luck," he is saying, "a blank
shame that I should have to take this blessed 'bus and join X Reserve
Squadron, stationed a hundred and fifty miles from anywhere; and just
as I have licked my Flight into shape. Now some slack blighter will,
I suppose, command it and get the credit of all my work!"

"Shut up, you grouser," said the Observer. "Do you think you're the only
one with troubles? Haven't I been through it too? Oh! I know all about
it! You're from the Special Reserve and your C.O. doesn't like your
style of beauty, and you won't lick his boots, and you were a bit of a
technical knut in civil life, but now you've jolly well got to know less
than those senior to you. Well! It's a very good experience for most of
us. Perhaps conceit won't be at quite such a premium after this war. And
what's the use of grousing? That never helped anyone. So buck up, old
chap. Your day will come yet. Here's our machine, and I must say it
looks a beauty!"

And, as the Pilot approaches the Aeroplane, his face brightens and he
soon forgets his troubles as he critically inspects the craft which is
to transport him and the Observer over the hills and far away. Turning
to the Flight-Sergeant he inquires, "Tanks full of petrol and oil?"

"Yes, sir," he replies, "and everything else all correct. Propeller,
engine, and body covers on board, sir; tool kit checked over and in the
locker; engine and Aeroplane logbooks written up, signed, and under your
seat; engine revs. up to mark, and all the control cables in perfect
condition and tension."

"Very good," said the Pilot; and then turning to the Observer, "Before
we start you had better have a look at the course I have mapped out
(see p. 40).

"A is where we stand and we have to reach B, a hundred and fifty miles
due North. I judge that, at the altitude we shall fly, there will be
an East wind, for although it is not quite East on the ground it is
probably about twenty degrees different aloft, the wind usually moving
round clockways to about that extent. I think that it is blowing at the
rate of about fifty miles an hour, and I therefore take a line on the
map to C, fifty miles due West of A. The Aeroplane's speed is a hundred
miles an hour, and so I take a line of one hundred miles from C to D.
Our compass course will then be in the direction A--E, which is always a
line parallel to C--D. That is, to be exact, it will be fourteen degrees
off the C--D course, as, in this part of the globe,