The game really doesn't cover this even by the AI and even though it was likely the most useful part of WW-I aviation: artillery spotting missions. Does anyone know how they got the spotting info to the gunners? My guess is that they dropped metal boxes with streamers over a specified location with written (by the observer) information but - that is just a guess.

Well photo recon was developed at base and then brought to the Generals. When not providing real-time info, aerial reconnaissance focused on gauging the effectiveness of bombardments and scout out new targets/enemy troop movements.

But sometimes they did provide real-time info and I think they used flags (semaphore-like communication) and drop canisters to try to relay information back to the friendly units who needed the info (typically artillery). Both solutions could be iffy. They also used radios, but in the early stages of the war even when they had radios available, pilots and observers didn't want to put them in their planes because those first radios weighed so much.

Wailwulf, I understand the part on telegraphing from the ground but, what do you mean by dropping wires?

I didn't think of this before but, thinking that reading flag motions on the ground from an inflight plane would be difficult, I believe there were signal mirrors using sunlight and morse code. never heard of an aviation use, though.

Ever see the movie "1941"? A Japanese sailor was stealing a civillian radio and struggling to get it into the hatch of the sub. Said, "we gotta find a way of making these things smaller". :)

Artillery spotting couldn't wait for landing. Now I'm wondering if this was really a mission commonly used or something I imagined. BTW, your comment on photo recon is the very reason that, if I were a modder, I would change mission requirements in the campaign game to making it unsuccessful unless the plane taking the photos safely landed at its air strip. Not my idea; the old board game (from Monarch Avalon-Hill, I believe) called "Red Baron" handled it that way. Of course, then the AI would have to learn how to safely land bombers :(

The observer had a telegraph key and a large spool of wire. When over the observation station they were working for. the observer would drop the spool and let it unravel to the ground, where it was connected to the listener on the ground. The airplane would fly circles or figure eights while the observer spotted and relayed information about targets.

When mission was done, cut the wires and fly away.

By 1918 they were also using radio, which at least meant they did not have to worry abut breaking the wires.

Really! First thing I thought when I read this was that it must've been hell on the wires.

Didn't really matter, for after an hour or two, the wire was dropped from the plane and most likely left where it lay. Just used a new spool of wire for next mission.

I'm betting they didn't last a quarter of that time and wire is heavy so not many rolls on board. Well, gotta start somewhere. I thought possibly canisters because, even in the 80s, that's how the information was transferred from a weather balloon but, if nothing else, the minds of WW-I were inventive.