FRANCE'S WEAPON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 18, 13 January 1915, Page 7

FRANCE'S WEAPON.

INSTANT DEATH FROM COLD AND SHOCK. The Daily Mail correspondent, writing from Paris, says: i The new air bomb of the French air service is now in use. I have talked with an airmail who lias been allowed to experiment with it. upon the enemy. He gives a lucid description ol the effect of the bomb, which is clearly visible from the altitude of an aeroplane. "I have u.scd both the dynamite bomb , and the new bomb," said this airman. "The two are very similar in size and weight but tiic eH'cel. as seen from akivc is very different. When the dynamite | bomb falls upon a body of men, you can see the men leap up in the air. It is just like a small volcano in eruption. ''When the new bomb bursts, it simply lays everything out Hat within the area of its explosion. It seems to exert the i whole of its force in waves like the ripples when a large stone is thrown into a pond. Men go down like ninepins, buildings collapse like a house of playing cards, guns are turning over as if by sonic unseen band. "The explosion raises practically no dust nor smoke. Even the earth disturbed by the case of the bomb striking tiie ground is instantly battened out by the same extraordinary waves of force. ••Extreme cold is produced at the moment of explosion, cold so intense, that 1 felt t myself when I dropped my lir.-.i bomb at a height of 800 ft. 1 was taking great chances m Hying so low, but I wished to nee tile effect of the bomb. It fell on a section of Germans bivouacking in a field. I estimate that at least thirty men were killed within the area of the explosion. Had they been massed more deiwelv more would have been killed. "Death from these bombs conies instantly from intense cold and concussion.

"The material composing the bomb is simple. It can be conveyed to any air base, and the bomb can be tilled by the airman or his assistant before he starts.

FIVE TKlililllL 10 WIOAIMXS. French airmen have now live terrible weapons of destruction for use in aeroplane tij>htinj-. They arc: 1. The steel arrows les Heches, liin. loiij.', grovcil to ensure straight downward llight. about an ounce ill weight, and carried in boxes which launch aliout 10011 at a time. Dropped from an average Hying height. one of these will hit a man with a driving force of 101)11). It- will go clean through a rider and his horse. The airmen carry several thousands, on each flight. An airman was recently mentioned in despatches for the skill and daring with which lie used his bombs and arrows. The quick-firing air-gun. This is carried in many of the French monoplanes. Two have been mounted ill biplanes in order to command tlic whole lields of flight. They have accounted for many of the enemy's milchine*. 3. The shell pistol, reserved for action against the Zeppelins. A lneky shot from one of these will put a Zeppelin out of action. -I. The dynamite hoiul). This weights !)0 lb., and is dropped by an airman or his observer. This has been used for blowing up bridge.-. 5. The new air bomb. With these weapons in the hands of during airmen the French air service U making history daily. Hundreds of young men are volunteering for tlio work, and many of them seem to bear charmed lives. They face the triple risk of death from accidental fall, tlic eiiemys' air guns-which they all declare! to he admirably served—and the explosion of their own weapons.