The sun., 1916-01-30
The Increased Activity Of Aircraft
In the War.

Early last year MIR. n. q. WELLS.
who Is endowed with more imagina-
tiOn than any other man in the Brit
ish Isles had vision of the great
war being Won IN the air; accord
ingly. he urged the British Govern
ment to build several thousand air
ships for the invasion Of Germany.
They were Ia destroy the fleet az
kiel. blow NJ ammunition depots aud
railway stations. wreck the cnemys
treuch">. and spread havoc and punic
iu his rank. britain should be mis-
irr.~ nf ih. HIr ~ well aS of the
sca. i"r II Na> plain to Mr. WILLS
that # ',"rr,auy were IL make her
SELF supreme IL tn" air England
would cease - rrllc the sea.
White IN" English writer "f scicucc
sho. k"rs wus regarded ms a mere
literary man with II restless pen.
thpr" H. Ne doubt that the air>hip Is
now much more of factor in the
war than Mas tn" cas-" II year age {:
nor can II l." doubted that England,
having asserted superiority In thu air
on the western front IN rcconnai~-
sanCe and attack. is jealous of the
reputation thus unexpectedly made.
and Is now gravely anxious about the
effectiveness of III" new German Fox.
ker, q flying machine Of great speed
and furnishing power
Tho contcs, for control of the air
as between Germany on one side and
France and Great Britain On the
other side now commands attention.
The British u>iators admit that the
FOkker Is formidable. I'VE can keeI
the mastery of the air" says one of
them, "by recognizing changes and
making riposte quick. We shall.
Quick riposte, however, is not pos
sible unless you have the speed and
the guns rs well as skilful operators
Of greater daring than Is required of
soldiers on terra firnla.
Warfare in the air, in addition Ia
making war entirely from the air
has become regulation tactics. DE
fence" says British aeronaut, "has
been taken out Of the hands of the
anti.aircraft gunner and placed II
that of the hier." In the future
there will he aerial squudrons com
posed Of ships for attack and OF
other ships to clear the way for at
tack. There will be drcadnOughts Ot
The air. cruisers and destroyers. Ger
many has an advantage in possessing
feet of Zeppelins from which bombs
capable Of sinking II battleship can he
drOpped. The Fokker gives her the
swiftest of all aeroplanes from which
n gun can I've fired straight ahead by
the aviator.
II is conceivable that the battle
ship fleet at kiel with II fringe 0i
submarines moving out ahead In th'
depths OF the sea and u cloud OF Yep
pclins and acroplnncs cutting ths
blue above aud supplied with thou
sands of bombs could offer battle Il
the British navy with II fair chance
of success, unless the enemy were
accompanied by great aerial fleet
Recognizing that such venture oI
the part Of Germany may now be OK
pectcd al any time, the British All
miralty, il is quite likely, has beer
making preparations for II.
II the PROPOSAL of Mr., II, q. WELL
was at first secuted as visionary, IN,
Board of Strategy must now he deepl,
impressed 10y the provision Of il. |
forty.tiNe aNihtors can fly out of Su
lonica and raid Monnstir, droppin;
bombs on that town held hy the Aus
tro-Germans, and return to their has
without single casualty, attackin
Ghevgeli and Kavadar on their wa,