AERO SERVICED

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17530, 13 July 1917, Page 7

AERO SERVICED

A MESSAGE FROM AMERICA. THE EYES OP ARMY AND NAVY. Tuesday's cablegrams annoujiced that Lord Montagu, of Beaulieu, in an article on the best way of shortening tho war, said that Britain should concentrate on the construction of aircraft, and embark oh a vast aerial' offensive. That the importance of aircraft and the training of aviators is recognised even in remote New Zealand is to be found in the pioneer schools of aviation at Christchurch and Auckland. Tho following article from an American publication, written not two months ago, as part of tho Preparedness Campaign, reeived the warm approval of RearAdmiral Peary, who has been calling for aerial preparation:— To-day this country has bared its arm for battle. We are retailing-no State secrets in pointing out the utter inadequacy of this arm when compared with tho trained and seasoned forcer, of Europe. Time, of course, will remedy this deficiency, but it will take more than timo to remedy the present pitiful inadequacy of our aerial preparedness—it will take salesmanship, agitation, education, and a lot of them. Our people must be awakened to the terrific necessity of vitalising this particular department of our offensive and defensive armour, and too great emphasis cannot be put upon * the importance of immediate and wholestfaled action.

In Napoleon's day, an army was as strong as its kitohen.' To-day, _an army—or a navy for that matter—is as strong or as weak as the eye that •guides it, and the ©ye of tho modern fighting machine is no God-made mechanism i but a creation of iron and steel, wood, rubber and gasolline- r tho aeroplane. A few short years ago the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk saw "Wright's Folly" tip and tilt in the breeze'. It was the first aeroplane, and it was designed and built and flown on its first flight by an American. "While the Wright brothers' skirted the edge of starvation, Europe developed the plane until to-day little Bulgaria—a pmk % pimple on the map—has almost three times tho number of planes now owned by our country. We need-not insult your intelligence by explaining the use of the aeroplane in modern warfare. The day is gone when a man sees the target at which he shoots. To-day the gunner sits'in an innocent apple orchard with the sfan lanyard in his hand, a book of logarithms in his lap, and a pair or wireless receivers clamped to his ears. The sun is shining and tho birds are singing—but six or eight t miles away, and one or two males up in the is a hirdman, hovering over the enemy lines. His wireless snaps, the receivers at your ears click out their directions, the gun is jtilted, swung, the lanyard pulfed, antf in a twinkling,_ a suspicious-looking five miles away, is wiped out of existence. You nevor Baw the house, you probably never will see it, because the directions of Monsieur Birdman made it but a, memory, hidden by the yellow smoke of high •explosives. More than that—the aerial ' scout, swinging to and fro above the enemy lines, makes it almost 'impossible for that foe to consummate any major movement in secrecy, His ©very action is forecasted, his strength accurately He lives a hunted l»e—----if his antagonist's planes are in the ascendency over his. In the Jutland naval hattle, for example, tho forces of tho air «ad_tremendous influence on the results. They spotted and corrected and guided the shell f\re of their parent ships. Without them, in the early morning mists, this accuracy would have been well nigh impossible. Indeed, so important and vital to modern shell fir« is the aeroplane that to-day a gun mi<rht almost as well be shell-less as plane-less. The force without aeroplanes, on being attacked by even; a much inferior force supplied with planes, is at the same disadvantage as a six-foot blind man beset by a fourfoot ruffian possessed of all his senses Indeed, the utter and pitiful helplessness of an aeroplaneless force is too well established in fact to need advertisement here. Yet, even though the aeroplane was invented in this country, to-day France has more men in her aero service than have we in our entire army. Think that over_n moment, and'then top it off with this —England has more men m her' aero service than have We in our entire navy. Germany is believed, on good atvthority, to have 10,000 planes, and some 18,000 men are waiting to be called from her aero reserves. Yob, with all this wealth of aero service, there is not a single belligerent that is not feverishly striving to increase her aerial preparedness. Need we aiiy better index of the importance of the piano than this? _ . The foremost, experts of Europe are unaimous in their opinion that the air service is more important to successful, combat than are tho army and navy combined. They affirm that the decision of the present war will be determined by the nation which ga ns dominancy—not on land, or in or under the sea—but by the nation that gains dominancy in the air. And still we of the United States of America are prone to regard the aeroplane as a pretty plaything, suitable for millionaire sportsmen and dare-devils at country fairs. Read your newspaper headlines, if you wish to gain. sfcmet va<nio idea of tho tremendous importance of the aeroplane in Europe torday. "One hundred and twenty-two planes destroyed in one month on the western front alone, and on one side only. "Seventy-two air battles in one single day " " Seventy-two planes shot down in "a single night." It is roughly, though fairly accurately, estimated that the Allies have bagged some 1800 planes, and Germany is reckoned to have brought down some 225 or 230 on the western front in one month—and yet the "struggle to dominate the air has only Jast begun. Imagine, then,' the proportions it will reach when it brealcs in all its fury. Compare with these figures the die quieting aerial status of our own country. Our navy has" fifty-three pianos. Our army, gentlemen, boasts of seventy-three, with ninety-six officers, and about six hundred rneii. " Collier's" tells us that wo'hav©' less than two hundred trained: aviators in the service. Indeed, the entire aero service of the country, mechanics' and office boys included, would make bur, a poor dav's shooting abroad. And still wo slumber on. " But oh," exclaims tr*e optimist, "no aeroplane can cross the Atlantic. Wo are sat'o. Our coast lines are protected by Mother Nature and "her sturdy cohorts " What a comforting thought to think on a dark and stormy night! No. the aeroplane is .yet to be invented that will cross the Atlantic, But it is a well authenticated fact that, Germany to-day—this minute—has ten submarines fitted to carry aeroplanes; and submarines, my friend, have been known to cross the Atlantic quite succeßsfciUy. .'. „ ' ■ , Oust suppose—it will not be hard—just suppose- that fivo of these aero laden submarines should thrust their noses (Out of the water about thirty smiles qff our coast, and there assemble ahd loose their planes. Suppose these planeaVj fly due west. They reach ; Washington,' or*, Baltimore;, or . New., York, in an Jhoui: perhapfc leas. There they form'a neat cordon, a city block or two apart,, and droi>their tons of high explosive at iy*lj c&lcufyted interval*. fly-low enough-te :make;.dea3}y oortkiu. of their mark—no . anti-aircraft .J?|ifr'' bark? upward at thsm. In peak s[ i .Quiefc—except 'for the noise attdjH

of -their own making—they wheel and repeat their flight back and forth across that, city, weaving a pathway of destruction in their wake. • Every five pounds of that' raining high explosive is sufficient to sink a modern torpedoboat destroyer—to give you some idea of its ravaging powers Then,, after fine-tooth-combing Washington, or New York, or Baltimore, or any other of our coastal or near coastal these doughty aeroplanes retrace their steps to the safe haven of the mother submarine, and, as Peary succinctly put it, "if they didn't return it would be through no fault of burs." We haven't a single anti-aircraft gun mounted for coast defence. If submarines displease your fancy, eliminate them, aud if you are still inclined to temporise, think over the ease with'• which the Appam reached oiur shores, and tbe.Kronprinz Wilhelm and the Prinz Eitel Friedrich. The first' intimation we had of,the approach of these raiders was when they poked their noses into Hampton Roads—this in spite of a more or less thorough patrol of our coaets by our navy. Any on© of these vessel's could easily carry ten or twelve aircraft. Suppose they now carried, instead of commercial cargo, a batch,of these aeroplanes each with its pendant cargo of sudden death. Grant for the sake of argument that the mother ships were located and annihilated—though they could well stop short of our coast by 200 or 300 miles, at no inconvenience -to themselves. What would their annihilation gain usP In the meantime—before we sensed'their presence—a million times the value of the planes and ships combined would have been obliterated[from our map, and the price of our lethargy would: be written large in millions and; blood. - This could happen. Naval forces—ours or, anyone else's T-when unassisted by adequate aerial co-operation, are but meagre protection against just such a calamity. Even as we write these lines the story of the German sea raider, returning into her home port after eluding the entire English Navy' in ■ the narrow confines of the North Sea, is fresh in our mind 3. How much

more readily could, her likeness, aenv laden, make monkeys of our navy withf our thousand-mile coast line as her playground? Let us illustrate .the v total inadequacy of a naval force . in locating isolated objects on.the surface , of tho sea? — \ •. * * ] Some time ago Sperry,;the inventor, - went tiifcin his aeroplane off our coast.' Engine trouble/ overtook him and he aKghted in the water—at ho particular inconvenience, since he was driving a hydroplane. AH .night he drifted—constantly out, to sea. At dawn the jl Navy Department sent out a Traraher', . of destroyers to look for him. and two or three planes joined in the chased >' The planes were back in forty minutes and reported'his exact* location, butatj :- three o'clock that afternoon the de- " strpyers steamed in and regorted no. trace of Sperry.' > ,;J\- ,'\.,k . We might go on ip tell you,- howf Paris, though .but some forty miles,':.; from the foremost firing line, is almost 1 ! immune.from aeroplane attacks. Paris' '■■ is policed hv aeroplanes, just aayourj ■ city is policed street "by street andt block by block by pplicemen. Micro-] ' phones jplaced at frequent intervals) . about the city catch and magnify the] m hum'of -hostile' .pftp'eMersV . Th© angle; , of approach is determined, and . im-' mediately the offending plan© is out. 1 lined in a.million candlepower. Lon- :■ don—an unpoliced eity as compared* with Paris", even though.it ./.is mainy*, .;, times the distance, from the seen© oft hostilities —has : 'been the recipient' of j many aero from the Kaiser'.|. ] ,London, however, is amply 'protected,: W\ well mgh impregnable, from an aerial M standpoint, in comparison with any ono & of car coastal cities. / "■ „ '' ; -:H Canada —t 0... our eternal Bham©~-will ; spend eighty 1 for. aero service this-year. -.'■ -Need -wo say more,?* We hope not^instead-let *i] us each write to our Congressman and Representatives andt^llthemitha't ..■;! want preparedness by all meanSi- but ;' not.a feeble and effeminised prepared-' ; ness, rendered waste /andjimpptent,' be- | cause of faulty aero (service. Our aerb service must be complete,; and able to' compete with; the best, i or f At : will be valueless. '■':■*■ V - ;,