THE AERIAL PERIL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7827, 21 June 1909, Page 1

THE AERIAL PERIL.

Cf-tain T. G. Tulloch, R.A., writes m the Nineteenth Century and After ion "The Aerial Peril," and draws special attention to the danger of an aerial raid on Woolwich Arsenal, containing the gun and carriage factories, the laboratory and the torpedo 'factory. At the arsenal, the partridges are made up iyijihqufr' which Jh'eadnoughts are "useless, and /there are huge magazines containing hundreds of tons of cordite and other explosives. All these stores are singularly susceptible to destruction by fire, but there is not a single fort or defensive work from London to Gravesend, except the antiquated Tilbury fort of Elizabethan date. The supposition is that the forts of Sheerness would keep an enemy's marine fleet out of the Thames. But what if the enemy came 1 m airships? "The whole 50 miles of concentrated essence of Empire. lies at the absolute mercy of "even a single airship or aerial machjne whicli could pjant a dozen incendiary "missiles in'certain" prescribed spots." The author says that given a certain wind, and certain incendiary missiles, he could undertake to have the whole, riverside, including ships, wharves, warehouses, and the arsenal m a blaze m a very short time. A cheerful prospect, truly! With London burning, the. rest of the Empire would be powerless, or, as the author. puts it, "by destroying the heart the other members would cease to function." Qaptain Tulloch consequently advocates a two-Bo^*er standard m aerial machjnes.. Ind England piust' begin at once, for her rival already has a long start m aeronautical experience.