The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-10-16

GREAT WAR
Too Distant as Targets, Air.
ships Could Rain Bull
lets Below.

boats the boat compliments would De
absolutely unprotected, We would have
then a feet of dozen or twenty aero
planes rising from invisible points In
shore and clrcllng over the enemy.
Each aeroplane would have its gun
and Its 5000 rounds Of ammunition and
would fire a stream of bullets like wa
ter from a hose. They could not miss
and the small boats and the transport
decks would be floating shambles.
! without regard to troops that would
naturally support the airships along
the shore a landing would be impos-
! sible till the enemy cleared the air"
would that be by gunfire from the
decks Of battleships?" he was asked.
Impossible" he replied. Gun car
riages have been perfected for aiming
straight into the sky at a range of
some miles. But at height of one
mile an aeroplane Is a mere speck
against the sky. In hazy weather 1t Is
invisible, and the chances of hitting
1t from below are infinitesimal. Then
the aeroplane, shooting downward, is
not handicapped by its height, and 1t
can maneuver at level that takes 1t
quite out OF reach of guns on the wa
! ter. No; the air cannot be cleared from
below. The airships must be reached
by airships, and that is the problem"
As to Bomb Dropping.
American army and navy officers in
terviewed on the subject for the most
part ignored the use of the aeroplane
in dropping bombs, and one explana-
ton is perhaps to be found in the fact
that an aeroplane could hardly hope to
drop q bomb on a hostile aeroplane,
though that would be its own most
dreaded enemy. Against each other,
apparently. machine gun like the
Lewis weapon or the service rife or
an ordinary revolver will be used. The
Lewis gun is so light that, although its
fixed position is in a sling pointing to-
ward the earth it can be raised to the
shoulder and fired horizontally at an
approaching enemy in the air.
That apparently is how the battles
In the air will be decided Even Pro
fessor Johann Schultz, the German in
ventor of heavy dirigibles, In a recent
interview seemed to admit the superb
ority Of the aerOplane in these aerial
skirmishes He told how, to protect
his heavy Dreadnought dirigibles
from the high flying aeroplanes, he 4ad
planned to mount gun on top OF his
balloon bag. The need Of a gun In
that i'll balanced position, on which the
ordinary dirigible could not support a
gun, is considered here one good argu-
ment in favor of the aeroplane.
But the possibility of large masses
Of explosives being dropped upon the
enemy, either on land or sea, has not
escaped American officers. Reports
from England that the next war
ships to be launched by that country
would carry decks especially protected
against explosive missiles that might
be dropped by airships aroused keen
interest here and recalled the expert
ments of former Lieutenant Reilly
Scott in bomb dropping from an aero
plane at College Park. For this exer-
else the dirigible with its steadier keel
is admittedly the best, but Mr.. Scott
In an Astra-Wright aeroplane by
means OF a specially devised appara'
tus recently won the $1,000 Michelin
prize at Paris by dropping eight bombs
in fifty minutes within a circle the
size of a dirigible from a height OF
400 feet.
Lieutenant Scott's Invention.
Among officers in this country 1t Is
pointed out that If an aviator attempts
to use bombs against an army muct
reliance may have to be placed a
times on the gun developed by the
ordnance bureau of the navy depart
ment for firing from the ground a
airships. But, while the dirigible car
drop a heavier bomb and perhaps do
so with greater accuracy than thC
aeroplane, 1t is itself far better tar
get for the gunner below. In the enc
it is thought that the aeroplane, which
, already has managed to drop weights
Of 200 pounds without overturning
. will prove the better from all militar!