The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-07-12
AERIAL STATIONS
WILL GUARD new
YORK FROM HUN
BOMBING PLANES
Great City Is Now Shining
Mark-Sub Command
er's Threat Recalled

New York, July C.,-CSpecial-Th
city, a shining mark for the bombs
of Hun air raid, Is hoping
that the sixteen aerial defense sta-
tions, recommended by War Secre-
tary Baker, will be completed and in
operation before the Germans make
their contemplated air raid on the
metropolis. The great stretches OF
dockage, the general layout OF the
CITY and surrounding territory ana
the mammoth structures in mlddle
New York form ideal targets for
aviators.
Baker recommends that thirteen
OF the stations be on the Atlantic
coast. Sites have been selected
The stations can be built in SIX
weeks Some Of these sites Will De
around New York, officials believe.
The next visit we make will be in
July. We're coming back with air
planes and submarines, a combina-
ton affair. Then look out" is the
threat of a commander Of one of the
submarines raiding the Atlantic
coast.
And New York is preparing as
much as possible for the expected
raid. City officials are enforcing the
order to dim all display signs ana
turn off lighting systems which H.
Illuminate the Statue Of Liberty, the
woolworth building and other tower
ing structures The summer resorts
around the city must obey the order,
too.
q ARRANGEMENTS have been made to
warn residents Of the approach OF
enemy planes by blowing sirens ana
other whistles every minute for ten
minutes
Measures Will Aid.
These measures, in event or
raid. probably would save lives and
property, but aviation experts ana
other men who have studied the STU
alton say that New York looms up
as the shiniest mark in the world for
aviators and that the raid, success
fully carried out would destroy thou
sands Of lives and do millions or DOL
laEs worth Of damage.
Carl Dienstbach and Weldemar
Kaempffert, in a recent article IN
Review of Reviews, size up the sftua-
ton from a scientific standpoint.
Dtenstbach was one Of the first Am
erican students Of aviation. Kaempf-
fert is q noted writer on scientific
subjects.
Their article says in part:
How Altman Sees 1t.
STAND on the narrow platform
that encircles the top of the Wool
worth building, and you behold the
CITY almost as it appears to an air
man flying lower than is his wont.
How easily you recognize the clear
Iy defined topographic features OF
the metropolis There is the har-
Dor, Governors Island, and the
Statue Of Liberty enlightening the
world. Here is Manhattan a thin
tongue protruding into the harbor
and washed on either side by the
Hudson and East rivers. Across the
Hudson you see Jersey City and
Hoboken; across the East river,
Brooklyn.
"a map is not half SO easily read.
You couldn't lose your way If you
were the pilot Of an aerial vessel
couldn't even at night. London,
Paris, Berlin, must be scanned for a
long time If their principal land
marks are to be identified from on
high. New York identifies itself to
one who has but glanced at a map
London has it's docks on the Thames;
but they are not comparable in eX-
tent or Importance with those Of
New York, or in accessibility from
the air. Nor is the Thames like the
Hudson-a long, lake-like expanse
over which a seaplane can glide
faster than any express train. Alb
solute inky gloom never prevails,
even on moonless night. Water is
always distinguishable by it's sheen.
And New York is a port-a city Of
great water expanses.
Commanders Could Help.
$50, the heart of New York, which
is the Island of Manhattan, Is liter
ally cut out for the eye to gaze
upon. by the Hudson and East
rivers, and the harbor itself. I'M
agine a seaplane launched fifty
miles out at sea and manned by a
former officer Of q German trans
atlantic liner, man who knows the
city and it's surroundings as we'll as
he does his own pocket. He reaches
lower Manhattan. He flies low to
escape the fire of any guns we may
have mounted to beat off aircraft.
ASkimming fifty feet above the docks
that line the shores of the Hudson
and East rivers, he releases his
bonfbs-incendiary bombs which
would set the entire water side
aflame. The projectiles have the
motion Of the machine and travel at
first horizontally. He has only to
direct his plane as if it were a gun
at the particular wharf which he
desires to hit. He cannot miss.
Have we not read Of the sudden