The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1935-07-19
DEVICES WARN
Of IMPENDING
PLANE RAIDS

5000 tons OF bombs and poison
gas could be dropped upon the
ciUilidn population centerS OF
Europe, H. r. Knickerbocker
diScloses in the fifth article OF
series, "The Great Ch1oS.")
BY H. r. KNICKERBOCKER
international News Service Staff
Correspondent
(world Copyright 1895, by 1nterna-
tional News Service. Reproduction in
whole or part strictly prohibited.)
ARTICLE FIVE
LONDON, July 10 GN.S).
Europe trains its population in
passive air defense, but Europe
has no faith in it. Europe ex-
pands it's anti-aircraft forces, but
Europe does not believe in them.
Europe does not believe that
anything yet invented can prevent
the bombers from getting through.
In Europes opinion only one
thing can answer air attack on
your capital, and that is air at
tack on your enemys capital.
"Reprisals" is the war-cry OF
the future conflict and today the
very Technology of urope's
armies Is adapted to that form
of fighting. Bombing planes are
called "retaliators," and pursuit
planes "interceptors."
If you have so many retallators
that you can wipe out your
enemy's civilian population faster
than he can wipe out yours, then
maybe he will not start the
process. This is the only de-
tense Europe believes in so far.
Hunt New Weapon
A peaceful nation thus would
be forced to go out and bomb
women and children to death in
order to check the bombing of
its own women and children. It
was against this inhuman choice
that Baldwin and Chamberlain,
Churchill and Macdonald reacted
so violently in the British Parlia-
ment, and it was to discover a
way around this choice that they
established their air research
committee with Prof. Frederick
Alexander Lindenmann as its
chief scientist.
He is specially commissioned to
find new weapon to defeat the
bomber. What his weapon will be
nobody knows. Just now it is an
nounced that a marvellous new
anti-aircraft gun has been de-
signed for the British navy.
Called a Mark M. Pom-Pom,"
1t is a group of eight Shrapnel ma
chine guns, firing simultaneously
several hundred rounds a minute
Of high-explosive shells so sensi-
tive that they will burst on the
slightest contact with any part of
an airplane.
Perhaps that is the Lindemann
idea. But the proponents of the
air arm are not convinced.
Vickers Detector
They review the evidence for
anti-aircraft defense. First is the
Vickers detector, that amazing
mechanism which locates an en-
envy plane miles away in the air
and within seven seconds by me-
chanical means automatically de-
termines it's speed, direction, and
lays the gun on precisely the spot
where it should be when the shell
arrives.
But the modern fast bombers
fly at $50 miles an hour, and a
shell takes nearly a minute to
reach 10000 feet, so that while
the shell is on it's way the bomber
flies four miles.
Next come the sound locators,
extraordinarily delicate instru-
ments which help spot the plane.
Then there is the grid searchlight
which Eliminates vast portion Of
the sky in checker-board where
on it holds the attacking plane in
target position for the arches"
"Super Furies'
Finally. there are the fighting
planes, in Britain the 'furies,"
"super furies," with the capacity
to climb to 10000 feet so fast that
IS minutes notice would fill the
London skies with eager young
British pilots thirsting for the
enemy. But the Vickers detector,
the sound locators, the search
lights, the guns and the furieS are
no good when fog comes.
Now with the VickerS detector,
which is supposed to box in the
enemy plane with a circle of fire,
the anti-aircraft people claim to
be able to bring down one in eight
planes engaged by their fire. But
that is only when they can see.
France is building a series OF
giant night-bombers carrying
five tons each. The ordinary
four-engined German Junkers G.
80 can carry three tons of bombs.
The new Heinkel 10, of Germany,
at 22O miles an hour, can carry
a ton of bombs and outstrip
most pursuit planes.
Britain has the new 31-ton
Sarafand. built by Short Broth
ers, of Manchester, with six Rolls
Royce engines developing $500
horse power to carry a crew of
ten with load of II tons of
fuel, bombs, guns and ammuni-
ton at an average speed Of $50
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