000 Turks were fortifying the Weli Sheikh Nuran country covering
the wadi Ghuzze and the Shellal springs, not a redoubt or trench but
was recorded with absolute fidelity on photographic prints, and long
before the Turks abandoned the place and gave us a fine supply of
water we had excellent maps of the position. In time the whole
Gaza-Beersheba line was completely photographed and maps were
continually revised, and if any portion of the Turkish system of
defences was changed or added to the commander in the district
concerned was notified at once. To such perfection did the R.F.C.
photographic branch attain, that maps showing full details of new or
altered trenches were in the hands of generals within four hours
of the taking of the photographs. Later on the work of the branch
increased enormously, and the results fully repaid the infinite care
and labour bestowed upon it.

The R.F.C. made long flights in this theatre of war, and some of them
were exceptionally difficult and dangerous. A French battleship when
bombarding a Turkish port of military importance had two of our
machines to spot the effect of her gunfire. To be with the ship when
the action opened the airmen had to fly in darkness for an hour and a
half from a distant aerodrome, and they both reached the rendezvous
within five minutes of the appointed time. The Turks on their lines of
communication with the Hedjaz have an unpleasant recollection of being
bombed at Maan. That was a noteworthy expedition. Three machines set
out from an aerodrome over 150 miles away in a straight line, the
pilots having to steer a course above country with no prominent
landmarks. They went over a waterless desert so rough that it would
have been impossible to come down without seriously damaging a plane,
and if a pilot had been forced to land his chance of getting back to
our country would have been almost nil. Water bottles and rations
were carried in the machines, but they were not needed, for the three
pilots came home together after hitting the station buildings at Maan
and destroying considerable material and supplies.

The aeroplane has been put to many uses in war and, it may be, there
are instances on other fronts of it being used, in emergencies, as an
ambulance. When a little mobile force rounded up the Turkish post at
Hassana, on the eastern side of the Sinai Peninsula, one of our men
received so severe a wound that an immediate operation was necessary.
An airman at