AEROPLANE IN WAR.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 21, Issue 89, 2 December 1910, Page 2

AEROPLANE IN WAR.

When men find themselves confronted by a hostile army, they are willing to run risks it would be folly to incur in time of peace. Consequently, no skilled aviator would hesitate for a moment to take flight from a beleaguered city and steer his course with a compass over the heads of the besieging army to carry news or military instructions to the friendly forces, even if they were a couple of hundred miles distant. Also, he would return by the same aerial route, bringing news and instructions from without. Then, again, for reconnoitring, the service of an aeroplane, especially if like the Wright and Henry Parman it could carry a military observer as well as the pilot, would be invaluable. It would be able to approach very near the enemy’s lines, and would be almost invulnerable by its speed and the height to. which it could rise. M. Clementel, the reporter of the war budget to the French Chamber,, foresees the aeroplane could serve as the swiftest and surest of communication between the wings of an army, the headquarters and detachments of troops sent on special mission, &c. He believes it could be use<f during a battle to discover the exact position of hostile forces hidden from the observer on terra firms, No doubt he is right, as he certainly is when he declares it is of the utmost importance that the aeroplane should be rendered yet more reliable than it is, and capable of confronting a fairly stiff breeze with safety. At* the same time, a well-balanced aeroplane can be piloted with ease by a fairly skilful end experienced aviator in a wind of twenty-five mileq an hour h and there are comparatively few days in the year when the velocity of the wind does not fall considerably below that figure.—T. F. , Farraau, in “Blackwood.” |