New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-14
The Influence of Air Power on History
By Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske, u. >. Naoy
(Froni The United STATES Naval Institute PToceedmgs)

which permit the transfer over land OF machihe
guns, rapid-fre guns, bombs. torpedoes ana
other weapons more powerful than muskets,
and which secure a mobility far exceeding
that now obtnnable on either land or sea
n mobility not only in speed, not only IN
turning to the right or left, but also in turning
IN and down. And this mobility may DC
exercised over much greater spaces, because
land machine is restricted to the land
and a sea machine is restricted 70 the sea-
and both are restricted TO moving IN one
plane, il we except the small verticai eH-
cursions of the submarine; whereas there
is not a point on the earth's surface over
which an aeroplane may not move IN any
direction. The surface Of the earth. from
mole to pole and from east to west. is it's hao-
itat: and not only the surface but volume OF
the air two miles above it. II we consider the
volume Of space which any machine on lana
can sweep over, or the volume OF space "hich
any ship can sweep over, we realize thaI
each volume is comparatively small area
multiplied by the height of very few feet'
whereas the volume Of space that an aero
plane can sweep over is the entire surface
of the globe, multiplied by height Of loooo
feet.
Now, the positions which an aeroplane can
successfully occupy can be taken up more
quickly than similar positions can be taken
I'D on land or sea; so that what may De
called the capacity OF the aeroplane Ior
future development" is to be measured, not
only bv the volume which it can sweep over,
or the speed at which it can move, but oy
the product of these two factors.
Power and mobility are the prime agents
of the military art and the aeroplane pos
sesses both in a high degree. Exactly how
far the aeroplane will be developed we 10
not know: but we do know that it is beng
developed every day, and that already IL
gives promise Of becoming a major weapon
of warfare; in fact, that it has already be-
come so.
Limits of AerOplane
or course, power and mobility are not
useful in the military art, unless they can
be controlled The battleship is the best
example at the present time Of power and
mobility under complete control, the control
being assured by the combination OF e%-
cellence of material and excellence OF the
trained personnel that uses 1t. But the
aeroplane is almost as controllable IN the
horizontal plane as the battleship already;
it is continually being made more controll-
able in that plane, ard it is lmmeasuraoly
more comfortable in the vertical plane.
How far the power OF the aeropiane can
be developed cannot be forecast. 1t seems
to be handicapped by the fact that the
weight-carrying power varies as the sun
k..s hnN a
weight of the wings themselves increases
more rapidly than their area, for the reason
that the larger the area the thicker and
therefore the heavier the material must be
per unit of area; but this handicap seems
to be more than balanced b. the decreased
weight of the engines per unit Of power,
as they increase in size. The aeroplane has
already reached size and power beyond
those set for il By engineers not long ago;
and this shows that the theory of the aero
plane has not yet been developed fully A
the present moment we know that lieu
tenant in the British navy sank four Turk
ish ships in the Sea Of Malmors in 1915
By means of Whitehead torpedoes, weighing
$50 pounds each, launched from aeroplanes.
We also know that an air cruiser. tri-
plane. built in the United States, recently
carried $500 pounds OF crew and equipment;
and that another. also built in the United
States. carried eight passengers and 900
gallons about $500 pounds Of feul at a
speed of seventy-eight miles an hour. We
also know that methods of construction are
being developed which promise TO increase
the weight carrying ability of the aeroplane,
and therefore its military power, to degree
which. although we cannot gauge it with
exactncss, we know to be considerable.
Mahan proved that the influence of sea
power upon history has been great But
this, strictly speaking was not because IL
was sea power, but because it was mechani-
cal power so harnessed that it enabled the
nation which possessed the power TO bring
force to bear on another nation. across the
joining medium of the sea. Now. the sir
joins countries tocether more intimately
than does the sea; that book may some
day be written called 1.-THE influence OF Air
Power on History