FIGHTING IN THE AIR.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 9 October 1914, Page 2

FIGHTING IN THE AIR.

i The G«rman Press was recently permitted to publish the results of tests in which many hundred rounds of ammunition were fired from a

machine gun mounted on top of a Zeppelin airship in flight. As could be foreseen from the absolutely stable nature of that gun platform and from the entire lack of vibration and swaying, these tests were aknoet as successful as they would have been had the gun been discharged at the ~top of a mountain. The writer speaks from experience, having made tests in aiming- from the window of the cabin of the "Victoria Luise" in full flight.

These machine gun trials were conducted to test an airship's ability to defend itself against aeroplanes. !%& prowess' and the number of French aeroplanes made some such demonstration imperative during the political stress of the -Balkan situation. The French seem to have at tached little importance to the armament of the Zeppelins in view of the ever-increasing climbing powers of aeroplanes.

Aeroplanes have recently reached altitudes, even with that are still prohibitive to airships, except at the sacrifice of much gas and carrying capacity. A dirigible's 'aster climbing is offset, it is argued, by the aeroplane's ability to operate against the airship at a high level from the outset. Nothing prevents an aeroplane from doing much of its climbing at the start. Such was the lesson taught by the aviators who crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps.

In France (says Carl Dienstbach in "The Scientific American"), aerial fighting is considered a mere climbing contest, a duel between two artificial birds of prey- As the aeroplane is sure to get on top of the dirigible eventually, the latter's fate seems sealed in French eyes. It is, however, interesting to probe the question more deeply. Altitude appears a deciding factor because it is assumed that an aeroplane can, by superior speed, easily get in position to hover "motionless" (relatively) right above the airship and annihilate it by merely dropping a bomb. The fallacy of this French reasoning rests on the comparative velocity of a machine gun's bullet and a dropping bomb's. In view of the airship's armament and the necessity for the aeroplane's flying with the same speed and in the same direction as the dirigible, in order to hit the quickly moving object, it is considered necessary that the bomb should be dropped from an elevation of no less than 2,000 feet above the airship. The calculations which permit an aeroplane while flying across the ground- to hit, a target with a bomb by properly considering and measuring its own ?pejd relatively to the target and its distance from the ground, are no help in aiming at an airship. :)nly the aeroplane's own velocity need be considered in fighting an enemy oil the ground, but the relative speed between an airship with a motion of its own and an aeroplane (and also the vertical distance) is such an indefinite quantity that no reasonable calculation can be based upon it. Nothing remained but to make use of the aeroplane's superior speed in obstinately hovering straight over the dirigible and "thus so far improving the aim that hitting became reasonably certain even at a vertical distance of 2,000 feet." It remains to be seen how this theory works out in practice. The accuracy of the modern machine gun is such that in the opinion of military experts it does not suflicient.ly scatter its bullets ; it absolutely depends on having the correct range! In this respect a company of infantry is better than a Maxim. But precious ammunition .must never be wasted in the air by scattering the bullets, and "correct" range is "guaranteed." if the enemy can be hit point blank from a safe distance. • The invention of the steelclad " S bullet," pointed as sharply as an arrowhead, seems almost designed for aerial use. Indeed, it barely antedated the airship. It doubled the point-blank range which had al- *' already been pushed to 820 feet from the former blunt bullets. At very high angles the point-blank range is again doubled. Therefore, an aeroplane is in peril at any point of an extensive zone around, and especially above an armed Zeppelin. To use dropping- bombs against 3uch a weapon seems like a return to the mediaeval practice of pouring pails of boiling pitch. At j a vertical range of two thousand feet, the distance of about seven city streets, it would not require exceptional skill to hit an aeroplane in; its broadest aspect, which has to remain more or less stationary with reference to the dirigible if it is to use its bom)) effectively. A bomb requires 13 seconds to drop 2,000 feet. Thirteen seconds is time enough to evade an unwelcome visitor from the sky. In the clear air of the upper regions, a good pair of binoculars i will enable a look-out on the steady dirigible to study in detail an aeroplane, "stationary" at 2,000 feet. The release of the bomb could no doubt be plainly seen (even in twilight with the help of the powerful : searchlight now mounted on all big riirif.iblos) and an instantaneous elec- | trie signal to the helmsman will' compel the airship to turn. Running sixty-nine- feet a second, and, on account of the immense surface of the huU in proportion to the total u-'eight, very quick, to obey its rudder, it will be far from the point

aimed at when the bomb at last arrives. But the airship will hardly make it so easy for the aeroplane to remain vertically above it. It will surely turn and circle all the time the aeroplane is trying to get at it. This will not interfere with .its own fire (a bullet travels 2,436 feet a second in a practically straight line at very high angles, only an insignificant adjustment of the sights to the known relative wind being required) but will hopelessly disconcert the aim of the man who is directing the aeroplane's bombs. The fact that light aeroplane bombs of small mass and large surface are always deflected in passing through different wind strata, applies to all bomb, work on aeroplanes. There is but one remedy— armouring the aeroplane's car, and getting nearer, even though it means destruction by the airship's explosion. But with the machine gun it is possible to fell a tree. The wings, which cannot be armoured, are vulnerable spots. Armour, moreover, will surely compel the use of small cannon in place of machine rifles. Fighting: it out with firearms on both sides will be the natural end of the prosent misplaced hawk-lrke tactics. But if the airship mounts weapons which an aeroplane can also carry, it will, with its huge hulk, lie at a disadvantage agai' ist a fleet of smaller aeroplanes. Naturally it must make good use of its capacity f&r mounting heavier pieces with longer range, and keep the aeroplanes at a safe distance. Then they will be shattered before their own weapons get into efficient range because the heaviest cannon an airship can mount are almost as quick and handy as a rifle. We can depend upon seeing cannon appear on the large dirigibles in strict accordance with the stage of development of their adversaries, just as we saw machine guns appear, which are ample protection while aeroplanes have no worse intention than flying over the airship and dropping bombs, Lewis Oliver, who flew over besieged Adrianople, says : "It is no easy thing to regulate one's aim with bombs—l have tried it."