DEATH IN THE SKIES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 144, 21 June 1930, Page 20

DEATH IN THE SKIES

SCCENCE FORGES NEW WEAPONS

The most appalling weapons of war ever devised by man are / beiiig forged in secret in England.'

Death, winged and terrible and dispatched from afar; defying all defence sini raining mercilessly from the sky on some great enemy, city—such is the latest conception of science now being realised.

Tho new horror is the flying torpedo •—a giant . armoured acroplano that functions without a crew, its engine and course controlled by a clockwork "brain," and its hull a mere receptablo for bombs, says the "Daily Mail."

Tho invention, should the world bocome involved in war, would bring terror aud death to the great areas of population with a mechanical precision which would be pitiless, nevoi-ceasing, and almost impossible to intercept. Tho new horror' will be a huge, engine-driven protective, which one might liken to an enormous flying torpedo. In. such a machine the hollow metal hull will contain no space, for any human occupant. It will simply be a receptacle for a heavy load of bombs. On either side of the tapering, streamlined' body will be metal wings; in the bow will be an engine and propeller which will operate automatically; and at the rear will be automatic control surfaces.

Inside the hull, placed carefully in & protected, and armoured container, will be the mechanipal "brain," which will control this winged bomber as it irnshes s high through the air. gyroscopes in the mechanical "brain" will establish electrical contacts instantly the machine Bhows any tendency to; deviate from its course, and these .In turn will cause'a compressed air mechanism to function which will move ailerons, elevators; or rudder and so, ke<!p. the pilotless craft in equilibrium upon an accurate course. "For governing the -action of the *f brain" a clockwork device, will be

installed. This will bo set beforehand to operate at any given time. After a pre-determined distance has been flotvn this will cause the engine to stop and the manless machine, with its deadly load, will tilt down and fall with a crash. .

It is now becoming possiblo to combine with the gyroscopic form of control another device- which operates in somewhat the1 same way as-do the paper music-rolls which .we pass through jour automatic pianos." . ■ Obtaining meteorological data as to wind-strength and 'other, conditions at varying:altitudes" along the' course which the aerial robot is to follow, those controlling, tho flight of the winged projectilo will perforate a paper strip before it is launched. This strip will be inserted in an apparatus provided in the machine^ and will constitute a special series of "instructions" for the flight. These1" orders "the manless craft will obey implicitly as itsinterior machinery causes the paper strip to unwind. ~-■"'■

It will be possible, for example, to make the aeroplane fly a certain distance at a predetermined height and then .climb automatically to some ■higher altitude. It may also be made to go for so many miles in one direction, then alter its path aid fly for a certain time on -another course,, and afterwards,',if necessary,""resume its former path;-'•'•' : '•'■ /:' "■"": ''■•' *.' Such, mechanical . methods., of control, as compared with 'the, wireless control systems with which experiment is also being made,'have the. advantage: .that they .would not be subject in war to the powerful "jamming" which would be adopted- as a defensive measure." On tho other hand, such -complete precision in guidance may not be .-'possible with them as with wireless control; but it is reckoned that they could .be adjusted beforehand so as to reach any such big target as the London area.