Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-01
AERIAL ARMIES OF THE FUTURE

Victor Hugo in 1867 wrote: THE day
the first airship flies the last tyranny
will disappear from
Victor Hugo's earth" The great poet
pred;o+;., and pacihst unfortu-
nately did not foresee
that aviation was destined to become
a political and military factor. and that
the airship would prove perhaps the
means Of the development of war.
Hugo lived to see these dreams van
ish in the smoke of the battles of
1s70-1S11. of the horrors of which he
wrote in his AIMEE Terrible"
The poet had already written in
1867: "All the railways that appear to
run in so many different directions. to
Petersburg. Madrid.s Naples. Berlin,
Vienna. London, all run to the same
place-to Peace"
NJ. Alphonse Seche, in citing the poets
note. says: Under the appearance of
the truth there is nothing more in
exact. Hugo takes account only of the
consequences OF the development of
the means Of locomotion. In one sense
he was right. wrong in the other. He
was right because the railway is a con-
siderable factor in the socializati ton and
Standardization of peoples; he was
wrong because this means of economi-
cal difference will bring about colossal
armed conflicts. modern war being the
direct consequence of international eco
nomical conflict"
With regard to aerial NAVIGATION it
is certain that MISUNDERSTANDING as
1ugo names them-are called upon to
render the relations between peoples
more and more easy if not more cor
dial. Commerce and industry cannot
fail to profit by the new air routes.
A book published recently on Mill
tary Aviation" by Clement Adler, a
man of extraordinary genius. who was
the first to construct the aeroplane. in
1857. is of special interest at this mo-
ment.
He writes OF the flying machine as
probable instrument to be used in
war. The inventor sees that the per-
fecting of war machines will develop
war on land, in the air. on the sea and
above and below the sea. Between the
submarine and the aeroplane the re-
lations. writes NJ. Seche, are curious.
One and the other transform the hori-
zontal attack of territorial armies and
surface sea by a vertical attack. The
submarine by sinking digs in it's at
tack. the aeroplane rises to the at
tack.
William II said prior to the war
Our future is on the sea" The war
shows that future wars
Air and Sea will be under the sea
Warfare. and in the air. The
actual conflict has al
ready revealed the Importance of avn
alton and submarine navigation. Al
the time of the attack on Cuxhaver
England experienced a foretaste OF
future conflicts. The Times said
For the first time in the history OF
aerial machines and submarines they
have been engaged in battle. Their
cooperation must become greater and
more efficacious. Armored ships, sub.
marines. dirigibles and aeroplanes
such are the grand elements of future
battles"
asks NJ. Seche. why not?" he replies
Already some of these "avions," OF
a eroplanes, are more useful and above
all less vulnerable than the dirigi-
bles. The large balloons have never
theless a good future before them
Their mission will be principally COM
mercial. Capable of carrying heavy
loads, they will be used as carriers and
transport rapidly from one continent
to another agricultural products and
and merchant steamers will have in
them formidable rivals. In time of wal
their utility will be precisely that of the
grand steamers; they may be employed
in the transport of troops. Incapab BILE
or nearly SO. of defending themselves
against the dirigible and armed aero
planes. because of their great size. they
should be conveyed by sections of aero
planes following the example of mari
time transports that navigate under
the protection of armored ships or
torpedo ships"
In matters of aerostation. as in all
else. there will be specialization. The
machine is the recognized symbol OF
modern intellectual activity; it is
necessary that it have a single object
in order to perform it we'll. A packet
ship which would be merchant ship
and a man-of-war at the same time
is inferior to the armored cruiser spe-
cially prepared as a fighting ship.
and Alder makes the following remarks
on the subject: NO more aeroplanes
to do all sorts of work. Each type OF
aeroplane should be constructed for a
special object"
Adler, it should be borne in mind
wrote on aviation in 1898 and the
value of his prophecies is thus en-
HANGED in view of the present ex-
perience in war. Aviation was then in
it's infancy. 1t is unfortunate that the
pied with the disastrous policy OF
pacifism, which in view of what was
going on beyond the border was little
less than treason, to adopt his sue-
gestions. NJ. Seche says: IF NJ. Ader's
ideas had been followed in 1898 France
would have had for the present war an
aerial fleet of several thousand aero
planes"
1t was in France that the science of
aerostation was born. In 1884 the
broth hers Montgolfier
Cradle of invented the hot-air
Aviation. ball, balloon on h in the same same
ander Charles inflated his aerostat
with gas: in 1884 Col Renard succeed
ed the first to fly with dirigible
October 9, 1884, finally Adler completed
the Eole (begun in 1SS2), and effected
flight of fifty meters.
Alder proposed to the French minister
of war in 1882 the construction of an
aerial feet and the foundation OF a
school of aviation. The ministry failed
to follow Ader's recomme ndation.
The school of aviation would teach
aviation to aviator pilots; the school of
avionnerie would teach construction to
aviator engineers. Ader's plan of
studies was traced for the information
and action of the French ministry as
follows:
For the school of aviation: Topogra-
ply, meteorology, aerial routes, topo-
meteorological maps, abridged aero
in the countries of large birds, the gen.
NJ % c