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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0843.PDF
SEPTEMBER JO, 191 I. [/ycHT AIR-CRAFT IN NAVAL WARFARE. Or what is the aeroplane capable ? It can rise from the water, fly with a passenger 200 miles out and home again at a speed of 50 miles an hour. To what use can such a machine be put in naval warfare ? Bomb-dropping on warships is not likely to be effectual. Any aeroplane should be kept at at least 3,000 ft. by massed and con trolled rifle-fire. The difficulty of taking up a position on a moving ship in a wind must be considerable. And if a hit is scored, what of it? A 300-lb. bomb, dropping from 6,000 ft., strikes with a velocity of 620 ft. a second. An 8-in. gun, at 12,000 yds., does more than this, and an 8-in. gun at 12,000 yds. does not do much harm when it hits. 200 lbs. of guncotton exploded by a torpedo on a ship's bottom, well tamped by water, blows a bit of the boltom in, but probably does not sink the ship. What then will guncotton do on her upper-deck ? There is no future for bomb-dropping on warships. Naval works ashore are more open to such attack. Incendiary bombs need not be very heavy, and dropped into a dockyard store or an oil fuel tank cannot fail to cause inconvenience. The caissons of docks and canals should also prove suitable targets. The aeroplane's best chance of excelling lies in scouting. She can see over brick walls no one else can see through. Released from an enemy's cruiser some ten miles away, she can fly over a harbour, record every ship in dry dock or out in the stream, inspect the work on the ships, perhaps catch the fleet preparing to go to sea, and get back on board again in three or four hours. So much is practicable to-day. Again, a cruiser sighting smoke on the horizon, the dark little clouds at regular intervals that mean a fleet. To-day she would close cautiously, endeavouring to count the ships, make out their class and formation, course and speed. Before her work was half done she would probably be driven back. But if she could only stop and loose an aeroplane, it could quickly rise, and from its height gain all the necessary information, with an accuracy unobtainable any other way. Then a swift return to her ship, which might all the while be pelting full speed for home and safety, and who would wireless her news on to the proper quarter. As to submarines, the turbid waters of the Channel and the North Sea would hide a submarine as effectually as soapy bath water does the nail-brush. In blue water, though, they will probably be visible, and the presence of friendly aeroplanes will soothe the nerves of any fleet expecting submarine attack. And here the aeroplane in its bomb-dropping capacity may come in. She can fly down to the very surface of the water, unseen and unexpected by the sub marine itself, and let go her guncotton bang over the boat. Sub marines cannot dive deep to make themselves invisible and avoid attack, for not only must they occasionally put up their periscopes to makee-look-see, but the pressures at over 100 ft. deep, 50 lbs. to the square inch, are prohibitive. Up to date no other means of attacking submarines existed, and aerial attack seems to be the only possible one. Some years ago at the Hippodrome I saw a lady making rubies. In the process she used some fiercely burning powder. To exhibit the temperature of this powder she placed some on an iron plate over a glass cylinder of water closed at the bottom by another iron plate. Lighting the powder, it whistled through the top plate, through the water, and out through the bottom plate. It would interest and amuse me to treat a submarine with a large quantity of that powder, experimentally. Further possibilities lie in gun control. At present the gun fire of a man-of-war is controlled by an observer, called a " spotter," high up the mist. He gets up the mast, a dangerous vibrating nasty smoky place, because from a height he can see better how far over or short his shots are falling than from a low position. The Yankees have even built enormous latticework towers for their " spotters," and we tripod masts. In fact the observer gets as high up as he can, while retaining reliable communication with his transmitting station. To-day, the mast-head ; to-morrow, an aeroplane. Now, above all things, in gun control efficient communication is important. From aeroplane 10 transmitting station at first wireless seems simple, but it is too open to interference from the enemy's ships. A visual means of signalling will have to be adopted, probably by the Morse code. Once single ship control from an aeroplane is obtained, the control of a whole squadron's firing will be much simplified, all ships being equally well able to take in the signals from one aeroplane. Another way the aeroplane may make itself useful is in doing the duty of "passing ship, «".«., pass the signals from one ship of a long line to another of the same line. This suggests the propriety of an Admiral hoisting his flag in an aeroplane ! The great disadvantage an aeroplane suffers from for fleet work is her lack of slow speed. An aeroplane cannot keep station on any man-of-war ; nor in its present form is it ever likely that that will be possible, except under exceptional circumstances of wind. If the wind is with the fleet, the same speed, the 'plane would have to remain suspended in the air without motion through the air. Observing from a circling aeroplane must be very tedious, especially when many aeroplanes from each side are present. The helicopter or airship seems bound to develop for these purposes. The quality most wanted in seagoing aeroplanes, besides those in land aeroplanes, is ability to rise from a heavy swell or choppy sea, or from the deck of a rolling ship. In many cases, when the wind is quite moderate enough for flying, the forecastle of a ship will be washed down if steaming head to sea, and so the aeroplane should rely on no help from the ship in this direction. The deck space needed should not be large, nor their stowing space great, or they will not be carried in all men-of-war, but only in special mother ships. ' S. H. S. M. ® ® ® ® " Beaumont " as an Author. LIEUT. GONNEAU, the winner of the second Daily Mau ,£10,000 prize, is now engaged upon a book dealing with his experiences, commencing with his cadet days. Naturally, his three successes in the Paris to Rome race, the European Circuit, and the Circuit of Britain, will come in for a good deal of attention, and the accounts of these should make very interesting reading. The book is to be published about next January. The New Two-Engined Short Biplane, which has during the past week made such successful flights under the pilotage of Mr. Frank McClean at the Royal Aero Club's Eastchurch flying grounds. On the left Mr, Frank McClean is in tne pilot's seat just ready to start, and on the right is a view from behind, showing Mr. McClean up with Lieut. Samson as passenger. 845
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