THE WAR IN THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 64, 8 December 1917, Page 10

THE WAR IN THE AIR

LORD MONTAGU ON THE DANGEBS

OF DEFENCE BY NIGHT.

Lord Montagu of Beaulteu, opening tho Air Services Exhibition at- Sheffield recently, said 't was his firm personal conviction that our victory, when it oame, would be from the air. Tho belligerents needed for mo-te madEcuwsthan they had. With the possttuKt? I that the enemy might he relieved of Russian pressure, amd thus be eitaMed to bring more pressure to hear upon us, he appealed to those • engaged in. aeroplane construction, for God's sako and for the sake of our gallant men' at the front, not to let any domestic disputes hinder the output of aircraft.' The wastage in aeroplanes was far greater than the man in tho street had any conception of, and we must produce immense numbers in excess of the number yet contemplated. Fine as our airmen were, the peoplo of this country must be warned against clamouring for the impossible. When air raids took place there to a great danger that demands would bo made that our airmen should go up on what he could only describe as a wild goose chase. Could "they imagine _ what ohance of success a man had going up on a dark night, when he could see only lights below and the stars above, and could hear no sound but the noiso of his own. machine? Kβ regawfed. it as a waste of the man's life and of the machine. What should be done, and whnt was being done, was to fcomo Qerotaitt aefoidtetoes anft tacms. ■ To- Banass iSar wasps' nest instead«S torj&gtelkfflltlia irkuYHhtal, was the proper pe&j-.