Hasse Wind 46 Posted August 25, 2010 I was reading my copy of the first volume of the seven volume official history of the RAF in WW1 (The War in the Air, by Sir Walter Raleigh and H. A. Jones) and came across an interesting description of the method the RFC used for directing artillery fire. The RFC had experimented with wireless (radio) equipment already for a couple of years before the war, and they had some wireless-equipped two-seaters with one of the four squadrons they first sent into France with the BEF in August 1914. Already in September a couple of such aircraft with wireless were used to help the British artillery, and as the war progressed into the year 1915, more and more observation planes came into service and the methods were quickly improved. This is what Sir Walter writes on the subject (first volume, page 341): "They [the wireless messages -HW] consisted of code letters. The clock code for signalling the results of artillery fire was first used in 1915 and afterwards generally throughout the war. The target was taken as the centre of the clock and imaginary lines were circumscribed around it at distances of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 yards. These lines were lettered Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, respectively. Twelve o'clock was always taken as true north from the target and the remaining hours accordingly. An observer noted the fall of the rounds with reference to the imaginary circles and clock-hours and signalled the result, for instance, as Y 4, or C 6. A direct hit was O.K, and there were other signals. [unfortunately Raleigh doesn't describe them. -HW] Messages from the battery or any other ground stations were signalled to the observer in the aeroplane by means of white strips which were laid out on the ground to form the letters of a code." Maybe something like this will one day be possible in OFF, too, possibly in simplified form? Would definitely make the 2-seater careers a lot more interesting! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RAF_Louvert 101 Posted August 26, 2010 . Yes indeed, it would be a great addition if we could interact in such a way with the big gun crews in OFF. BTW, those early aircraft transmitters took up the bulk of the gunner/obs cockpit and it required that the pilot not only fly the plane but also range the guns and send all course corrections. But by mid-1915 the radios had gotten small enough to eliminate that issue. uncleal, those signalling "guns" worked quite well from what I've read. I also recall they used a series of signal flares in color codes as well for a time. Hasse Wind, "The War in the Air", by Raleigh and Jones is the definitive immediate post-war work on the British Air Services in the Great War. I have the complete original set with map cases and I am reading and referring it to it constantly. Cheers! Lou . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
themightysrc 5 Posted August 26, 2010 "The target was taken as the centre of the clock and imaginary lines were circumscribed around it at distances of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 yards. These lines were lettered Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, respectively. Twelve o'clock was always taken as true north from the target and the remaining hours accordingly. An observer noted the fall of the rounds with reference to the imaginary circles and clock-hours and signalled the result, for instance, as Y 4, or C 6." Given that we have keyboards with our PCs, the above could easily be reproduced for OFF. I suspect that the hard bit would be the programming to generate the modified barrages and the scoring thereafter. I'm minded to think that this must be doable though, and would love to see it in the game. Of course, the tricky bit would be avoiding getting bounced by scouts - you only have one pair of eyes... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hasse Wind 46 Posted August 26, 2010 Hasse Wind, "The War in the Air", by Raleigh and Jones is the definitive immediate post-war work on the British Air Services in the Great War. I have the complete original set with map cases and I am reading and referring it to it constantly. Cheers! Lou Yes, the books are an extremely valuable source about the history of RFC/RNAS/RAF. Sadly I don't own the originals, merely reprints. But at least I got them cheaply, compared to the hundreds one must pay for the original set in good condition. And don't you dare to ruin my day by telling me that you got yours for a few bucks from some eBay idiot who didn't know what kind of a treasure he had in his hands! Compared to the British Army official history of the war (there must be like a million books in that series), The War in the Air is well-written and not at all dry. John Keegan, the famous military historian, said about the Army history: "the compilers... have achieved the remarkable feat of writing an exhaustive account of one of the world's greatest tragedies without the display of any emotion at all." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest British_eh Posted August 26, 2010 Umm hi there, RAF, you say you have the ENTIRE volume?! Did you mortgage your house? I have been asking the Royal folks to have access online, and you have some in your bookshelf. Bravo! Cheers, British_eh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DonL 0 Posted August 26, 2010 British-eh, Volume 1 at least is on Google books. http://books.google....epage&q&f=false Hope this is helpful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RAF_Louvert 101 Posted August 26, 2010 Umm hi there, RAF, you say you have the ENTIRE volume?! Did you mortgage your house? I have been asking the Royal folks to have access online, and you have some in your bookshelf. Bravo! Cheers, British_eh Yes British_eh, I have all seven volumes plus both complete map cases. It is an original 1st edition set, (matching blue bindings with gilt lettering), that originally resided in the RUSI at Whitehall until 1956 when it was pulled from their shelves and sold off. I purchased it from a rare book seller in Florida several years ago for $890, (which gutted out my entire book buying account and them some, but was so worth it). It is in near-perfect condition and is the pride of my WWI book collection, and the set rests safely on the top shelf in my library: Here are the other two sections of my upper book shelves which hold the remainder of my collection: And while I have posted all this before, here is the list of titles, (again): Personal Narratives and Biographies: "A Flying Fighter", E.M. Roberts, (1918 1st Edition) "A Rattle of Pebbles: The First World War Diaries of Two Canadian Airmen", Don Brophy and Harold Price, (1987 1st Edition) "Airmen O' War", Boyd Cable, (1918 1st Edition) "An Airman Marches", Harold Balfour, (Vintage Aviation Library Edition) "An Aviator’s Field-Book", Oswald Bolcke, English Translation, (1917 1st Edition) "Cavalry of the Clouds", Alan ‘Contact’ Bott, (1918 1st Edition) "Cloud Country", Jimmie Mattern, (1936 Pure Oil 1st Edition) 3-volume set "Days on the Wing", Willy Coppens, English Translation, (1931 1st Edition) "Death in the Air", William Heinemann, (1933 Edition) (famous faked aerial photos) "Double-Decker C.666", Haupt Heydemarck, English Translation, (1931 1st Edition) "En L’air!", Bert Hall, (1918 1st Edition) "Fighting the Flying Circus", Edward Rickenbacker, (1919 1st Edition) "Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps", James McCudden, (1918 1st Edition) "Flying for France", James McConnell, (1917 1st Edition) "Go Get 'Em!", William Wellman, (1918 1st Edition) "Guynemer, Knight of the Air", Henry Bordeaux, English Translation, (1918 1st Edition) "Heaven High, Hell Deep", Norman Archibald, (1935 Signed 1st Edition) "High Adventure", James Norman Hall, (1918 1st Edition) "Immelmann: The Eagle of Lille", Franz Immelmann, English Translation, (1930 1st Edition) "In The Clouds Above Bagdad", Air Commander John Edward Tennant, (1920 1st Edition) "Kitchener's Mob", James Norman Hall, (1916 1st Edition) "Letters From a Flying Officer", Rothsay Stuart Wortlrey, (1928 1st Edition) "Memories of World War 1", William Mitchell, (1960 Edition) "Night Bombing with the Bedouins", Robert Reece, (Battery Press Edition) "Nocturne Militaire", Elliot White Springs, (1934 Edition) "Rovers of the Night Sky", W.J. ‘Night-Hawk’ Harvey, (Vintage Aviation Library Edition) "Sagittarius Rising", Cecil Lewis, (1936 Edition, 1st US printing) "The Flying Poilu", Marcel Nadaud, English Translation (1918 1st Edition) "The Red Knight of Germany", Floyd Gibbons, (1927 1st Edition) "The Way of the Eagle", Charles Biddle, (1919 1st Edition) "True Stories of the Great War", (1918 1st Edition) 6-volume set "Up And At 'Em", Harold Hartney, (1940 1st Edition) "War Birds; Diary of an Unknown Aviator", Elliot White Springs, (1926 1st Edition) "Wind in the Wires", Duncan Grinnell-Milne, (1968 Edition, ex-library copy) "Winged Warfare", William Bishop, (1918 1st Edition) "Winged Peace", William Bishop, (1940 1st Edition) "With the Earth Beneath", A.R. Kingsford, (1936 1st Edition) History, Reference, and General Interest Books: "Air Aces of the 1914-1918 War", Bruce Robertson, (1964 Edition) "Aircraft of Today", Charles Turner, (1917 1st Edition) "Aviation in Canada 1917-18", Alan Sullivan, (1919 1st Edition) "Colliers New Photographic History of the World War", (1917 Edition) "Decisive Air Battles of the First World War", Arch Whitehouse, (1963 1st Edition) "Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", W.M. Lamberton, (1964 Edition) "Flying The Old Planes", Frank Tallman, (1973 Edition) "Fragments From France", Bruce Bairnsfather, (1917 1st Edition) (Great War cartoons by the master of the genre) "Heros of Aviation", Laurence La Tourette Driggs, (1919 1st Edition) "Historic Airships", Rupert Holland, (1928 1st Edition) "History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion", L.C. McCollum, (1929 Edition) "History of the World War", Francis March, (1918 1st Edition) "History of the Great World War", Rolt-Wheeler and Drinker, (1919 1st Edition) "Land and Water" Magazine, (entire April through September 1917 series, hard bound, ex-library copy) "National Geographic" Magazine, (entire 1918 series, hard bound, ex-library copy) "Reconnaissance & Bomber Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", W.M. Lamberton, (1962 Edition) "Source Records of the Great War", (1923 1st Edition) 7-volume set "The First War Planes", William Barrett, (1960 Edition) (the one that started it all for me) "The Great Air War", Aaron Norman, (1968 Edition) "The Great War", George H. Allen, (1919 1st Edition) 5-volume set "The Great War in the Air", Edgar Middleton, (1920 1st Edition) 4-volume set "The Lafayette Flying Corps", by James Hall and Charles Nordhoff, (1964 Kennikat Press limited edition two-volume set) "The United States in the Great War", Willis Abbot, (1919 1st Edition) "The U.S. Air Service in World War I", Maurer Maurer, (1978 1st Edition) 4-volume set "True Stories of the Great War", (1918 1st Edition) 6-volume set "U.S. Official Pictures of the World War", Moore and Russell, (1924 1st Edition) 4-volume set 1920 World Book Encyclopedia, (entire set with addendums, great for cross-referencing in an historical context) "Time-Life Epic of Flight", 23-volume set, (not old and not strictly WWI but still a lot of good info and photos) "The War in the Air", Raleigh and Jones, (1st Edition) 9-volume set including complete map cases, (my personal Jewel of the Crown) Instructional Books: "Aeroplane Construction and Operation", John Rathbun, (1918 1st Edition) "English-French War Guide for Americans in France", Eugene Maloubier, (1918 Edition) "Learning to Fly in the U.S. Army", E.N. Fales, (1917 1st Edition) "Lewis Machine Gun ‘Airplane Type’ Service and Operation Manual", (1918 Edition) "Manual Of Rigging Notes", U.S. Technical Data Section, (1918 Edition, possible reprint) "Practical Flying", W.G. McMinnies, (1918 1st Edition) "The Art of Reconnaissance", David Henderson, (1916 1st Edition) "Science of Pre-Flight Aeronautics", (1942 Edition) "Self-Help for the Citizen Soldier", Moss and Stewart, (1915 1st Edition) And to think it's only taken me 40 years to gather these together. Cheers! Lou . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
