British airman returning from a patrol, 1914

Lantern slide, World War One, Air Operations (1914-1918), 1914.

Although military aviation was still in its infancy on the outbreak of war in August 1914, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in Belgium did have a few aircraft that were used to find enemy formations. Although the pilots and observers of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) succeeded in locating the Germans as they advanced, the intelligence they provided was not always acted upon by senior commanders.

From a box of 80 lantern slides.