El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-06-13

kind Of workmanship, which has %
be learned by practice IN the air For,
to begin with, there Is no background
"a condition to which the man with
the gun must become accustomed.
Furthermore, it is likely that the flyer
against whom the fire is directed Will
dodge-rising, dropping, and turning,
so as to make his machine difficult
target
The gun-which is an automatic
rifle-cannOt be held upon" the tar
get under such circumstance It has
TO be used in much the same way as
a pistol, and the firing is snap shoot
ing Instead of ordinary sights,
there are two fairly large rings, one
at the muzzle and the other near the
breech Of the weapon, and when the
marksman sees the target through
both rings, he pulls the trigger
The rifle weighs only IS pounds
and is mounted on a pivot so as TO be
turned sidewise, up or down, or in any
uirection at an instan's notice. It is
exactly the same weapon as the Benet-
Mercie machine gun newly adopted by
the United States army, except that
the barrel Is shorter and il has no
stock, It discharges ordinary rifle
cartridges, which are fed to It in
clips" of 80 and it can shoot a con-
tinuOus stream Of bullets at the rate
Of $50 a minute.
Future Battles In the Air.
There is no question Of the fact that
tant part Of the fighting will be done
by aeroplanes armed with such wea-
pOns, and already, in the construction
Of sOcalled "battleplanes." the French
who are ahead Of all the rest of the
world in the development of military
aviation-are providing for the con-
cealment Of the flying men in the in
terror Of the armOred machine. They
have recently built for the Russian
government several monoplanes OF the
Duperdussin type which look like
nothing in the world but winged pro-
jectiles, and which have a speed ap-
preaching 100 miles an hour
Judging from the present tendency
of aeroplane construction. il is mani
fest that as time goes on the typical
military flying machine will grow
larger, will carry heavier armor. and
will be much more powerfully engined.
It will be proporti0nately more swift,
perhaps attaining a speed Of $50 or
even 200 miles an hour, and will have
greater stability. Quite possibly u
will carry half a dozen men and as
many guns; for in fights that take
place in the air the deciding factor is
likely to be strength Of armament
Fifth Arm of the Service.
How important this kind Of fighting
in future warfare is likely TO be may
be inferred from a prediction made
by Gen. Scriven, chief of the signal
corps, who said the other day that mil
itary flying squadrOns would be rec
TX ALEQ DELOLt AOAB Is Cpl eeleLlL-Ll6 a
fifth arm" Of the service. The remark !
was made in commenting upon the alb
surd fact that in the development Of
this arm the United States at the pres /
sent time stands 23d on the list OF ma
rions-that is 10 say, below even Bel I
GUM. Brazil and Argentina
This is because congress has eXhib- /
tied an extreme unwillingness to pro-
vide money for the purpose. From the I
beginning up 10 the present time IL has /
been persuaded to appropriate a total I
Of much less than Sl,000,00O for avia 4
ton experiments and the purchase Of I
flying machines. France, for this /
year alone, is spending over 100000. /
Wooden Bullets for Tests.
The French, by the way, have de- I
Tised a most novel and curious method 4
II practicinE craftsmanship with ma
thine guns from aerOplanes. In place q
# lead bullets. they use hollow conf !
al wooden bullets in the regulation /
arranged in clips These
Freak to pieces on striking, and viii !
not injure a man at a distance OF so !
leet. But the man knows IL when they
strike him, and thus record can be /
Kept Of successful shots
Mimic combats are waEed in the air
with these odd projectiles, one fight
ng aerOplane commonly pursuing an
1ther, while the latter does its best to
lodge and TO escape These expert 1