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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 1158.PDF
IfDcHf] to headquarters while it is still en route, that it can hover over any particular place if it is desired to observe for a considerable time, that it can carry several men and a considerable amount of explosive material, which it can discharge with precision. In addition to its reconnaissance work, therefore, it is potentially able to cause some degree of inconvenience to the advancing army, and may upon occasion serve to effect a change of plans such as may be of extreme assistance to its own general. The efficacy, of its operations depends largely on its ability to travel at night and its comparative invisibility under such circumstances. It is thus able to accomplish its journey unseen, and to be already in a point ot vantage from which to make its observations when the day breaks. According to the French idea, as set forth in Le Temps, the dirigible is essentially a night bird in this respect. During the actual process of battle it is thought that it would be subjected to greater risks than its uses might warrant its taking. Having, so to speak, explained the case for the dirigible the article proceeds to point with no uncertain emphasis, to the superiority of German progress in the evolution of this type of aircraft. It draws attention to the importance of speed, and points out that Germany has airships capable of achieving 43 m.p.h., whilst the speed of the French vessels is more nearly in the order of 34 m.p.h. The range of action on the part of the German dirigibles is also in the order of 800 or 900 miles, which is more than twice the distance that any aeroplane in the Military Trials could have flown on the charge of fuel that it was required to carry under the test conditions. This is not to say that aeroplanes could not fly farther, but is merely mentioned in order more clearly to emphasise the military point of view of the purpose of an aeroplane in war. An arbitrary duration was selected sufficient to cover the exigencies of ordinary reconnaissance, and yet not such as to handicap the design from realising the qualities that are most desired of an aeroplane in reconnaissance work. As in our own case, so does Le Temps point the moral of the argument that the Government must allocate still more funds for aeronautical development, and as France is already spending far more money than England ever thought of voting for this purpose it may be judged that this country will soon be left further behind than ever unless it takes itself very seriously to task without delay. In summarising the relative importance of the aerial navies of the world, as represented by dirigibles, Le Temps says, very naturally, that the Germans are easily the most important of all. France comes second, then Russia, then Italy, and then England, after which is Austria-Hungary. It matters not what anyone may say about the relative advantages of dirigibles and aero planes, it is merely necessary to look at the position of England in the above mentioned sequence in order to decide that it will not do. The ultimate evolution of military aircraft must settle for itself what types are serviceable, and what are of less account; at the moment it is necessary for a great Power like England to be in the first rank of progress and to be appreciably on a footing of equality with other countries in every respect. It is only necessary to remember what General Grierson said recently about the impossibilities of successfully conducting warfare without the mastery of the air. That England depends for her security on the mastery of the sea detracts in no way from the im portance of a soldier's opinion of the significance of aerial craft in the preparation for and conduct of a II DECEMBER 14, 1912. battle. In any case it behoves Great Britain to find out for herself all there is to know about dirigibles and aeroplanes, and any other kind of aircraft that may be shown to be worthy of consideration. In order to do this, it is essential that there should be adequate funds for the purpose. In order to emphasise the systematic way in which Germany has pursued the development of her aerial fleet, Le Temps recapitulates the disposition of the German military airship stations, of which we have prepared a little diagramatic map that appears elsewhere. Six of these stations are situated on the French frontier at Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Frankfort, where there are two, and Friednchshafen. One is against the Russian frontier at Koenigsberg, one on the coast at Altona, near Hamburg, which is to serve the fleet, and three inland, of which two are at Berlin and one at Bitterfeld. A point of which Lc Temps makes much, and it is obviously of first-class importance, is that the Germans have made excellent provision for the manufacture of pure hydrogen in quantity, and all their military stations are equipped with suitable plant. The new shed con structed at Frankfort for the "Victoria-Louise," one of the Zeppelins, is supplied with hydrogen from the Griesheim works through a conduit more than two and a half miles long. This pipe line, which is the first of its kind developed, has a capacity of 1,000 cubic metres of hydrogen per day, the gas being delivered under high pressure to a reservoir of 6,000 cubic metres capacity. Provision is also made for simultaneously inflating each of the eighteen interior balloons, of which the gas vessel of the Zeppelin airship is composed. It suffices, as Le Temps remarks, merely to cast one's eye on a map of Germany to appreciate the remarkable developments that have already taken place in connection with the use and manufacture of dirigibles. Adding private sheds to those exclusively military, there are some twenty-five different hangars massed for the most part on the French frontier. As to the airship factories, if France has four in the works of Astra, Clement-Bayard, Lebaudy and Zodiac, Germany, on the other hand, possesses five —-at Munich, Friedrichshafen, Mannheim, Berlin, and Bitterfeld, " which are much more important than ours." Speaking of the relative magnitude of the aeroplane developments in the two countries, Le Temps takes heart at the thought that France, at any rate, plays a leading role in this field, but points a finger of warning towards the work that Germany is doing with aeroplanes equipped with guns. French flying machines are said to have a superior range of action because they have better engines and on the whole that they are better flown. On the other hand, it appears that German opinion consoles itself that the function of the aeroplane in war will not demand these qualities to the same extent as is apparently supposed to be necessary in France. It is doubtless a case of making the point of view fit the existing conditions, for according to the account it would seem that there is some difficulty in recruiting aeroplane pilots, and that the majority come either from Poland, Alsace, or the Tyrol. It is very diffi cult of course to obtain any exact information as to what is going on in Germany. The Press is forbidden to report journeys made by military officers, and the list of military pilots is, as far as possible, kept secret. The same secrecy prevails as to the practice on the flying ground of Doebentz near Berlin, which is almost exclusively reserved for military use, and verv seldom are even the constructors allowed to pass into the flying-ground proper. °
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