DEADLY WEAPONS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 74, 28 March 1930, Page 19

DEADLY WEAPONS

NEW WAR MACHINES

70-MILE-AN-HOUR TANKS

(Copyright.)

Anti-aircraft guns capable of firing 25 3-inch shells a minute, bringing down' bombers miles in. the heavens; range-finding mechanisms which determine an aeroplane's position, so accurately that they, in effect, make auti-air-eraft guns self-aimingj amazing armoured tanks which travel 70 miles an hour—these are only a few of the astonishing new war machines developed by United States army experts ready for deadly service in the next war. Perhaps most marvellous of all these deadly machines is the , auti-aireraft director, which .is described by Captain G. M. Wells, chief of the anti-air-craft section of the United States army artillery, as "a super-computing machine which automatically observes the target and .computes its future position in space. Wind, temperature, and other factors which influence the flight of the 'plane are automatically corrected '"within the instrument itself," Detection of aeroplanes from the ground at'night is simplified by special apparatus. Giant searchlights capable of spotting 'planes eight miles away have, been devised. Two large horns, mounted parallel to each other, collect sound, waves from an enemy 'plane which enable an operator to determine approximate position. . With the aid of another instrument called the acoustic corrector, the time required for the sound to travel from the 'plane to the horns is computed and the true position of the 'plane is found. These marvellously efficient anti-aircraft instruments,, as ,well as the guns themselves, are mounted on rubber-tired trailers; and can be transported swiftly as the need may arise.

70-MIIiE-AN-HOUR TANKS. Bemarkable as are these,anti-aircraft ■weapons, they are no more startling than- the amaizhg new combat tanks recently tested by. the American Government. This machine is known as the Christie light tank. It is a three-man affair which can travel at 70 miles an hour over smooth roads and 43 miles an hour over rough, ploughed iields. It can operate with or without the familiar caterpillar treads, which can.be removed in 14 minutes for cross-coun-try travel. Another type of light tank, more extensively developed since the war than the new Christie model, is adapted to carry a 75mm gun with armoured shield, cargo body for ammunition, spare parts, and anti-aircraft gun mounts. Another type of vehicle now under development will be used to carry forward machine-gun' squads after the larger machines have overcome enemy resistance. : , Naval armament has kept paeo with laud weapons, both as regards offence 'and': defence.1 The United States navy •'now lias three huge aeroplane-carriers which house a swarm of warplanes ranging in'size from large bombers to tiny scouts. These 'planes take off from the deck.of,the mother ship, complete their missions, and return. Some of them have pontoons and can land in the sea; most of- them are land 'planes, which use the ship's deck as base of operations. '

SMOKE SCREENS,

Defensively the art of laying a smoke. screen has been developed^ to a lino point. A smoke scroen is a battleship's most effective defence against air attack, excluding, of course, the activities of her own defending 'planes: Swift destroyers, running ahead of the battleships, belch forth obscuring clouds of smoke which effectively hide the big ships from enemy airmen. One of the most recent developments in naval armament is the tiny foldingwing aeroplane to be carried in the hull of a submarine. The submarine 'plane is a seaplane which folds its wings and slips inside a special compartment of the,' Bubniarinc.1 It carries a pilot, _an observer, and-there is room for a wireless 'set, chart case, and two-seat type chuto. Tho 'plane has a rango of two hours. Although not strictly a new weapon of warfare, tho United States army has been experimenting with parachutes capable of dropping machineguns, from aeroplanes, the purpose being to set up machine-gun nests behind enemy lines in the dead of night. For daylight use the system has not yet proved itself practical owing to • the comparative ease with which enemy snipers can pick off the slow-moving targets. ____