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200 The Motor in Warfare
grade, for the continued supplies of new
vehicles are far in excess of those which
are put out of action from time to time.
A final word must
be accorded to that
form of motor which
is represented by the
aeroplane. The subject
could only be
dealt with adequately
in a separate article,
but I may say
here that the use of
air-craft has exceeded,
in its results, the
most sanguine expectations
of early
enthusiasts, among
whom, as a founder
member of the Royal
Aero Club of Great
Britain, I may include
myself. Everywhere
the airman
has been supreme,
and the British Flying Corps alone has
made reconnaissances equivalent in mileage
to many circuits of the globe. No
hostile army has been able to make a sudden
or unexpected change of position without
its movement being detected from
afar, and secret operations, unless very
remote from the front, have proved impossible;
gun-fire has
been the more effectual
because aviators
have located the enemy's
concealed artillery
and signalled
directions to their
own; and, in short,
in proportion to their
numbers, the flying
men have carried off
the premier honors
of the war on both
sides alike. What
with automobiles of
every shape on terra
firma, and aeroplanes
hovering constantly
in the empyrean,
warfare has been revolutionized
at every
point. Even thus
the great European conflict may seem to
be resolving itself all too slowly; but,
without the motor, no one, in the face of
these teeming millions, could have dared
to antedate the finish.
London motor-'bus with wounded from Antwerp
arrives at Ghent.
From a photograph by Underwood & Underwood.
During the bombardment of Antwerp the London motor-'buses were used in the retreat