Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-02
BOMBS FROM SKY
Curtiss Drops Missiles on Tar
gets Representing Ships.
HITS MARK MANY TIMES
Experiment Regarded as Valuable
One.
PROTECTION OF WAR VESSELS

Army and navy officers who are In
Washington spoke today with interest of
the feat of Glenn Curtiss at Lake keuka,
New York, when he dropped number of
dummy bombs on horizontal target.
representing the deck of a battleship
The bombs were small pieces of lead with
colored streamers attached TO them
There were observers on shore to note
the height of the aeroplane, and others In
a boat near the target to see where the
shots struck.
The target practice was remarkably
accurate Fifteen of the twenty-thre9
bombs hit the target, and of the remain
ing seven, six were within thirty feet Of
the mark The missiles were droppe1
from heights varying from $50 to 300
feet. One of the shots struck amidShlps.
and ii was said that had it been real
warship the missile would have stood a
fair chance of going down her funnel.
Interesting and Valuable.
one of the officers of the Navy De-
partment who has been interested in
the development of flying machines
said:
The experiment yesterday was inter
esting and valuable. though i do not
want to be understood as intimat1ng
that an aeroplane or any number OF
them could even injure battleSh1p by
dropping bombs on her If you stop Tor
q minute to think you will see why this
must be So Every protected warsnlp
has an armored deck for protection
against horizontal gunfire. This deck
is turtle back usually about three
inches of steel and is not located on the
upper deck. good many people
seem to think, but is one deck down.
You will see that no matter how many
bombs might hit a ship from above they
would be bound to explode on the upper
deck, and they would do no material IN
jury if they tore the whole OF the upper
deck to pieces There is the chance, OF
course. that a shell might be dropped
down the funnel and in that case 1t
would be fatal but if 1t ever comes
round to the point where bomb dropping
from aeroplanes is one of the forms or
attack a ship must expect then the fun
nels naturally would be protected.
Employment of Gases.
There is another form of attack that
I have not seen much discussed, and that
is the possibility IF putting ship out
Of action, either temporarily or perma-
nently. by dropping on her bombs h'ied
with some noxiUus or narcotic gaS-pro-
ducing material. This would be carried
down the ventilatUrs. or II 1t were car
ried below the outer deck by explosive
bombs might be equally effective. There
are all SOTlS Oh SdocS tldt SONio NC 90
Grated in this way-cocodyl, hydr ofiuoric
acid, nitrate of amyl and the like some
gases might simply put a crew TO sieep
temporarily and some would do IT per-
manently.
There was one halfway attempt at
doing the same thing in the navy during
the civil war. \ consignment OF sneis
was doctored with cOcodyl and sent W
the Florida while she was doing DOCK
ade duty in the south. The captain tnre"
them overheard and would not use tnehi'
SO there was never any indication OF NOW
effective they might have been.
Army's Use of Airships.
One of the officers of the War Depart
ment said that the chief danger in the
army from aeroplanes would come In
scouting and In picking up valuable in
formation by the enemy He said IT
was true that raiding parties might ourn
that so far as doing actual damage TO
troops or forts by dropping explosives it
was entirely out OF the question. He
said that in the first place the effects OF
an explosive shell were much too local
to affect troops in the open, and that
when IL came to guns and coast forts
where weight was no object the logical
answer was overhead armOr-
At the same time he admitted that II
aeroplanes deveiope to the point where
the government could send out a fleet of
a few hundred of them, each armed with
a number of small hand grenades. they
could make il rather uncomfortable for
a number of troops in the open.