The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-26

lively tr!fling damage and the sacri-
flee Of life has been well nigh entirely
among the civilian populace. Never
,heless, bombs may hit public build
ings or they may even strike fac
tories turning out vitality necessary
military supplies. Indeed. there are
scores uf things these missiles from
the sky might do, and sooner or Inter.
aviation experts predict. they are
hound to do them unless the British
call into service IN effective defence.
And defence. to he effective, must he
both extremely mobile and aggressive.
The First Lord of the Admiralty.
Arthur j. Balfuur. has confidently de.
clared that the British are ALREADY
meeting this Teuton peril. and the de-
fence Of London itself has been nut IN
charge " a thoroughly competent off,
Ger. Admiral Sir Percy Scott. Tech
nicaily london is not a fortified city
and because of certain Typographical
conditions there are many difficulties
involved in the establishment OF what
might properly be termed fixed de-
fences.
To begin with. the metropolitan
area covers something like 200 suuarc
miles. and there are points where n
crow would have to fly twenty miles
straight across to span London from
SIDE to side. Such il the target Of
iercd the Zeppelins. but on the other
hand this far flung spread of habi-
ta,ions handicaps the defenders. Re-
reling shell must he fired so that
their destructive pieces cannot fall
upon friends. The anti-aircraft wea-
pons must therefore do their best
WORK from close to the edges of the
city by firing upward and out toward
the open country, where their pro-
~)ectiles in falling, either whole or in
bits. will he least likely to 10 harm
to those they are intended to pro-
teCt.
This handicaps the defenders while
neasurshly improving the chances of
The enemy aircraft getting within the
guarded zone and safe above the me-
|trupolis. whore bombs can he dropped
with comparative security from at.
tack.
The Germans have painted their
E'iI'llll' 81 FlliDhN =ltN. WHICH
merges quite effectively with the en-
,eloping gloom of night. II is very
difficult to detect their approach dur
Inc the hours Of darkness. Moro than
thai. these diriGibles can travel at
heights ranging from 1000 to 10000
feet, and they can slip noisclessly
through the air. Tho Germans have
been able to devise fairly satisfactory
mltilers for the engines of their diri-
e!hlcS, n while these have their
drawbacks, still they impose less Of a
sacrifice i'm the case of airShips than
they would if fitted to flying ma
chimes. II calls for an added pound
for every horsepower successfully to
mu'lo the motor Of an aeroplano. and
THIS levy m tho shape Of dead weight
avs relatively moro of Il tax upon the
fyiuv machine than upon the Zcp-
peliu.
The ~JlyautuGe ~ sccrCcy of ap-
pruoDh j. m"s;imablc. especially when
seeking e. get by permanent offences.
and therefore a mobil" guard hat can
meet thc foe Hlpft is absolutely os-
sentidl 'o Ito protection IL a wide
spread city Ike London.
N the same time. tho aerial guard
ans Clnuo' he kept aloft continually,
for the noisy whirrinG of their motors
would give the alarm to the foe and
constant service Of this sort would he
ont Of the question. Therefore Sir
Percy Scott has set about creating "A
very large squadron Of armored aero
planes, and these ~ a special type
the bulk Of the most formidable of
them bail: and building here in the
United States. 1t has beer said that
this force will soon number in the
reishborhood of 10000 machines. and
that these will he SO distributed about
the cnvirons Of the British metropolis
that formidable squads OF them can
10 called instantly into service when
Heppelins are expected or their APP
Iroach has been definitely established
This amazing turn of aerial warfare
II the logical outcome of lessons that
have been forced home upon the bel
lgerentS time after time since the be-
ginning II the war. Tho uniformed
have really TO notion of the odds that
are against tho airman in hitting his
target either with bombs or projcc-
tiles discharged from small rapid fire
guns. For his own safety the airman
must keep high enough TO reduce the
chances Of being hit by shrapnel fired
from the ground. and this reduces the
apparent size Of his target, much as
one sees things when looking through
the big end of "A telescope. The higher
up the bomb thrower is the more are
multiplied small errors in aiming.
On the other hand. the Zeppelins
can carry large numbers of these mis-
siles, and bigger ones too, n can
anord to be relatively s%pendthrift in
dropping them while sailing 80 high
that they cannot be reached by gun
lire from the ground. The Germans
count upon IA shower. az II were, of
these projectiles to make certain OF a
score, being satisfied il only "A few of
them reach heir intended marks.
How, then, can the aeroplane, with
us weight lifting limitations and its
capacity to carry but n few bombs,
nope to deal with Zeppelins effec-
lively? The answer seems to he found
IN a very recent turn which the work
OF aeroplanes has taken. OF late the
French and English have made some
very telling raids upon German mill
'afy bases, and the aircraft, instead
OF going in twos and threes, have gone
IN much more numerous squads.
For instance, a short time back
Treves was bombarded by French air
men. and a force of nineteen aero
planes Was despatched for that work
The machines dropped fi%vescore or