DREADNOUGHTS OF THE AIR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 158, 24 March 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

DREADNOUGHTS OF THE AIR.

BEHIND THE GUN IN AN AIRSHIP. As most of us know, airships of war nowadays have their ratings almost like warships on the sea ; there are inmsy scouts of the ajr which trust to sheer speed for safety, protected aeroplanes able to stand a few hard knocks, and armoured ones which with ordinary luck may laugh at shrapnel. But, in adition, there are veritab'o aerial dreadnoughts, armed with guns and capable of holding their own in good company. It is with the latter that we would deal here No braver ela-s of fighting man is there in this war than the men w?io are behind aeroplane guns. Every time they go aloft they are prepared to give and take the compliments of battle, and their machines have no superlative bursts of speed to show slippery heels to some pressing danger. What with armour, steel gun siheld, and the gun itself, the added weight is a c'ogging factor which often compels the aviator figuratively to stand his ground and fight. In such a pass, with perhaps winged antagonists on the prowl and anti-aeroplane guns on earth eagerly waiting an opportunity, some bullet must reach its billet. THE VULNERABLE PART. The wings and stays are so exposed that they are almost certain *o lie pierced in a hot conflict, hut, fortunately, they can stand a considerable peppering without any disaster happening. Not so tiie (i-iving mechanism, however, which s fa." and away the most vulnerable p.«rc. Therefor-:-, m the real fighting \osel of the air tho motor, petrol tan'ts, and feed p'pM arc shielded with st.-tl plating nearly a quarter of an inch thick. Sometimes, indeed the entire carriage is so protected." Complete immunity from wandering missiles is, of course, out of the question, but the steel skin will defy either rifle or shrapnel bullets. Tho real difficulty*with these battleships of the air concerns not so muc.i the armour a., the mounting of t.'.e artillery An aeroplane is a seeing tangle of stays, girders, and cr050,.,,, and iiow to fix a gun so that it may have free play without blowing feiuan parts of the vessel away or fata ly Wbturbing equilibrium was, and still oticn is a problem of the very first - tude. There are flying men who w. cheerfully dart across enemy s 3v the most fragile racing aeroplane but ;&, when shifted into the supc • armed and armoured craft, beto-v. Lumen who scent doom. SAFETY BELOW. The aerial dreadnought is ksuuUj built with two deep seats placed t dem the man before the gun win?, of bourse, in the front seat shel ueJ from wind and bullets by a steel *i UJ which swivels with the gun. He f-i\ fire at an enemy on the earth, b u it SSta a haphazard specula .on or the planes of the machine I,la k - view. Thus, an antagonist »'..> n.l* been soundly beaten in the race '■-<» ■£ titudo may, by keeping dircctlj - -<>•- ortSe gunnery bo winged at matic pistol fired vertical* But Ut ,C 'everything is forgot en j insatiable desire to conqnei. Wrt a Ku. pilot behind him, the gunner is S to concentrate all h.s onerg.es on d i-ting a devastating (,». »dc on th f" It is a fight to the death. NMatter if one side were as wdling t give quarter as the other s'de to. apt it. such a consummation is entirely on. of the question. DUEL TO A FINISH. Thp fi,-,t hitting shot will W the lighting one, and therafter a stream of projectiles will follow in its wake. Jt . : Inevitably a due! to n.finish, and. a bullet does not immediately decide it Superior tactics will. To evade the c'read menace the quarry may attempt to climb higher, but the wi v pursuer divines the move ere it can be executed, and the grim struggle proceeds. There U nothing in a contest on hand or S ea to compare with tins for sheer, delirious intensity. Soon, as one cre.lt is being clearly outpointed and outgoneralled. it can no longer 1>? termetl a redit. but an impending tragedy or t ], o a ; r _ a sparrow and hawk drama with all the hysteria of emotions winch must surge w ; tlim these atoms of bird life reproduced in the human frame.