The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, JULY 11, 1914. TO FIGHT AIRCRAFT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 68, 11 July 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, JULY 11, 1914. TO FIGHT AIRCRAFT.

The cable message of a few days ago indicating that Britain has decided upon erecting towers armed with quickfiring guns at various points on the English coast for defence against aircraft, shows how much mere dillieult the great problem of defence is becoming. There has been a long series of experiments in the use of gun«s against aircraft, under the Imperial Government's direction, and recently one authority, Colonel L. C. Jackson, ing a paper on "The Defence of Localities Against Aerial Attack," read at the Royal United Service Institution, said he assumed that in about three years from now attack from the air upon many vulnerable points would be possible, and that the attack might take the form of bombs, explosive, or incendiary, light shells and bullets. The vulnerable points were the localities to be defended, anr l woi:!3 include coast batteries, magazines and stores, ammunition factories, oil reserves, wireless statiorts, and great centres of population. With regard to the defence of these, he believed that a properly-designed vertical fire-gun would be as easy for the gunner to aim and swing as « shotgun. Given a high muzzle velocity, which was essential, a dirigible hovering within the height of which the explosive could be dropped should he an easy mark. As for aeroplanes, shooting at them would be just like game-shoot-ing when a suitable projectile had been found. With regard to attacks on great centres of population, Colonel Jackson said a serious blow aimed at London would be more effective against the national life than in the case of any other capital in the world. If a flight of aeroplanes passed over the city, each one dropping a dozen incendiary bombs in different placas, the result would be more than the are brigade could cope with. A Zeppelin might drop half a ton of gun-cotton on to the Admiralty and the War Office. Therefore as progress in the art of aviation is made and aircraft come within the practical possibilities of warfare the already enormous cost of defence must be augmented t* provide against this wew terror.