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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0911.PDF
Plight, September 4, 1914. J V; ^r? J V ^ 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. 297. (No. 3(1, Vol. VI.)] SEPTEMIJER 4, 1914. £Registered at the G.P.O.1 u > Newspaper. J TWeekly, Prioe 3d. L Post Free, 3*d. 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 aw. ad. CONTENTS. •» Editorial Comment: PAGE The Work of Aircraft in the War 91: The " Round Britain " Machines : The E.A.C. Tractor Seaplane 9x3 Steering Aircraft at Sea 916 Royal Aero Club. Official Notices 918 From the British Flying Grounds 9< Eddies. By " yEolus " 919 Aircraft and the War 0 Aircraft " Made in Germany " 922 " The Aeroplane of To-morrow." By L. De Bazillac 925 Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, M.A 9*7 Model Clubs Diary and Reports 928 COMMENT. Since we wrote last week, certain facts TlAir'VOrft °f ^ave emerSed fr°m tne f°g °f war which in the War. w^u assist us somewhat in appraising the work and value of aircraft. Such of these facts as have become known are, it must be admitted, not of decisive importance, and it will not do, therefore, to attempt to base any definite judgment upon them. In the main, the records are simply those of isolated acts on the part of individuals which have not had any real effect on the issues of battles. So far as concerns the correlated work of aircraft to the larger aspects of the vast operations now taking place on the Continent of Europe, we still remain absolutely in the dark. If we consider first those larger aspects of which we have spoken, there is some first-sight reason for the presumption which has been voiced—always keeping in mind that there is nothing but pure assumption to go upon—that aircraft have not fulfilled the high expectations formed of them. It is by now pretty generally admitted that the French initial strategy was entirely at fault, and failed completely to realise that the main blow of the German legions was to be delivered through Belgium by way of the French northern frontier. It seems, on the face of it, that the Germans succeeded in deceiving then- enemies by the very elementary deceptive device of telling them the truth. For years past high German military authorities have stated plainly, and without reserve, that this way the stroke would be made, with the, perhaps, not unnatural result that the French General Staff have looked for it elsewhere. But whatever the underlying causes, there is not the slightest room for doubt that our Allies were taken by surprise. Expert writers on the war have shown some inclination to blame the French air service for the want of proper information regarding the massing of the German armies in the north, and at first sight it certainly does look as though the new arm had, to say the least, proved less effective than might have been expected, but we must always remember that we are completely ignorant of facts on which to base such a judgment, save and except the grand failure of our Allies to appreciate the real position which was developing in Belgium. Now, before the experts proceed to their condemnation of the aerial services, they might first make certain of how and where the French aircraft were employed. Were they, in fact, employed in sufficient numbers on the Franco-Belgian frontier at all ? We do not know. Or were the French Staff so magnetised by the " lost provinces " and so obsessed by the belief that the Germans had consistently lied about their intentions that they concentrated all their attention on the East ? Again we have no exact knowledge to guide us, though at least we have enough to give us to think that this was quite possibly the case. Now, if the bulk of the French air service was employed in the East on the mission of looking far afield for a German concentration which was not there for them to see, it was obviously im possible for them to see what was happening in the more important area. Rather than blame the French airmen, we should ascribe their comparative failure to a grave miscalculation of the probabilities on the part of the General Staff. As, however, we have nothing but pure hypothesis to go upon, the only safe course is to suspend judgment until something concrete emerges. Turning from the major to the minor aircraft operations of the war, we know now that considerable activity has been displayed by both sides. First, as regards airships, we recorded last week that one of the vaunted Zeppelins had passed by night over Antwerp on a mission of cold blooded murder, dropping powerful bombs, which killed and wounded several inoffensive civilians and—one of the ironies of war—destroyed busts of both the Kaiser and Bismarck. Beyond this, the German airships have achieved little, so far 'as we know. On the other side, French airships are said to have carried out valuable • «
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