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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 1169.PDF
DECEMBER 14, 1912. [/JJGHT] AIRCRAFT IN WARFARE. A CHAT WITH SEEING that Mr. H. Barber, the well-known consultant on matters aeronautic, has not long returned from the theatre of war at Turkey, FLIGHT has taken the oppor tunity of persuading him to recount some of his experiences and opinions to one of our representatives. It was rather late in the evening, our contributor writes, when I called on Mr. Barber at his cosily furnished consulting chambers at 59, Pall Mall, some few days since, to glean points concerning his recent trip to Turkey. " I went," Mr. Barber explained, "just to see what there was to be seen and learn what there was to be learned." It occurred to me that this seems to have been one of the traits of Mr. Barber's character, for all round the room was evidence of sport and travel in all parts of the world. Above the door was an alligator that Mr. Barber clubbed in Mexico, on the wall behind were a set of photographs of his ranch in Australia, which he has owned for some fifteen years, and in front some views of Honolulu, where, Mr. Barber assured me, he had spent many pleasant months. Under his drawing-desk were a number of bulky packages that had just come back from Constantinople, containing curios—altogether a hundred weight and a half of them. Soon after he arrived in the East, Mr. Barber said, he had the honour of being presented to and having half an hour's conversation with the Grand Vizier Kiamil Pasha at the Sublime Porte. Entering, Mr. Barber found Kiamil Pasha, quite an old man, but extraordinarily active for his age, sitting behind a desk. He waited for Mr. Barber and his friend to salute, then, rising, returned the salute and, over coffee and cigarettes, discussed the events of the day. " By the way," Mr. Barber mentioned, " the Turkish form of salute is one of the most beautiful in the world, especially when one sees it carried out in the graceful and inimitable manner of the Turk. First you extend your hand towards the ground to signify ' I am as the dust beneath your feet,' then you touch your heart to signify ' My heart has affection for you,' then the lips, as much as to say 'I speak well of you,' and then the forehead, meaning " I think well of you.':' It was not until the end of the interview that the con versation turned towards aeroplanes. Mr. Barber had learned that the Turkish military air service was not in a particularly well organised condition. The machines had arrived, but unfortunately they had become some what damaged and out there there seemed to be no one who could repair them correctly. As a result of his con versation with Kiamil Pasha, the Grand Vizier rang for his secretary and directed a letter to be drafted to the Minister of War recommending hrm to place the military aeroplanes under Mr. Barber's supervision. Having obtained that assurance, Mr. Barber proceeded to the scene of action, the Tchataija lines. Here he found the aeroplanes in charge of two young Turkish officers, and one French pilot, and was largely instrumental in getting them into flying order. Mr. Barber passes it as his opinion that if either side had possessed an efficient fleet of aeroplanes and a dirigible or two for night work, the results of the conflict might very likely have been totally different. For instance, if the Bulgarians had possessed a dirigible, nothing could have prevented them from flying over Constantinople by night and seriously disorganising the military service MR. H. BARBER. there. They could easily have dropped bombs on'.to the War Office building, for it is a large structure and particularly simple to recognise from above on account of its being surrounded by its own grounds. On the other hand, if the Turks had possessed such a machine, they could have wrought considerable havoc amongst the organisation of the opposing force. As an instance of the importance of the aeroplane in war, reports came to hand one day that Derkos, at the eastern end of the Tchataija lines, had fallen. Imme diately, the French pilot was sent off on his monoplane. He flew along the lines, circled over 1 )erkos, and came back and reported that far from Derkos having fallen, the Turks had actually forced the Bulgarians to retreat This important knowledge was in the bands of the Chief of Staff fifty minutes after the monoplane had been sent off. The weather throughout the whole of the time Mr. Barber was there was just perfect for flying. There was no wind, and the sun, it being autumn, was not sufficiently strong to cause heat eddies. "You might put clown," Mr. Barber mentioned, " that the two young Turkish officers out there asked me to remember them to Mr. Collyns Pizey and the other members of the Bristol staff at Salisbury Plain whom they met when they were undergoing tuition at that school." The observation of aeroplanes under actual war conditions will undoubtedly be of great value to Mr. Barber, for, as far as 1 can trace, he is the only practical designer of aeroplanes who has had such an experience. He has been in a position to see exactly what is required of a war machine, and, as he told me, his opinions as to what constitutes the best design for such a machine have been considerably modified. Efficiency, he says, in many cases will have in some measure to give way to other more practical considera tions. Talking about the scenes in Constantinople, Mr. Barber passed the comment that it was a pity some newspaper reporters sent home accounts of the disorder that was going on. Personally he noticed nothing of the kind. People crowded along the thoroughfares and assembled in cafes and music halls, and generally pursued their ordinary everyday occupations in a calm manner, although the booming of the guns could be heard all day long from the front twenty-five miles away. The most remarkable spectacle, in his opinion, next to the horrors of the cholera camps at San Stefano and Hadem Keui, was the seemingly never-ending procession of refugee peasants coming into Constantinople from the north. They came, roughly about two hundred thousand of them, with their wives and children, their bullock carts and cattle. They, almost to a man, were of exceedingly fine physique and were clothed in the bright coloured costumes that have been in vogue amongst them for the last five hundred years. It was the exodus of a nation. Those who arrived early trooped through Constantinople and camped on the quays waiting for boats to take them across into Asia. Those who came on afterwards had to camp out in the streets. They had arrived in many cases without means of support, and the funds which had been raised in London and are being administered in Constantinople by Lady Lowther, Lady Woods, Lady Crawford, and others, were of the utmost assistance in satisfying the needs of these 1169
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