. Collier's new encyclopedia : a loose-leaf and self-revising reference work ... with 515 illustrations and ninety-six maps. differed from any that AERONAUTICS 47 AERONAUTICS preoeded it, in the use of aviation as anoffensive and defensive arm of militaryservice. The airplane had been demon-strated as really practicable for navi-gation of the air only since 1908,, whenthe Wright brothers had given theirtests in Paris. For some time afterthat, it was thought of chiefly in con-nection with sports, and realization ofits great importance in war was slowin coming. Even when the militaryauthorities
. Collier's new encyclopedia : a loose-leaf and self-revising reference work ... with 515 illustrations and ninety-six maps. differed from any that AERONAUTICS 47 AERONAUTICS preoeded it, in the use of aviation as anoffensive and defensive arm of militaryservice. The airplane had been demon-strated as really practicable for navi-gation of the air only since 1908,, whenthe Wright brothers had given theirtests in Paris. For some time afterthat, it was thought of chiefly in con-nection with sports, and realization ofits great importance in war was slowin coming. Even when the militaryauthorities of the various nationstook the matter up, they thought of it taking advantage of darkness for with-drawals and renewals of troops. Twonotable failures of aerial observersoccurred when the Germans were ableto concentrate vast masses of men ona Verdun sector in 1916 with theFrench generals all at sea as to thedirection from which the attack wascoming, and again when Hindenburgwas able to withdraw his men fromthe Arras salient in March, 1917, withoutthe Allied aviators having learned ofthe movement. The reasons for these. A GERMAN TAUBE MONOPLANE chiefly as an aid in reconnoissance. Itcould go where human spies or scoutscould not. No trenches or entangle-ments could hinder it from seeking outthe location and movements of theenemy. But its enormous value forother work was apprehended dimly ifat all. This was shown by the com-paratively small number of planespossessed by the belligerents when thewar started. Germany, the best equippedof all the warring nations in this re-spect, had not quite 1,000; England hadonly 250, and France had barely 200. _ As a scout, the airplane may be saidto have met expectations. The move-ments and concentrations of the enemywere detected with a fair amount ofsuccess. It was not wholly and alwaysreliable, however, especially as the warprogressed, and both sides grew expertin camouflaging their movements and occasional failures can be readily un-derstood.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1921
