New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-28
FIRST ARTICLE

When the Wright brothers made their hrst
aerial fight in 1903 il flashed across the
consciousness of every man who combined
perception Of the nature of strategy WITH
knowledge of the course which great inVeh-
tions follow that a new tool of war had just
been born. Such a man knew that the enorI
of strategy in every case Is simply 10 DfiHe
z destructive force to bear as quickly as pos
sible a. some points at which the enemy 10
opposing or may oppose resistance; that the
greater the force and the greater the speed
the greater the effect. and that, therefore,
strategists who appreciated the potentlali.y
of mechanism had been laboring strenuousiy
TO increase both the amount OF destructive
force that they could use and the speed with
which they could transport 1t to the point
where thew wished to use it. Such man
knew that one great secret of Napoleon
successes was the speed with which he could
bring his destructive forces to bear at gwen
points, and he knew, ALSO that the seroplane
could transport destructive forces at great
r. speed than any other appliance ever be-
fore invented He realized these things as
strategist primarily, while, as mechanician'
hich every modern strategist must be, ne
new that every great invention that had
ever come before the world, imperfect as 1t
might have been at first, had always become
practically useful in time if it had satisfied
two conditions, one condition being that the
thing attempted was successfully accom-
plished even though the mechanism could
not always be relied upon, and the second
condition being that there was useful WORK
for the mechanism to do, if the mechanism
could be made reliable.
Aeronautics Taken Up Seriously
In 1903 it became apparent, therefore, to
every strategist that strenuous efforts must
be made by his country to take advantage OF
the aeroplane.
From causes which are somewhat obscure,
and for which strategists themselves cannot
reasonably be blamed, only two governments
took up aeronautics seriously. One govern
ment was that Of Germany. The other gov
eminent was that of Italy, and the remark
able part OF it is that Italy took up aero
nautics before Germany did; that is, in a
erious way. Italy is to-day ahead Of. the
rest of the world in powerful war aeroplanes.
For several years aeronautics stumbled
doubtfully along, as all new arts do, embar-
raised mainly by the difficulty of combining
reliability with lightness, especially IN the
engines needed for propulsion. But by the
summer Of 1910 it was clear TO all persons
familiar with the way in which the mechanic
arts always have progressed that the main
difficulties had been overcome, and that air
craft, especially aeroplanes were entering
mon a career Of worldwide usefulness. In
the following year the Germans and the
French employed them officially, and with
officially recognized success, in their regular
military man9uvres.
IN endeavoring to take advantage of aero
planes for naval purposes the first idea OF
practical kind that occurred to me came In
1870 and IL was to utilize aeropanes of the
bomb-dropping type for preventing invasion
Of our coasts, especially in the Philippines
The idea was that, preliminary to invasion,
an enemy would have to bring his vessels
near the coast, and stop them there; then he
would have to get out large number OF
boats then he would have to fill the boats
with men, ammunition, food and equipment;
then he would have to tow the boats slowly
to the shore; then he>would have to get out
on the beach all that the boats contained,
and then he would have to form the invading
party. During all this long process the boats
and the people in them would be almost per.
fectly helpless against determined attack
by, say, hve hundred bomD-dropplng aero
planes. did not succeed in getting serious
consideration Of this plan.
Steering by Aeroplane
NV next idea was to utilize aeroplanes for
carving out an invention for which I had
secured the basic patent in October. 1900, for
wireessly directing moving vessels or vehi-
cles," carrying charges of high explosive, an
invention usually attributed to another man.
The principal difficulty in directing the YES
sells was not electrical or mechanical, but
optical; that is, one could not see them far
enough. II Is obvious, Of course, that man
cannot tell which way to direct a moving
vessel II he cannot see where 1t is. To over
come this difficulty worked out a scheme on
raper whereby an aeroplane would accom-