AIRCRAFT IN WAR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 179, 2 June 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

AIRCRAFT IN WAR.

That the issue of tho war will to a very large extent be determined by the "nations' airy navies grappling m the central b}ue." is the firm conviction of Mr. Alma Baker, the organiser of the Malayan Air Squadron, presented to the British War Office at a cost of £25.000 Mr, Baker, who is at present on a visit to Sydney, is a native of New Zealand, but he has been resident in the Malay States for 25 years He has always been keenly interested in aviation. To an Interviewer he said that it appeared to him to be beyond all doubt'that the result of the war, and our security after tho war, depended upon an overwhelmingly superiority in aircraft, both in Dcwor and in numbers. He firmly be'icved that the Power that commanded the air was going to command the world. His feeling was that no greater practical encouragement could be given to the men at the front than that those who could not give their personat service should provide and equip aeroplanes for their protection. Accordingly, in February of last year Tie had offered to organise a SWlayan air squadron fund, and within a year funds sufficient to purchase 17 air craft, comprising 12 fast reconnajsance machines and five armoured biplanes for fighting, had been subscribed, rie had provided the money for three of the machines himself, and tbe fund was still open, and ii was probable that additions would be made to the squadron Mr. Baker thus summarises h7s views :

" Two factors aiuue govern the enemy tactics, 'these are lines ot communications and oapplies or munitions of war. If we destroy these we end the war, and the way to do sj, we believe, lies through the ait. Ve must have a. weapon more mobile than armies, "Tji longer range, and more effective than any gun or groups ot guns, and mote mobile and effective than navies. We have this weapon in aircraft, the range of which is far beyond the line of enemy trenches, far beyond the range of the biggest gun, far beyond the rang} of poisonous gases and micrabe-infected areas. The sphere of action of aircraft is over mountains, deserts, :.nd seas, and is limited only by the limit of the world's air. The great efficiency by aircraft is obtained at a minimum cost of lives and money. 1000 air craft continually operating could, we are told by the highest authorities, destroy bridges spanning th.- Rhine in a week, and permanently keep the enemy from crossing at any point along its whole length. We are again told that a thousand aircraft continuously operating could raze Krupps to the ground in a few days, destroy dockyards, battleships, submarines, railway tunnels, and junctions, and prevent the concentratective on these selecte . sectors, would tion of enemy forces at any point. Two thousand aircraft kept continually eirequire the organising, arming and despatch at fixed intervals, of sections of a fleet of 10,000 air craft, the cost of which is approximately i' 40,000,000, or, in other words, the cost, to England alone, of a fortnight's war expenditure at the present rate. If we end this war, say six months earlier than would otherwise be the case, by building the necssary air fleets to do it, we save hundreds of thousands of brave and valuable lives, not to speak ot the enormous cost in money. The armies must surrender to the Power that first rules the air, and we must be that Power."

In furtherance of his anibitb is scheme* Mr. Baker entertains tho hope that every unit of the Empire will contribute to a mighty Imperial air fleet, and that the air-craft will be built i;i < verwhelming aumSars. with a'l possible speed. Like tho New Zealandc-r from Malay, Mr. F. W. Lanchester is a keen advocate for air supremacy. He is one of tho few who, indulging in the gift of prophecy before the war, have not found their prognostications falsified by the event. Mr. Lanchester had very definito theories on the subject of aeronautics; he lost no opportunity o* impressing them upon an indifferent public, and he has now the ,-atisfactton of being alle to say "I to'd you so" on controversial matters. In "Aircraft in Warfare," he does rot actually stoop to this base revenge, but he has a good deal to say about the British policy in aeronautics, which might profitably have been listener! to in the piping times of peace. Mr. Lanchester considers that the experience of this war has already enabled us to form definite conclusions in several important matters of debate. Tho rivalry botween the aeroplane and the Zeppelin type has been onco for all settled in favour of tho former. Zeppelins havo failed as weapons of war; they are not used at the front because tho moment they rise they invite destruction. They are reduced to the ignominious employment of bombing civilians, n:d even in this their exploits are spectacular rather than successful. A Zeppelin cannot kill a baby without incurring a risk, and tho expenditure of men and money and material makes the baby's life very costly, even where a policy ot deliberate "frightfulness" is intended. From every point of view the aeroplano is superior to the airship. It is immensely cheaper, it is more mobile, and, what counts more than the layman imagines, it is a smaller target both on its forays and in hours of ease. It is comforting to have tic- writer's assurance that Britain already holds tho supremacy of the air; but, like Mr. Baker, ho urges a larger and more vigorous programme.