FRENCH AIR BASE

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1639, 9 May 1925, Page 2

FRENCH AIR BASE

SIXTY MILES FROM ENGLAND

Within about 60 miles of the nearest point on ,the Fnelish coast, and within 150 miles of th2 heart of' London, the French Government has decided to proceed immediately with the establishment of one of the most "formidable aerial bases in the world, declares the Aeronautical correspondent of the Daily Chronicle. This wonder station, replete with every secret device aerial science can suggest, is to be at Querqueville, about five miles north-west of Cherbourg. The policy dictating this step in what is termed “the new strategy” is justified, one French expert affirms, by “the legitimate desire to utilise the advantages which the great Norman peninsula and promontory possess for the control of the Channel.” Equipment of this “hush-hush” station is to be based not on the conditions of air war as they would exist if a conflict broke out to-day, but upon what those conditions are likely to be when, years ahead, some great struggle takes place in which aerial- operations will play the dominating part. Students of international conditions who are also experts upon flying say we may reckon upon peace for perhaps 10 years. New air weapons, they hold, will not be developed sufficiently to make it worth while embarking, before then, upon any really conclusive struggle. The planning and defences of Querqueville will give us a picture, in advance, of what the next air war will be like. France’s astutest! strategists have come to the. conclusion that one of the immediate aims, in any such catastrophic struggle, will not only be to shoot down the - aerial squadrons of the enemy when they are encountered in actual flight, but also to wreck and demoralise the landbases from which these squadrons operate—to smash them up .before they have a chance to get into the air. V

Hence this great new flying base, standing sentinel over the Channel, and others also, which are to be created, will be designed on the lines of aerial fortresses which have to withstand fierce unremitting attacks from the skies. No rows of sheds will be seen standing exposed to the shattering effect of bombs. Raiding and fighting craft will be housed in chambers sunk beloV the level of the ground, and protected by vast armoured roofings to resist the impact of bombs. Everything will be burrowed down below/ earth-level, and the “brains” or controlling points of operations will be many feet deep in heavily-protected chambers. French experts are also facing the problem of aerodromes ploughed up by bombs from enemy aeroplanes. The solution, they declare, lies in mechanical launching. What we shall have is the dramatic spectacle not only of powerfully-engined “cannon-planes” rushing high through the air, but ot these winged warcraft being themselves shot forth in flight like vast projectiles. Launching mechanisms are being perfected which are really monster guns. The aeroplane is mounted upon a carriage running on rails. -Then a charge of powder is placed in a lower chamber. This is fired like a gun, and the force sends the aeroplane, with its crew, -rushing forward along the rails at a speed sufficient for the -wings of the machine to develop “lift,” whereupon it soars away in flight. The greatest battle of wits the world has ever known—that is w-hat the next air-war is going to be. Cleverness will win it; and the French have made up their minds that, cost what it may, their equipment shall, in its sheer ingenuity/ be equal to every contingency which agile-minded experts can foresee.