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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0554.PDF
EDITORIAL COMMENT. Certain of the daily newspapers a little way Germa* ^>a,c^ wor^ed themselves into a state of Menace ! semi-hysteria because Count Zeppelin, after the recent successful trial of his latest dirigible—which, incidentally, has just been placed hors de combat by an explosion on the shores of Lake Constance —was telling his countrymen how near Portsmouth is to Hamburg and how easily his huge air-craft could sail over to any of the British naval ports and send wireless information to the Kaiser's fleet of all that is going on inside. It strikes us as being a very good thing for some people's nerves that the noble inventor did not draw a moving picture of the ruin and desolation his wonderful craft would leave behind her when she had dropped a heavy cargo of explosives in Sheerness Dockyard and distributed a few stray bombs among the buildings at Woolwich Arsenal. He might even have gone further, and told how, when the whole of our defences had been laid in ruins and our last battleship sunk, his dirigible could sail back to Hamburg or Heligoland and return with another explosive cargo for the destruction of London ! But he evidently has some regard for our nervous systems and, therefore, treats us homceopathically; and perhaps we are in for the second dose in connection with the 350-mile flight, on Tuesday, of the "Victoria Louise" across Holland and along the coast to Hamburg. As a matter of actual fact, Count Zeppelin told us nothing that we did not know already. We quite realise the capabilities of the air-ship and have no doubt at all that, given the same extremely favourable conditions under which the trial was carried out which has given rise to so much enthusiasm, the Zeppelin craft could cross the North Sea and return with much valuable information— prmnded she were not interfered with. Therein lies the whole crux of the matter. Our answer to the implied menace must be to set our own house in order and make it as dangerous an enterprise for the alien seeker after information of strategic value to visit us by air as we believe it would be to come by water. Even by his political opponents, the ^^ appointment of Col. Seely to be Secretary War Minister. °^ State for War, which we anticipated in our issue of last week, in succession to Lord Haldane, is spoken of with approval. As the Daily Telegraph well puts it, there could hardly have been a better appointment from the ranks of a Govern ment which is singularly lacking in men who take any real interest in the Army. Col. Seely at least does that. He saw active service in South Africa, and he never speaks on Army matters without revealing the fact that he is proud of his army days. From the point of view of FLIGHT, the appointment is chiefly interesting by reason of the speculation to which it must give rise as to whether or not it will operate to the quickening up of the aerial programme of the War Office. For our own part we have every confidence that it will. There is a great deal of reason for thinking that Lord Haldane was extremely hard to convince upon the question of the utility of the aeroplane, and that he was finally convinced was due, we believe, almost entirely to the influence of the new War Chief, who early realised that aircraft as a decisive factor in the warfare of the future had really arrived. Not only that, but Col. Seely has always taken a great deal of pains to keep himself posted in all the details and developments of military aviation, so that at least we have the assurance that the future is in the hands of one who knows at first hand of what has been done and is in process of doing. Moreover, as a soldier himself he is better capable of appreciating the professional point of view than the ablest of laymen, and that alone is a valuable asset to the immediate future of army flying. For that reason if for no other, we cannot help the conviction that his advent to the control of the War Office must be all to the good of army aviation. • • • The paper on " Hydro-aeroplanes " which Th6f tt?1^ Mr> HoIt Thomas read at the Ro>'al Aut0" Hydro- mobile Club before the members of the Aeroplane. Aeronautical Society last week, was an exceedingly interesting one from several points of view. It did not pretend to be a paper of deep scientific interest—in fact, the author studiously avoided the technicalities of the subject—and, therefore, it cannot be said to have added much to our knowledge of the problems which have to be grappled with in the evolution of the ideal air-and-water craft. But there was a good deal in it to give rise to vcy serious thought. The first point that suggests itself is that of the use of the hydro-aeroplane for naval purposes. Mr. Holt Thomas advances the very decided opinion that, after the meeting at Monaco, there is no room for doubt as to the importance of such machines. With that it is impossible not to agree—in fact, the statement has almost become a platitude. Again, with regard to the author's dictum that it is necessary that the naval authorities should at once provide a large fleet of hydro aeroplanes, using the most efficient machines we have at the moment it is possible to go most of the way with him, for the principle must be admitted that it is essential that our Navy should be absolutely supreme, not only on the seas but in the air. If it be conceded as a principle of modern warfare that the aeroplane, as Mr. Holt Thomas infers, is likely to invest a fleet with markedly additional offensive and defensive powers as compared with a naval force which is without this modern accessory to its fighting strength, then neither pains nor expense must be spared to put us in a position of preponderating strength. At the same time, it may be advisable to proceed with some amount of caution. Not that we would advocate a policy of holding back until our possible rivals have secured a lead over us—even though it might only be a slight one, for we can afford to risk nothing. However, we believe that the Admiralty is sufficiently alive to the necessities of the moment and at that we are content to let it rest for the time being. Leaving the naval side of the question, the author of the paper spoke of the delights of hydro-aeroplaning as a sport. Undoubtedly it has an immense future before it. In fact, owing to the geographical limitations of these islands we conceive that it is more than possible that the real future of aviation here lies more over the water than the land. We can foresee the time in the not far-distant future when the hydro-aeroplane will be a serious rival of the yacht. But the prophetic rdle is not one of which we are enamoured, so we will refrain from speculations as to the future and simply content ourselves in the mean time with congratulating Mr. Holt Thomas on his most interesting and instructive paper. 554
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