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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0908.PDF
I/LIGHT1 OCTOBER 19, 1916- ALTHOUGH the sun is shining to-day, there is a nasty cold snap in the wind tolling of the coming of winter. With a fire in my room for the first time, and the blinds closely screening all windows on account of the lighting regulations) the aspect is entirely cheerio] ; and so I can pull my armchair to the friendly blaze, whilst turning over the leaves of my pocket diary, to look for the falling of Christmas Day, the third Christmas of the war. It is but a little over eight weeks. In eight weeks we should be making merry with holly and mistletoe, with presents and good cheer, with greetings of good fellowship, yet I think 1916 must be a dull old Christmas, and one full of sorrowings and heart aches. I had hoped against hope that this ghastly business of killing would have been all over before another Yuletide, but it seems that it is not to be, and our boys must spend yet another one away from the friendly hearth, and the question is, what are we going to do for them ? 1 I am afraid many of those diligent knitters of the early days have fallen off in enthusiasm, and that comforters and warm underclothing are not being supplied in such quantities as before, yet the winter will be just as severe, and warm clothing just as welcome. If " Sister Sue" does not feel quite so eager to sew as she did, our boys are not slacking off one bit in their determination to win through, even though half-a-dozen Christmasses come in between. , I know from personal letters received from the front what it is most desirable, from the boys' point of view, should be sent out. There are three more prominent things, warm comforters and knitted things, cigarettes and tobacco, and tinned fruits. A tin <•[ peaches or pineapple is something to a man who i> living on bully-beef and biscuits, and every man of him lias got a dinky knife with a tin-opener in the end. This war is a horrible business. Of all the stupid ideas ever entering the brain of 'man, surely war as a method of settling disputes is the stupidest. Just because somebody thinks he wants that which he has no possible right to have, millions of men must be sent to their death. If I had my way, the first person who hinted at the breaking off of " diplo matic relations " should be taken out and hanged on the nearest tree. Well, we can't hang him, at least not yet, and so in the meantime let us set about getting our little parcels ready. There is not a great deal of time to spare now, and there may be delay later on owing to the congestion of traffic, so let us set about it at once. A parcel arriving two days after Christmas is not in time to prevent our boy thinking that we had forgotten him or did not trouble overmuch. Several times I have seen the Somme film, hoping each time that I should find a length added showing something of life in the Flying Sendees at the front, but I have not struck lucky yet. I can think of nothing the general public and those R.F.C. boys who have not yet been out, would take more interest in than a long film showing the life of men in the Flying Services on active service. It would be the delight of my life to be sent out there to photograph them and write them up, and I promise you I would make interesting pictures and reading. Apart from all else, I feel sure it would do an immense amount] of good from the point of view of instruction to those who have not yet realised active service. I will admit that until I saw the Somme Film, I had a very wTong idea of the life our boys were called upon to lead when fighting for their country, and the effect it had upon me was that I should like to be out there with them. I do not close my eyes to the ghastliness of the whole affair, but it has its compensations, of which Tommy knows how to take full measure. •* • * With the waning of the moon this week, I suppose we may expect further visits from the gas-bags, with the liberating of more hydrogen. We have come to look upon the flare-up as a pretty foregone conclusion after the last few visits, and shall wonder what is the matter if it is not repeated. It is strange that during the whole time the present moon has been with us to allay the fears of the nervous ones, the wind has also lent its aid in making raids an impos sibility. Now that the moon is failing, I suppose the wind will also fail. However, the winter is upon us, when Zepps. will cease from troubling over- frequently. And, really, what have they done ? At the end of a long summer, providing possibilities innumerable, the damage of a military nature done in all the numerous raids over this country amounts to nothing. Not once, so far as we are allowed to know, and I believe we know the truth, has a single building having a direct influence on the war been hit. Seeing the cost of these brutes, the trouble of organising a raid, and the expense of carrying it out, the game does not really appear to be worth the candle. I am doubtful whether the whole business of giant airships is of much account, anyway. Possibly as the eyes of a fleet, they would be most valuable, but failing that, and the small amount of damage they do here, and the fact that they do not appear to be able to use them over the trenches, what use are they ? In my humble opinion, they are but things of a period, tried out and found wanting. I believe the work which they are supposed to do, and cannot, will on future occasions be done by the giant aeroplane. Everything appears to point that way at the moment. 904
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