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17. Other means of communication are the Popham panel, the semaphore, and flares of fire. Written messages can of course be dropped by airplane, and in case of emergency messages can be picked up by a grapnel slung from the airplane. It is also possible to supply troops with food and ammunition by dropping them from airplanes.
18. The principal tasks required of the air force in was are to bombard the enemy's camps and bases; to harrass the enemy's troops by bombing and machine-gun fire and, if possible, to divert them from their objective; to observe and make photographic records of hostile terrain; and to obtain by reconnaissance, and communicate continuously to the troops on the ground, information regarding the enemy's dispositions and movements. If the enemy engaged has an air force, the primary task is, of course, to counteract its activities and if possible to destroy it.
19. The assistance which the ground troops derive from the air force is of the greatest possible value: and, in particular, troops that fought in the Great War have come to reckon upon the additional protection which they receive from the air arm. The pilot, from his coign of vantage in the air, reports to the army below concentrations of the enemy's forces, and the direction

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