AIR BATTLES OF THE FUTURE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 62, 6 December 1907, Page 4

AIR BATTLES OF THE FUTURE.

j The voyage of the British military air- , ship Nulli Secundust (Second to None) j over London within view of some millions of citizens, has demonstrated more forcibly to the public mind the coming 3 of tho airship age and the practicabil--2 ity of waging war among the clouds. Three of the Universal .Powers—Engj land, Franco, and Germany—have now ovolvod the nucleus of a squadron of aerial warships. Already military ' 1 and aeronautical scientists are giving • f deQnite conception to the outlines, or the first great battle between two World Powers, each equipped with an , aerial fleet. ' An idea of their terrible possibilities is obtainable from the following excerpts from an article written by Dr. Rudolf 3 Martin, a Councillor of the German t Government, for the "London Magazine." '' |. In the aerial w ; ar of the near future man 3 will be staggered-not by the spectacle but by - the slaughter. 'For the spectator there. f will bo little to see, beyond a number of faint, ■ grey linear objects like whetstones. sil- . houetted against tho sky. 1 But each of theso drab-coloured object? is ■ an airship which can easily carry from ten ' to fifty torpedoes, * woighing from llOlb. to 1631b.' The havoc,.wrought by a small fleet' . of Zeppelin airships- would bo frightful. It r could pursue the fastest battleship'and. sencU 1 it to the bottom. ,- y The battleship. is at.a. '. terrible disadvantage,') it is easily damaged , from above; it has a. speed of twenty-five . knots, against, a speed ..of nearly thirty knots ; possessed by its adversary. Pursuo the comi parison to questions of cost and of crew , .' .' " The Patric, costing r;£12,000, with a crew of three, and Count Zeppelin's giant airship. costing £25,000, with a-.crew of six. are each:' capable of annihilating '& battleship value < I £2,000,000 sterling, witte a crew of nearly 1000 men. ',< ,/■;..:" . .. • : . . . Instead of acting .from'a' fixed land-baso * air-battleships will act froth a , movable baso —the fleet. Small flexible 'motor-airships,- of. so little bulk that they stored away j in a couple of carts, can easily..,bo carried onj a battleship and inflated on bpard with com- , pressed gas from steel bottleSi ■- -, Thus tho. r battle-airship will take its place with tho heavy guns and the torpedoes-as^part-of fcho r equipment of a battleship. :. -vi;.->:. '.--, ; To a motor-airship' the North\ Sea. or': tho e Mediterranean is no more than a large pond. _ Count Zeppelin's aluminium 1 iairsnip .can travel 850 kilos, without taking hi any ben- . nine. Tho action of radius ;;of?liebaudy'ij y Patrie, or of the Parsovaj 'motor-airship," j! both of which have a considerably: f smaller gas capacity,"may be' estimatedi at from . 226 kilos to 250 kilos. • -\'" ~,->-, ,- ; At its narrowest point the English Ghan- ' I nel only-measures 31 kilos across (about rl9 .. 1-3 miles). -The distance f ronv Norddeich-.to g England is about 400 kilos (249} imlesktWith s airflcets constructed upon Count ZoppohVn b system it would be possible to :drivfeaw,ay from tho North Sea all squadrons lofvlUi* j fleet which are not protected by , 'battjoe; airships. - ■-; .Jiti-^,!.^^ 1 -When warfare is waged in the clouds, j.s«*> f English Channel and the . Francqiisrerrfah« i frontier will be as though they wewwmito So, too, with the advent of the t ship, tho fundamental difference' betfiKeeiiiwsft a on land and on sea disappearsjnfor (t fleets will take part on tno same dayjlkoroes; - times even at the same time, in a battle by r land or by sea. An aerial fleet Mib'lr,'SuV*' i hlg the'day, has helped-to decide tbft;isju> s of a battle near Sedan, can, the farjjOyaveJK t ing or during the night, annihilate, a baj+i^-. fleet in tho English Channel, which -is", only' b 200 kilos distant. . . , '„s£' ~| ,'; , The-air-fleet which has been beating in !*i--1 battle on land will be driven to ,sea'.-'bf/'.no l ,ft enemy's air-fleet. It will be put flut,-oti s , action by being prevented fromiak'ng^n,.a>'' ; fresh supply of benzine. A fleet so - 2 would bo probably fired upon by tho v'iptor,' i at the same time, from tho land and if torn the sea. '■•..:. , -,-' - •■:■ s Now comes the mome-itous question:'.fSoW| r .wili an aerial, battle bafought ?"-.,. , v ,'-... '.. J : The most 'important' principle ,ol ~, stratipy^ - and tactics will be that tho.attacking airship must be directly above its opponent, as <•£ course it can only hit the enemy by letting,' fall torpedoes. According to Major; Moede beck (the accolnplished German autha.ity. on aeronautics), it will never be possi'Mo, owing to tho danger of an explosion, to use; guns from the cars. : It might. be - ai'KWxl. ', that the. rigid aluminium airship could he o guaranteed against such danger. In this !-' airship, the gas-balloons,. to the number , cf i. sixteen to twenty, are enclosed in sepanito f divisions in an enormous aluminium enr. if velope; and it is probable that there .will il not be much difficulty in finding some mechanical means of shutting off the alud minium envelope so that it will be-ji'-.ssiljlo i- to shoot from an especially-.low-liangi \£. cnr. o This would constitute a great advaatage ove* '- other balloons or airships. .-, .-. .-•:.-- t This question brings us to a consideratioa g of the fight between airship . arid airship, surely tho most'thrilling contest in which if man. could engage. The' opposing airships !- will-strive to rip up each other's envelopes. I- Tliis coup, bringing instant.destruction, upon n the airship and, .its occupants, can bo effected, of. course, by piercing . tho thin a gas-bladder with a sharp missile. There is i- another weapon. . A missile charged with s phosphorous, solution or carbonic disulphido p would explode the gas-envelope; and so' de- )- stroy tlio airship.: . ...--. ■■'■ o As tho .flexible and semi-flexible airships have only one gas-bladder, they, are in much greater danger of being destroyed. With d the partition system of the Zeppelin aluminn ium airship, some mechanical means will n certainly bo found of- shutting off tho single )f balloons in such a way that tho explosion of one will not lead to further explosions, o From a semi-flexible or flexible airship the d missile with phosphorous , solution arid cara bonic disulphide could only be fired with aj e sort of airguh against the-enemy's balloon. ■ In an aerial battle tho ; Zeppelin airship, 10 with its aluminium cnvelopo, will be a foro midablc foe. Not only would it be much 3, easier to rip up the gas-bladder of tho Patrie o or any other Lobaudy airship, with a sharp o object, than tho aluminium envelope of the a Zeppelin airship, but in the event of a cold lisiqii' between the two typos, the semiflexible or flexible,one.would sink on account e of the damage done to its air-bladder. . At i- the samo time it must be borne in mind that o even an aluminium envelope wouM not be 1- any protection against torpedoes weighing 10kg. to 75kg., and filled with explosives. " t An, especially important mission of. the e niotor-airship will be tho laying of mines o near the enemy's harbours by .night, along y tho enemy's coast, , , or directly in the midst r of its fleet. The Zeppelin motor-air-ship is even able to descend with i, oars upon the surface of tho water. ; On account of its large tonnage _it is especially adapted for tho laying of mines. With a dozen such enormous airships it would be possible to lay mines in a few hours' time, and so completely block up the mouth of the Thames or tho Elbe. ' 1 1 A blockado on sea could be kept up in * the air by/the .airship. Germany's naval power is much too \rcak for her to bo able, '■ in time of v war, to blockade the harbours of tho British Isles, whereas,, it would bo^an ' easy matter'for tho British '.Fleet to blockade tho German harbours. ', e '....-■-.. Tho possessed by tho three s Governments are: — . ' .. 0 England: Nulli Sccundus,''constructed at Y Aldcrshot; travelled on, Saturday fifty t crossed London, was ih the air 3j hours, and t tho highest speed attairi&l in light air was 1 at tho rate of forty milesper hour.' 3 Franco: Tho Patrib; has manoeuvred over (T Paris, travelled through the air for 3 hours i 15 minutes, and covered fdrty miles; ber i speed against wind was at ...tho rato of 0 eighteon miles an holy.' f Gormany: Tho Gross, and .i.the Parscval, e both constructed by German !Arjny officers; 1 each has manoeuvred over! Berlin. The Gross 1 is said to carry six and wireless telegraphy instruments.} she rc--1 niained in the air 3 hours 3b minu'tos, and r went against wind nt a spool gcqua'l to 12J a miles an hour. , ■'■■n,- ? ■■ s Count Zeppelin's largo nlumijjiujij airship is (which is also at the son-ice o can carry thirty persons, and is|.#vj(l to be capable of travelling 52S miles.