AERIAL WAR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2232, 19 August 1914, Page 7

AERIAL WAR

GBKAT BRITAIN'S RESOURCES. . , During'the first .week in June seventy aeroplanes, over a hundred . flying officers, 150 transport vehicles, and a staff of 650 mechanics, all belonging'to tho Royal Flying Corps, were mobilised at Netheravon, on Salisbury Plain. At the time it. was the largest concentration of aerial .strength that las been seen-in any army. England had, in fact, called jap every available unit of her aerial. corps, and, as far as efficiency goes, it. was dliown by tho evolutions conducted that ' the R.P.C. had reached what was considered by the authorities to be an unassailable position in the air. Prance or Germany, it is true, under eiinikr circumstances, could havo made a much better numerical , shotting, but when tho details. of the gigantic display at Nethefavon are taken ■ into consideration, when the completeness of the arrangements and the perfection with which they were carried out is understood, tho nation can rest assured that Britain's aerial position.is safe, and can compare favourably or more than favourably' with her great rival in the field to-day.. ' • ' ' Tho Netherayon camp, according to the "Sphere," was' thoroughly equipped from tho aerial engineering standpoint The speoial equipment,, of a kind quite new to military service, for improving, fittingout, and "tuning-up" the machines, was of an elaborateness and efficiency which would be hard to beat. There were travelling motor workshops, each weighing 6 tous and costing over .£3OOO, which could follow a squadron' of planes at high speed over the roads. There were complete wireless telegrapMo installations mounted on motor cats for field service, while at night the sky was scoured by the beams of powerful searchlights, also mounted on motor chassis, .together. with the engines aid dynamos necessary for their illumination. There were other interesting departments, about which little can he learned, in connection with the new weapons whioh aerial warfare has called into existence. ' , , : In regard, to the themselves, it. appears that the Royal Flying Corps has experimented thoroughly with every type. The monoplane, euch as M. Gaillaux used in Ms memorable MelbourneSydney flight has again came into favour, and was used extensively for scouting. Tho Henry and Maurice Farman biplanes,' similar machines in every respeot to that flown so successfully in Sydney by Lebbeus Horderri, with the'exception that the floats, used for alighting on the water, were replaced by a landing chassis with wheok, carried a pilot and observer on extended cross-country nights. .A few of these machines wore fitted with dual control, so that they could be navigated from either seat. The, latest type or biplane, however, cariying two officers,'was fitted with single control, while the span or wins-spread was comparatively email, with the passenger seat or nacelle Tafted high up between the planes. Night flying wag. one of the most remwk\ble achievements of the army airmen. Air scouts, it is stated, were able to swoop quite close to encampments oi' troops without being seen, although the pickets and sentries were on tho lookout and actually were able to locate their approximate whereabouts by the whirr of the propeUors. The era of the silent aeroplane lias undoubtedly brought ail craft into more deadly significance. In "Blackwood's Magazine" for June, Mr. David Hanny picturesquely' describes "The , Fire-Ship, the. rude,. but in favourable circuretances the. most formidable, ancestor of the torpedo—not of the torpedo boat, he. reminds us, but of tho weapon itself. His- eonoluding words are suggestive. They refer to the question,' /will the battleship of the modern world be able to gnard herself from the torpedo, as her predecessor did from tho fire-ship? "Many affirm that she will not," he says, "wheu what she has to fear.is the torpedo launched by smaller craft on or below tho eurface of the. water. Some of us find it hard to believe that any man-of-war which dare not openly confront an enemy and conquer in an exchange of blows, can ever dominato the sea. Viotory has nVerso for gone to tlioso who fight by evasion, by concealment by striking in the dark, by waiting for the unguarded moment— points the.v may «ore,' but they have never won in the end." The writer who suggests thprt Germany is willing, to assign oavoy, Nice, Corsica, and Tunis to Italy, in Teturn for support in the war, has at least been exercising his ingenuity, says an exchange. It is tho sort of offer that might conceivably be niade, and from "might be" to "lias-been" is an easy descent. The most interesting of the territories mentioned, of course, ia Savoy. The Royal House of Savoy rules in Italy, but only in a small corner of the land from which it takes its name, arid nothing ia moro natural than that the jirinces ot Savoy should be invited to take back what they may perhaps regard us their bwii, The direct "male lino of the Houee of Savoy' died out in 1831, but the junior line is pioud to- trace its anoestry back to the Counts of Snrty who. by their prowess, gained the right to bo regarded'as.the rightful e'uarilitins of the frontiers of Italy nearly a thousand years ago, ,