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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0079.PDF
Flight, January 24, 1914. ^ fr First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor : STANLEY SPOONER. 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. 265. (No. 4, Vol. VI.)] JANUARY 24, 1914. ("Registered at the G.P.O.T L as a Newspaper. J ("Weekly, Price 3d. L Post Pree, 3Jd. Editorial Office: 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams: Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone : Gerrard 1828. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... 155. od. Abroad 20s. od. CONTENTS. Editorial Comment: The Aeroplane in War. A New Phase Aircraft and Wireless Men of Moment in the World of Flight : The Pashley Brothers Gravity Controlled Velometers The Forlanini Airship ... , The " Upside-Down " Dinner From the British Flying Grounds Royal Aero Club. Official Notices Eddies. By "Will o' the Wisp " Science and Aviation Flying at Hendon ... The Euler Hydro-triplane Aero Engines at the Paris Show, 1913 The Stability of Aeroplanes. By Leonard Bairstow, A.R.C.Sc."'. Foreign Aircraft News Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, M.A Correspondence... PAGE 79 . 80 . 80 . 82 • 84 86 . 89 • 9i • 9= • 93 • 95 • 95 • 97 • 98 .. 101 Z03 . Z04 The Aeroplane in War. A New Phase. '©RIAL COMMENT. We have come to accept the aeroplane as being an essential part of the equipment of a modern army in the field, but hitherto the discussion as to its actual and poten tial uses has been confined entirely to the combatant side of war. That is to say, authorities and experts have agreed, for example, that for reconnaissance work aircraft are indispensable, the only problem con nected with this side of their work being the exact limitations of their work in the face of hostile craft, and their precise value to a commander who is operating in close country. On the question of the actual combatant value of the aeroplane—that is, its use for purposes of aggression—the views are more diverse, and much in teresting discussion has eventuated between the two schools of military thought, the one which holds that the use of aircraft will be entirely restricted to scouting and reconnaissance generally, and the other which attaches dis tinct aggressive value to the aeroplane and the dirigible. It has remained for Lieut.-Col. Donegan, of the Royal Army Medical Corps, to call attention to the possibilities of aircraft for medical service in time of war. In the course of a lecture at the United Service Institution last week, he described a portable surgical equipment, in vented and arranged by himself, for use in connection with aeroplanes and medical field service. The equip ment consists of a collapsible operating table, which can also be utilised as a bed and a stretcher, and enough surgical material for fifteen or twenty operations. The table has a heating arrangement, and is practically un breakable, while the whole equipment weighs about 90 pounds. Col. Donegan estimates that a modern military biplane could convey it, with three medical assistants in addition to the pilot to any part of the battlefield at which it might be needed. Discussing the whole question of the use of aircraft by the medical department of an army in the field, Col. Donegan said that in many instances a captive balloon, suitably marked, would indicate the position of the field hospital far better than flags. Airships would be useful for swiftly conveying certain classes of patients to a base hospital. Aeroplanes would not be as useful for this duty, but he foretold that in the wars of the future, when the aeroplanes of an army had carried out their work of scouting and the main engagement had com menced, they would be placed at the disposal of the medical corps. They could go out and scout for wounded, and would bring information to the officer commanding, which would enable him to decide, without guesswork, where and in what numbers his staff was needed. They could bring specialists from headquarters or the nearest city, and, if necessary, they could convey a wounded man in one hour a greater distance than he could be transported in four days by ordinary field service means. Aeroplanes could save an enormous amount of communication by heliograph or wireless, as the commanding officer could travel swiftly to any given place at any moment, and see what the position was with his own eyes. Aeroplanes for military purposes would probably grow in size and power, as the last French manoeuvres had demonstrated that three observation officers were needed, in addition to the pilot, to study cavalry, infantry and artillery dispositions respectively, and when the necessary aircraft were off military duty the three vacant places would be filled by the three surgical assistants, plus the portable equipment. B 2
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