WARE THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2222, 7 August 1914, Page 6

WARE THE AIR

STARTLING POSSIBILITIES

AERONAUTS FIGHTING LIKE BIRDS

, Daring; though.' they have-." become', ready for any adventure £this age of discovery can pfovidd, men may ivell tremblo at the'prospects of, war in the air. Research work by Major Cdx Taylor, a prominent Australian artillery officer, -lias given Commonwealth military men a' terrifying picture of what will happen (write.3 the Melbourne re-: presentative of the Sydney - "Sun"). The timid' city dweller may quake when he thinks of the new horrors of sea fighting/ with' Dreadnoughts; and their great crews '-of ; fino. youths' at _ tho mercy,of hiddenj'elusive 'subniersibles. Whatiioes ho .think of air-fighting,- now that it can be likened to the' death-war between ravens; and falcons?\ .':', /'Aeroplane must destroy aeroplane in the same way that all fights between birds.take place. A falcon 7 pursues a raven. When it finds itself overtaken the'Taven ascends slowly in spirals, and the falcon.starts to riso in a parallel line. If the raven can rise higher than'the falcon it is saved; if it cannot, its rccourso is to drop to earth, although during its descend, it lis" liable to bo' hemmed, in by its enemy. Every time the falcon darts upon the .raven tho latter will try by a clover'side slip to avoid the impact. If the falcon! has been dodged'there is a' respite,. for,' carried beyond its'aim,' tho falcon loses an elevation - which it must painfully regain. The raeo for altitude . may recommence., but now; tho (light.is no longer doubtful, tho raven .will finally come to.the ground and bo vanquished. In liko manner will aerial "craft struggle." ' This is not a picture of tho distant future, but of tho next war, with aeroplanes much 'as tlmv 'are now, with aerial xorps pitted against aerial corps, in order that the enemy may be depn>ed of its enormously, valuable air scouts

■ —its eyes. In this mid-air fighting this swift, despairing, flying, and turning and shooting far above the earth, there' is something akm to tho horror of having one's eyes tampered with. . . . Major, Cox Taylor does not anticipate how such air fighting will bo conducted. But he is convinced that "if war occurred in Europo to-morrow tho air would bo full of surprises." There are many elements to consider before it can be said that tho falcon acroplano will triumph over the raven aeroplane, "and," says tho Australian officer, "it is quite reasonable to conceive that an airman who is a perfect master. . of his art and has thought out the tactics to be used when attacked may oven iii ah inferior machine continually elude his enemies and accomplish his re.connaissanco tasks." Before loiig wo may have aerial torpedoes guided and controlled by wireless. Wo shall cer-i tainly have aeroplanes equipped with guns.. Already there are many kinds; of aeroplane' bombs manufactured 'ia Europe." . ■ -.-"<' What ; Aeroplanes.Will Do. War will not call ior much from aeroplanes in, the. way. of, capacity. An aeroplane able to fly 25:! miles and back from the point of starting by day ornight will meet mostrequirements. An serial oorps-is not called on to compass the imrneasureablo distances of Australia, or to fly far out to sea; 'wireless telegraphy,will flash across the,continent the news gathered by the quick darts of the. 'planes from their army headquarters. More is .required of a hydroplane. Major Cox Taylor lays it down that tho average standard of efficiency required from it -will be to fly. in any w-ind up to; 40 miles with cer-, tainty, and to rest on the water whenrequired. • But though these - distances will do, greater flights are to. be expected. A hydroplane flew '350 miles at 60milos an hour from' Sheehiess to Plymouth in aid of tho sunken British submarine A 7, and ft is notuhreason-. able to, think that hydroplanes will prevent many raids which depend oii surprise for success: One hundred miles does not seem too much at which to fix the; minimum distance of the seaward - line of observation... That,every battleship, will soon be equipped with a hydroplane seems certain. For- hydroplanes detect the presence of .the' new- mortal piague of battleships—the submarines. A man lifted high above the sea sees' tho'bed of the ocean •as clearly as though tht water wore air,- and seeing.-' the submarine lie will coihmuriicate with; the battleship by wireless, enabling it to .take to its heels before the groping, submarine men can find it. There'is talk of equipping hydroplanes with grappling irons, so-that: they may, like falcons, descend upou; submarine's and rip away their periscopes. That will- be tried in. the. next great naval ' war. • Bkimmiiig along the,surf aco of the ocean, hovering- about the spot where the'submarine is-likely/to' 1 rise for its look around the horizon, the hydroplane will dart upon"-the'periscope and,tear out ihe.watercraft's eye's'and lungs, i! Submarine .men wflhhope. for rough, waters. They,are secure'beneath the. surface turmoil of waves, for the aeronaut; cannot, look through .broken waters'. •*■■ / Bombs,from Mid-Air. Major Cox Taylor will' probably not agree that hydroplanes l can be so dangerous yet awhile. He is conservative also .in'his conclusions regarding bombthrowing. '.'The movement of a bomb in vacuo,'' he says; : "is taken as forming a parabola just thesamo-as a shell ; frpm a gun in-vacuo forms a parabola. A! British' officer ;has worked out a probability table of; hits, using a sight'; by which the two-somewhat, uncertain, factors,'height arid'speed,' are allowed •for. ' "With this sight'- the : foresight moves along a horizontal,bar for speed, and up and. down a'.- vertical bar for,' height. : From-a,',-fdrmula which,.-he works out these bars can be graduated; and al]6wing J for!.',proba'ble,.errors in esti--/ mating height, speed and wind,, heical-" crilates: that' ah, aeroplane flyihg;.at" 3250 feet' at 50 miles] an hour attacking,.a ship 445 feet long and -86- feet-broad, .should got-8 per cent!-'of .hits.. He pre-, diets, that as'" times-'.gbes, on: the prob- ;■ able. erfprsv would decrease; and ,bonib.dropping will! give, Abetter results;'and.-become a powerful re-', source in ; warfare.';?' -Against the cold;' hard mathematics of this Britisu officer, we have! the vivid'literature o 'f .other authors, 'who depict the air bristling. ,with bomb-sheddihg>aircraft, .hovering: oyer cities at,the outbreak of war; and dropping "their missiles with' deadly accuracy into Houses'of -Parliament,- national -banks,;'.and so;6n.;:: They describe how cheering . crowds/: seeding : . fortK their, battalions to the front,, would be ' suddenly- awed .arid; maddened by' the airival of these winged visiters, how buildings will be/.wrecked and parlia- : ments i shattered, ■ how, -as the military / chiefs are assuring the legislators that!, all 'is right;, great- bombs will dror- ' through the roof, y But the author assumes'that' the bomb-throwers can/,'hit '[ as they please, and'when they'hit the frightful carnage and destruction of property immediately takes place, quito forgetful of the fact that; wo; have-many: recent sieges in memory;', such as Ladj> shiit-h, : Kimberley, aiid the Port wh'eh" it was the'daily'/lot of the::inhabitants to see shoals of heavy shells fired into.the town." ' These shells fired from 'great' land : giin's' during; sieges are -infinitely more. damaging, bocauso of/weight; and velocity , than' anything that"; aircraft can 'deliver." Yetthoy do less-damage thanis popularly supposed. • It'is estimated' that 150 :l2in: shells' fell into the new,! .town in Port Arthur during: one day,' but very few people.were killed. : What damage, then, could a few light'bombs, dropped from mid-air, do? The 12in.' land shell weighs half, a ton,, and con-"-: tains very high explosives. The air shell will be /small, and even' though they will disconcertingly come through the.;roof they will.be comparatively,, harmless. -. ;/. .".''■' ■'<) ' ■ And .they will not bo dropped till the 1 aeroplanes have .ran the 'gauntlet of special / anti-aircraft batteries. ' Major Cox/Taylor describes:these anti-aero-plane guns as "of small'calibre, about ' 4in.,-.with an automatic breech mechanism, , with a mounting to allow.; very high angle fire. In order to obtain this the trunnion boxes aro placed behind the pivot i.xis.. There is a°.Y-shapcd bracket for'tho cradlo,;s6 that" the breech riug on tho gtms is clear of thej pivot, eveii at very-great angles of eloc vation. ' The"guii fires shrapnel or bal< Icon shell, mostly with .'high explosive; charge, which acts Avith time and per- /. cussion .fuse, and in order to make observation easier shows a trail of 6inoke .v-liicli indicates 'the trapectory. -. •"I do not-expect, much at present from tho aerial bomb;" lie adds. "We had, in the siege of Port. Arthur, the revival of tlie hand-grenade, which is really a bomb. The grenades used on either side were of different patterns, but only a few were .made to bur6t;ori impact owing to mechanical .difficulties, ucst being exploded by,a : leugtb of fuse lighted from 'a piece of-slow' match. The offiiial'history of the siege states that their effect'was -immensely exaggerated, and that though they- had muck moral effect, their actual- damage was rarely great. During; the cssaults they did littlo more than mutilate- any. unfortunate wounded left on the ground between the trenches. . Similar remarks will bo found-applicable-to aerial bombs after the next, war. \lt- is .noticcablo that t'hc prizes offered for invention of bombs do not. compare with those for jtlier aviation achievements. Several ;lasse's'Of aerial bombs hf.vo been re- . :e'htly perfected, the best known beingthe Martin .Hale, which can be handIroppod or fired froni a spring gun. rhere aro two varieties—ono of shraplol, containing a, bursting charge and 140 steel balls, of v. total weight of JOlb. Some of the Japanese grenades veigliecl IGUb.j but, their results .were lisappointiug. The other variety is an ill-explosive bomb, weighing about lGlb.ind, containing ?lbv .of high explosive. ts use is for dropping ou warships and brts for damage of material."