FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1912
1912 - 1069.PDF
Flight, November 23, 1912. First Aero Weekly in the World. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 204. (No. 47, Vol. IV.)] NOVEMBER 23, 1912. f Registered at the G.P.O.") ["Weekly, Prioe 3i u a Newspaper. J |_ Poet Three, 3td. Flight. Editorial Office: 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams: Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone : Gerrard 1828. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... 15J. od. Abroad 20J. od. CONTENTS: Editorial Comment : Aircraft in the Balkan War German Airships and British Fortresses Military Aviation in France Men of Moment in the World of Flight: Major-General H. T. Arbuthnot, C.B., Chairman of the Aerial League of the British Empire The Week-End at Hendon Factor of Safety and Normal Speed. By W. O. Manning, A.F.Ae.S. ... The Sopwith-Wright Biplane (with scale drawings) Royal Aero Club. Official Notices Table of Aeromotors exhibited at the Parts Salon From the British Flying Grounds Eddies. By " Oiseau Bleu" Aeroplanes in the Light of the Military Trials. By A. E. Berriman A.F.Ae.S., Technical Editor of FLIGHT Foreign Aviation News Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, M.A Correspondence PAGE 1069 1069 I070 1071 107a 1074 1075 1079 I080 1082 1086 1088 IOQ: I093 >095 EDITORIAL COMMEHT. Although the reports which have reached Aircraft tne outer world from the seat of war in the Balkan War. Balkans have probably created a record in their attenuated and meagre character, and particularly though the references made to the use of air craft by the belligerents have been few and far between, yet it is possible for the student of military aviation to gather much illuminating material from the reports of the corre spondents. In order that we may not mislead ourselves, it must be said at once that the war has not afforded much information upon one essential point in connection with the bearing of aircraft in modern warfare. It has not, so far as is at present known, thrown any light upon what is likely to happen in the air when two armies are arrayed against each other, both equally strong in aerial craft. It is a question which is open to a great deal of speculation, and until the actual shock of war in the air comes to inform us it must remain a matter for surmise, outside of certain limits. From the soldier-student's point of view it is unfortunate that the Turkish air corps— of the existence of which we were assured before the out break of hostilities—has proved as effete and ineffective as the rest of their organisation. Apart from this one aspect of failure, however, the first real test of the aeroplane in war must lead inevitably to the conclusion that the flying machine has fully justified itself as part of the equipment of the modern army in the field. The reports from the front are fragmentary in the extreme, but piecing them together and, above all, reading between the lines of such information as we have available, it is obvious that the Bulgarians at least have made considerable use of their aircraft, and with a great deal of success. Particularly around Adrianople the Bulgarian airmen appear to have done excellent work, and we read of flights extending along the whole Turkish front, in the course of which most valuable information was secured. How far the successful issue of the campaign has been affected by the increased power of reconnaissance conferred on the Bulgarian headquarters staff by the possession of a well-organised air-corps, it is impossible to say at present In the light of what we already know, however, it is not unfair to assume that the aeroplane has fulfilled all that was expected of it. A point which is to be noted, though it would be unsafe to assume too much from the issues of so one sided a campaign as the one now apparently drawing to its end, is the comparatively small casualty list. Again, too, it must not be lost to sight that there is very little in the way of reliable information to go upon, but so far as we know at present the Turks appear to have killed one Bulgarian aviator and captured another. This, it must be admitted, is a surprisingly low percentage, having regard to the number of flights which we know have been made, and, if it represents the whole total, makes out the role of the air-scout to be far less dangerous than has been supposed. Once more, though, it must be pointed out that all the Bulgarian reconnaissance work has been carried out against an enemy powerless to deal an aerial counter-stroke, which must necessarily make an enormous difference when the casualty returns come to be reckoned. Although, as we have said, the aeroplane may be adjudged to have justified itself as an adjunct of war, even in the light of the relatively small amount of information we have at present, there can be little doubt but that when the history of the Balkan war comes to be written, it will be found that all our present appreciation of what it has done must fall short by far of what is due on its real accomplishments. • «• • German Very widespread interest has been caused Airships by the questions asked by Mr. Joynson- and British Hicks in the House of Commons relative Fortresses. tQ the supp^^ passage of the Zeppelin airship " Li " over Sheerness on October 14th C
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
