Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1896-06-25
fMpERvIOus TO RIFLE SHOTS.
tinltoons Cannot he Brought TO ERrth
ny infantry weapons.

| From the journal Des Debats.
The aerial spy has for some time been
closely studied by French. German. Aus
,rian and Russian officers, and the results
OF recent experiments are noteworthy. 1t
appears thatHt is not easy TO shoot down u
captive balloon The balls OF the modern
rifles don't harm 1t much. The holes which
they make in II are so small that the es-
cape of gas Is Insignificant This has been
clearly proved BY The results Of Infantry Are
meters. S The only MY possible V enemy or a a bal al
loon Is the shragnel shell. Expsrimenis
looms Mt elevations ranging from 5000 TO
5000 meters from the firing ground. At 5000
meters from the firing ground the Germans
high out OF twenty-six shrarnel shells. nut
when the arship was SOD meters In the air
and tn, firing distance $50? meters, only
and three balls out 6f eighty shells during
the experiments las, year in Austria.
not generally mortal, Indeed, 1t often hap
pens that the shapnel and the broken frng-
fnents OF the shells produce no more effect
smn pG bore 0Ssn res With @ eht tptS HOES IN IKE
envelope the balloon .still preserves. It's as
Gcnainr p9wer and sdnS, those ihn' are brcnshi
But, on the other hand, when huge rent
drops rapidly.
is that. in order TO keep the balloon be-
yord the reach OF dangerous proJectiles. 1t
must be kept 5000 meters from the enemy.
and at an altitude of 500 meters. These
conditions are severe, especially as in the
experiments the oscillations of the airship
were calculated at twenty meters only,
whereas In reality they are greater.
The. trials were then recommended with
the balloon rolling. anI with freausn..
which was the target. is a balloon ten me-
ters In diameter and fourteen in height.
They let II UP 10 a height of so meters. A
IA GN Ett-h n IA
meters from the windlnss. Firing was be-
gun. bu. the balloon constantly changed
is position: Men in shelter nG move the wind,
sunners to alter their positions constantly.
They fred eighty shells at t.;hat is to
say all nat & wsr ,se nSF yhs
down it was found that there were only
three insignificant holes in 1t, which had
eighty shrapnel shells represented 1o,cO
balls and pieces of broken shells
clusion that balloon at that elevation
and moved in the manner described had
from the ie' fire Of an enemy, and that the Of
forts OF the artillerymen should be directed
against. the windlass and the servants of
VI" An 'aiiIt altitude of 500 meters is considered
the maximum. Beyond that obs,ssvations ms
enemy should be from eight to ten kilo;
meters. Major Renard; who has large OF
Meudon- Chaiais. who compiled the, docu-
ments that we have here condensed, says
that in order TO foil the fire of an enemy,s
battery 1T is not sufficient to move bal
loon In straight line, because 1t Is clear
that instead of following II in its backward
and forward movements the enemy would
confine his attention to the extreme points
came 10 within the line OF range. It is
necessary to vary the direction of us. move.
mcnts and even its altitude. In this way
the enemy would be compelled to alter the
pointing of his guns cons stantly: and while
this operation went on the aeronaut could
quietly attend to his business IN the line
OF observations.
To put the thing in a nutshell: the captive
balloon Is able to defend itself with con-
siderable facility.