action, the effect of which was
frequently more deadly than bombing.

Two of many protagonists of contact patrol were Pretyman and Bishop. On
one occasion the latter, in attacking an aerodrome at about 50 feet,
riddled the officers' and men's quarters with bullets, put two or three
machines on the ground out of action, and three in succession as they
got into the air. Another interesting example of contact patrol work
occurred in 1917 when a pilot flew his machine at a low altitude over
the enemy trenches, and he and his observer attracted the attention of
the Germans by firing their machine guns and Verey lights. The Germans
were so busy with the aeroplane that they had their backs turned to the
front line and our infantry were able to cross no-man's land without any
artillery preparation, take prisoners and bomb dug-outs.

An article in the _Cologne Gazette_ showed what the Germans thought of
low "strafing."

"The operations" (i.e. of June 7th, 1917), it says, "were prefaced
by innumerable enemy airmen, who, at the beginning of the
preparation for the attack, appeared like a swarm of locusts and
swamped the front. They also work on cunningly calculated methods.
Their habit is to work in three layers--one quite high, one in the
middle, and the third quite low. The English who fly lowest show an
immense insolence; they came down to 200 metres and shot at our
troops with their machine guns, which are specially adapted to this
purpose."

Armour was first employed as a result of Shephard finding at Maubeuge a
bullet lodged in the seat of his leather suit. Thin sheets of steel were
at once cut out and placed in the wickerwork seats of aeroplanes. This
primitive protection developed into the armoured machine mentioned
later, which was about to make its appearance at the Armistice.

I may mention here the "special duty" flights, which consisted in
establishing secret communication between our Intelligence Branch and
agents in the territory occupied by the Germans. Agents, mostly French
and Belgian, were carried by aeroplane over the enemy lines and landed
there. This work was started in 1914.

_Fighting._

At the beginning of the war it became obvious that it was not only the
duty of aircraft to obtain information but also to prevent enemy
aircraft crossing our lines. In addition to the reconnaissance machine,
and in order to make its work possible, a machine designed purely for