AIRSHIPS IN WAR.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9434, 3 May 1909, Page 7

AIRSHIPS IN WAR.

Paris, March 18. Jin view =of the Interest which has been excited by-the reported solution of the problem of -vertical 'fire at &ii?h range, -General Peigne, a former ' president of the technical committee .of the French artillery, was askea by a representative of the Petite Bepublique what chances a dirigible would have against vertical fire. General Peigne expressed the opinion that the advantage would rest with the airship. In actual warfare a dirigible airship in motion could, barring accidents or a chance encounter with a hostile hit with its projectiles any given target at least 16 times out of 20, wfi le, with the exception of chance hits, not one in 20 would be able to reach the vessel itself. Altitude could he determined by the barometer, and after the speed of the airship had been a special B ® fe «tr aments indicate the deoisiv moment at which to drop the projectile. Franca had taken and kept the lead in the development of the airship as an instrument of warfare, and General Peigne declared That, - although he would not undertake to hit the obelisk on the Place de la • Concorde, he could certainly land a projectile from an airship in the space between the itwo- fountains north and south of the column, , If stationary, on the other hand, the airship was exposed to a certain amount of danger, but if an ordinary shell were to pass through the envelope it would do little damage beyond making two holes, while the balloon envelope of the airship would not offer sufficient resistance . to cause a high 'percussion shell to explode. A shell, however, which exploded inlhe envelope itself would be exceedingly dangerous. But from the ground it would be almost impossible to determine the altitude of an airship: with sufficient; accuracy to guarantee a successful shot of this kind. The only sure means of hitting an airship would he to discover a aorfe of “ comet-shell,” which would emit a jet of flame after ing a distance of, for example, from 1500 metres to 3000 metres. A shell of this kind would certainly cause an airship to explode. But even so the difficulty of ascertaining the range would have to be surmounted. In motion, therefore, an airship I would be practically immune,\ and although it would he difficult- it would not be impossible for it to remain stationary. . ’ In reply to farther questions, General Peigne pointed out that the first Hague Conference had prohibited the use of projectiles thrown from airships for a period of only five years. - The prohibition had not been renewed, and- in any case there Could not be much doubt as to • what would happen to conventions of this kind in the event of a EniQP ean conflagration.