Fighting from Balloons.

Evening Star, Issue 6727, 8 October 1885, Page 4

Fighting from Balloons.

In a recent lecture Mr F. A. Gower asked the question: "Could armies, forte, and arsenals be seriously assailed from that quarter in which attack was not now expected—the air above?" His belief, from lour years of study and observation, was in the affirmative, and as a means to that end he proposed simply to transfer to the upper levels the general plan of torpedo warfare, upon a larger scale and with its effective range indefinitely extended. The term " air torpedoes " did not quite describe his system, and he had used rather the term " air battery " to describe the force he proposed should be used in aerial warfare. He suggested that by the means of aerostats explosions of 1001b shells of gun cotton might be arranged over the enemy's position. Summarising his proposals, the lecturer said:—"ln brief, I propose to you a warfare by gun cotton and hydrogen, to make the loss of an army a result of its meeting an opposing wind, to destroy the security of fortified positions, and finally to Bhow, upon the simplest principles of self-preserva-tion, that nations must keep peace and great armies be disbanded."