The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-08

'"'"p,' o. hCdrd al. directors ~ asro 'Inbs
o' AWfrcn 0Hd Hdi'Or ~ .t,r0HdH.
hcai Magazine "t1pno"
MIL the present European wal
u there seemed a rather general
disposition to look at the aero
plane askanCe. II has now been
shown that seaplanes are the mos,
effective means OF defence that a shin
can have. Two a%croplanes. at "A cost
~ $4,000. would have saved the Lusi-
tania at a loss Of more than sIQ.-
ooo'ooo, to say nothing Of the human
lives. \ patt<ship costs approxi-
mately $4,000 and a hydroaero-
:'!ane $500. That seems like very
cheap insurance.
Naval authorities have hsen slow
in recognizing the value If aircraft.
Al the beginning If the war in Eu-
rope few of the countries now involved
mad more than a few acruplancs.
II remained only for a dirigihle Ia
halt a ship at sea. a squadron of air
ships 10 shower bombs upon a cruiser
or a fleet of ssaplanes TO attack a
naval base TO demonstrate the aero
planes worth.
"Ai tNfHNS IlfI IL a new stage
in the development of naval aero
nautiCs and show clearly the advent
Of a new epoch. | hazard a guess that
II will u he long before TRANSPORTS
equipped with torpedo launching aero
planes will be q matCh for armorcd
cruisers and whore the balance of
naval supremacy will be decided by
the superiority If the aerial forces.
Torpedo launching is a new develops
ment not Yet tried in actual war
fare So far as known. Naval officers
took the stand that better results could
he obtained from n torpedo boat cost
ing 81, 900 ,O00 than an aeroplane cost
ing sl5,0oo. hut successful cXpcri-
ments have been tried and when tor
pedo planes are put in use the status
of things in naval warfare will change.
While the aeroplane has been tried
and found invaluable. the same thing
can hardly be said for the dlrigihl"
balloon. Accomplishments 20 dat"
would tend to show the dirigihle "A fail
ure ~ an instrument of warfare,
Much has been sail about the pro-
posed dirigihle raids over London. hut,
dN Nv ~ w w. w ~ A'hN
been done. The diricjhl" has not
accomplished tho marVels which We're
attributed TO its p"tentialities AT IN"
outstart Of the war. The acropldnc has
been responsible mostly for the fa.iur"
of the dirigible. when cities had only
guns to defend themselves the diri-
CHILE doomed up as a menace hut with
fleets Of armored ~aeroplanes circling
now above the cities the hangers Of
dirigible In, asions are lcsScn"i Really
the only chance Of a dirigihle on such
a mission. 1t has been shown, Is In
bc accompanied by aeroplincs which
reckon with the encmy's aeroplanCs,
Only recently Charles {. Wilmer, AN
American aviator. returned from Rus
STA and related before members of the
Aero club of America how seven
American built aeroplanes protected
the entire BLACK Sea coast and swept
It free of German vessels, including
submarines. II has become now Il
recognized fact that an aviator dying
AT an altitude Of 500 10 500 feet can
see from $50 to 200 feet beneath the
, surface 81 the water and can consc-
Quently detect the presence of any
! submarine craft under the water. and
warn n battleship or cruiser in sutfi-
cient time to enable il To escape.
In view Of these facts It is hard "a
understand the apparently callous in
difference in this country to-day
Our resources and equipment amount
virtually to nothing, The big gun,
| along the coasts have no protection
! There is no aerial protection for tho
Panama Canal. nor in the Philippine,
or Hawaii. The Government aviation
centre at San Diego is housed in a pri,
vatelv owned building and likely tt
be turned out at any time,
Only two or three years ago, ouI