It explodes inside to produce a shattering, internal explosion. A aerial bomb, having no such power of penetration pops off like a paper firecracker against whatever it hits. To accomplish this the enemy would have to have 14,000 large bombing planes and 280 naval airplane carriers to bring the planes within striking distance of New York. D ire predictions of the terrible destruction and wholesale slaughter by airplanes in the next war are popular subjects for writers of leading magazines and newspapers. Alleged experts with little regard for facts have told us that the airplane is invincible and invulnerable and has doomed to the scrap heap practically every other weapon of war.
Battleships are to be bombed off the seas.
Cities and enemy military positions are to be demolished with bombs and poison gas hurled from the sky, with the odds for victory 100 per cent in favor of the aerial attacking forces. During the World War airplanes sank no battleships, destroyed no city, and failed in every attempt to bomb or gas an enemy out of a military position. The airplane of today is somewhat improved. It can fly faster and farther. It can go higher and carry slightly heavier loads.