THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 29 September 1908, Page 1

THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR

A FEW COMMENTS. In an interesting article on "The 1 Conquest of tho Air," the London "Spectator" says that what we have > to fear from the superiority of our , possible enemies in the air may be set within exact enough limits. To begin with, there is no prospect of in- '. vasion by airships. Invasion re- ' i quires transports; and steerable bal- ; loona and heavier-than-air flying machines are not transports. They cannot conceivably carry thousands of men. Again, we cannot imagine airships taking the place of ships upon the water. They would not have the- ' hnbitability of warships, and they . could not carry a comparable weight ( of guns. We imagino that airships < will never be able to carry guns — or ) weapons that discharge missile hori- ] zontally — at all, but will have to rely ] upon accuracy in dropping explosives ] from a height. Their fire will be 1 vertical. It may be said that war i | will become too horrible to be tolerated; but we do not suppose for a moment — and we gave our reasons not long ago — that nations will shrink from war as such more than before or that airships will ever lack crews. A man can only die at tho woTst; and , death is only death. Fighting in J mid-air will bo a nerve-shaking busi- ( ness, of course; but the total injury to life and property among those be- ■ low would not bo "reater than we \ suffer from many older weapons, f even if it should bo as great. Accuracy in dropping things from a t great height will bo very difficult indeed; and. so far as wo can see, air- e ships will bo forced higher and higher, c "towering like falcons in their I pride," in tho attempt to occupy the r only position from which "firing" ' ,i|vn a hostile iirship will be possible, t Apart from the tactics of the air, considerable height will bo necessary c to keep out of range of gunfire from i the earth, not to say out of vision. ' Rifle fire, till it becomes extraordin- i arily heavy, haa not much effect, aud < certainly no immediate effect, upon a i balloon, as was proved by the expen- < ence of the American army in Cuba. | Evon a "pompom" shell is said to < have pierced one of the balloons in 1 South Africa without doing it much j harm. But the men and the mochan- , ism of the airship (unless the weight of armouring can bo afforded) will i always bo vulnerable. The delicate t parts and balance of heavier-than-air -\ machines would, wo suppose, be y ar " i ticniarly vulnerable, they could be easily upset by a single well-aimed ] shot. Probably for some time the , chief function of airships will be t scouting. Their services in that respect may well be inestimable; and c if there were no other danger ahead ] of us than the possibility that foreign , countries will excel us in the range ] and skill of their scouting, that would < in itself oo a sufficient reason for , making up our minds to the need of , meeting competition on equal terms. An army or a navy with bad scouts , is Samson blinded. 1