New-York tribune., 1909-05-24
MILITARY AERoNAUTICs IN ENGLAND

MILITARY AERONAUTICS IN ENGLAND.
A step was taken q few days ago by the Brit
ish government which will quiet any uneasiness
that NAV have been felt because Of what has
been regarded as official b8ckwardness IN aero
nautfc preparation Mr.. Asquith has announced
in Parliament the selection of special COM
mittee which will act in an advisory capacity to
the authorities It is composed of ten members,
each of whom is distinguished for activity In
some field of work closely related to aerial navi-
CATION for military purposes, and It's president
is Lord Rayeigh, who perhaps has ranked fore
most among English physicists since the death
of Lord Kelvin. In the deliberations of this
BODY the master of ordnance in the War De
partment the first captain Of the DreadnouSht,
the chief of the British weather bureau. the best
known English writer on airships CMr. +. w.
Ianchester) and several professors Of engineer
ing and physics will participate. 1t would be
hard 10 constitute a more thoroughly representa-
tive council for the business in hand. Nothing
comparable with it, so far as we are aware, has
been organized in any other country.
Much qualification has been expressed by the
technical and daily press at the appointment OF
the committee. and it is already evident that
Mr. Asduith's action will inspire a large measure
of public confidence. It IS only fair to say,
nevertheless. that the British government and
British inventors have not been so idle as their
critics pretend. The war once mas expert
mented with at least two or three dirigibe bal
looms one of which is the Nulli Secundus. Work
has also been done with aeroplanes partly under
governmental auspices. Captain Dunno, an army
engineer. has made several short flights with an
arship resembling the Wrights', though he mod
estly discaims having travelled more than
few hundred yards at one time. DemOnstra-
tons have been given with the same type Of
machine by an American, Mr. Cody, for the
British War Office. Furthermore, England's
peril has evidently been exaggerated. The mill
tary correspondent of The London Morning
Post asserts that no weapon has yet been IN
vented for use in an arship, while Admiral Sir
Percy Scott says that England now has a gun
which can be employed to repel an aerial attack
presumably something like the high angle
Krupp gun.
Before Great Britain or any other power
spends much money on military airshtps 1t will
be desirable to determine as far as possible
what kinds Of service they will be expected to
render. Concerning the value of aerial vehicles
for scouting there can be no doubt. Hence it
Will soon he necessary TO decide whether aero
planes or dirgibIe balloons are the better suited
to that class of work, and also whether a large
or q small airship will perform it with the
greater efficiency. The same questions concern
ing the kind and size of the aiTship which can
be employed with the greater advantage in drop
ping torpedOes need consideration also, as well
as the relative vIllnerability of the rival types
The recommendations to be made by Lord Ray
leigh and his associates on these and other
points are likely to prove so helpful that the
government will have no reason to regret any
short delay in developing its aeronautic policy.