BOMB THROWING FROM AEROPLANES.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 113, 27 April 1912, Page 4

BOMB THROWING FROM AEROPLANES.

The questionable renown of being the first to use aerial bombs m actual warfare-belongs to Italy, but as yet she has not succeeded ; :i annihilating lier Turko-Arnbian foe. Nevertheless her intentions are turned in that direction and tint •' has not yet accomplished her bloodthirsty ambition is due op;n'-cntlv to the difficultier, in the way cf transporting the bombs and ae'oplanes to the field of action. Today’s cables, which report the seizure of German aeroplane missels, lead to this inference. As \<?t the world knows little of effectiveness of the use of the airship in bcinbar ling an enemy, but military and naval authorities hold that they arc machines which must not be ignored. Captain Windham, " bo ret enthralled attention to the possibib: . that large towns might easily !>-■ destroyed by the dropping fi»m planes of bombs filled with pel!-.' 1 gave a further expression of ' ?

views on the subject to a Pres? re presentative. He said that from an Imperial point of view the matter required serious consideration. To Vedrines,' he pointed out, had been attributed the statement that, anyone aeroplane could destroy-

one battleship. He also declared that the suggestion as to the dripping of bombs containing petrol wa : - certainly- not fantastic. GrahimeWhite and Driver had both shown that bombs up to 501 b in weight could be dropped so as to hit the desired mark. In Tripoli ncroplan--had been used with effect for a siin'lar purpose. What was needed wns not so much the building of aeroplanes as precautions w-iich wo 1 render battleships and cities impervious to attack from above. The;' l was undoubtedly a grave danger ‘hut cities might be set on fire by pe*> >1 bombs, - and as to extinguishing a blaze so caused it would be impossible for existing appliances to c >p ? with outbreaks which might <i'-.n simultaneously in different parts of a large town.