The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-12-26
View Of city Of Damascus
BY Giovanni caproni.

| ny SloNannt SaPronIs
Creator of the Caproni Air Cruisers
and Battleplanes.
(From December Issue of F1ying)
1t is quite possible to deliver Gen
eral Pershings reports to President
Wilson and President Wilson's Or
ders to General Pershing by air in
forty eight hours for each trip
thereby not only solving the dificult
problems created by the U-boat
menace, but also cutting down the
time required to transmit communi-
cations from Washington to the seat
Of war to q fraction of the time re-
CURED at present.
The Washington Paris air line can
be operated in a NEW months-surely
by next summer.
1t can be done by employing six of
the largest Caproni machines, carry
Ing the mail in relays.
The route will have 1--WE legs, as
follows.
/. From Paris to Portugal.
2. Portugal to the Azores.
). Azores to Newfoundland.
4. Newfoundland to New York.
5. New York to Washington.
A separate machine and crew will
| be used for each leg, ard there will
be one machine and crew in re-
serve.
The longest distance over water in
this route is the leg from the Azores
to st. Johns, n. F.. which is about
1,195 miles, therefore we'll within the
flying range OF our largest Caproni
The time Of the trip may be cut
down further by flying straight from
the Azores to Paris. which is q dis
lance of about 1,150rmiles, without
stopping in Portugal.
It is hardly necessary to point out
that the mail will be much safer car
ried by airplanes than carried by
ships.
The same U-boats that terrorize
Snips will be afraid of the mail
carrying airplanes, therefore the
mail line will at the same time be
an aerial U-boat patrol. The air
planes can be summoned by the
ships wireless to protect ships in
distress. Carrying a few 50-pound
depth bombs will not add appreciably
to the cargo of the mail-carrying air.
planes.
that the war is, above all, a war Of
material. The principle among the
allies is: We must produce more
than the enemy. 1t is time that this
] larry: 1t is necessary also that the
enemy's production diminish. Is this
possible? Yes. and 1t depends upon
US. the allies.
War materials are produced in
thousands of workshops, but they
are almost all tributaries Of three
or four immense industrial centers,
| IL we paralyzed these centeTs-
which in Germany are to be found
on the banks OF the Rhine, in West
phalia, at Munich, ETC., and in Aus
tria, in the outskirts OF Vienna and
Budapest-we would create q crisis,
perhaps a decisive crisis, in the pro-
duction Of arms and munitions. This
is possible, thanks to the great prog
ress of aviation.
horsepower can transport and drop
1900 Kilograms of explosives on
Essen, 2,1S1 Kilograms on Pola, and
| 1850 Kilograms on Vienna. It is
easy to form an idea Of the capabil-
| titles OF a feet Of 200 or 800 triplanes
by simple multiplication.
Aerial warfare, as~I see it, has
three phases: The first is the one /
| have just referred to; the others are
| the destruction of the enemy's naval
bases and the bombardment of his
rear.
1t is not necessary TO dwell upon
the obstacle to allied shipping Great
ed by the enemy submarines. 1t Is
| also useless to repeat that the
means so far employed to combat
/ the submarines have not proved
equal to their task. You cannot
extirpate a swarm of wasps by 60
/ ing after the wasps one by one; you
extirpate them by destroying the
nest. Similarly, we shall never
triumph over the enemy's submarine
| feet by chasing isolated submarines
at sea, but we shall attain our OBJ
| ject by destroying their bases.
Coming to the third phase of the
war in the air, it is evident that IL
we force the enemy by repeated
| commandments to remove his avia-
| ton centers far behind the front we
shall assure greater tranquility for
/ the allied fronts and territories. This
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