For anyone interested on WW1-era AOP operations, I can highly recommend “Sagittarius Rising”, Cecil Lewis’ autobiography of his time in the RFC. His first frontline posting was to an Army Co-op squadron flying two-seater Morane Type-L parasol monoplanes, and his vivid accounts of the dangers these guys faced makes your hair stand on end.
Firstly, the Type L had some pitch stability problems, and if you let go of the stick the aircraft could bunt so violently that the wing could part company. Keeping a hand on the controls at all costs was the order of the day!
Secondly, they were often operating well within range of the German flak (“Archie”), and even small arms.
Thirdly, they often operated alone, with no escort or top cover of any sort, leaving them open to attack from German scouts.
The fourth hazard is perhaps the most hair raising. This was the artillery shells themselves, both German and Allied. The standard response to an artillery barrage was to return fire with a barrage of your own. AOP crews often had shells pass them by in both directions, Lewis even recounts how you could see the shells rotating as they ‘drilled’ thier way through the atmosphere. Shells would sometimes collide and detonate in mid air, often too close for comfort for the AOP guys, and ofcourse there was every chance that your machine could be struck by a passing shell. This is in fact how Lewis’ usual Observer lost his life whilst flying with another pilot, his aircraft being hit by a British shell.
It’s also worth mentioning that the shells caused severe disturbance and turbulence, so it was extremely bumpy and uncomfortable work aside from the dangers. Bear in mind that the machines were already a tad unstable and that the wings didn’t need much encouragement to part company and you can begin to understand how nerve wracking the whole experience was.
Sagittarius Rising is a great read in general, if you haven’t read it you’re missing out on a brilliantly written aviation autobiography. Mine takes pride of place up on the shelf alongside Wing Leader etc as one of the greats.