The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-08-22
The Airship Sounds Death
KneN of Modern Nauies


the bsllons within the dirisibie by con-
flame from the guns igniting the gas
the use Of the Maxim silenoer will meet
the difficulty The silsnoer mot only
makes noiseless shooting but duells
all flame at the gun muzzie. The gun
tests of the Germans have ben made
In great secrecy. and ths results have
been confided only to the officers Of
their army and navy.
VIII Attain Mile u Minute Speed.
The military dirigible 10 designed to
travel at height OF about q mile
above the earth. 50 as to be beyond the
effective range of small arms. BY
going with the winds. which averages
more than twenty-four miles an hour
at this elevation. the sky fighter In ac-
tion will attain a speed Of a mile n
minute. To attack the airship with ter
restrial artillery will be almost futile.
although special heavy guns have
been Invented for upward shooting.
Experiment has shown that It takes
Ave to twenty minutes for artillery to
get the range OF low-lying captive bal
looms at battle distances. With q mile
minute craft. capable OF lodging and
twisting like a rabbit, 1t will be prao-
ticaily impossible to get the range
The great size OF the target will be
obyiated by Its speed and errat!c
movements. A shot intended to hit
1t will have to be aimed an indefinite
distance above and beyond the bow. -
In shooting at q string of flying ducks
1t will be a long chance to score
hit and then the puncture of one or
two gas compartments will not infiief
a serious injury
ION the other hand" says the au.
thors. nothing alive on the ground
can escape the fire Of an airship. II
will be armed with rapid-fire guns,
carrying shells. but its chief reliance
in fighting infantry or cavalry will be
upon the machine rifle. With this
weapon 1t can turn a stream Of four
hundred bullets minute on any
troops two miles, exactly as man
turns the stream of q garden hose
against a tree. Its gunners can soc
any object on the ground with u per-
feet clearness impossible of realization
by any one who has not flown down
In a balloon. They can thus mark the
striking OF bullets perfectly And the
range of their guns 10 nearly doubled
on account of their position. The gun
FIRE of an airship will annihilate in
fantry and cavalry beneath It as sure
Iy as the hand of God Some idea Of
the wholesale murder of troops posi-
BILE with machine rides can be had
from the battle of Omdurman In up
per Egypt, on September 2. 1898. when
the English forces killed more than
1900 and wounded 10000 OF the
Mahdi's troops. most OF them In the
course of three short charges.
Airship Practically Omniscfent.
Elm destroying troops on the ground
the airship will take no serious risk.
Its position makes 1t practically. omni-
scient. so far as the movements of its
enemy on the ground are concerned.
Only prepared artillery can possibly
hit It; therefore IL will attack only
when artillery IL not ready. It will
work to windward at a low level. then
rise into the high winds OF the zone Of
safety and swoop over unprotected bo-
dies OF infantry and cavalry with the
speed of an express train. Or at night
1t will swing searchlights (steadied
by wind vanes and electrically focus
sed Hundreds of feet below Its car.
and fire from the dark above on we'll
Illuminated mark. It Is at this point
that the aeroplane will play Its vitality
important part. The speed of these
craft will be some twenty miles an
hour greater than that of the larger
ships; they will be. by their small size
and rapid and eccentric motion. alb"
solutely immune from gun IRE. and
when fully developed. they can be
counted on to carry at least two men
and a machine rife, Scouting aero
planes will get In touch with the enc
my while the airsiifp iss hidden below
the windward horizon" T's4@
The airships now being built by
the German government at Friedrich
shafen will have double the digplace-
ment, 1t Is believed, OF Zeppelin IL,
being about 3o1 feet long and 81 feet
wide. Each OF them will be able to
carry a dozen men and five tons OF
arms and ammunition over a radius OF
five hundred miles aud back. With
five machine rifles and one machine
gun, the equipment could include two
and a half tons Of dynamite torpedoes.
The torpedoea must not be merely
dropped on an enemy. but aimed and
fred through q compressed air gun,
SO as to insure accuracy. A feet OF
such vessels. without opposition from
other airships. could conquer Western
Europe. The moment II In launched
the standing armies OF Europe become
an anachronism."
Since the lifting powar of airships
increases according to, the cube or
their dimensions. and the weight OF
the structure remains always at about
the same proportion to the lifting pow
er, II Is likely that airships more than
one thousand feet long will be con-
structed. say Messrs. plenstbach and
MacMechen.