THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15900, 24 April 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR.

BV TOHUXGA.

y J JJ batetkk els© may bo the outcome of le the Great War, it will positively leave y mankind the conqueror of the air. That i, the air would have finally been conquered e without war goes without saying, but it t equally goes without saying that the •- desperate needs of battling nations and the i unlimited outpouring of money upon every s device which may assist " defence or ,1 facilitate offence has given to-aviation the ? opportunity to develop at a most astonish--0 »>g pace. Even while the "civilised " s world was preparing its vast armaments s for the life-and-death struggle deliber--1 ately thrust upon it by Germany the new . science of aviation was fostered by military 5 and naval.subsidies, which in the totality ■ were very large, though always asserted > by enthusiastic flying-men to be inade- > quate. Since the war. began there has 1 been no stint of expenditure in this direction. Improved machines and expert craftsmen have multiplied amazingly. Now: trained men ride among the clouds as easily and as surely as their comrades drive motor-cars, bestride horses, or dive in submarines. The Zeppelin, a.v far as one can see, is a bit of a failure. Possibly wo are suffering a reaction from the vague fear which possessed us a few months ago, a fear based upon the assumption that these huge airships would move in shoals across the North Sea and drop ions of high explosive upon London, Portsmouth, and Birmingham. We believed, of course, that British airmen would fight them successfully, but it was generally thought that this fighting in the clouds would be long and deadly, and that many & gallant aviator would have to sacrifice himself to bring down with him one of these huge German machines. It may be that there are still possibilities in the Zeppelin, but they have so far displayed very little offensive power, and appear to be far more dangerous to their own crews than to anybody else. When peace returns, something may be done with the gas-lifted and motor-driven dying machine, but hitherto it has not been a good mili- . tary investment, comparing very in- \ differently with the aeroplane or flying j machine proper. In any case, as a com- j mercial investment, the. Zeppelins call for' immense capital, and are of doubtful reliability. They may almost be classed with the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wluoel, and other popular attractions, whereas tho aeroplane promises to take its place with the motor-car as a proved and reliafclo means of transit, accessible to individuals of small capital, and capable of competing advantageously for the carriage of mails,. and even of urgent travellers upon long- ; distance routes. It is the aeroplane, not the Zeppelin, that has conquered the air. i The veil of secrecy behind which war J offices are working covers all statistical information as to the number of aeroplanes j employed by the combatants. We are not told anything of the equipment of the. various aviation corps, of the output of j the numerous factories which for months have been working at high pressure, or of ! the quantity obtained from neutral states. I We do not even know the number of the aviators, though we must necessarily assume that they are being trained by tlvu score and hundred in the (various ' aviation schools. Not a day passes, however, without some reference to 'feats, of dariig by airmen, and we have been officially J informed that the British- aviation c/bTp's ' is at work in all weathers and every day. It cannot be exaggerating to estimate, th>.t tho number of aeroplanes' now in iji'so for military and naval purposes by the conflicting nations is among the thcyusands, and that the number is being constantly increased. At the present time, wo aro primarily concerned in the fact 'that, the allied airmen have distinctly demonstrated their general superiority over Ger/.nans and Austrians, but when the war is over it will be brought home to us that; amid this monstrous welter of war the flying-machine has been perfected for the permanent use of all mankind. We have become so accustoroed to reading of tho aeroplane and its evolutions, of its long flights against hostQe bases, and its reckless handling under ■ fire, of its circlings for position in mid-air combat and its slanting falls to safety when disabled, that we forget how recently Kh& first machine lifted to the tree-tops arid how deadly was the to/1 paid within tho decade by the men who first adventured among the clouds. Flyfrig is a Twentieth Century art and the century is still juvenile. Until half a dozen years ago the aviator risked his life every time ho flew. The death-rate was so great in flying that many doubted whether it would ever become an accepted .means of transit and predicted that it wcrdd fad through the impracticability of facing ultimately certain death by accident. Yet the heroic adventurers who wj?nt so gallantly to death, impelled by the passion to add another realm to the kingdom of humanity, did not die in vain. They tested the first immature and imperfect machines, discovered theer weaknesses, paid the price. Thanks to them, tho aeroplane to-day sweeps safely from tho earth to the skies, stag's aloft with extraordinarily little risk and descends almost as easily as a bird. There is uow infinitely less risk to them from the bullets of an enemy than there was a very Cew years ago from the faults of the machine and the inexperience of the aviator. Every must have, been impressed by the comparative rarity of fatalities among the flying men during the war, when recalling the terrible accidents of the early years of flying. This mows that the machines haw become adapted to the complex strains thrown upon them and that the aviators have gradually built up a technical skill which can bo passed from one to another. It is probable that the expert of to-day would avoid many of the accidents of the past even if lie had to use. an old, machine; it is certain -that tht~ original aviators would have maijy accidents even with the better machines of to-day: what has hapnened is tjiat the machine and the technical knowledge have improved together, that mechanician and adventurer have worked hand in Ijand. Exactly the same thing happened with tlie canoe, the sailing vessel and the steamship, by means of which men 'gradually conquered the sea. The miracle if that although it took thousands of. years to reduce seafaring to a science, avSatio/ is already a science, though barely in hi 'teens. Undoubtedly we owe this forcer and uncanny progress to preparation, foi war and the inperative claims 'of "war yet, when the war is over, t\je •flyint machinewhether British, French," oi German—will remain. If we were blind victims, af tin hypnotism of " kultur" we might thinl of the Hying machine as having no valu< other than to guide the movements o armies or to carry bomb-throwers t'j thei work. Being without such * knlt'jtr," w know that such uses 'are bu/L i,icidenta to the peculiar conditions of its, develop ment and that the flying machine wil be as much the servant of 'juiceful mai as the ship and the motor-fir. Ahead; we realise that when peace''is made til men who can handle the fliers will b a great craft-guild whose Services will b eagerly sought, in every civilised land who will solve for u/, many ■ a mai problem and many ? special transi problem, for whom 'the seas will b narrow and the continents conjoined Most of us may liv». to see an Aucklanc Sydney air-mail rr.n between dawn an dark on a single lay and the long lsngt of our islands ',rawn together by th farriers of thoy sky. Many of us ma even live to travel by aerial lines t Imperial Lon/jon and to see beneath t the Canal Which our colonials held fc the Empire -and a Europe .edeemed froi ! Kaisoxiflsa and. a Belgium proud and fa*