AIRCRAFT IN WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3049, 10 April 1917, Page 6

AIRCRAFT IN WAR

DESTRUCTION OF GERMAN

MUNITIONS

POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE

S In the cariv mouths of the war Mr i H. G. Wells predicted that victor) J would attend the army provided, wit! - the most powerful aerial fleet. There t was probably more truth in that prog- ) nosticatioii- than roost people are even ! now disposed to admit. When it was made the aerial forces of the Entente ' l owers were very small, not to say ini significant, and those of Germany, • though superior, at least in numbers, to the avions Franca and Great Britain possessed, were far from being for--1 midable. Since, then the development 1 of military aviation in all the belli- ; gerent countries has advanced with greater rapidity than its most ardent ' partisans believed possible. At a moment when, ,in spite of the German peace proposals, or rather on that very account, everyone kdmite most strenuous efforts must be made to ensure victory of civilisation over barbarism, the question arises whether the best possiblo use has been made of- the aerial now in the hands of the Allies. It- is, well-known that great haste was made to construct aeroplanes and to train pilots to man them after the. eyes of the military authorities of Great Britain and Trance ,had been opened, in August and September, 1914, .to the invaluable services avions could render. The practical demonstration of their utility was made by the Germans, who sent flocks of aeroplanes scouting unmolested over and far behind the armies defending Belgian and . Frenoh territory. The efforts of the British and French aeronautical authorities were, in the end, crowned with success, and the' superiority in the air seems now. to. have . passed into the hands of the Powers,, who must endeavour by all means to preserve it. It would be impossible to express too great admiration of the courage and skill of the "As" (Trumps), as the exceptionally • skilled and experienced aviators are called.; Many of them have in single combats, and sometimes when attacked by several hostile avions at the same'moment, scored victory over 5, 6, 7, 10, 15, 20, and even oyer 30 foes. The services they thus render are of immense importance. They reduce the number of the enemy's aerial craft, and place many of the most skilful .German pilots .bora de combat. At the same time they pro-, tect the Allies' avions engaged in the perilous-task of either scouting >or regulating the lire of artillery. Alsohave. tiiev iiot deserved the gratitude of the whole British nation by attacking Count Zeppelin's giants\of the air and felling them, so to say, with a sling, as David did Goliath? ,

Bombarding Expeditions. There are, however, other services .of vital importance which the aviators of the Entente Powers have already shown themselves capable to perform. They are those of bombardment and the pursuit of the enemy with their mil-, trailleuses in conjunction with the attack of infantry or cavalry. There would seem to-be no valid reason for abstaining from employing avions much more frequently and. in much greater numbers on such expeditions than has been the case heretofore. \On t the comparatively few occasions 011 -which they have operated in conjunction with infantry and cavalry their; services have been found most appreciable; and the comparatively few casualties which occurred among the pilots and gunners proved that,the operation was ~ less perilous than it may appear. That fact may be accounted for by the ; . evident difficulty of pointing an /antiaircraft gun at avions flying at a low altitude, say, .100 or 200 metres (328 ft. or '656 ft.) on a zigzag ;course. v It is true the pilots and gunners' are exposed to the rifle fire of the enemy's infantry, who have, however, to contend with the same difficulty of taking a correct aim at an object moving with extreme rapidity on a zigzag course, at one moment, rising arid at the- frext •swooping down on them;' It should also . not. be forgotten that the pilot and gunner of the attacking aeroplane are protected, to' & considerable extent, against rifle bullets' by the urmourrplating,under their'feet.-' ■ The' courageous deeds accomplished by aviators sent on bombarding expeditions may not appeal to the public imagination so strongljj as the feats of the "As" engaged in single combat. But is it possible to imagine anything more-important than the destruction of munitions before they reach the. front, and of the manufactories :in which cannon are forged and bombs made in hundreds of thousands, '- to he used against the armies defending the world agaihst the Germ'ans, who would impose their hegemony on it? A' few bombs were'not Jong ago dropped 011 Krupp's gigantic establishment at Essen by Captain Beauchamps and Lieutenant Daucoiirt, and the Mauser rifle and ammunition manufactory at Oberndorf was also attacked by a little fleet of bombarding aeroplanes. Moreover,' scarcely a day passes without the aerial bombardment of positions behind the enemy's front lines being reported. However, : though munition depots, \bridges, aerodromes, railway lines,.'etc., have' been attacked, and are being attacked frequently by _ the Entente Allies' aviators,- men in both .Great Britain and France who rightly consider they are well acquainted with the capacities of the aeroplanes- now, in the hands of the British and. French military and naval authorities believe thi\t even better use could be made of them.

' Larger Fleets. Since the Germans . are mobilising their civil population to . double, and if -possible, to triple their output of war material, it should be one-of the principal objects of; the Allies to destroy those .• munitions, or at least to hamper their, manufacture before .they can be used 'aeainst them. . France and Great Britain already possess hunj dreds of skilled aviators, who,. without disorganising • the indispensable aviatipn services on the front, could, it would seem, be employed most usefully in bombarding expeditions beyond the enemy's frontiers. To send two "crack" 1 aviators to drop a few bombs on Krupp's immense works was quite insufficient. The damage those cou : rageous aviators did, or could possibly have done, with their half-ton- of explosives, was out of proportion to the risks they ran. The aerial raid on the Mauser factory was more serious, as it was carried out by a little fleet of over 40 avions. The extent of the damage done has naturally been, concealed by the enemy, but it is to be presumed it was very serious, especially as, Oberndorf. being much less distant from the French frontier than Essen,: each of the attacking aeroplanes was able to transport a larger _ quantity of explosives than tlie avions which bombarded Krupp's establishment. Tt is, moreover. known the aerial fleet reached ; ts destination intact, and that all the bombs carried by the aeroplanes "were dropped. If only lialf of them hit their aim tlie damage thoy inflicted must havo been very "onsiderable. It is also known tliat the Allies' aircraft encountered flocks of German fighting avions that sought, to bar their retreat. Of these, six at least were-sent to the ground, but the Allies' aeroplanes also suffered loss. Every additional hour's voyago eii-

f tails the necessity of carrying a suifi- | cient Quantity of esseuco and. oil to keep tho motor running. Though that Quantity naturally vanes according to t.vpe and horse-power ui' the engine, is may he j'oughly estimated, for thb avions .wliich are generally oil bombarding expeditions, at abort 1101b. (50 kilogrammes) an hour. For the bombardment ot a munitions factory situated at a.distanco of 150 miles (241 kilometres) in German territory, or 800 miles (483 kilometres) there and back to the French frontier, each of the aeroplanes employed in the expedition would have to carry 4021b. (250 kilogrammes) of essence and oil. That quantity would amply suffice, as it would allotv an average speed, measured on the" earth, of only 62 miles (100 kilometres) an hour and the bombarding machines have a greatly su-1 perior speed.

Avoidance of Observation. I . The strategy and tactics of aerial j warfare are still in their infancy, but ! it is permissible to .point'out that if the little fleet of bombarding aeroplanes which " operated so 'successfully at Obcrndorf had risen to tlio altitude of 4000 metres (13,120 ft.) or higher, to effect the' return voyage, the machines composing it might have/escaped the observation of the swift fighting avions sent up by the enemjr to .oppose their return. . After dropping their load of explosives that would have been possible because the "plafond," or the" greatest altitude the bombarding machines can reach i when lightened of their load of explosives is not limited to 4000 metres (13;120ft.). : In any case the aeroplanes flying at that height ..would pretty surely enjoy the advantage of finding themselves above any hostile avions sent" up against them. .

It must be supposed the enemy .will -take every possible precaution to protect his manufactories of war material against aerial attacks, but especially at a time r/hen the Huns are preparing to jEiiko a desperate and most' formidaole effort to subjugate Europe and, inceed, the world to .their "Jiultur," the : importance of seeking -to,.destroy at least « large .portion of that; war material before it can be employed against the champions of right and justice of-'the liberty and independence of small as well as great nations cannot be contested. The task before the bombarding aeroplanes;, which, should operate in as large fleets as possible, is undoubtedly arduous and full of peril, but it is one which should be persevered in till viotory crowns the efforts of the Entente Powers. The British and French airmen will most surely prove themselves equal to the work before them. 1 .. It is perhaps useful to point out that a fleet of bombarding avions ca,n generally reach its destination, because it comes by surprise. / Even if signalled, after crossing the frontier the enemy cannot know _ its destination or send up from a single. - place, a sufficiently large and powerful aerial force towerwhelm it or oblige it', to retreat — T. P. Farman, in the' London "Times!''