The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-02-20
Can DROPPED BOMB
END BATTLESH|P !?
President of Aero Club of
America Says YES" but
Maxim Takes Issue.
EXPERT OPINION IS
VERY PLAINLY DIVIDED
Question Raised Is One SOlu-
tion of Which May Affect
Future Greatly.
y Leased Wire to The Tribune

BY Leased Wire TO The Tribune
NEW YORK, Feb. l9-"It, has been
practically demonstrated that mis-
sic can be dropped from an airship TO
strike any given spot below, de-
clarcd Clifford B. Harmon, pilot of the
Aero Club of America, who has Just
returned from the west. where he took
part in tho great aviation meeting AT
Los Angeles. Discussing the possiblll-
ties OF the flying ship in warfare. Mr.:
Harmon declared to a repreSentatlve OF
The Tribune today that, with trained
aviators like the Wright brothers,
Louis Paulhan, Glenn II. Curtiss and
Hamilton an aerial attack on battle
ship feet would be no holiday affair.
'Battleships even OF the Dread
naught class would have no show
against it. A single aeroplane can
carry sufficient explosives to blow "a
land each missile exactly where II
would be effective. Paulhan proved
this during the meeting at Los Ange,,
les. He took me out 10 sea and
showed how easily he could hit a battle
ship thousand feet below us. Captain
Beck Of the signal corps also gave
similar demonstration which ! wit
messed.
Paulhan s Achievement.
"Whi!e an airship could carry on one
trip all the explosives it probably would
need TO destroy an invading heet, IL
could reload quickly if necessary.
Paulhan after taking me twcnty-siX
miles out 10 sea, returned and landed
me within ten feet OF the starting
point. This means that the machine
can be absolutely controlled and could
leave and return TO the fort of defense
without difficulty. The battleship would
be dcfenselcss against the alrsmps, Inc
aviator could easily keep out OF Ell
fectIve range of any gun aimed at MN
without cndangering the accuracy OF
his own aim. Added to this, it is eX
| tremcly hard TO fire with accuracy at
an object in the air. ] recently tled
series of experiments with my air
ship the New York, shooting at IL from
| the ground when | was gong at Ialr
rate of speed 400 or 800 feet in the air,
IL was found impossible to make hat.
And one of the greatest things about
| the airship for fighting purposes is
| that ii requires crew Of only one or
two men who could be matched for
thousands on sea or ground,
Maxim Takes Issue.
Mr.. Maxim takes issue with the ayia-
! tor. When Mr., Harmon s interview
was shown him today AT his Brooklyn
| home the inventor of rapid-hre guns and
explosives laughed heartily. ''I don 7
doubt Mr.; Harmon s statements OF
edge concerning the action and effect
Of explosives would destroy any cX-
pectation of annihilating modern war.
! ships with bombs dropped upon Their
decks. You could rain 100pound bombs
Of dynamite on any OF them all day
and scarcely wnkcn the mariDes-unlcss
some should drop down the smoke
stacks.
"'In the next place it would not be
possible 10 gauge the dropping of a
bomb from any safe heights so as to
have it land where intended. Captain
Beck s experiments were very inter
esting of course. and his hitting the tar.
get from height Of 800 feet WAS fine
But great Scott-what would the men
on the battlcship or even cruiser be
doing TO that acroplanc only 300 feci
high before it could get over the ships
Beck's Clever Show
" "Caplain Beck s clever show at Los
Angeles dcos not appear 10 nc TO de
yelop ANYTHING of Importance in the
possibility of landing mlssies on tho
decks of warships even from the paltry
height of 800 feet. You can figure 81 o,Ii
for Yourselves the fallacv of IT. The
machine must travel at the rate OF al
least thirty miles an hour 10 maintain
itself in the air. This means that II
must nc travelling forward more thar
thirty feet per second when the boml
is dropped. The bomb viii drop only
sixteen feet during the first second ano
would be carried forward thirty feet
by thc horizontal momentum accrued by
the airshiP. Although It's downward mo
tion would bc accelerated with every
second of time. the bomb in drouping
would move forward $50 feet while dc
sccndiug 300 II Che bomb wcrc
dropped from the height of = mile il
would strike wide of tho mark unless
the acronaut were able 10 make a won
derfuIly clever calculation of distance
"As TO the immunity of any airshiI
from the effects of the gun fire against
IL frcm The batilcship il is sufficient
to say that il would not be possible ro,
one to get within distance that woul,
enable it 10 make nm effective attack
without bringing itself within range o.
guns that would be aimed nt IT. Al
Ia the difficulty Of bringing the gun:
10 bear. or of aiming them, TINT like
the dropping Of the bombs from th'
airships would he n matter of training
and cnlrulai ion -