visible against the dark
+clouds above, Jock's plane was an easy target for the Hun gunners.</p>
+
+<p>But who can account for the fortunes of war? Jock brought his plane,
+riddled with shrapnel, into the moonlight beyond, showing up
+Kaiserlautern directly below, with its searchlights sweeping the sky
+while its anti-aircraft batteries filled the air with bursting shells;
+but in spite of this "hate" it was a pleasant sight to the aviators, for
+it showed them that their course was correct and that there was still
+time to gain the lines unless the wind increased. Again they passed
+below another dense bank of clouds, to experience again being blinded
+with the rain and shaken by the violence of the wind by which their
+plane was tossed about,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> all the while subjected to an attack by
+lightning from above and by anti-aircraft guns from below. It is a
+little trying to the nerves to fly for an hour without being able to see
+the earth beneath, and surrounded by the incessant flashings of
+lightning and the "whonkings" of bursting shells, but when homeward
+bound these little incidents are of minor import.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;">
+<img src="images/i101.jpg" width="700" height="436" alt="AFTER THE LANDING" title="" />
+<span class="caption">AFTER THE LANDING</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>For the second time Jock brought the plane, tossing about like a cork on
+a mountainous sea, out into comparative light. As landmarks were
+recognized, the course was checked and changed, when a third storm was
+encountered. This last storm was furious, and it was impossible to hold
+the plane on a compass course; fortunately, however, the storm lasted
+but a short time, and when Jock brought his plane out into the breaking
+dawn, the Marne-Rhine Canal was visible to the south. A few moments
+later the lines<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> were crossed and a direct course was steered to the
+nearest aerodrome. Just then the engines spluttered, then stopped, the
+petrol was exhausted, and Jock was forced to land in a field near
+Lun&eacute;ville after a sustained flight of eight hours and fifty minutes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GUIDING HAND</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mysterious Dick, or "Mystery" as he was usually called, was a slender,
+an&aelig;mic-looking boy with deep brown eyes. He was nicknamed "Mystery" for
+several reasons. In the first place, he gave every one on first
+acquaintance an uncomfortable feeling; no one could explain this, but
+every one admitted that he was a "bit queer." When he looked at you his
+eyes never appeared to be focused on you, but to be looking at something
+back of you; I have seen a man to whom Dick was talking suddenly turn
+and look over his shoulder. Another very noticeable trait of Dick's was
+to answer an unasked question, or to interrupt a man at the beginning of
+an argument with a refu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>tation or agreement, as the case might be.</p>
+
+<p>I remember coming into the mess one morning about five o'clock after an
+all-night raid; our machine was the third back. It was a bitter cold
+winter's night and "upstairs" it was absolutely numbing. In the mess
+there were Mac and Dick and one or two others, thawing their congealed
+blood and numbed brains with hot rum. It had been a nasty trip that
+night, dense, low clouds and a head wind on the return voyage; there
+were many machines still unaccounted for, although the supply of petrol
+would "keep them up" but another fifteen minutes. So in the mess we
+sipped our hot rum and sat and thought, or just sat.</p>
+
+<p>"I think they were south of Dieuze"; it was Dick who broke the silence.</p>
+
+<p>Mac jumped and looked hard at "Mysterious Dick," and as we all looked at
+him inquiringly a faint flush<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> rose to his face, he gulped down his rum
+and left the mess.</p>
+
+<p>"It's queer," said Mac, "how often he does that."</p>
+
+<p>"Does what?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Answer your unasked question," replied Mac. "The green balls must have
+been south of Dieuze just as 'Mystery' said, for after leaving Mannheim
+I followed up the Rhine to Hagenau Wald, turned west and crossed the
+Vosges over Zabern; here we went above low clouds and I didn't see the
+ground again for over an hour. I steered my course all right, but was
+fearing a change of wind when just ahead of me I saw the Hun signal of
+two green balls come up through the clouds; as the last 'intelligence'
+placed these two balls at Morchange, I changed my course from 270&deg; to
+245&deg;. It was only luck that about half an hour later a rift in the
+clouds showed me 'F' lighthouse, and as that is about thirty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> miles
+south of 'B' lighthouse, my original course over Zabern of 270&deg; must
+have been about right to strike 'B' lighthouse. So the green-ball
+signal, as 'Mystery' said, must have been moved from Morchange to south
+of Dieuze, and that is just what I was puzzling out when Dick answered
+the puzzle for me. He's queer, all right." And Mac called for another
+rum.</p>
+
+<p>And "queer" is the best description of Dick that any of the Bedouins
+could have given you, if you had asked them, until one night he was
+finally coaxed after many "treats" to tell about his earlier war
+experiences.</p>
+
+<p>"In 1912 I was a subaltern in the Indian army," Dick said quietly; "a
+row over a woman resulted in my court martial and disgrace.</p>
+
+<p>"When the war broke out I joined as a dispatch rider; I was wounded and
+was in the hospital for over five months.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> When I came out I succeeded
+in getting into the Royal Flying Corps and eventually was granted a
+commission. But as a pilot I was a complete failure; I 'wrote off'
+several machines and in my last crash I nearly 'wrote off' myself. I was
+unconscious for over a month and it was over eight months before I left
+the hospital.</p>
+
+<p>"I finally got back to France as a recording officer to a Handley-Page
+squadron; here I ran into an old pal of mine, and one night, when his
+navigation officer was sick, my pal took me on a raid without saying a
+word to any one. It was the first time I had ever been in a Handley-Page
+aeroplane and it was the first time I had ever flown at night, but my
+pal was the best pilot in the squadron and the way to the Gontrode
+aerodrome was an open book to him, for he had been there many times
+before; he took me as a passenger for the experience.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I remember as we 'taxied' over the aerodrome that the roar of the
+engine on each side of me, the flashing of lights, the other machines as
+they passed us or waited with slowly 'ticking-over props' for us to
+pass, the different-colored lights which were being fired down from
+machines already in the air and the lights fired up from the ground, all
+combined and whirled through my excited brain like a meaningless
+nightmare. Then there was a deafening roar and we shot down a path of
+light, bumped hard, bumped less hard, bumped again, and the huge plane
+with its great load of bombs was in the air. Lights on the ground and
+the lights of machines in the air became mixed until I could not tell
+one from the other.</p>
+
+<p>"As we rose higher and higher, ground lights far off in the distance
+came hurtling toward us like the navigation lights of a fast approaching
+machine; I would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> clutch Jack, yell, and point out the lights in order
+to avoid a collision as it seemed to me; Jack would grin, pull me down
+on the seat beside him, and tell me the lights were on the ground and at
+least ten miles away. Gradually I got control of myself and tried to
+find the aerodrome we had just left; it was nowhere to be seen. There
+was a network of white threads on a black background, an occasional
+winding silver ribbon with here and there a silver blotch and
+queer-shaped blacker blacknesses on the general blackness; these were
+roads, rivers, lakes, and woods as they looked from the air at night.</p>
+
+<p>"How long we had been in the air I don't know. Time seemed nothing, or
+an eternity. We were suspended in a sphere. Lights or stars rushed at us
+or receded or whirled about. Time and distance became mere words without
+meaning and I had fallen into a state<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> resembling hypnotic sleep when
+suddenly roused by Jack. 'There are the lines,' he shouted, and as far
+as the eye could see, to left and right, out of the darkness beneath us
+were the constant flashes of the never silent guns of the Flanders
+front. Every now and then we got a sudden 'bump' as a shell passed near
+us. I had fallen into an almost semiconscious state when
+'tut-tut-tut-tut-tut' jumped me off my seat; I realized that I was
+surrounded by a dazzling whiteness; the machine itself was brilliant.
+Amidst the 'tut-tut-tut' of our own machine guns shooting down at the
+searchlights there was a constant dull 'whonk,' 'whonk,' 'whonk,' and
+the whole machine seemed to be enveloped in puffs of black smoke as the
+anti-aircraft batteries found the range.</p>
+
+<p>"Suddenly the nose of the machine went down and my breath left me in the
+crazy rush, my hands grasped at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> anything, and somehow, momentarily
+blinded with fright as I was, my right hand involuntarily clutching Jack
+conveyed the truth to my brain. Jack was dead. He had fallen forward on
+the wheel and the giant plane was rushing, roaring down to destruction.
+With a spasmodic effort I pulled his body from the seat onto the floor
+at my feet and pulled back the wheel. With a sickening change and a
+shrill singing of wires we were climbing. How the fuselage and tail
+plane stood the strain of it, God knows. I was in Jack's seat now
+pushing the wheel from me, pulling it toward me, turning it to the
+right, then to the left, pushing the rudder bar with my right foot, then
+with my left. Panic was in control. We must have dropped three thousand
+feet before a sudden calmness came over me and I found this aerial
+monster as gentle to manage as a perfectly bitted horse.</p>
+
+<p>"But there was Jack, huddled on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> floor at my feet with part of his
+head gone. I remember leaning down and trying to pull him out of his
+cramped position, and then came an eternity of stargazing. I wondered
+why the stars didn't run into each other and crash. I leaned across the
+fuselage and turned a pet-cock; a little spray of petrol came out with
+the escaping air; the hands of two dials on the left side of the
+cock-pit began turning slowly anti-clockwise; I forgot them and looked
+at the stars. Later I pressed a button on the dashboard and looked out
+at my starboard engine; a small dial was lit up. I looked at the port
+engine, a similar dial was lit up. I took my right hand from the wheel
+and pulled the throttle slightly back; again I star-gazed as if in a
+dream and without any volition I closed the pet-cock which I had
+previously opened.</p>
+
+<p>"This was my first time in a Handley-Page, and I knew nothing of
+pressures or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> temperatures. How long I flew I don't know; what direction
+I should have flown I did not know at that time. Occasionally I glanced
+at the compass and as well as I can remember the needle pointed west
+generally, but I gave it no thought. Finally I pulled back the throttle
+and began to glide. I leaned over the next seat and pulled two levers.
+Remember that at this time I had never heard of shutters for the
+radiators. Down I came into heavier and heavier atmosphere. I was calm
+and happy. I never even gave the ground a thought, never even glanced at
+it. I remember taking from a rack on my left a stubby revolver with a
+huge bore, pointing it over the side and pulling the trigger, and I
+watched a green light go slowly down and searchlights that were blinking
+up at me went out. A few seconds later a knob on the dashboard seemed to
+rivet my attention; it was a small knob exactly like an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> electric-light
+switch. I began to play with this. To do this I had to lean forward and
+stretch out my left arm; this action brought my face around to the
+right, and as I played with the knob I saw a light blinking on my right
+wing tip. I remember laughing at this.</p>
+
+<p>"The plane took a sudden dip and I sat up. Just off to my right and very
+little below me were lights on the ground in the shape of a 'T,' and
+other lights were flashing at me. I turned toward the 'T' and stuck down
+the nose of the machine; I pulled the throttle farther back, and just as
+I seemed to be running into dense blackness I leaned forward and pressed
+a button; a brilliant light sprang up under the machine; there was the
+ground not two feet away, apparently. I yanked back the wheel and a
+moment later there was a great bump, another and another, and we came to
+rest on our own aerodrome.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The doctor told me that he had never seen such a collapse. I had been
+unconscious for hours after being lifted from the machine together with
+my dead pal. I was awarded this decoration, gentlemen, for bringing that
+machine home safely. Since that time I have been awarded these other
+decorations for feats you have all heard of. But I want to tell you,"
+and "Mystery Dick" stood up with flushed face and blazing eyes, "that I
+have never flown an aeroplane in France. Jack, my old pal, dare-devil
+Jack, whose head was blown off beside me during my first trip across the
+lines, flies my machine. Jack, dear old Jack, has won these medals I
+wear."</p>
+
+<p>And Dick, no longer "Mystery Dick," left the mess. I say no longer
+"Mystery Dick" because from that day on there was nothing mysterious
+about Dick to the "Bedouins."</p>
+
+<p>Explain it as you may, call it God, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> spirit of a dead friend, or a
+thought vibration to which their mind is attuned, explain it as you
+choose, or try to explain it not at all, every member of the "Bedouin"
+Squadron has felt the "Guiding Hand" and every "Bedouin" knew, as every
+man who makes constant companions of danger and death must eventually
+know, that the dead still "carry on."</p>
+
+<h4>THE END</h4>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="center">The Riverside Press</p>
+
+<p class="center">CAMBRIDGE &middot; MASSACHUSETTS</p>
+
+<p class="center">U &middot; S &middot; A</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Night Bombing with the Bedouins, by 
+Robert Henry Reece
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,1929 @@
+Project Gutenberg's Night Bombing with the Bedouins, by Robert Henry Reece
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Night Bombing with the Bedouins
+
+Author: Robert Henry Reece
+
+Release Date: October 11, 2008 [EBook #26879]
+
+Language: English
+
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NIGHT BOMBING WITH THE BEDOUINS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+   [Illustration]
+
+
+   NIGHT BOMBING
+   WITH THE BEDOUINS
+
+   _By One of the Squadron_
+
+   ROBERT H. REECE
+   LIEUT. D.F.C., R.A.F.
+
+   _With Illustrations_
+
+   [Illustration]
+
+   BOSTON AND NEW YORK
+   HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
+   The Riverside Press Cambridge
+   1919
+
+
+
+
+   COPYRIGHT, 1919, ROBERT H. REECE
+   ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+
+
+
+   DEDICATION
+
+
+
+    _In a spirit of the deepest reverence I dedicate this unworthy effort
+    to the memory of a true sportsman, a loyal friend, and a gallant
+    officer who was killed in action while serving his Country as a
+    Pilot in the American Air Service,_
+
+    LIEUTENANT SAMUEL PIERCE MANDELL
+
+    _America has given of the finest of her Youth to uphold the Cause of
+    Right, but she has given no one of more splendid promise than he,
+    whose service was an example of devotion to duty, of readiness for
+    action, and of undaunted courage._
+
+    _His life was an inspiration to the living "to carry on" and finish
+    the great struggle for which he died, that he and those like him may
+    not have died in vain._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+   I. PER ARDUA AD ASTRA                                               1
+
+   II. THE "BEDOUIN" SQUADRON                                         12
+
+   III. THE BEDOUINS AT OCHEY AERODROME                               39
+
+   IV. A NIGHT RAID                                                   50
+
+   V. SOME EPICS OF NIGHT BOMBING                                     71
+
+   VI. THE GUIDING HAND                                               86
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+   LIEUTENANT ROBERT H. REECE, R.A.F.         _Photogravure Frontispiece_
+
+   JIMMIE WALKS UP AND DOWN THE TRENCH                                14
+
+   ENTRANCE TO OFFICERS' MESS                                         40
+
+   THE PATRIOTIC, SCIENTIFIC MECHANICS                                44
+
+   AFTER THE LANDING                                                  84
+
+
+
+
+NIGHT BOMBING WITH THE "BEDOUINS"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PER ARDUA AD ASTRA
+
+
+In prehistoric times the first man to make for himself a stone hatchet
+probably became the greatest warrior of his particular region. He may
+not have been as strong physically as his neighbor, but with the aid of
+so marvellous an invention as a stone hatchet he undoubtedly conquered
+his enemies and became a great prehistoric potentate, until some other
+great man made a larger and stronger hatchet; so down to the present
+invention has followed invention and improvement has been added to
+improvement to such an extent that it is difficult to imagine what new
+weapon of destruction man can develop in the future.
+
+What would the past generation have said of a man who had prophesied
+great armies fighting in the air? Even in the early months of the war
+there were but few who realized what an important part of the war was to
+be carried on in the newly conquered element. When the infantry saw an
+occasional box-kite-looking machine drifting slowly over the lines,
+struggling to keep itself aloft, how many, I wonder, foresaw that in a
+few months these machines would be swooping down on them like swallows,
+raking them with machine guns by day and bombing them by night? How many
+artillery officers laughed at the suggestion that a day was coming when
+thousands of great guns would be directed from the air? Yet in a few
+short months two great blind fighting giants, their arms stretching from
+the Belgian coast to the Swiss border, learned to see each other; and
+their eyes were in the air.
+
+The first aeroplanes to cross the lines carried no armament; they were
+for reconnaissance work only; they would fly a few miles back of the
+enemy lines, have a good look around, and then come back and report what
+they had seen. Often British and German machines would pass quite close
+to each other. Flying was considered sufficiently dangerous, not to add
+a further danger to it by attacking enemy machines.
+
+The Germans, however, because they greatly outnumbered the British in
+the air, had more eyes to see with; something had to be done; so rifles
+were carried by the British and a finer sport than shooting ducks came
+into vogue. This quickly led to the carrying of machine guns. Ingenuity
+in devising sights to compensate for the speed of our own machines and
+to gauge a proper deflection according to the speed and angle of
+approach of the enemy machine, soon decreased the advantage the enemy
+aviators had through superior numbers.
+
+For example, if our machine was flying at the rate of one hundred miles
+per hour and the enemy's machine was travelling past us in the opposite
+direction at an equal rate, our fore-sight nullified our motion and
+enabled us to shoot as if from a stationary base, while our back-sight
+helped us to gauge that imaginary point at which to shoot where our
+bullets and the enemy machine would meet. In other words, we shot at an
+enemy machine although we ourselves were travelling rapidly, exactly as
+a sportsman shoots at a bird on the wing.
+
+Then a new aeroplane was developed, the single-seater tractor, with a
+Vickers gun, synchronized to shoot through the rapidly revolving
+propeller so as to avoid the blades. These machines were used to patrol
+the lines and keep enemy machines from crossing, or to accompany a
+reconnaissance machine as protector; for they were very much faster,
+easier to manoeuvre, and altogether very much more efficient fighters.
+At first they operated singly, but it was soon discovered that two of
+these scout machines operating together invariably obtained better
+success than when operating alone. This led to formation flying, and up
+to the cessation of hostilities these formations grew in size and varied
+in shape.
+
+The reconnaissance work was soon divided into classes: long and short
+reconnaissance and photographic reconnaissance. The long reconnaissance
+dealt with enemy movements far behind the lines; the short
+reconnaissance with enemy activities near the front. The photographic
+reconnaissance consisted of taking aerial photographs of everything of
+military importance within flying radius. These photographs pieced
+together showed the enemy defences along the entire British front and
+their changes from day to day.
+
+Wireless apparatus was soon attached to aeroplanes, and this enabled an
+aviator to communicate with people on the ground many miles away; and so
+what was called artillery observation was developed. Roughly speaking,
+this is the direction of the fire of our batteries against enemy
+targets; but, just as specialization came in reconnaissance and
+fighting, so now machines specialized in artillery observation. To-day
+the efficiency of the artillery depends largely upon its direction from
+the air. For instance, when a battery takes over a new area the gunners
+may be called upon to fire at certain targets, such as cross-roads or
+houses used as infantry headquarters or ammunition and stores dumps, at
+a moment's notice. Consequently, if these targets are registered by
+aeroplane, all the gunners have to do when called upon to open fire is
+to refer to their registration book which will give them the necessary
+angles to use on their sights, then, by allowing for the temperature of
+the day and the direction and velocity of the wind, their shooting is
+certain to be far more accurate than it would be if the target had not
+been previously registered. The registration of targets to-day without
+the use of areoplanes is very often impossible.
+
+The registration of targets from the air, however, is not the most
+important part of this work. For instance, a machine will be flying over
+enemy territory; the observer will see the flash of an enemy gun and
+will pin-point its position on his map, which is marked off into large
+and small lettered and numbered squares. This operation enables him to
+send by wireless what is known as a zone call, giving the exact
+location of the enemy battery to all of our batteries within range. The
+enemy battery then has to move suddenly, if it is ever to move at all.
+
+Barrages can also be controlled very efficiently from the air, so,
+considering the comparatively short time that aeroplanes have been used
+in this work and the wonderful results that have been obtained, it does
+not take much imagination to see the necessity for all future artillery
+officers to be trained as aviators.
+
+In the earlier stages of the war it was very difficult for Headquarters
+to keep in close touch with the infantry during a "push"; consequently,
+considerable loss of life might result from one portion of the line
+advancing out of contact with another. Probably the eagerness of raw
+troops to keep on advancing regardless of their objective has led to a
+considerable and unnecessary loss of life. The aeroplane can be used in
+these situations to great advantage, and after the development of what
+is known as "contact patrol" the aeroplane became the connecting link
+between Headquarters and the infantry.
+
+It was not until 1916 that the full powers of the aeroplane as an
+offensive weapon began to be realized. Bombing was done, but it was of a
+desultory nature, and although the number of machines engaged in this
+work steadily increased, and the work itself became more and more
+diversified and specialized, it was not until 1918 that the
+possibilities of the aeroplane as a purely offensive weapon were
+appreciated.
+
+An aeroplane can operate far back of the enemy lines, both in the day
+and at night; enemy troops in transport can be bombed: railway stations,
+sidings, etc., damaged; transports of all kinds delayed; and ammunition
+dumps, when located, can be blown up. In fact, military targets of all
+sorts can be attacked from the air that cannot be reached in any other
+way. The very foundation of a nation's strength in war, its industry,
+can be attacked from the air and, if attacked on a large enough scale,
+can be destroyed. For instance, eighty per cent of the German steel
+industry was within bombing range of the Allies. The Westphalian group
+of high-grade steel industries centred at Essen is about two hundred
+miles from Nancy. If this group had been bombed on a large scale the
+source of supply of German guns and munitions could have been destroyed;
+for a blast furnace destroyed cannot be replaced within nine months, and
+the destruction of the central electrical plant of a steel factory would
+place the entire factory out of operation for at least six months. The
+hundreds of bombing machines which the English aeroplane factories were
+turning out at the time hostilities ceased, and the thousands of men
+being trained for bombing, make one wonder what would have happened to
+the German industries if the war had continued through the spring of
+1919.
+
+Besides these hundreds of aeroplanes under construction and the
+thousands of men in training, the Royal Air Force had in operation,
+November 11, 1918, over twenty thousand aeroplanes, over thirty thousand
+aviators, and over two hundred thousand mechanics and other personnel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE "BEDOUIN" SQUADRON
+
+
+The "Bedouin" Squadron, so called because as a unit it was constantly
+moved from place to place, and because its members as individuals were
+wanderers at heart, was formed in September, 1917, equipped with the
+large Handley-Page bombing planes, and sent to the Nancy front to carry
+out pioneer work in long-distance bombing. The "Bedouins," as the
+officers of this squadron were called, first saw the light of day in
+England, Scotland, Ireland, America, India, Canada, South Africa, and
+Australia. Before becoming aviators many of them had fought in the
+infantry on the western front, in Gallipoli, and in Egypt; some as
+officers, some as privates, but for no general reason, unless the law
+of nature which prevents squirrels from remaining on the ground also
+applies to men, they one by one in divers ways drifted into the Flying
+Corps, and flew different types of machines on different fronts until
+brought together and formed, "willy-nilly," into the Bedouin Squadron.
+
+
+I
+
+There was "Jimmie," whose insides had been shot away in Gallipoli. He
+was the envy of the officers' mess, because his newly acquired digestive
+apparatus, composed principally of silver tubes, could assimilate more
+wine without producing ill results than any other five members of the
+mess. Jimmie was not a flying officer; by all the laws of nature he
+should have been a corpse, but he had a heart which disregarded an
+intestine designed by a surgeon who must have been a plumber in some
+previous incarnation, and this great heart carried him through four
+years of war, and made of him an energizing force to all who came in
+contact with him. It was not until after the cessation of hostilities
+that the soul of this hero was liberated from the poor maimed body with
+its mechanical digestive system.
+
+Jimmie was the First Lieutenant of the Station; it was his job to see to
+the discipline of the two hundred and fifty mechanics, riggers,
+carpenters, armorers, drivers, and officers' stewards. He did this in
+such a way as to make all the men love him except the few, very few, who
+were surly slackers, and these feared him worse than death itself.
+Jimmie was always just, but he demanded results. To those who shirked he
+was a just judge and an unsympathetic jury; so, under Jimmie, slackers
+soon became demons for work, and later on learned like the others to
+love him. To those who produced results, he was a father.
+
+[Illustration: JIMMIE WALKS UP AND DOWN THE TRENCH]
+
+I remember that shortly after the squadron took up its residence on the
+Nancy front, the Huns came over and bombed us severely; many of the
+mechanics were fresh from the factories in England and were quite
+unaccustomed to seeing the damage that one hundred pounds of high
+explosive can do to the delicate anatomy of the human being; panic
+seized them; but a greater fear possessed them when Jimmie's orders
+burst upon them like the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun; they marched as
+if on parade into the trenches, recently dug behind the hangars; then
+Jimmie, smoking an occasional cigarette, strolled up and down in front
+during the three hours' bombardment.
+
+So the men soon learned, under Jimmie, the value of discipline; it meant
+their safety when under fire, and it meant freedom from military
+punishments. They were quick to grasp the fact that any negligence on
+their part might mean death to the aviator who flew in the neglected
+aeroplane. Flagrant neglect they soon learned might cause other deaths
+than those suffered by the unfortunate aviators.
+
+
+II
+
+There was Sammie, a prototype of the caricatured Englishman in our comic
+papers. Every American theatre-goer has seen Sammie exaggerated on the
+music-hall stage.
+
+Sammie was a small boy with an eyebrow on his upper lip and an
+apparently permanent window over his right eye. Before joining the
+Flying Corps he had served seventeen months in the trenches as a
+private; finally, driven mad with filth, rats, and other vermin, he
+captured an enemy machine-gun emplacement single-handed, and was given a
+commission. Shortly afterwards he joined the Flying Corps, probably
+because he could not keep his new uniform clean while in the trenches.
+
+Sammie was always immaculate, and as a uniform gives one very little
+opportunity to express one's individuality in dress, Sammie carried his
+handkerchief up his sleeve. Even Generals envied Sammie's field boots
+and every one who met him wanted to know the name of his tailor.
+
+In peace-time Sammie would have looked like a toy Pom with a ribbon
+around its neck; but a more imperturbable man in the face of danger
+never lived.
+
+"My word" was the expression used by Sammie to denote every degree of
+human emotion. If it was Sammie's lot to draw the occasional egg served
+in the Bedouin mess, his only remark when it hopped out of reach would
+be, "My word."
+
+I remember one night when both of our machines were out of action,
+Sammie and I, who slept in the same hut, went to bed at the early hour
+of twelve o'clock; at about one in the morning the Huns dropped their
+first bomb very close to us; a picture of Sammie's mother was on a stand
+beside the head of his cot; a fragment of the bomb came through the wall
+of the hut and shattered this picture; I landed, as far as I know
+involuntarily, in the middle of the floor with a lighted torch in my
+hand; Sammie saw the shattered remains of his mother's picture; "My
+word, mother will be pleased," he said, turned over and was sound asleep
+instantly. I know Sammie slept because he never remarked on my taking a
+short cut to the trenches through the window.
+
+Another time when a Hun bomb dropped in the officers' trench and failed
+to explode, Sammie, who was but two feet away, tried to lift it, failed,
+and then lay full length upon it, believing it to be of the "delay
+action" variety; when our Major, a bomb expert, appeared on the scene a
+few moments later and laughingly declared the bomb a "dud," Sammie's
+embarrassment expressed itself in "My word." If the detonating apparatus
+of this bomb had been all that the Huns intended it to be, Sammie would
+have returned to minute specks of dust and his name would have been
+added to the long list of dead heroes; but since the bomb was a "dud,"
+Sammie was made the butt of his friends' wit.
+
+Sammie was always philosophical. He was once ordered to take a new
+machine on a very long raid. We had all examined this new aeroplane and
+declared it a "dud"; so we cheered Sammie up as well as we could by
+drinking his health and inquiring into his taste in flowers. Undismayed,
+Sammie took the machine off the ground, with the wheel held into his
+stomach; the rigging of the machine was such that it would fly on an
+even plane longitudinally if the wheel was kept back as far as possible.
+By all the laws of aeronautics this aeroplane should have crashed before
+leaving the ground, but it did not. Sammie climbed it to five hundred
+feet in an hour and a half. As Sammie now had seven and one half hours
+petrol left and was still four hours away from his objective, it would
+have been quite justifiable for him to return without going any farther;
+in fact, it was the only reasonable thing for him to do; but Sammie
+always trusted to luck rather than reason, and his luck did not fail
+him. One engine "conked" and he was forced to turn back. He fired his
+forced landing signal when approaching the aerodrome, but the aerodrome
+was being bombed by the Huns in a very thorough manner and Sammie had to
+land in complete darkness, the inevitable result being a crash. Sammie
+extricated himself from the wreckage, found that both of his companions
+were dead, rescued one of the machine guns from its damaged mounting,
+together with several drums of ammunition and practised his marksmanship
+on the enemy planes until an enemy bomb ruined his clothes and left him,
+after a few months in the hospital, minus an arm.
+
+
+III
+
+There was "Jock," a "wee bonnie laddie," from the south of Scotland. He
+stood five feet three inches tall when wearing field boots with
+exceptionally high heels, but that did not prevent him from braining a
+Hun with the Hun's own wrench some sixty miles back of the enemy's front
+lines, and this is how it happened.
+
+One morning, about three o'clock, information arrived, together with a
+complete and undamaged Hun aeroplane and two friendly Hun aviators,
+that at a certain German switch station a troop train and an ammunition
+train were due to pass at a certain hour. Jock and his pal left the
+congenial beer barrel, turned the friendly Hun aviators over to the
+guard, made themselves acquainted with the Hun aeroplane, refilled it
+with petrol and oil, and departed on a merry adventure. Forgetting that
+the Hun machine would be subject to attack by our own aviators, Jock and
+his companion were in a great dilemma when so attacked. Of course, they
+could not protect themselves by a counter-fire, but when a man is born
+in Scotland, and is a direct descendant of oatmeal-eating bandits, he
+naturally has a keener brain than even the Jews can boast of;
+consequently, by spinning nose dives and other signs of lack of control
+the wily Scot gleefully gained the enemy's side of the lines. Here he
+was unmolested, although Hun aviators must have been astonished to see
+one of their own machines engaged in the British sport of
+"hedge-hopping"; i.e., flying close to the ground and "zooming" up over
+trees, houses, etc.
+
+In due time Jock and his companion landed in a small field a few hundred
+yards away from the all-important switch station. Here they descended
+and under pretence of examining their engine, although the first one of
+the ever-curious crowd was still several fields away, they looked up the
+word "wrench" in an English-German pocket dictionary; they then marched
+off to the switch station. Fortunately there was but one occupant, for
+neither Jock nor his companion could talk German, and the idiocy of not
+carrying a more serviceable weapon than a pocket dictionary never
+occurred to the mad Scot until his companion began to make weird
+gurgling sounds, evidently intended for the language of the Hun,
+addressed to the astonished station-master.
+
+Then down through generations of oatmeal-eating bandits came a glimmer
+of sense to Jock. He grabbed the first thing within reach, a wrench, and
+brained the Hun station-master with a blow; then the mad but somewhat
+sobered adventurers found and pulled the switch lever so as to bring the
+approaching trains into collision, and departed. When Jock saw the crowd
+which had collected about his aeroplane, he took a solemn oath never to
+touch beer but to stick to whiskey; but the crowd, which included a few
+Hun soldiers, respectfully made way for the "camouflaged" British
+aviators and a few moments later, wet with cold perspiration, they were
+in the air. Thoroughly sobered, they made for home with their engine
+"full out." Six weeks later "intelligence" reported that a German troop
+train and ammunition train had collided.
+
+
+IV
+
+There was "Mac," a North of England man. Before the war he was a typical
+English sportsman; he lived for hunting, and polo was his hobby. Like
+the rest of his class he pushed his way into the fighting line as soon
+as possible, as a private in the First Hundred Thousand. But eventually
+his genius expressed itself and leaving the known walks of man he became
+a master of the newly conquered element. Mac's mind was not limited by
+science, his soul was not dwarfed by religious prejudice, he held no
+political position, and he had no personal military ambition. He fought
+to defeat a threat to the civilization he believed in, to preserve a
+form of government that his ancestors had bled and died for, and to
+secure a future for his tiny son free from the hell of war. Mac, like
+every other man who had the courage to fight, and if necessary, die for
+his beliefs, hoped that the fighting man would be allowed to fight on
+until these ends had been achieved so that those who had died should not
+have made the great sacrifice in vain. He hoped, like all other fighting
+men, that politicians would not be given the power to render valueless
+to posterity the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of lives; but Mac
+was merely a man, of fearless integrity, honesty of purpose, with
+humanitarian ideals, and a believer in Democracy; he could not realize
+that a large majority, because of selfishness, ignorance, and a lack of
+the spirit of self-sacrifice, do not deserve the right to vote. But Mac
+was a sportsman and a gentleman, the descendant of generations of men
+who faced death willingly in a cause they knew was honorable and who
+died happily in the thought that their death made life easier for
+future generations. So Mac did not worry about the selfish ambitions of
+men; he did all he could to win the World War.
+
+I first met Mac a few months after he flew a Handley-Page machine from
+London to Constantinople and back to Salonica, a distance of over two
+thousand miles. Mac was a Captain then, he is a Captain now, but no
+living man has done more damage to the Hun than Mac has done. A far
+greater leader of men than his great uncle, who was a General in our
+Civil War, Mac gave a soul to the Bedouin Squadron. To Mac's leadership
+is due the first bombings of Mannheim, Coblenz, Thionville, Frankfort,
+and Cologne.
+
+It was Mac who flew a German aeroplane to Sedan, followed a "spotted"
+train to a near-by station, swooped down as the German High Command left
+the train and opened on them with his machine gun. It was Mac who
+landed over ten times near Karlsruhe at night and returned with
+invaluable information. But it is not because of the innumerable
+suicidal adventures of which Mac is the hero that every Bedouin, no
+matter in what part of the world he may be, always drinks a silent toast
+to Mac whenever possible; it is because every Bedouin realizes that a
+great man carried out a small man's job in a great way.
+
+
+V
+
+"Gus" was the president of the Bedouin mess, and probably because of an
+early education at Heidelberg, he believed in starving the British
+aviator. At all events, while Gus was mess president we all starved with
+agonizing slowness, for Gus had but two ideas of what constituted a
+menu. Our meals consisted solely of "bully beef" and Brussels sprouts;
+this meal was varied occasionally by leaving out the sprouts. To every
+indignant complaint from long-suffering members of the officers' mess,
+Gus would answer with the incontrovertible statement that
+"humming-birds' tongues cannot be purchased with tuppence"; this
+incontrovertible statement always reduced the complaining member to
+frothings at the mouth and other signs of inexpressible rage.
+Nevertheless, under the starvation system of Gus's stewardship a large
+credit balance was established at the Societe Generale, which enabled
+the succeeding mess president to replace the expert electrician, who by
+army wisdom had been converted into a poisonous cook, with a Frenchman,
+whose cooking was not cooking at all, but an art which filled the
+Bedouins with admiration and destroyed their waist lines. Six-course
+banquets, ending with a rare old yellow Chartreuse, became the order of
+the day, and whenever some seductive delicacy defied analysis we would
+ask Gus if it contained the tongue of the humming-bird.
+
+But Gus, although a failure in always satisfying the epicurean tastes of
+the Bedouins, won fame by being the first to bomb Cologne.
+
+
+VI
+
+"Mid" was a Yank who joined the squadron a few months before its
+"bust-up." Mid had been a private in the first American contingent to
+arrive in France; but because he was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and knew
+that automobiles were manufactured in Detroit, Michigan, he was given a
+commission. The Bedouins first met Mid in January, 1918. He had run his
+car--Mid was always driving a car--into a snowdrift, and wandered a
+couple of miles through a blizzard in search of help. Fortunately for
+us, he tumbled into our mess in the midst of a "storm celebration";
+i.e., a celebration in honor of a storm which forces birds and all other
+inhabitants of the air to seek shelter. Mid was pounced upon, placed in
+front of the fire, and given hot rum. A crew of men were sent off to dig
+his "benzine buggy" out of the snow and convey it to Mid's station, it
+having been decided that Mid should spend the night with the Bedouins.
+
+Mid soon won the hearts of the Bedouins by showing a proper appreciation
+for hot rum, and when he prefaced his first remark to the C.O. with
+"Say, kid," the Bedouins realized that Mid gave every promise of making
+this "storm celebration" unique in Bedouin history, and as far as Mid
+was concerned it certainly was.
+
+Mid entered into the spirit of the occasion with Western thoroughness
+and learned a lesson in a few hours which it has taken some men years to
+learn--that hot rum when taken on a cold and empty stomach must be
+treated with respect; in fact, a certain amount of coyness is not out of
+place. Mid was soon being supported on a chair while he delivered an
+epic on the "soul of a jellyfish"; he was then tossed in the "sacred
+blanket" and put through other Bedouin initiations; after which he was
+tucked comfortably in Jock's bed, while Jock, bound hand and foot and
+rolled in blankets, made horrid Highland remarks from the draughty floor
+of the hut.
+
+Dear old Mid, however, bore no ill-will to the Bedouins for what he
+might have considered unceremonious treatment of an American officer who
+was an honored guest. The next morning with a humble but dignified mien,
+Mid apologized for everything that he had done. As a matter of fact, the
+only disreputable thing Mid had done while under the influence of an
+excess of hot rum on an empty stomach was to make friends with a few
+men whom the Huns had sworn to kill on sight.
+
+Nothing daunted, Mid soon "wangled" permission to become attached to the
+Bedouin Squadron, and a more dare-devil spirit and lovable comrade than
+Mid did not exist among the Bedouins. He was always as keen for work as
+he was "full out" for a party, and he was always the life of a
+celebration. I remember one night when the C.O. read out at dinner a
+telegram which concisely stated that His Majesty the King had awarded to
+one of the Bedouins a very great honor, Mid broke loose. "Say, kids," he
+said, "I want to say right here that it's a great honor for my mother's
+younger son to be a Bedouin, and since it's a 'dud' night I want to ask
+your permission, Sir" (turning to the C.O.), "to present every Bedouin
+with a quart of the best." Permission being given by the C.O. on the
+condition that the C.O. himself would be allowed to share in the
+"largess," every Bedouin had placed before him a quart of Heidsieck
+Monopole. Songs and speeches followed, and Mid, since he could not "take
+the air," took the floor.
+
+"Fellow citizens," he said, balancing himself on an upturned beer
+barrel, "it gives me great pleasure to be able to stand before you this
+evening"; support given and applause. "It has always seemed to me that
+the greatest country in the world might be considered a bit slow in
+entering the war." [Hear! Hear!] "But, gentlemen, now that we are in, I
+want to say that we will be the first out." [Loud applause!] "I want you
+to understand that because the United States has always been considered
+the historic enemy of Great Britain, Germany was enabled to persuade an
+ignorant electorate that the United States and Germany were friends.
+But now we are in, we are in to the finish. When I say finish,
+gentlemen, I mean a finish to the fighting, but I beg of you to be
+careful of the non-fighting part of my country's population, and their
+representatives. More I cannot say, except this, if ever your King or
+your sea-power is threatened, you may depend upon every true American;
+we owe you a debt, and depend upon it every descendant of the founders
+of our country will die before that obligation is allowed to be
+repudiated." With loud cheers, Mid was lifted from his perch.
+
+
+VII
+
+The Bedouin who held the unenvied record for crashes was known
+throughout the service as "Killem." Almost every time he went on a raid
+he crashed his machine, fortunately for him on this side of the lines.
+One night, returning from a raid on the Boche magneto works at
+Stuttgart, he lost his way and was forced to land, because of engine
+trouble, in France, near the Swiss border. The topography of the country
+here being mountainous, he was fortunate in merely "writing off" his
+aeroplane. He might easily have killed himself and his two companions,
+but he came out of the crash quite unhurt except for a severe chill
+contracted by a forced sojourn in the icy waters of a shallow pond.
+Pinned beneath the wreckage of his machine with an unpleasant ripple of
+water in close proximity to his chin, Killem had an excellent
+opportunity to think over his past sins while his companions in misery,
+who had been thrown clear for no other reason apparently except that the
+devil takes care of his own, struggled manfully, one with a broken arm
+and the other with a wrenched knee, to release him from the pressure of
+wreckage which held him helpless.
+
+A few nights after this unpleasant experience the mad fellow "took off"
+down wind. This idiotic method of leaving the ground resulted in his
+being barely able to rise above the roofs of the near-by village and
+brought him into direct contact with the church spire. The spire being
+of solid construction withstood the impact; the aeroplane did not. So
+Killem and his companions, together with the wrecked Handley-Page and
+one thousand five hundred and sixty-eight pounds of undetonated bombs
+descended onto the street below--UNDETONATED. It was exceedingly
+fortunate for the inhabitants of the French village that the bombs
+remained undetonated. Killem crawled out of the wreck, looked ruefully
+at the church spire, and muttered, "I've always felt that I should have
+gone oftener to church in my youth. Now look at the damned result of my
+negligence."
+
+It was Killem who tested out a new aeroplane one day while a south wind
+equal to the air speed of his machine was blowing. While flying north he
+travelled over the ground twice as fast as he travelled through the air,
+but when he turned around over the city of Toul he remained stationary.
+He was travelling through the air as fast as before, but now he was
+headed south, and as the wind passed over the ground toward the north as
+rapidly as Killem travelled through the air toward the south, the
+inhabitants of Toul were amazed to see a heavier-than-air machine
+remaining stationary above their heads. This situation greatly alarmed a
+dear old lady of Toul, who eventually arrived at our aerodrome in a
+donkey cart with the astounding information that one of our planes "had
+run out" of petrol and was stalled directly above her house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE BEDOUINS AT OCHEY AERODROME
+
+
+If you had visited the Bedouin Squadron at about eleven o'clock in the
+morning you would have received quite a shock when entering the
+officers' mess. In the first place, you would have found the mess
+deserted except for several dogs of unknown species and innumerable
+cats,--some proudly nourishing recent offspring, others in various
+stages of anticipation of a similar pleasure. Secondly, you would have
+been surprised at the comfortable, if not artistic, interior of our
+exteriorly unattractive hut. In the centre of the "ward-room" or
+sitting-room was an open fireplace of ingenious design. On a stone and
+earth base, covered with sheet iron, rested a large cast-iron box with
+many peculiarly shaped apertures resembling as far as possible the
+incomprehensible design of a lady's lace mouchoir. The fire-box was
+supported by four cast-iron "whirly-gigs," the artistic effort of a
+mechanic detailed to construct legs for the support of the aforesaid
+fire-box. Above this box a large hollow pyramid, the apex of which
+connected with a pipe, which in turn after divers wanderings led through
+a hole in the roof, offered an exit for the smoke. Needless to say, this
+offer was frequently ignored. Around this fireplace was a foot-railing
+constructed from the main spar of a crashed Handley-Page. The rest of
+the furniture fortunately was not homemade. Large easy-chairs and
+lounges, the gift of a friendly merchant of Nancy, often made progress
+from one end of the room to the other,--a feat requiring considerable
+skill in navigation. A piano was wedged into one corner of the room;
+"Sin-fin," a mad Irishman, appeared with this piano one day together
+with an exhilarated French officer driving a lorry. No one ever found
+out how the piano had been secured, but since a sweet little
+"demoiselle" now rides "Sin-fin's" Irish hunters, we may believe, if we
+wish, that a rickety piano formed the basis of an international romance.
+
+[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO OFFICERS' MESS]
+
+The walls of the room were draped with rich damask; as the officers'
+steward who produced this incongruous luxury was an ex-convict, no
+inquiries were made concerning it.
+
+In the same hut with the ward-room and adjoining it was the mess or
+dining-room and beyond this was the "galley" or kitchen. While the
+Bedouins were inflicted with a cook who had been in pre-war days an
+expert electrician, the kitchen would not have been your most attractive
+route to the officers' sleeping-quarters.
+
+Presuming that you left the mess through its more congenial exit, the
+ward-room, the next hut you would have come to was the officers'
+quarters. There at eleven o'clock in the morning you would have heard a
+full symphony rendered by twenty lusty sleepers. "Is this war?" you
+might have asked yourself if you did not have in mind that you were
+visiting a night-bombing squadron. The officers in this hut had returned
+but five or six hours previously from an all-night raid over Germany.
+
+Beyond this hut are the men's quarters which are deserted at this hour.
+Across the road is the workshop or repair factory which, under the eye
+of "Bill," the engine officer, runs "full blast" from six in the morning
+to nine or ten at night. Next to this miniature factory is the armorers'
+hut where all the machine guns are overhauled daily, ammunition tested
+as regards rims, sunken caps, etc., and every possible precaution taken
+to render the guns thoroughly efficient.
+
+Near by are the huge, camouflaged hangars, or buildings containing the
+aeroplanes. Here the mechanics are "tuning up" the engines; the riggers
+are trueing up the aeroplanes, tightening a flying wire here, loosening
+a landing wire there, testing controls; in fact, doing all that
+scientific knowledge and care can do to reduce the chance of accident
+from mechanical imperfection. And upon these patriotic, scientific
+mechanics, working for their country and their ideals and recompensed
+from a pecuniary point of view with a shilling or two a day, rested to a
+large extent, the lives of the aviators and the success of their various
+adventures.
+
+Back of the hangars and near the officers' quarters is the squadron
+office. Here are several clerks constantly engaged in recording all the
+details relating to the men's pay, their military records, their issues
+of clothes, blankets, etc.,--in fact, recording and filing everything
+dealing with the squadron's activities.
+
+Next to the squadron office is the large map-room. If a squadron on
+active service can be compared to the human body, the map-room is the
+brain of the squadron, for here is kept all the information essential to
+the aviators. On one wall is a huge map of the whole war zone from the
+coast to the Swiss border. On this the front-line trenches are
+accurately marked, with their changes made from day to day. On the wall
+next to this map and at right angles to it, is a large-scale map of the
+entire region over which the squadron operates. On this map are numerous
+conventional markings which would have no meaning to the casual
+observer.
+
+[Illustration: THE PATRIOTIC, SCIENTIFIC MECHANICS]
+
+In maps of the enemy territory are hundreds of red drawing-pins. These
+mark the positions of enemy anti-aircraft batteries. As soon as
+information is received of the movement of one of these batteries,
+the pin which represents that particular battery is moved to the new
+position. Small yellow squares or oblongs with minute black marks
+represent the enemy aerodromes and hangars. These conventional signs
+correspond accurately to the aerial photographs of these aerodromes.
+
+Small blue crosses represent the position of enemy balloon barrages and
+their height. The position of these barrages must be known accurately,
+for to run into them is fatal and at night they are very apt to trap the
+unwary. Roughly, they are a series of balloons supporting a huge wire
+net or cable streamers. The balloons, anchored to the ground and
+carrying the nets with them, are sent up to a considerable altitude
+about large cities and important industrial centres. They are to the
+night aviators what the spider's web is to the fly.
+
+Another conventional sign of this map which is always puzzling to the
+uninitiated is a series of small pins with streamers attached. These
+streamers are marked with green dots. One streamer will have one green
+dot, another two green dots, another three, etc., while others will have
+different spaces between the dots. These pins mark the position of what
+is called the "Hun green-ball batteries," and these green balls, fired
+up to a height of about six thousand feet, direct the Hun aviators to
+their respective aerodromes when returning from a night raid.
+
+A better system than this for directing aviators at night has never been
+devised, for low clouds or mist cannot obliterate the signal and they
+are visible to the aviator for over fifty miles. In fact, this type of
+signal was so very excellent that our knowledge of the exact positions
+of the various batteries was of great assistance to us in our raids
+over Germany.
+
+On our side of the lines this map was marked with conventional signs
+similar to those which marked the position of enemy anti-aircraft
+batteries, aerodromes, and balloon barrages; but on our side of the
+lines there were large areas marked in red to indicate what was called
+"prohibited areas"; i.e., areas over which no aeroplane, Allied or
+enemy, could fly without being subjected to the fire of our
+anti-aircraft batteries.
+
+There were also white drawing-pins, each bearing a letter, placed at
+irregular intervals. These located accurately the position of small
+lighthouses which are usually about fifteen miles apart and from three
+to ten miles back of the front-line trenches; the letter marked on each
+drawing-pin designates the letter flashed in Morse code by that
+particular lighthouse. This system of signals, used by the British to
+direct their night aviators to their aerodromes when returning from a
+raid, had but two great faults. In the first place, the signal was
+obliterated by low clouds and mist. In the second place, the flash of
+the light only carried a few miles even under the best conditions. On
+the other hand, the letters which the lighthouses flashed could be
+readily changed and consequently were of very little assistance to Hun
+aviators.
+
+On the third wall of the map-room are aerial photographs of enemy
+aerodromes, railway stations, sidings, etc., and large-scale plans of
+German towns and factories.
+
+On the table in the centre of the room are the various instruments by
+the aid of which the aviators are enabled to figure out their magnetic
+courses. Every afternoon the map-room is crowded with aviators. Here all
+the plans for the raid are made, the courses figured and marked on
+individual charts, the photographs or plans of targets studied and the
+best methods of approaching the target discussed. In the evening the
+wind soundings made by the meteorological expert are reported and again
+the map-room is crowded with aviators figuring out "drift" and "ground
+speed" and making out charts which will facilitate their navigation when
+in the air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A NIGHT RAID
+
+
+Every precaution having been taken, the engines run, the controls
+tested, the compasses swung, the courses made out, the charts prepared,
+and the drift figured, the Bedouins sat down to dinner free from care or
+worry. The dinner hour was always set, winter or summer, at least two
+hours before the night's raid was to start.
+
+A guest of the Bedouin mess on the night of an important raid would have
+been surprised if told that the jolly, laughing officers, who apparently
+had no thought in the world other than the enjoyment of various wines
+and viands, were soon to set out on a pioneer raid against a far-distant
+German industrial centre. For the Bedouins made the best of the
+present; they all knew what a long-distance raid over Germany usually
+meant; many of their jolly comrades would not be seen again. So they
+made merry at dinner and drank each other's health. The wine, however,
+was light, and even the most reckless Bedouin drank it in tiny sips, for
+the work to be done was important. The personal dangers of the raid the
+reckless Bedouins might ignore, but they knew that these raids fitted
+into the general tactical plan of operations; consequently, every
+Bedouin was imbued with a spirit of determination in spite of an
+apparent frivolity.
+
+On entering the ward-room a few moments before dinner, the guest of the
+Bedouin mess would have been greeted joyfully by the officers who were
+singing lustily in perfect tune with a piano which was very much out of
+tune. A few moments later he would see these rollicking fellows stand
+silently at attention on the entry of the Commanding Officer until
+"Good-evening, gentlemen," from the C.O. granted them permission to
+"carry on."
+
+Before the chief steward announced dinner, "aperitifs" were passed
+around; then the C.O. led the way from the ward-room into the adjoining
+mess, where the officers stood at attention on each side of the long
+table until the C.O. said, "Gentlemen, be seated." If any one came in
+late to dinner, he apologized to the C.O. before taking his place at the
+table; and no matter how oily and dirty he may have been a few moments
+earlier, he entered the mess clean, freshly shaven, and in neat uniform.
+This mess etiquette, as it was called, did not interfere in any way with
+the good-fellowship existing between the C.O. and his junior officers;
+but it prevented men who had been away from home and the society of
+ladies for many years from growing lax in manners and careless of
+personal appearance.
+
+After dinner, decanters of port were passed around and the King's health
+was drunk: "Gentlemen, The King."
+
+This toast means nothing to us Americans unless we have drunk it among
+British officers at the front. Under such conditions, "Gentlemen, The
+King," is a call to patriotism, a spur to endeavor, and an ideal of
+courage which must be lived up to. We Americans are so apt to think of a
+king as a despot or tyrant that it takes us a long time to understand
+the love which the Englishman has for his King. The King of England is
+as much of a symbol to Englishmen as the Stars and Stripes are a symbol
+to us. The King, as an individual, has no power, except the power of
+influence. This power is great when the influence exerted is in the
+right direction, but the King has no dictatorial power similar to that
+which may be granted to our Presidents. The King is merely a symbol
+which stands in the minds of Englishmen for patriotism, justice,
+democracy, and humanity. So when the Bedouins raised their glasses to
+the toast, "Gentlemen, The King," they paid a tribute to all that Great
+Britain and her Allies were fighting for--democracy, justice, and
+freedom of the individual from oppression.
+
+After this final toast, every aviator went to his quarters and clambered
+into his bulky but warm flying clothes. There was no hurry or bustle,
+but each aviator, thoroughly equipped for the raid with maps, charts,
+and instruments, arrived at the map-room on a definite moment. Here he
+received a few final instructions from the Commanding Officer; then,
+smoking a last cigarette, he made his way through the dusk to his own
+aeroplane.
+
+While the aviators drank to "Gentlemen, The King," the mechanics were
+warming up the twin motors of each aeroplane, the bomb-racks were being
+filled with fourteen one-hundred-and-twelve-pound bombs, the guns were
+being mounted, and by the time the aviators arrived on the aerodrome the
+huge Handley-Page bombing planes were in readiness for a nine hours'
+flight over Germany.
+
+After climbing up a ladder to their respective positions, the aviators
+made a final survey of the machine on the reliability of which depended
+the success of their adventure. The engines were again run up to see
+that they gave the proper revolutions, the gauges inspected, the
+controls tested, and the return spring of each gun weighed. When
+thoroughly satisfied, each aviator took his place and his pilot
+signalled for the "chocks" to be withdrawn from in front of the wheels.
+
+While the aviators carried on this final inspection of their machines,
+the aerodrome officer, stationed on a high platform situated in one
+corner of the field, awaited the signal to light the "landing T"; i.e.,
+a huge "T" of electric lights headed into the wind, which shows to the
+aviators the taking-off and landing path. Each machine is given its
+respective letter for the day, which is flashed in Morse code on the
+navigation lights by the aviator when ready to leave the ground; he then
+awaits an answer from the directing stand. Simultaneously with the
+lighting up of the huge "landing T," the letter flashed from the first
+machine ready is repeated by the signal officer. The answer received,
+the machine taxies across the aerodrome to the starting-point, turns,
+hurtles down the flare-path and leaves the ground at the head of the
+"T." Under this simple method of direction I have seen twenty aeroplanes
+leave an aerodrome on a pitch-black night in twelve minutes without a
+single mishap.
+
+On leaving the ground the aeroplanes fly dead into the wind for a couple
+of miles, circle back to the left around the aerodrome, and head into
+the wind again until the height at which the flight is to be carried out
+is reached. The first aeroplane to reach this height passes directly
+over the aerodrome and then steers a course to the first lighthouse. A
+comparison of this course with the previously figured course, and a
+comparison of the previously calculated ground speed with the time taken
+to travel from the aerodrome to the lighthouse enables the aviators, by
+the use of instruments and a few simple calculations, to gauge their
+drift. This process is continued on another course to the next
+lighthouse and the previously tested direction and velocity of wind are
+accurately checked in this way and future courses altered accordingly.
+These calculations are all important to the long-distance night bomber,
+for although roads show up in the moonlight like white threads, they are
+too numerous and interwoven to be followed for great distances, and
+although rivers and lakes look like silver ribbons and blotches, the
+moon may be obscured at any moment or the ground itself may be
+obliterated by low clouds or mist. Accuracy in aerial navigation,
+therefore, is of the utmost importance in long-distance night flying.
+
+The night aviator, however, has many things to think of besides a
+constant checking and readjustment of his course according to variations
+in direction and velocity of wind. On his own side of the lines he is
+constantly challenged by searchlights which must be answered immediately
+if the aviator wishes to avoid the risk of being shot down by his own
+anti-aircraft guns or of being attacked by his own night-patrol
+machines. The method of answering these challenges is extremely simple.
+All that is required of the aviator is to shoot at the searchlight with
+a large pistol loaded with an enormous cartridge. The aviator, intent on
+his calculations and annoyed by any interruption, often wishes that this
+pistol was a deadly weapon, but it is not. It merely fires a certain
+colored light which floats slowly down changing in its descent to
+certain other colors, which prove to the officer in charge of the
+challenging searchlight that an Allied aeroplane is above him. The
+colors which are shown on one night, however, will not do on another,
+for these "colors of the day," as they are inappropriately called, are
+changed every night and the utmost secrecy is maintained in regard to
+them. Even the aviators do not know the "color of the day" until ten
+minutes before the start of a raid, neither do the officers in charge of
+the anti-aircraft batteries. The reason for this secrecy became
+apparent to the Bedouins one night when a Hun flew over our aerodrome
+shooting down our "color of the day," blinking his navigation lights,
+and finally firing down a red light which was our prearranged
+forced-landing signal. The aerodrome officer, believing that one of the
+Bedouin machines was returning from that night's raid with engine
+trouble, lit up the "landing T" and brought upon himself a shower of
+bombs which carried him into the Unknown.
+
+After crossing the lines the aviators are intent on steering an accurate
+compass course, checking their position from time to time by various
+landmarks such as canals, rivers, cross-roads, and woods, and figuring
+changes in wind. The bursting shells of the enemy anti-aircraft
+batteries must be disregarded, for a slight detour around a particularly
+heavy barrage might mean an error of several degrees in their course
+which, unless corrected, would bring them twenty to thirty miles away
+from their objective after a flight of one hundred and seventy miles or
+more, and an accurate correction of a compass course after a wide detour
+is always difficult and sometimes impossible. Therefore, it is of the
+utmost importance for long-distance night bombers to hold their course
+regardless of the enemy's efforts at destruction.
+
+The hatred in the hearts of the Huns, expressed by the constant "whonk"
+of bursting anti-aircraft shells, contrasts disagreeably with the
+loveliness of the moonlit panorama. All man's disfigurements of the
+earth are obliterated by distance and nothing but a scene of inspiring
+beauty is in view from the aviaors' lofty outlook at a height of several
+thousand feet.
+
+The flashings of the guns, the "flaming onions,"--i.e., strings of
+phosphorus balls shot up to light the sky and to ignite any inflammable
+substance with which they come in contact,--and the black puffs of smoke
+from the bursting shells add a weird and startling brilliancy to the
+surroundings. No matter how many times a man may fly at night the
+immensity of the heavens above him, crowded with unknown worlds, cannot
+fail to impress him with his own insignificance in the general scheme of
+the universe, and Death itself appears of small importance compared to
+the way in which he faces it.
+
+The aviators, however, have little time for reflection, for on a long
+flight they must keep a constant outlook for such landmarks as will
+enable them from time to time to mark their exact position on the chart
+and by comparison with their compass course and "ground speed" vary
+their course according to changes in direction and velocity of wind. An
+instrument called the "pitot tube" indicates the speed at which the
+aeroplane passes through the air, but the speed at which the plane
+travels in relation to the ground depends on the direction and velocity
+of the wind. They must also watch the flashes from anti-aircraft
+batteries and pin-point them on their maps if possible; aerodromes which
+are lit up, train movements, the lighting of towns, the blaze of steel
+factories; in fact everything of military importance must be recorded
+and reported upon, if accurately located. The night aviator, however,
+must be extremely careful in his observations, for it is very easy to
+get lost and it is extremely difficult to keep an accurate check, on the
+charts, of your exact position over the ground, even after long
+practice; especially is this true when the flight covers three to four
+hundred miles in distance and lasts from eight to nine hours.
+
+After several hours of intense concentration the aviators approach their
+target, and although they have charted the course constantly they now
+spend some time in flying back and forth while they check off on a
+large-scale map the landmarks about the target and satisfy themselves
+that their long flight will not be valueless if the bombs are dropped
+with accuracy. In the meantime the sound of the motors, together with
+the telegraphed intelligence from other Hun towns, tells the enemy that
+Allied night bombers are in the vicinity. The Huns in charge of the
+anti-aircraft defences stationed about the target direct huge beams of
+numerous searchlights toward the sky and an intense barrage is put up
+above and around the target by the Hun batteries. The air is filled with
+shrapnel from bursting shells at the altitude at which the machine is
+flying, for the Huns have accurate instruments which gauge the altitude
+of an aeroplane from the sound vibrations of its engines. The aviators,
+however, are still intent on picking out their target (probably a
+factory which manufactures war material) and have not yet entered the
+barrage. The Huns, I imagine, often wondered why British bombers flew
+about a town for such a long time before bombing; the inhabitants always
+had more than enough time to enter the dug-outs before the bombs
+dropped. The British bombers, however, were not making war on women and
+children; they were intent on destroying a poisonous gas factory or
+other targets of military importance; so they flew about the town until
+the target was accurately located; then and not till then, they
+throttled down their engines and glided swiftly down between the
+searchlight beams and below the barrage of bursting shells, for once the
+engines are throttled down the enemy's sound instruments are valueless
+and the anti-aircraft barrage ranged at the previous altitude of the
+aeroplane fills the air with shrapnel far above the rapidly descending
+plane. A quick adjustment of bomb-sights to compensate for the altitude,
+speed, and drift of the plane and the front fore-sight soon is in line
+with the target, and after a pause the back fore-sight coming in line
+with the back-sight gives, with the previously adjusted stop-watch, the
+exact moment for releasing the first bombs. The plane passes over the
+target and turns on a steep "bank," while the aviators watch for the
+burst of the bombs. The bomb-sight is readjusted to the reduced
+altitude, another sight taken, the remainder of the bombs released, and
+then, nose down, engine "full out," the huge plane rushes through the
+lowered barrage for more congenial surroundings.
+
+Great care must be taken when bombing a factory, for usually very close
+to it the Hun has located an unprotected prison camp filled with Allied
+prisoners, and we have official information that prisoners have so
+infuriated the Hun guards by singing "God save the King" or the
+"Marseillaise" during a bombardment of the near-by factory that they
+have been bayoneted to punish them for their "insolence." As soon as the
+aviators are away from the barrage, they steer a straight course for
+home, and again an intent outlook is kept for landmarks which will
+enable them to mark their position on the charts and figure their ground
+speed and drift. If their course is correct, they will see after a few
+hours a lighthouse several miles away dimly flashing a letter in Morse
+code. They head straight for this, and when over it they steer a course
+which will bring them to the lighthouse situated near their aerodrome.
+As they approach the aerodrome they fire down the "color of the day" and
+if the aerodrome is not under bombardment by the Huns the flare-path is
+lighted and the pilot spirals slowly down while the allotted letter of
+the plane is being flashed in Morse code on its navigation lights; as
+soon as this signal is answered from the ground, the pilot glides
+swiftly down to the flare-path. When fifteen to ten feet from the ground
+the Holt's flares attached to the wing tips of the planes are lit by
+electrical contact and the landing is made in a momentary but brilliant
+blaze of light.
+
+It is interesting to sit in the officers' mess of a night-bombing
+squadron and watch the returning aviators enter. They are cold and stiff
+and all are very tired, for no man can fly without fatigue from dusk to
+dawn under conditions which demand intense concentration and entail a
+considerable amount of nervous strain, but now is shown the difference
+in temperament; some return with bloodshot eyes and haggard faces which
+indicate a condition of intense fatigue; others come in gaily as though
+home from a late dance; still others thoughtfully quiet. All of them,
+however, show signs of nervous strain and mental tension and they must
+relax their taut nerves before going to bed, especially if the raid was
+but another similar to those that had been carried out on several
+previous nights. So, while relaxing they eat bully beef sandwiches and
+drink hot chocolate or beer or, if the night has been particularly cold,
+a glass of hot rum. Deafened by the roar of the engines and the sudden
+change in atmospheric pressure they either whisper or yell if they speak
+at all, during the first few minutes after entering the mess. But the
+raid is over, so very little is said about it; every now and then some
+one looks at his watch and sees that nine hours have elapsed since the
+raid started; he says nothing but he and all realize that the machine
+which has not returned has used up its supply of petrol and that the
+fate of a dear friend will remain unknown perhaps for weeks, perhaps for
+all time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SOME EPICS OF NIGHT BOMBING
+
+
+I
+
+In the summer of 1917 the Germans were rushing troops up to the Ypres
+front, where the activities of the British threatened them at this point
+in their line. This movement of troops was made at night, as usual,
+_because_ if made in daylight they would have been plainly visible to
+our reconnaissance and artillery observation squadrons. These troops
+were detrained at Menin and were transported by motor lorry along the
+Menin-Gelevelt road. On a certain evening the first night-bombing
+squadron of the Royal Flying Corps, then situated west of Nieppe Forest,
+was ordered to delay in every possible way this movement of enemy
+troops. The result must have been satisfactory, for the General in
+command of the British Army on that front sent us, a few days later, the
+glad tidings that no German reinforcements arrived at the critical
+moment and all the British objectives had been captured and held.
+Whether or not the only night-bombing squadron engaged in that action
+was responsible for the tie-up of the Hun transportation system is
+problematical, but all the members of the squadron remember that night
+and hope that their efforts were of value.
+
+The only thing out of the ordinary that evening in the squadron's
+routine was the mounting of double guns in the aeroplanes and an earlier
+dinner hour; the dinner, possibly, was gayer than usual. The machines
+left the ground in daylight, gained their height over Nieppe Forest and
+crossed the lines at dusk, swooped down over Menin Station and dropped
+their bombs at an altitude of one thousand to five hundred feet. Then,
+nose down, engine "full out," they raced away from Menin and followed,
+in the brilliant moonlight, the road to Gelevelt, flying within one
+hundred feet of the ground.
+
+A heavy fire at close range at the transports on the road and at the
+shadows of the trees cast by the moon, as the case might be, soon
+exhausted the drums of ammunition. Each aviator did his level best to
+get results, all the time trying to avoid landing on the tree-tops; some
+of them did so land; they were shot down by the Huns. As soon as their
+ammunition was gone they headed for home and, crossing the lines at a
+low altitude, were shot at by anti-aircraft batteries and machine guns
+from the ground and "bumped" here and there by the air displacement of
+passing shells from the steadily flashing guns of both their own and the
+enemy's artillery.
+
+When they arrived at their aerodrome there was a breathing-spell for the
+aviators while the bomb-racks were being refilled with bombs, the empty
+ammunition drums replaced with full ones, and the engines replenished
+with petrol, oil, and water. The planes then roared into the air again,
+climbed for a short time, and then headed for Menin, where railway
+communications were again bombed and the Menin-Gelevelt road was again
+raked with machine-gun fire.
+
+After a brief respite on the return from this second raid, the machines
+again took off and raided the Huns for the third time that night. All
+that were left of this weary group of aviators returned from this third
+raid in broad daylight, with nerves strained to the verge of a
+breakdown; some were in tears, some striving to be gay, and some were
+very quiet, but all were happy in knowing that they had "done their
+damndest."
+
+When afterward they learned that the "push" had been successful and that
+the Hun reserves had failed to appear, their grief for the "missing" was
+softened by the thought that _their_ sacrifice had not been in vain; it
+had brought about the full accomplishment of the purpose of the
+raids--C'est la Guerre--
+
+
+II
+
+Probably the first time that a Rhine town was bombed on a densely cloudy
+night was in the spring of 1918 and it was bombed by a small Scotchman
+called "Jock."
+
+The wind that night was from the northeast, a favorable wind from the
+aviators' point of view because it was against them on the outward
+voyage. Shortly after crossing the lines, however, dense clouds coming
+up with the wind obliterated the earth, and all the aviators except Jock
+turned back hoping to find their aerodrome before it was also blotted
+out by the low-lying clouds.
+
+Jock, however, was "keen" on bombing Hun factories, and the objective
+that night was the Badische Works situated on the river Rhine; so Jock
+held to his compass course and flew for over four hours without once
+seeing the ground. When a sufficient time had elapsed to bring him over
+his target, if his previous reckoning, of course, of ground speed and
+drift was correct, and if the wind had not varied in velocity or
+strength, Jock "spiralled" down through the clouds and, finding the
+ground beneath him nothing but dense blackness, glided lower and lower
+until eventually a large town directly beneath him became visible and
+then the river Rhine, passing between Ludwigshafen on the west and
+Mannheim on the east, was lit up by the rays of the moon coming through
+a sudden rift in the clouds. Jock by now was only eight hundred feet
+above Mannheim; he opened up his throttle and circled around the city
+while his navigation officer on his large-scale chart compared the
+landmarks momentarily made visible by the rift in the clouds.
+At last, thoroughly satisfied as to their position, fourteen
+one-hundred-and-twelve-pound bombs were dropped as near the factory as
+possible. If some of these bombs dropped in the town itself, it was not
+due to intention on the part of the aviators, who, blinded by
+searchlights, could not be sure of sending all the bombs with accuracy.
+With over one hundred and sixty miles to travel in a plane riddled with
+shrapnel from the bursting shells, the prominent thought in the minds of
+the aviators was, that their work being accomplished, their next move
+was to "beat it" in the direction where lay friendly country.
+
+After the release of the bombs, Jock climbed up through the clouds and
+steered a direct course for home. Since the ground could not be studied
+because of the intervening clouds, the aviators devoted their entire
+attention to compass, time, and the stars. During this flight above the
+clouds the efficiency of the Hun's sound instruments was thoroughly
+demonstrated, for, although the clouds were too dense for any
+searchlight to penetrate and this effectually screened the machine from
+observation from below, again and again Jock's plane was surrounded by
+the black puffs of bursting anti-aircraft shells.
+
+After flying for a sufficient number of hours to bring them above their
+aerodrome, if their calculations were correct, Jock and his companion
+discussed the advisability of coming down through the clouds; the
+unanimous decision, however, was to continue on until a lack of petrol
+would force them to land, for changes in wind might have created a
+considerable error in their calculations, unchecked as they were by
+observations of landmarks; so after flying for another hour they came
+down through the clouds and succeeded in making a safe landing near a
+small French village just before their supply of petrol was exhausted.
+
+
+III
+
+One evening in August, 1918, there was a strong southwest wind blowing
+across the eastern part of France and severe thunderstorms were reported
+to be approaching. Nevertheless, certain Bedouins were selected to raid
+the railway station and sidings at Frankfort; "intelligence" having
+reported important rail movements in that vicinity. The Bedouins were
+ordered to return if they found, after testing the air, the weather
+conditions unfavorable for a flight of such long distance. As an
+alternative target to Frankfort they were given the Burbach Hutte Works
+at Saarbrucken.
+
+After gaining their height above the aerodrome, Jock and his navigation
+officer steered a direct course for "D" lighthouse, situated north of
+Barcarat and but a few miles from the front-line trenches. Having
+accurately figured their drift and ground speed on this course, Jock and
+his companion calculated that, by steering a straight course to
+Frankfort, spending five minutes over the target, and steering a
+straight course back to their aerodrome, they could make sufficient
+headway against the wind on the return voyage to bring them safely home
+with a ten minutes' supply of petrol left in their tanks; any error in
+course necessitating a deviation, or any increase in the velocity of the
+wind, might mean a prolonged sojourn in a German prison camp if not
+subjection to the well-known tortures of a German hospital.
+
+After an accurate calculation of direction and velocity of wind, a
+course of thirty-nine degrees was steered from "D" lighthouse; the river
+Saar was crossed north of Saarburg; Bitsch and Pirmasens were passed to
+the north and Kaiserlautern to the south and then, the Vosges Mountains
+having been crossed, Jock and his companion looked down on the Rhine
+valley. The Rhine River was crossed north of Oppenheim, and from an
+elevation of six thousand feet, Mainz, at the juncture of the rivers
+Main and Rhine, showed clearly in the moonlight. Still holding their
+course, the aviators looked out to the left, followed up the river Main
+to Frankfort, here they throttled back the engines, glided swiftly down
+through the anti-aircraft barrage and searchlights and released their
+bombs as accurately as possible. Then, after an almost vertical "bank"
+so sudden was the turn, Jock steered a straight course for the nearest
+point in the lines, which was considerably over one hundred miles away.
+Now the aviators had to face a strong head wind and steer straight into
+a rapidly approaching storm. The time taken to fly from Frankfort to the
+Rhine River, together with a change in drift, proved to the aviators
+that the wind had varied slightly in direction and had increased
+somewhat in velocity. They immediately decided not to lose time by
+climbing above the approaching storm, but to pass beneath it. This they
+did, and those aviators never went through a nastier experience than
+this homeward journey. Blinded and stung as they were by the downpour of
+rain, while their aeroplane was hurled about by the wind to such an
+extent that it appeared to be completely out of control, the voyage
+seemed interminable. The clouds above belched flashes of lightning in
+apparent unison with the Hun anti-aircraft batteries below. Held in the
+beams of the enemy's searchlights and plainly visible against the dark
+clouds above, Jock's plane was an easy target for the Hun gunners.
+
+But who can account for the fortunes of war? Jock brought his plane,
+riddled with shrapnel, into the moonlight beyond, showing up
+Kaiserlautern directly below, with its searchlights sweeping the sky
+while its anti-aircraft batteries filled the air with bursting shells;
+but in spite of this "hate" it was a pleasant sight to the aviators, for
+it showed them that their course was correct and that there was still
+time to gain the lines unless the wind increased. Again they passed
+below another dense bank of clouds, to experience again being blinded
+with the rain and shaken by the violence of the wind by which their
+plane was tossed about, all the while subjected to an attack by
+lightning from above and by anti-aircraft guns from below. It is a
+little trying to the nerves to fly for an hour without being able to see
+the earth beneath, and surrounded by the incessant flashings of
+lightning and the "whonkings" of bursting shells, but when homeward
+bound these little incidents are of minor import.
+
+[Illustration: AFTER THE LANDING]
+
+For the second time Jock brought the plane, tossing about like a cork on
+a mountainous sea, out into comparative light. As landmarks were
+recognized, the course was checked and changed, when a third storm was
+encountered. This last storm was furious, and it was impossible to hold
+the plane on a compass course; fortunately, however, the storm lasted
+but a short time, and when Jock brought his plane out into the breaking
+dawn, the Marne-Rhine Canal was visible to the south. A few moments
+later the lines were crossed and a direct course was steered to the
+nearest aerodrome. Just then the engines spluttered, then stopped, the
+petrol was exhausted, and Jock was forced to land in a field near
+Luneville after a sustained flight of eight hours and fifty minutes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE GUIDING HAND
+
+
+Mysterious Dick, or "Mystery" as he was usually called, was a slender,
+anaemic-looking boy with deep brown eyes. He was nicknamed "Mystery" for
+several reasons. In the first place, he gave every one on first
+acquaintance an uncomfortable feeling; no one could explain this, but
+every one admitted that he was a "bit queer." When he looked at you his
+eyes never appeared to be focused on you, but to be looking at something
+back of you; I have seen a man to whom Dick was talking suddenly turn
+and look over his shoulder. Another very noticeable trait of Dick's was
+to answer an unasked question, or to interrupt a man at the beginning of
+an argument with a refutation or agreement, as the case might be.
+
+I remember coming into the mess one morning about five o'clock after an
+all-night raid; our machine was the third back. It was a bitter cold
+winter's night and "upstairs" it was absolutely numbing. In the mess
+there were Mac and Dick and one or two others, thawing their congealed
+blood and numbed brains with hot rum. It had been a nasty trip that
+night, dense, low clouds and a head wind on the return voyage; there
+were many machines still unaccounted for, although the supply of petrol
+would "keep them up" but another fifteen minutes. So in the mess we
+sipped our hot rum and sat and thought, or just sat.
+
+"I think they were south of Dieuze"; it was Dick who broke the silence.
+
+Mac jumped and looked hard at "Mysterious Dick," and as we all looked at
+him inquiringly a faint flush rose to his face, he gulped down his rum
+and left the mess.
+
+"It's queer," said Mac, "how often he does that."
+
+"Does what?" I asked.
+
+"Answer your unasked question," replied Mac. "The green balls must have
+been south of Dieuze just as 'Mystery' said, for after leaving Mannheim
+I followed up the Rhine to Hagenau Wald, turned west and crossed the
+Vosges over Zabern; here we went above low clouds and I didn't see the
+ground again for over an hour. I steered my course all right, but was
+fearing a change of wind when just ahead of me I saw the Hun signal of
+two green balls come up through the clouds; as the last 'intelligence'
+placed these two balls at Morchange, I changed my course from 270 deg. to
+245 deg.. It was only luck that about half an hour later a rift in the
+clouds showed me 'F' lighthouse, and as that is about thirty miles
+south of 'B' lighthouse, my original course over Zabern of 270 deg. must
+have been about right to strike 'B' lighthouse. So the green-ball
+signal, as 'Mystery' said, must have been moved from Morchange to south
+of Dieuze, and that is just what I was puzzling out when Dick answered
+the puzzle for me. He's queer, all right." And Mac called for another
+rum.
+
+And "queer" is the best description of Dick that any of the Bedouins
+could have given you, if you had asked them, until one night he was
+finally coaxed after many "treats" to tell about his earlier war
+experiences.
+
+"In 1912 I was a subaltern in the Indian army," Dick said quietly; "a
+row over a woman resulted in my court martial and disgrace.
+
+"When the war broke out I joined as a dispatch rider; I was wounded and
+was in the hospital for over five months. When I came out I succeeded
+in getting into the Royal Flying Corps and eventually was granted a
+commission. But as a pilot I was a complete failure; I 'wrote off'
+several machines and in my last crash I nearly 'wrote off' myself. I was
+unconscious for over a month and it was over eight months before I left
+the hospital.
+
+"I finally got back to France as a recording officer to a Handley-Page
+squadron; here I ran into an old pal of mine, and one night, when his
+navigation officer was sick, my pal took me on a raid without saying a
+word to any one. It was the first time I had ever been in a Handley-Page
+aeroplane and it was the first time I had ever flown at night, but my
+pal was the best pilot in the squadron and the way to the Gontrode
+aerodrome was an open book to him, for he had been there many times
+before; he took me as a passenger for the experience.
+
+"I remember as we 'taxied' over the aerodrome that the roar of the
+engine on each side of me, the flashing of lights, the other machines as
+they passed us or waited with slowly 'ticking-over props' for us to
+pass, the different-colored lights which were being fired down from
+machines already in the air and the lights fired up from the ground, all
+combined and whirled through my excited brain like a meaningless
+nightmare. Then there was a deafening roar and we shot down a path of
+light, bumped hard, bumped less hard, bumped again, and the huge plane
+with its great load of bombs was in the air. Lights on the ground and
+the lights of machines in the air became mixed until I could not tell
+one from the other.
+
+"As we rose higher and higher, ground lights far off in the distance
+came hurtling toward us like the navigation lights of a fast approaching
+machine; I would clutch Jack, yell, and point out the lights in order
+to avoid a collision as it seemed to me; Jack would grin, pull me down
+on the seat beside him, and tell me the lights were on the ground and at
+least ten miles away. Gradually I got control of myself and tried to
+find the aerodrome we had just left; it was nowhere to be seen. There
+was a network of white threads on a black background, an occasional
+winding silver ribbon with here and there a silver blotch and
+queer-shaped blacker blacknesses on the general blackness; these were
+roads, rivers, lakes, and woods as they looked from the air at night.
+
+"How long we had been in the air I don't know. Time seemed nothing, or
+an eternity. We were suspended in a sphere. Lights or stars rushed at us
+or receded or whirled about. Time and distance became mere words without
+meaning and I had fallen into a state resembling hypnotic sleep when
+suddenly roused by Jack. 'There are the lines,' he shouted, and as far
+as the eye could see, to left and right, out of the darkness beneath us
+were the constant flashes of the never silent guns of the Flanders
+front. Every now and then we got a sudden 'bump' as a shell passed near
+us. I had fallen into an almost semiconscious state when
+'tut-tut-tut-tut-tut' jumped me off my seat; I realized that I was
+surrounded by a dazzling whiteness; the machine itself was brilliant.
+Amidst the 'tut-tut-tut' of our own machine guns shooting down at the
+searchlights there was a constant dull 'whonk,' 'whonk,' 'whonk,' and
+the whole machine seemed to be enveloped in puffs of black smoke as the
+anti-aircraft batteries found the range.
+
+"Suddenly the nose of the machine went down and my breath left me in the
+crazy rush, my hands grasped at anything, and somehow, momentarily
+blinded with fright as I was, my right hand involuntarily clutching Jack
+conveyed the truth to my brain. Jack was dead. He had fallen forward on
+the wheel and the giant plane was rushing, roaring down to destruction.
+With a spasmodic effort I pulled his body from the seat onto the floor
+at my feet and pulled back the wheel. With a sickening change and a
+shrill singing of wires we were climbing. How the fuselage and tail
+plane stood the strain of it, God knows. I was in Jack's seat now
+pushing the wheel from me, pulling it toward me, turning it to the
+right, then to the left, pushing the rudder bar with my right foot, then
+with my left. Panic was in control. We must have dropped three thousand
+feet before a sudden calmness came over me and I found this aerial
+monster as gentle to manage as a perfectly bitted horse.
+
+"But there was Jack, huddled on the floor at my feet with part of his
+head gone. I remember leaning down and trying to pull him out of his
+cramped position, and then came an eternity of stargazing. I wondered
+why the stars didn't run into each other and crash. I leaned across the
+fuselage and turned a pet-cock; a little spray of petrol came out with
+the escaping air; the hands of two dials on the left side of the
+cock-pit began turning slowly anti-clockwise; I forgot them and looked
+at the stars. Later I pressed a button on the dashboard and looked out
+at my starboard engine; a small dial was lit up. I looked at the port
+engine, a similar dial was lit up. I took my right hand from the wheel
+and pulled the throttle slightly back; again I star-gazed as if in a
+dream and without any volition I closed the pet-cock which I had
+previously opened.
+
+"This was my first time in a Handley-Page, and I knew nothing of
+pressures or temperatures. How long I flew I don't know; what direction
+I should have flown I did not know at that time. Occasionally I glanced
+at the compass and as well as I can remember the needle pointed west
+generally, but I gave it no thought. Finally I pulled back the throttle
+and began to glide. I leaned over the next seat and pulled two levers.
+Remember that at this time I had never heard of shutters for the
+radiators. Down I came into heavier and heavier atmosphere. I was calm
+and happy. I never even gave the ground a thought, never even glanced at
+it. I remember taking from a rack on my left a stubby revolver with a
+huge bore, pointing it over the side and pulling the trigger, and I
+watched a green light go slowly down and searchlights that were blinking
+up at me went out. A few seconds later a knob on the dashboard seemed to
+rivet my attention; it was a small knob exactly like an electric-light
+switch. I began to play with this. To do this I had to lean forward and
+stretch out my left arm; this action brought my face around to the
+right, and as I played with the knob I saw a light blinking on my right
+wing tip. I remember laughing at this.
+
+"The plane took a sudden dip and I sat up. Just off to my right and very
+little below me were lights on the ground in the shape of a 'T,' and
+other lights were flashing at me. I turned toward the 'T' and stuck down
+the nose of the machine; I pulled the throttle farther back, and just as
+I seemed to be running into dense blackness I leaned forward and pressed
+a button; a brilliant light sprang up under the machine; there was the
+ground not two feet away, apparently. I yanked back the wheel and a
+moment later there was a great bump, another and another, and we came to
+rest on our own aerodrome.
+
+"The doctor told me that he had never seen such a collapse. I had been
+unconscious for hours after being lifted from the machine together with
+my dead pal. I was awarded this decoration, gentlemen, for bringing that
+machine home safely. Since that time I have been awarded these other
+decorations for feats you have all heard of. But I want to tell you,"
+and "Mystery Dick" stood up with flushed face and blazing eyes, "that I
+have never flown an aeroplane in France. Jack, my old pal, dare-devil
+Jack, whose head was blown off beside me during my first trip across the
+lines, flies my machine. Jack, dear old Jack, has won these medals I
+wear."
+
+And Dick, no longer "Mystery Dick," left the mess. I say no longer
+"Mystery Dick" because from that day on there was nothing mysterious
+about Dick to the "Bedouins."
+
+Explain it as you may, call it God, the spirit of a dead friend, or a
+thought vibration to which their mind is attuned, explain it as you
+choose, or try to explain it not at all, every member of the "Bedouin"
+Squadron has felt the "Guiding Hand" and every "Bedouin" knew, as every
+man who makes constant companions of danger and death must eventually
+know, that the dead still "carry on."
+
+THE END
+
+
+The Riverside Press
+
+CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS
+
+U . S . A
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Night Bombing with the Bedouins, by
+Robert Henry Reece
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