Teuton airmen as a body to a very considerable extent. Often, even when
an aeroplane descended within the German lines, it was found that the
roving airman had paid the penalty for his rashness with his life, so
that his journey had proved in vain, because all the intelligence he
had gained had died with him, or, if committed to paper, was so
unintelligible as to prove useless.

It was the success of the British airmen in this particular field
of duty which was responsible for the momentous declaration in
Field-Marshal Sir John French's famous despatch:--"The British Flying
Corps has succeeded in establishing an individual ascendancy, which is
as serviceable to us as it is damaging to the enemy.... The enemy have
been less enterprising in their flights. Something in the direction of
the mastery of the air has already been gained."

The methods of the British airmen are in vivid contrast to the
practice of the venturesome Teuton aerial rovers described above. While
individual flights are undertaken they are not of unknown duration or
mileage. The man is given a definite duty to perform and he ascends
merely to fulfil it, returning with the information at the earliest
possible moment. It is aerial scouting with a method. The intelligence
is required and obtained for a specific purpose, to govern a
contemplated move in the grim game of war.

Even then the flight is often undertaken by two or more airmen for the
purpose of checking and counterchecking information gained, or to ensure
such data being brought back to headquarters, since it is quite possible
that one of the party may fall a victim to hostile fire. By operating
upon these lines there is very little likelihood of the mission
proving a complete failure. Even when raids upon certain places such as
Dusseldorf, Friedrichshafen or Cuxhaven are planned, complete dependence
is not placed on one individual. The machine is accompanied, so that
the possibility of the appointed task being consummated is transformed
almost into a certainty.

The French flying men work upon broadly similar lines. Their fleet is
divided into small squadrons each numbering four, six, or more machines,
according to the nature of the contemplated task. Each airman is given
an area of territory which is to be reconnoitred thoroughly. In this way
perhaps one hundred or more miles of the enemy's front are searched for
information at one and the same time. The units of the squadron start
out, e