SOME STARTLING PROPHECIES

Hokitika Guardian, 17 November 1930, Page 2

SOME STARTLING PROPHECIES

AN AIR EXPERT’S FORECASTS. (From N.Z. National Review.) Col. P. T. Etherton, a recognised world authority, who commanded the 51st Anti-Aircraft Brigade, London Air Defences, from 1924 to 1929, draws here a. vivid, and astounding picture of the two aspects of the new future in peace and war.

Science, in its ceaselress evolution, brings forth new wonders; wireless puts us on speaking terms with the four corners of the globe; television is about to give us new surprises; and marvels that Jules Verne never deamed of are in the making. The developments in aerial research prove that we are only on the edge of a new world. Fresh theories are being worked out in many directions, and, in so far as the skies are concerned. interesting surprises await us. 'Within a year or two we shall have non-stem ’planes doing the 230 miles from London to Plymouth in nbout 40 minutes; there will be helicopters that hover in the air like a hawk, and the automatic stabiliser will give the steadiness and comfort that are lacking in the airplanes of to-day,

Bifl Bertha’s Baby. There is a rival to propeller-driven machines in a new motive now undergoing trial, as It is considered that the maximum speed for a propeller airplane would be in the neighbourhood of 450 miles per hour, The new idea is an explosive material in the form of a rocket ; the adoption of this explosive force in place of the propeller drive may lead to the present maximum speed being trebled. So far as actual speed is concerned, this,, will be further enhanced by high flying—3s,ooo feet and more—thus escaping the friction encountered in the lower and heavier layers of atmosphere.

The Germans first tried this in Ihe war with the heavy-long-range guns bombarding Paris, when the shells were projected so high from the Big Berthas that during the greater part of their flight they were travelling through the tenuous and cotnpiiralively frictionless upper air, as airphnos md expresses of the near future will do;

Instead of the crews that now man an airship, there will be radio and beam control, the liner being directed on its course by a switch at the aircontrol station, whilst television will give a view of the destination, and in the case of war ’planes a view of the obejet or target for which they are making.

If you wish ,to travel from London to New York in your own ’plane, you can turn in for a good night’s sleep, adjust the height dial at eight or nine miles, when you will be safely above all ordinary directional traffic, set the forthcoming new automatic compass at dead west, and wake in the morning all ready for ypur landing, on the Amer* can side,

Seoret and exhaustive experments are endeavouring to apply the mechanical principles .employed by Nature to a machine. The action of birds In flight, and that of the tail of a fish, is being studied,. Experiments have been carried out in cylindrical tunnels of glass, at one end of which air is admitted in the form of a steady current, gradually increasing in force to resemble a high wind and then a gale, with alternate gusts to vary the atmospheric pressure.

A - bird is placed in the tunnel at the opposite end. the movements of its wings are then studied, as well as its method of propulsion, and the way in which, it preserves its balance and makes headway against the storm without getting capsized.

Bird and Fish Secrets

A bird flies without a propeller, and, judging from the success that has already attended the efforts to evolve a ’plane on the principle ot the bird’s flight, the whole system of flying may be revolutionised by this amazing development.

Similarly, wonderful experiments have recently been carried out by the observation and action of fish in a special tank, with the inside walls blackened to show up the fish ancl its movement through the water. The local movement of a fish is effected by curvatures of the spinal column caused by alternate contractions of adjacent muscles, which, commenc- j ing at the head, are sent rearwards in the form of undulations, and, before ceasing in the tail, flukes again set in at the front part.

It promises startling surprises in submarine craft.

Ibis is the day of snper-things. In order to resist the low temperature and rarefied atmosphere found at an altitude of 30,000 feet and over, pilots will wear electrically-heated suits, and be entirely enclosed within their machines, as is the crew of a submarine beneath' the .water. The speed will be something hitherto unheard of.

These fast ’planes will have engines of proportionate power, able to climb at a rate of at least 1500 feet per minute, and a new form of fuel now being subjected to searching test will give greater speed and staying power, and so increase the range and scope of an aerial fleet.

The larger ’planes will carry supersearchlights, and, in so far as warlike activity is concerned, to cope with ever-increasing height and speed, the ground searchlights will be even more powerful than those the French possess to-dav.

Their new light is one of fourteen hundred million candle-power, and, if placed at the top of the Eiffel Tower

dreds of miles.

This is all to the good in the way of peaceful progress and development for the benefit of mankind; but the new age of invention now dawning has its sinister side.

-At the same time that nations are holding conferences they are manufacturing chemicals and poison-gas, and, judging from results already attained, if we are to have wars in the future, the chemists, and not the generals, will decide the issues. Fearscmo Weapons. Enormous bombs, poisonous gases, and sprays scattered from airplanes capable of disabling troops and civilians en masse, are among the most effective and terrifying of the new inventions. A type of aerial bomb evolved by American experts weighs two tons, is about 15 feet in length, and would make a center several hundred feet, in width when dropped from an airplane,

Xew gases are in the making for wholesale destruction of human life, They will have an irritating effect combined with lethal power that will not only place all troops and others out of action over a large area, but will have an effect upon those still further afield.

Thus armies, to say nothing of the civilian population, would be incapable of any movement.

Tn certain cases, according to the type of gas used, they will become both blind and deaf, thus being powerless to carry out orders or combine their action in any way—merely a mass of humanity reduced to complete impotence.

There is tile aerial torpedo destroyer, entirely mechanical and controlled throughout its flight from the moment of release from its mooring shed until arrival over the given .target, which might be a great city six hundred or a thousand miles away, nr other important strategic or vital point. This sinister instrument will be set like a clockwork toy is started up by a child; it will have a specified range and collapse with its load of explosives just where desired.

In size it will be as large as the present-day ’plane, with all the fixtures and fittings as in the bombing machines of the moment, with this exception—that there will be no pilot or observer.

The dread machine will travel alone on its way, soaring to an immense height, speeding on with deadly nccu. racy to its predetermined destination, there to complete Its mission. Plague of Darkness. Synthetic sunlight will perhaps replace our electric lighting and completely transform. the promlem of illumination. whilst anaetinio rays neutralising all light in their path, with the exception of direct sunlight, would cast darkness over given areas. Tn war, here are potentialtie.s of which the imagination can easily conjure up a picture.

Such, in brief, is a sketch of the activities going on in the laboratories and experimental workshops and grounds of Europe; and Americasome, unfortunately, with the worst possible designs, others designed to contribute so much to the general welfare and advancement.