Undoubtedly the high speed of the machines and the
zigzagging courses which were followed nonplussed the enemy.
Commander Briggs was not so fortunate as his colleagues; a bullet
pierced his petrol tank, compelling a hurried descent.
The most amazing feature of these aerial raids has been the
remarkably low height at which the airmen have ventured to fly.
While such a procedure facilitates marksmanship it increases the
hazards. The airmen have to trust implicitly to the fleetness of
their craft and to their own nerve. Bearing in mind the
vulnerability of the average aeroplane, and the general absence
of protective armouring against rifle fire at almost point-blank
range, it shows the important part which the human element is
compelled to play in bomb-dropping operations.
Another missile which has been introduced by the French airmen,
and which is extremely deadly when hurled against dense masses of
men, is the steel arrow, or "flechette" as it is called. It is a
fiendish projectile consisting in reality of a pencil of solid
polished steel, 4 3/4 inches in length. The lower end has a
sharp tapering point, 5/8ths of an inch in length.
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