The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-01
ON GUARD AGAINST ATTACKS
 FROM ZEPPELINS

London, Oct. The London Daily Express says that although London and other cities in the British Isles have not so much to fear from hos tile airships places on the Conti- nent, we cannot close our eyes to the fact that an attack on us by air Is possibility That this Is so is shown by the precautionary measures that our War Department has been taking
 Yet, far from causing anything like panic, the warning notices issued in the press, and the subdued light in our streets, give us a certain sense of security. The Knowledge that we have our own patrols in the sky to warn and to guard us against pos-a 5ible foreign air marauders has g dis tinctly reassuriIg influence.
 What are the facts, as we are aware of them, of the possibilities of Ger man air attack? There is 8 ruTnor that the Germans are secretly build ing a large. number of zeppe1ins, but this is an obvious impossibilfty. Zep- pelins, like warshtps, take time to. build. Before the, war began Ger many's entire fleet of Zeppelins num- bered perhaps dozen, and approx- imate1y half of this number have been already put out of action. The most generous estimate would not give the Germans now more than five or six Zeppelins in various stages of com pIetion.
 In the light of an attack, what are the comparative advantages of the dirigible and the aeropIane?s The dirigible, in tile form of a Zeppelin, could easily make the journey from the Continent to London and back. Fair weather, however, would be an absolute necessity. An airship of this type is capable at the most Of carrying cargo of from three to four tons, which, in the form of ex-l plosives, would prove a distinct men ace.
 The advantage of the dirigib1e over. the aeroplane for bomb-dropping principally lies in the fact that she is able to hover over a position and re- lease her missile vertically, but this advantage Is to a large extent nega- tived because she must remain at high altitude for her own safety and in consequence, accurate aiming is not easy from an laeroplane hovering over a. target. SheJ relies entirely upon her speed for her support in the air, and this dfsa dvantage makes accurate aim problematical.
 E On the supposition Of an attack by German aircraft over London, what have we to fear The missiles the aircraft will carry will most likely be largeS and small bombs filled with large explosives, steel arrows. and possibly bullets of shrapneI size. An accurately aimed bomb would be ca pablo of doing much damage provid- k on a magazine for instance, the effect on the material would be sufficient to cause a more or less violent explosion. Dropped among other buildings the effect would be purely local, and not of much consequence probably.
 So far as the individual is concern | ed what is more dangerous is the likelihood of being hit by the smaller missiles The steel arrows used by German airmen are said to be reIeas- Lad ,-Trr <,FE E n .a<< discharging mechanism employed so contrives the distri button of the arr rows that they fall over as wide an area as possible. In the case of these arrows and bullets it is sufficient to release them, without any initial mo- mentums because the speed which they gather in flight, due to gravity, insures their reaching the earth with considerable velocity, which increas- es in proportion to the altitude attain ed by the air craft.
 If a. Zeppelin flying at a height of 1000 feet-where, by the way, she would be 9 ready target for our own anH-aircraft guns-released her ar rows and bullets, they would: reach the ground with a velocity Of about 450 feet per second. In the case of shrapneI bullets, weighing, say, twen- ty to the pound, this would mean a striking energyi of about 160 foot-i pounds As an energy of 50 foot
 
 sufficient to put a combatant out of action, we can readily see that fall ing missiles from aircraft constitute real danger to the. individual At an altitude of a little over a mile the arrows and bullets would drop with a velocity of about $50 feet per sec ond, with a proportionate increase in death dealing effectiveness.
 So much may be said or the power of the dirigfbIe and aeropIane if they were ever allowed to be in a position to drop missiles on London. It will not be easy for them to approach. the city, however, because our author ities have not been slow to recognize the necessity and provide means of defense Besides the operations of our own aircraft, designed to meet the sky marauders in their own eIe-s ments we have at various important. | strategic points, small but DOW erful l guns, capable of firing at high an I gIes of elevation.
 The size and capacity Of these guns are not definitely known to the public, but 1t is certain that they are quick hrers of small cahbre. The heaviest \ projectNle they fire would probably be. about eight pounds in weight and two ffnches in diameter, with muzzie ve- Iocfty Of, say. 2,500 feet. per second Such shell would be capable of reaching 5000 feet vertically into the air in about one and a half seconds l at Which height it would still retain a very high velocity
 If shrapneI shell were fired and burst at such a height rain of bullets would spread oyer q, large area mak- 1 ing it extremely dangerous for either i dirigibIe or aeroplane. Owing to the rapid motion of aircraft it is essen t1al that 8 shell should reach the target in quick time, but even at the great altitude of 5000 feet such shell as that mentioned would take less than I three seconds to reach it's objective. Even rifle fire is of great service in repelIing aircraft attacks. A bull | let from our service rifle, fred at an airship 5000 feet above the ground, would still retain more than sufficient energy to kill the aviator or to dam