The Washington herald., 1916-10-29

than the guns stop and give the airmen
their chance.
That instant of silence is the critical
moment. If the attack succeeds, a bright
flame appears almost Immediately. quick
ly running up and down the framework
Of the Zeppelin. in a few seconds envelop-
ing a gas bag as long as the Lusitania
in a conflagration which lights up the
sky for fifty miles. And for fifty miles
in every direction shouts and cheers go
up from the watching multitudes, the
noise rousing sleepers from their beds
and bringing them tumbling into the
streets in time to see the final plunge
of the blazing comet to destruction.
There are weapons used, up there.
which the world has never heard of,
which were designed for the special pur-
pose Of destroying zeppelins. The reason
Lieut. Robinson got the Victoria Cross
for bagging the airship which fell at
Cuffley in September was that he flew
alongside his victim, exposed to machine
gun bullets. until he managed to explode
the petrol tank of his enemy; it was
this petrol exp which caused the
great burst of ~ light which seemed
to residents of l. Il as II 1.-The sun had
exploded" The ouner Zeppelins downed
by shell-irst and attack Of another nature
in the air gave forth a less intense red
dish-orange light, caused by the explosion
of their gas baSs and not their petrol
tanks
Bomb Attacks Abandoned.
Bombs are no longer used in attacks
on Zeppelins, for although Warneford
managed to throw one upon an airship
with the desired results, his feat is now
regarded as an extraordinary piece of
luck, for it was afterward found almost
impossible to hit the mark even when
the difficult vancouver of flying over the
Zeppelin had been carried out. Machine
guns OF the type ordinarily carried by
aerOplanes are useless in such warfare,
and the incendiary missiles used by air
men in France to bring down anchored
sausage balloons are not used against
Zeppelins for the same reason that bombs
have been discarded, because they must
be thrown by hand and the chance of
hitting an object moving as fast as an
express train is infinitesimal.
have examined in France a contri-
vance fitted in an aeroplane which makes
1t possible to fire explosive shells from
a cannon. This has hitherto been tmpos-
sible in the air, because the recoil from
any ordinary gun would upset the aero
plane. That difficulty has now been
overcome.
To attempt further discussion of ways
and means of bringing down Zeppelins is
inadvisable, in view of the censorship on
the subject. but it may be said that not
only the aerOplanes have been improved,
but also the guns and the shooting.
Working out trajectories for gunnery
against objects in the air which move up
and down as well as forward proved a
difficult problem, and early in the war
much Of the bad shooting not only
against Zeppelins but against aeroplanes
at the front was due to lack of accurate
calculation, which has now been rem
edied
In Zeppelin defense, coordination be-
tween the guns and the attacking aero
planes was at first entirely absent, but
now the scheme that works most often
is first to cripple the invader with shell
fire from below, and then, before IL can
rise out of range and limp home again
across the North Sea. finish 1t off by
aeroplane attack. A Zeppelin once dam
aged by shell fire Is often unable to carry
out the swift manoeuvering which alone
can protect it against the swarms of
wasps which swiftly gather around it.
British Temper Changes.
To anyone who witnessed the raids Of
last autumn, and those a year later, the
most remarkable difference between the
two was the change in the temper of the
DA4NISIA pSOplo CAUSED Dy the success
the new defensive measures.
Last year many persons were very
much afraid, and those who were not
scared were bitterly angry and felt keen
ly the sense of helplessness and impot-
ence which comes over people who are
menaced by some terrible danger against
which they can take no precautions
When just twelve months ago Lieut.
Mathey, whose fiery death watched last
Sunday night as his airship came down
amid thunders Of cheering that rolled
over all London. showered bombs on the
theater district, the scenes I witnessed
in the Strand were far different Lon
don was Mortified then; now, although it
sounds callous to say 1t, London regards
Zeppelin raids as laundering good sport.
And 1t IS typical Of the British sporting
spirit that the intense bitterness against
the members of the Zeppelin crews who
murder women and children in their
sleep has, in great measure, passed away.
year ago, the Zeppelin murderers, b"
the 'baby-killers," carried out their
operations with very little risk to them
selves; now, every German who comes to
England in the air comes knowing that
the odds against his being burned to
death before morning are not more than
ten to one. 1t takes extraordinary cour-
age, or discipline, to face such a risk,