New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-24

aeroplane as against the aeroglm on ldnd
or sea. is of interest. For instance, u IS
claimed an arship can drop from an un-
reachabie height at least 200 pounds Of high
explosives. and destroy railroads. bridges
ships and whole cities. Moreover, It should
be considered that what goes up must come
down and the destructive force Of a de-
scending bomb would be just "a great
downward as in its upward fight, and there
is no controlling its fall.
The fastest time made by expert gum
ners in recent experiments at finding the
range Of an aeroplane, with all the most
advanced instruments, was eight minutes,
and then the barometer record on the aero
nIane showed the range was two hundred
wards of. The aviator is not standing still,
waiting for the gunner TO find his range
and shoot him down, but he is on his way
and out of sight before the gunner can
adjust his sights.
In France there are more than one thou
sand airmen all qualified for special mill
tarv duty. There are also fifty schools OF
aviation there, ten Of which are Of the
highest order and can turn out aviators
with a weeks training IL required. With
the present facilities Of construction,
twenty aeroplanes day could be produced
~ thew were needed These can be carried
i'm compact form, so the question of trans
portation amounts to nothing. An old barn
or a grauary would afford all the needed
facilities for putting together aeroplanes
secretly near the scene Of action, so the
outside world would know nothing until
the fleet Of war birds arose and was on
its way carrying destruction.
| 1t is just here that the generally unappre-
ciated power Of the aeroplane exists. It
| is in that psychic effect upon the minds OF
the people Of threatened communities that
the greatest peace compelling power OF the
aeropIane is 10 be found. Self-preservation
! is n sound law Of nature, and the destruc-
| ton OF all ones family and belongings is
! not a thought that can he overcome by an
appeal to patriotism. II is my all or your
all that is at stake and the crime OF war
under such conditions might cause an in
surrection against any ruler who sought
to permit it.
Unfortunately. Il is claimed with all the
progress made I'm aviation conditions have
| forced development along lines not 10 the
| best general good of science. IL has been
| a money making period or the manufact-
urers and they have devoted their time
| only 10 speed. ignoring other and more
! important phases. Now solid and substan-
| tial progress seems TO he I'm order accord
| ing to experts. which will make the aero
plane as positive a factor I'm commerce and
war as the railroad and the Dreadnought.
While on the subject of aeroplanes. air.
/. ships and aeroguns it is interesting 10 go
| back twenty years or SO. II any one had
said at that time that within two decades
man would be able to see through opaque
substances, to talk with vessels sailing on
the high seas or 10 ny higher and faster
than most birds no one would have be-
ueyed. R0ntgen's N-rays. Marconi's wre-
less and the invention OF a heavier-than-
air flying machine have brought all these
things to pass.
And what is more wonderful than the
conception OF a monster air liner crossing
the Atlantic than in Jules Nernes descrip-
ton of the Nautilus. which was scoffed at
nv scientists. many of whom have lived To
sec submarines become an important factor
in every modern navy And has not Phil
cas- Fogg's impossible" feat OF going
round the world In eighty days" been cut
into by young French newspaper man?
So with the airship and the aerogun IL
i is more than possible that within the next
decade we will have airshlps plying the
atmosphere the same as automobiles now
run upon the ground. and aeroguns 10
bring down the aeroplanes when they be-
come unruly. or on hostile mission from a
foreign country.
Copyright 1911, by William L. AltdorferD