The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1921-04-29
AIR BLOWS TO
ENEMY CITIES
IN next WARS
RAPID ATTACKS WILL BE MADE
FROM ABOVE ON INDUSTRIES
AND CAMPS, SAY EXPERTS.
WILL BE QUICKLY LAUNCHED
Operations With Land Forces Are Not
Expect to Witness Such Radical
@Chanses, But Torpedo Attacks From
Air to Destroy Navies.
(By United Press.)

LONDON CBy Mail-Major General
Sir Frederick Sykes, controller gener-
al of civil aviation, believes with
American experts that the next war
will be won in the air, and that fast
torpedo carrying seaplanes will sound
the death knel of present day heavily
armed Capital ships of the latest
dreadnaught type.
Before the institution of civil en-
gineers on Aviation and Air Trans.
port Sir Frederick, while insisting
upon the necessity of government sup
port of commercial aviation, dwelt on
the military and naval possibilities of
| aviation, the development of which
could only be continued in peace time
by substituting and encouraging com
mercial experiments.
During the war he said aviation be-
came daily more potent factor in
the situation. Every war has started
with 4 great advance in scientific skill,
compared with the preceding conflict
1 and there was every reason to believe
that the next war will be as astound-
ing increase in development of aerial
| fighting.
| He did not think that operations
with land forces would witness such a
radical change, but the petentialties
of air craft in conjunction with naval
operations are far greater. although
admittedly more difficult to predict, as
there was no major naval engagement
after the battle of Jutland and it was
only after Jutland that torpedo carry
ing aircraft were ready for use.
There is every Indication he said,
that torpedo attack by aircraft may
reach a point where the very exist
ence of opposing fleets consisting of
the giant capital ship of the present
day may be jeopardized, ... .4. ...u
81 For the. cost of one battleship a
thousand torpedo carrying seaplanes
could be built and it is already
questionable whether a .battleship
could survive a an at ATTACK launched by
even small force of this mobile arm.
Fleets operating near the enemy's
coast vii be vulnerable from land air
craft bases, and as the radius of air
craft action increases, close blockade
will be rendered more and more diff,
ficult,, ..,..,,, ..,......
Another form of air operations may
prove to be gas attack from the air,
in cooperation with submarines, on
naval bases. The war lasted long
enough to prove the value of the
strategic offensive by air, Modern war
fare on the grand scale exemplifies the
doctrine of the Nation in Arms Not
only armies in the field but men, Wo-
men and even children at home are
concentrated on the single purpose of
defeating the enemy. War must there
fore be carried into the enemys coun-
try, his industries must be DESTROYED.
his nerve centres shattered and the
| morale of the nation as a whole shak-
en-. This can largely be effected by
air attack on industrial and political
centers, AT the. outbreak of future
war we may expect to see, in addition
to the specialized employment Of air
craft in cooperation with naval and
military forces, huge day and night
bombers Immediately sent out to pen
crate over the enemy's country, and
an independent concentration of fight
ing machines to produce, if possible.
shattering blow en- the enemy and OBJ
tain from the outset supremacy in
the air.
In 1914 it was some twenty days
between the declaration of war and
the exchange of the first shots. In the
next war between great powers. mo-
bile force of aircraft will be ready for
action before the signature of the de-
claration is dry. and the air battle will
be joined in as many hours"