Snow Conditions

While digging out from a recent heavy snowfall (13 inches in New Jersey, where 2 or 3 are enough to close schools) it occured to me that this kind of thing happens in France most winters. The storm would, of course, ground both sides. But after it cleared, the side that dug out first would have a big advantage over the enemy. They could immediately sortie and attack their enemies on the ground, digging out. I wonder if this hypothetical situation ever really happened. Anybody know? Also, what kind of snow removal gear was used to support a World War One Squadron/Escadrille/Jasta?

Tom

[Barrett]

This is a useful subject for examination, especially since it receives so little attention. I don't know anything about snow removal in WW I but can say that many of my 600-odd hours in open-cockpit biplanes were logged in winter. The physiological effects must be experienced to be understood. There are times when it HURTS to inhale and that's only at moderate altitudes, below 3,000 ft msl. Imagine the effect at 15,000 or more! Naturally, the extremities are effected first, and before long the feet become insensate blocks so that sometimes it's uncertain whether your feet are on the rudder pedals or not. Hypothermia combined with anoxia must've been a hellacious mixture--and that's BEFORE the fight started.
I know what you're thinking: Why expose oneself to such rigors if it's unnecessary?
Answer: Frigid flight time is better than no flight time--up to a point!

I direct your attention to Aurther Gould Lee's book 'No Parachute' wherein tword the end of his tour on the western front he helps clearing snow from in front of the hangers and such using plain shovels and wheel barrows. One might also assume that a Sgt. Fitter would have figured out some kind of plow arrangment for a Leland lorry as well, but I've never read any evidence of it.

Interesting that this subject came up today. I was thinking yesterday how close I've been feeling, spiritually, to WWI pilots lately.

I ride a bicycle to work, every day that it isn't actually snowing. (It's just too difficult to control a bike on snowy streets while keeping an eye out for traffic.) On days when the temperature's around minus twenty, I find myself dressing in a fashion you might find familiar:

Several layers of shirts
Leather coat
Scarf
Face mask
Insulated cap under helmet
Gauntlets (or lobster gloves, the cyclist's equivalent)

This serves to keep me warm for twenty minutes or so, provided the wind's not too strong. By the time I get to work, though, I'm so cold I just don't care what happens. Add in the fact that the layers of material around my face and neck make it very hard to turn my head around, and I find it both difficult and pointless to keep doing shoulder checks. I know this is dangerous -- but I recall reading a memoir in which a pilot expressed similar sentiments. He got to the point where he just didn't care if he got shot down; he wasn't going to keep checking his six because he was too cold and too constricted.

As for the question itself, I haven't come across any reference to mechanized snow-clearing either. Keep in mind, though, that most squadrons didn't have that much in the way of mechanized transport assigned to them. So long as the snowfall wasn't too deep, aircraft could still take off and land on European fields. (In Canada, by contrast, training shut down when the snow fell, until RFC Canada was able to make arrangements with our neighbours to the south to set up winter training in Texas.)

I have never read of a snowfall so heavy that it prevented normal operations along the trenchline, at least on the western front. Operations in the various mountain areas are another question.

[Vigilant]

The winter of 1916-1917 was one of the worst for many years. (The Arras push in _April_ 1917 was launched in a snow storm.) I wouldn't say 13 inches was typical for Western Europe however. These days we are lucky if we get any snow on the ground for more than a week a year - but that's global warming for you.

Vigilant