AN AERIAL FLEET IN BEING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9583, 1 September 1909, Page 4

AN AERIAL FLEET IN BEING.

It is clear that the nation which endeavours to compete with Germany for the command of the air will have a difficult task before it. With a fleet of 13 large dirigible airships ready for action, and with three more approaching completion, Germany has established a long lead in the race. It is true that an airship . is both inexpensive and rapidly con- ' structed in comparison with a marine battleship, while, as Mr Haldane has pointed out, the principles upon which they are built"cannot be kept secret. No doubt Great Britain has the money, the plant, and the manufacturing ability to construct an aerial fleet aa big as Germany's in a few months if the Government consider it advisable to do so. But experience in the management of the new engine of war cannot be atquircd without ample opportunity for experiment. The experience which the German aeronauts 'have already obtained is a valuable asset, and one that the military authorities m ust'setgaboutjl obtaining with the Jeastgpossible delay ifftheyjare not to be hopelessly out-manoeuvred in time of war. Superior seamanship, obtained by constant sea training, enabled the sailors of the United; Kingdom to win other sea fights as well as the decisive . battle~of7 Trafalgar" and the same quality* may enable Ihe officers and men • ofTthe British navy under modern conditions repeat the victories of their ancestors, because they fhave followed out the same principle ofJfcontin-' uous™ training in time of peace for ; the emergencies of the supreme day of I But up to" the present th|opinion, p of British military [aeronauts with dirigible" airships may be estimated at nothing at all, while their 13 dirigibles enable the Germans to train a consiJerable number of officers and men in the work of military aeronautics, and to ascertain the full capacities of the aerial vessJg, which, in the published opinion of the German Emperor, nre destined to '"make history"—a'ri German history at that. The sudden rise of this German aerial navy should be a potent warning for England.