Upon the return of the machine to its base, the report must be
prepared without delay. The picture recorded by the eye has to
be set down clearly and intelligibly with the utmost speed. The
requisite indications must be made accurately upon the map.
Nothing of importance must be omitted: the most trivial detail is
often of vital importance.
A facile pencil is of inestimable value in such operations.
While aloft the observer does not trust to his memory or his eye
picture, but commits the essential factors to paper in the form
of a code, or what may perhaps be described more accurately as a
shorthand pictorial interpretation of the things he has
witnessed. To the man in the street such a record would be
unintelligible, but it is pregnant with meaning, and when worked
out for the guidance of the superior officers is a mass of
invaluable detail.
At times it so happens that the airman has not been able to
complete his duty within the time anticipated by those below.
But he has gathered certain information which he wishes to
communicate without coming to earth. Such data may be dropped
from the clouds in the form of maps or messages.
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