Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1909. AVIATION IN WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 9 March 1909, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1909. AVIATION IN WAR.

ARE BRITISH EXPERIMENTS INVAIN! .VI Til regard to the use of aviation fo purposes ot war, aggression or defence recent happenings in Great. Britain ap pear to haw raised some doubt whethei there is warrant for the optimism tha' has been displayed. The other day thi London "Standard" declared that secrtfi experiment* conducted in remote parti of Great Britain by tho military author! ties had placed the country ahead o] others in the matter of the application oi aeronautic science to Army needs. Bu' soon afterwards there came a message that Continental aeronauts were watching England with some amusement, whil< Mr Wilbur Wright gave a general denia to statements that he had been engaged by the British Government. Moreover, ii the House of Commons, Mr J. T. Macpherson bluntly asked that the War Offiw "should stop the waste of money on aero planes," and Mr Haldane, Secretary foi War, did not combat the view that the aeroplane was virtually useless, although he did not actually affirm that it was not to be r«!Rd upon or feared as a factor of war. If the successes which the "Standard" had said had been achieved with the aeroplane had been as great as that sanguine journal first implied, it is hardly probable that Mr Haldane would hay« permitted to- jjass unchallenged Mr Macpherson's avowed disbelief and contempt emphasised in the expression "waste of money. 1 ' » » ■ • • It is quite possible, however, that neither the War Office, nor the "Standard," nor Mr Haldane, is "giving the show away." While both the aeroplane and the dirigible balloon may be treated as yet as negligible fighting factors, there is no doubt that much knowledge is being gained by the extensive use in the British Army of kites and ordinary balloons for surveying, scouting, and reconnoitring purposes. Their value in that resp?cb will bs Juiiceded readily. Photographs of the Viositions of an enemy, taken from great altitudes up to a distance of two miles and a half from the object photographed have been authoritatively shown in England, and further aiteis,l tjip usefulness of such additions to the equipment of the Army's Intelligence Department. But those balloons and kites travel where the wind lists, not being propelled by their own motive power. The question that arises, however, is whether aerial machines such an those invented by the Wright Brothers in America and Voisin Freres in France are to be dismissed from consideration as appliances not capable of taking an aggressive part in future wars. The Voisin Brothers, who built and sold the aeroplanes with which Farman and Delagrange made their successful flights in France, have so far conquered the difficulties in the way of aerial navigation that they have practically gone into busi-

ness a? manufacturers of machiens guaranteed to fly. With such a machine, i propelled by a 50-hors«-power motor, Farman and a companion have flown long distances at a rate of 45 miles an hour. So respected an .luthority as Sir Hiram Maxim told a British newspaper interviewer that, as a result of his inquiries in France, he believes they have in Paris a fair chance of building, before the end of this year, machines with 100 horsepower motors that will travel at' the rate of 55 miles an hour, will carry a load of half-a-ton over and above the weight ot the petrol, the water, and the driver, ana will keep in the air for four hours at a stretch. . . « As against such evidence as the foregoing the breezy disbelief of laymen such as MrMacpherson, M.P., can hardly be taken seriously ; and doubtless the BntLh War Officeis not proclaiming, from the housetops that it has war experiments on show. It may be taken a« interpreting the actual results so far .secured by reThftnotable deviser of engines for the to know, you know.