The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1921-09-15
Making War by Radio is Future Pos
sibility
(By Harry L. Rogers.)

In some such manner will the
DOughboy's derisive gibe at those
who saw service behind the lines have
to be amended in the next war if
time bears out the predictions of
naval and military experts as to the
part radio is to play in the conflicts
of the future.
DestrOyers without a soul on board,
maneuvering at full speed in battle
formation; battle cruisers zigzagging
with lightning-like swiftness to escape
the bomb of a pilotless airplane or
the unseen torpedo of crewless sub
marine; whole fleets of dreadnaughts,
whose monster guns, aimed by
mechanical hands, belch forth tons of
steel at other squadrons of electrical
ly-manipulated warcraft-this is the
naval warfare of the future, as it is
glimpsed by the eye of scientific pos
sibility, from the not inconsiderable
height of present-day achievement.
On land the radio-controlled air
plane or dirigible may operate even
more easily than at sea. Carrying its
death-dealing load of bombs or poison
gas, which the pressing of button
hundred miles away may release, It
could soar over enemy cities, COM
pelIing surrender of their inhabitants
by the mere threat of the destruction
If might Nvreak. Should armies ever
get within striking distance of each
other huge tanks, laden with tons OF
high explosive might be guided by
radio into the enemy lines and there
exploded by closing a contact switch !
the control station far in the rear
A few years ago such prophecies
would have been hailed as ridiculous. I
Today they are accepted as POSSIBLE
tiles, even probabilities Of the future
and the not very distant future at
that.
VAST PROGRESS MADE
Navy department experts have
been working on problems of radio
control for many months and have
made notable progress, as was evil
denced by the performance Of the
radio-controlled battleship Iowa dur
ing the recent bombing tests off the
Atlantic coast. Army engineers, too,
are giving intense study to the sub
ject.
What army experts think of the
future of radio in warfare is shown
in an official statement concerning
the progress of experiments now be-
ing conducted at McCook Field, Day
ton, Ohio.
THE possibilities of radio control
and its application to wartime prob
lens are almost without number"
saws the statement. Radio control
can be applied to any mechanical ap-
paratus that moves, whether 1t be IN
the air, on the ground, on the surface
of the water, or beneath the water.
Huge land tanks may be constructed
and filled with INT and driven to
anv desired point along the enemy's
lines, where the explosive can be fired
by meas of radio, or it can be applied
in similar manner to boat, sub
marine, torpedo or even an airplane,
and the explosive can be fired when
and where desired"
A CTnNvTCIIEn
Recent visitors at McCook Field
have been astonished at the gyfations
of a brightly painted, three-wheeled
vehicle which has been dashing to and
fro between. the buildings and among
the airplanes on the field, under no
visible means of control. 1t is often
seen to approach a group of persons,
its horn footing wildly, and then,
when apparently about to strike them,
to stop short, back, turn sharply to
right or left and then speed off in the
opposite direction.
The movements of the car are con-
trolled entirely by radio impulses
sent out from the station at the lower
end of the flying field. The fact that
no aerial or antenna system is visible
adds to the mystifcations of the IN
initiated.
The car is Of cigar-shaped construc-
ton, about eight feet long, and runs
on three pneumatic-tired wheels. It's
speed ranges from four to ten miles
an hour, and the controls are so nice
ly adjusted as to make steering along
narrow roadway an easy matter.
An examination of the interior of
the car shows an amazing collection