The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1910-08-24

THE DENIS
|AERopLANE AND 1ATTLEaHlp.
Nature the Oracle Who viii Deter
mine Future Value Of the
Air Craft.
The much agitated question of what
relation the aeroplane will eventually
bear to military operations is logically
discussed by Captain Richmond p.
Hobson in a brilliant article appear
ing in the September number of sPopu-
lar Mechanics. Captain Hobson cites
nature as an authority for his line of
reasoning, and his observations are
always plausible. He says,
The experience of nature is usually
q fair guide for man. In the realm Of
the air, nature has evolved but one
main weapon. the beak, and one aux
Hilary weapon, the talon. An addition
al main weapon, the spur. has only
been evolved where the feathered
creature remains upon the ground. In
weapons, nature has found it impossi-
blesin the air to match the fang, claw,
tusk, horn and hoof of the land, and
the tooth, tentacle, fin, saw and sword
Of the water. The great speed attain
able in the air is only an auxiliary
agency of offense.
I'm the air. nature has undertaken
no provision for defense, direct. Feath.
Sers. primarily for sustaining power
and for speed. are only auxiliary in
defense. Nowhere do we ind the spec
Iial developments Of hide, bone, shell
and inaccessibility Of vitals found in
combatants Of land and water. The
great speed Of the air is defensive in
the sum Of aiding escape.
OF forms, there is but one combat
ant type in the air, that of the eagle
or hawk, and the maximum size is
limited to q few pounds. On land and
in the sea, the combatant are multiple
In form and extend to tons in weight.
Nowhere In the. air do We find nature
exhibiting the titanic combats so COM
mon between the beasts in the Jungle
and the great fish in the sea.
J 4 lever vet has the bird of prey been
a menace to the beast Of prey or the
- OF prey. II actual combat took
place, the outcome could be but. one
way. The bird could avoid combat,
but choosing combat, and unable to
MT the beast or fish into the air, it
would Of necessity be vanquished.
There must be some great principle.
underlying these evolutionary limita-
lions Of nature in producing combat
ant power in the air. It is the difficult
ty Of sustaining any considerable
weight in the air. The bulk Of the ac-l
tivities and energies must be devoted
to sustaining the bare weight involved.
in life itself, keeping the total weight
down to a minimum and developing
the maximum energy per unit unit
weight. Nature could find but small
margin of weight and energy available
for purposes of combat. Indeed, $50
exacting and exhausting is the effect
to sustain weight in the air, that ma
.ture has not evolvedSa single bird that
remains permanently on the wing, nor
even insects or other forms of life,
animal or vegetable, capable of re-
manning suspended in the air and
propagating their species in the air, as
are found SO prolitically on the land
and in the sea. s
1T is the same nature that has done
its best in the air, in the sea, and
on the land. u is, the same man who
will do his best in all three realms
He finds and will continue to find the
same inherent limitations that nature
found, and the presumption is that his,
aerial engines of combat, built under
the limitations of the air, will bear
+. + ]. ~
about the same relations to his en-
gines Of combat on and and sea as.
the combatant power of birds bears to
the combatant power of beast and fish.
While combatant birds have a limited
sphere of action against non-combat-
ant beasts and fish, they have almost
no sphere Of action against combat
ants of land and sea.
After an interesting discussion of
the advantages and limitations of both
aeroplane and battleship as opposed
in warfare, Captain Hobson declares
that "the most effective work of aero
planes will doubtless be done by those
that become part of the equipment Of
battleships, chiefly for purposes of OBJ
servation and scouting" OF the bat
| tleship, he says: