Greg returns to the Hampshire skies this afternoon for a fairly lengthy (2 hr) outing that will more closely resemble conditions on the front:
Date: 21.5.18 Hour: 2.30 Machine type and No.: RE Passenger: – Time: 2 hr 0 m Height: 3000 Course: Shoot. Gr. Str. & Recon. Remarks: Successful
Greg had already had a practice shoot at Yatesbury a couple of weeks ago:
The basic procedure of a shoot was covered in that post, as was the use of ground strips, also covered here:
But this time the flight was longer, with the sortie lasting more like the 2-3 hours that would be typical for a shoot in Greg’s squadron on the Western Front. Greg would have been flying in figure-of-eight patterns, as suggested in the SS 131 booklet “Co-operation of Aircraft with Artillery”, Revised Edition, as issued by the General Staff in December 1917:
And as a coda, there was some reconnaissance to end the day.