New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-08-05
FEW COULD HIT AVIATOR
Gen. Wingate Discusses Aero
planes as Problem in Future.
RIFLES ARE BEST DEFENCE
Bird Men Might Fight Each
Other-Most Heavy Guns
Not Quick Enough.

Not Quick Enough.
Haines Falls N Y, Aug. (SpeciaD.-"I
do not believe there are dozen riffemen IN
the militia of this state that could hit an
aviator. such as Curtiss, while he was
dropping bombs on a warship or the earth
General George w. Wingate. founder of
the Creedmoor rife ranges and an expert
on firearms practice, said this yesterday
in discussing aeroplanes and how the
militia could fight them in time OF war.
The militia now" said General Wingate.
lis unprepared to meet such thing as an
aeroplane in warfare. In fact. the rifle
men in the national guard have never
practised shooting at anything flying IN
the air. If they had to fire al an airship
they would be SO scared they would not
know the first thing to do. The nearest APP
proach to a flying target they practised on
We had at Creedmoor.
The target was a sheet iron deer, put on
trucks which ran over a railroad built like
the scenic ones they have at the beaches.
Eight miles an hour was the high speed OF
the deer as 1t ran down the incline Then
it slowed down to six miles an hour. The
varied speed made the shooting extremely
difficult, SO difficult, in fact, that there
was not one man at the range who could
hit the bulls eye, which was placed over
the heart of the deer. The target was
finally taken off the range because it
proved to be TOO difficult 10 be of any
value
Il have hunted game with a rife all over
the country said General Wingate. Il
always met with great success when shoot
ing game on the ground. but I found my
self at loss firing at flying birds There is
nothing to guess on when you shoot into
the air. Others tell me they have the
same difficulty. There are few hunters
who could hit an aeroplane
Carver's Great Feat.
II remember a trick shot named Carver.
He took a repeating rifle one day along
the Platte River and did the most re-
narkable wing shooting I have ever seen.
With three single rife balls he shot as
many ducks while they were flying one
after the other. 1 doubt whether a shoot
ing feat ike this has ever been duplicat ted.
II consider the rife the best defence
against the warning aeropane," General
Wingate continued. You see the aero
plane flies between forty-five and fifty
miles hour. and at this great speed it
the aviator. The man shoudering a rifle
is always able TO aim his gun at the
target in a second. It takes much longer
to set the sights on a large gun, and by
the time the gun is trained the aeroplane
is out Of range.
There would be considerable danger in
shooting at an aeroplane in case the bull
lets did not hit it. With the birdlike
Twin in all he hot 9
from the rifiemen's guns might fall into
another part of the army or the city be-
ing defended"
According to General Wingate rif1eman
could be certain of killing an aviator who
flew about three hundred feet away. He
says the new army rifle bullet had a We
locity of three thousand feet a second,
and at this great speed the gunner does
not have to allow much for the dropping
of the bullet in four hundred yards.
The velocity of the shotgun is $50 feet
a second General Wingate said. This IS
at forty yards. AS the quail flies thirty
feet a second a man shooting at the bird
would aim about three and one-haf feet
ahead of it to kill. At one hundred yards
the gunner would air five feet ahead.
Hard for Sharpshooters.
The bullet out of rife is three times
as fast as shotgun bullets. and l shall
say without any calculation that the
riflemen shooting at aeroplane three
hundred feet distant would have TO aim
from tento twenty feet ahead of it.
General Wingate said if the aeroplane
came into practical use the army Will
probably fight the enemys air machine
with one of its own. He did not think
bomb thrown on a warship from an aero
plane would be particularly damaging, In
asmuch as the massive steel Parts of ships
could withstand the explosion. The gen
eral was Of the opinion, however, that the
bomb would be most damaging if it were
thrown into the rear of an army. In that
case he said the provisions and the sup
plies would be destroyed and the horses
killed.
The army will probably adopt some
means" said the general, to teach the
men how to hit flying objects Targets
could be strung along a long line and
ierked up and down by separate cord.
This would be very valuable training for
shooting aeroplanes."
While General Wingate considered the
rife the best defence against the aero
plane, he said artillery could be used.
Commanders could place HedVy dI tllIelS d.
different points along the field, and the
combined scattered shot might have effect,
but it would not be certain.
According to General Wmgate the best
artillery gun to use would be one like the
Napoleon, which saw much service in the
Civil War The Napoleon was a short
brass gun, having a smooth bore of a
calibre of five inches. 1t could be loaded
with half bushel of canister shot and
would carry about six hundred yards, scat
tering the shot over a large area.