Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1914-09-10
SHOULD AIRSH|PS
raid ENGLAND
Startling Picture Of Destruction
Of London by Night.
zEPPELINS A REAL Menace.
Awful Havoc Could Be Wrought With
Ton Of High Explosives Dropped
From the Sky-Might Destroy All
British Dreadnoughts, Says an Amer
lean Military Aviator.

British ~Dreadnoughts, Says an Amer
lean Military Aviator.
The official suggestion from Berlin by
way of Sayville, y. Y, of an intended
Zeppelin raid on England is Il subject
Of more than passing interest in Wash
ington among army and navy experts
in aviation. That such an invasion
was not only possible, but practicable,
was generally admitted. says a dis
patch to the New York Times. Mill
tary students of aviation are satisfied
that Germany has carried the mastery
Of the air far beyond any mark set by
other nations.
France has chung to the idea Of using
aeroplanes in wal and has Il fleet Of
2OS machines, with l45 qualified pilots.
But the %aeroplane at the best carries
too little weight to possess offensive
value and is mainly effective for scout
ing purposes.
Germany has allotted in the past four
years 100000 to the Zeppelin and
Parseval factories, and at the begin
ming Of the wal she had a fleet of TWEEN
| ty-four monster airships. These dirigi-
bles have the largest displacement yet
attained in airShip construction. and
some of them have u lifting capacity
Of twenty tons, making it possible to
carry Il fighting load of nell and eXplo-
sives Of -four or five tons. Thus it is
possible for them to take a contingent
Of seventy men, all trained specially in
the diverse duties needed on Il fighting
airship.
These airshilis make from forty to
forty-sevcn miles IN hour and can car
nv enough bombs to sink several bat
tleships.
A Sky RAID on London.
1T is not at all Il stretch of the i'm
agination." said II veteran aviator.
ito picture Germany'S fleet of dirigi.
bles sweeping across the English chan
mel With gas enough and hydrollte
enough in reserve to make Il flight OF
500 miles and carrying upward of a
ton of high explosives and raiding Lon
don. which could be practically demol
ished by such an attack-at least the
heart Of the city. with its banks, great
hotels. parliament house and other bis
buildings
"Sr it is not out OF the thinking tt
imagine the German air fleet in a 81
gantic platoon flying out over The
North sea after aeroplanes have scout
ed and spied out the location Of the
British fleet and, with nicely trained
precision Of movement. crossing an(
recrossing the line Of Dreadnought:
until. one after another, the whole
twenty that England boasts have beer
smashed by Il dropping bomb and SUM
in midsea. That is what Germany ]:
most likely to attempt to do rather
than try to raid London. 1t is to smitt
Englanl's navy and sweep it from thu
sea. If the twenty Dreadnoughts o.
a large proportion of them could b'
l sunk by the air fleet its creation Woult
have been we'll justified and Germany
battleships would have little to fea
from the rest of the British navy.
"If a raid is made on London it prob
ably will come in the night. and tn,
big fleet Of airships will stop their Ell
gines as they approach the object o
attack. commands will be given b.
telephone, and the result will be il vol
i. ley Of high explosives with their fear
full eXecution-provided they hit thei
, target
, ION the other hand. you must re
, member one thing. All accounts shov
> that the success of ordnance designed
, to hit aeroplanes and dirigibles ha
, thus far in this war been remarkable
, indeed. it has been far beyond any
, thing any military experts have eve
, thought possible. Now all British for
tificationS along the coast have thes
; guns. Every British ~Dreadnought ant
} cruiser has them-in fact, many 0
: them. With these rapid fire guns ant
range finders. specially designed 70