A question asked on line and well answered. Remember planes were just born:



"Potential answers posted here are: a) The time it takes to send a message to the aerodrome with the hope that they have a free plane to send over make it too risky

and/or

b) In the big scheme of it, saving 1,600 men would not get the attention it deserved at higher levels, so the general took care of it directly, without having to rely on other units."


and


"The mission wasn’t that important and 1600 men death means nothing in the cheer horror of WW1. 19 240 British soldiers died in The battle of Somme just in the first day.


I thought this too as soon as I saw the airplanes. It could be that getting the message from the general to an airplane unit would have taken longer than sending infantrymen asap. (remember, there was no radio back then obviously) In reality they probably would have done both. "