The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-12-18
AMID
BURSTING SHELLS
Sky Scouting In Balkans
Closely Watched by
United States.


IN a machine hastily stuffed his maya
zine pistol into his coat pocket. ask.
ed him why he did so. He replied In
English:
"A Bulgarian cannot be taken alive
by Turk. In case OF accident must
sell my life dearly and always be pre-
pared to do my duty"
1t is the first real war since the de-
velopment Of the aeroplane-''the first
aeroplane war" as one officer Mt Wash
ington expressed it-and on that ac-
count there Is the liveliest interest In
IT here and especially in France. Ger
many and Great Britain.
Major General Leonard Wood, chief
of staff Of the United States army,
has beon deeply interested in the work
Of aeropaueS in the Balkans 1T looks
to me-" he observed that throughout
this Balkan war the efficiency of the
aeroplane has been confined to scout
ing and dispatch carrying.
The one particular advantage of the
aeroplane is its ability to pass over
the enemys lines. get in behind his
front and see where his troops are.
where his supplies and ammunition
trains are. and so work out almost
mathematicaly just what his inten-
tions are--look into his mind, as it
We're. and read his plans.
Great In an Emergency.
at is also conceivable that in a
country where means Of communica-
! ton are bad dispatches and even mes
! sengers might be carried by aeroplanes
when they could not be carried by any
other means 1t is conceivable that in
! some situation Of great stress the aero
| plane might be used to carry an Off
! Ger to u command that was separated
| by mountains or water and in need Of
"A skilled and expert commander.
There were many lessons for us in
| the Russo-Japanese war. and there
will be many in this war when we
/ finally are in possession of full and
accurate information Of movements
and can get some idea of the strategy
| Of what has been perhaps the shortest
and most remarkable campaign in his
tory"
Brigadier General James Allen, chief
signal officer of the army. has already
plated the entire United States into
aeroplane districts, with stations at
| fixed points. so that, theoretically, at
a word, winged observers may over
look every mile Of the country. We
have studied this war from the begin
ming with great pains because of the
use of the aeroplane.
High Value as Scouts.
II think the operations amount to a
demonstration Of the value of aero
plane scouting. In connection with
cavalry the aeroplane is most impor-
tant agency In planning movements Of
troops. The information that the mill
tary aviator can get of an enemy's po-
sition and intended movements adds
vastly to the effectiveness of small de
tachments of troops, either cavalry or
infantry, at strategic points | fancy
the results do not make it entirely
clear that the aeroplane can be used
for fighting purposes.
THE signal corps aviation school at
College Park, Md, conducted few
experiments in automatic gun firing
and dropping Of projectiles from aero
planes. An automatic machine gun
was fired from an aeroplane on the
College Park field. demonstrating the
possibilities Of aeroplanes for offensive
warfare. This was the first case
known OF the use of machine gun
from heavier than air flying machines.
"Other experiments have been con
Quoted there with various signaling
systems and a device for dropping ex-
plosives. Later this device was taken
to Europe, where it won the first prize
in the competition conducted by the
French army, the winning record be
ing twelve out of fifteen projecties
: Cifteen pounds each) hitting n target
sixty feet in diameter from an altitude
Of G5G feet: also eight hits out Of ff,
teen on a target 125 by 375 feet from
an altitude Of 1924 feet"