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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0448.PDF
m HT to the various queries as to the reason why Essen and other vital German centres are not wiped out by means of daily massed raids, in which tons of destructive-dealing explosives are discharged. In the Daily Express of Wednesday Mr. H. G, Wells joins up with the querists, and in the course of a strong manifesto expresses his views as follows :— "An aeroplane costs scarcely more than a shot from a big gun ; if it is lost it means only one or two lives ; it would be cheaper to launch two thousand aeroplanes at Essen than to risk one battleship. Two thousand aeroplanes could smash Essen to bits, and if we lost a thousand of them in the raid it would still be cheaper in money and lives than the victory of Neuve Chapelle. But until the Germans attempt things on this scale it is quite improbable that our rulers will try anything so obvious. And it is unlikely that the Germans will attempt things on this scale, because the Zeppelin idea hypno tises them, and because the German has not that quality. And the best of the German human material is probably already largely used up by other things." There would be no difficulty whatever in the way ot doing all that is suggested had the future importance of aerial supremacy been grasped by the Government in the earliest days of aviation, when FLIGHT was hammering in the necessity for action. By this time we might easily have had those 10,000 aeroplanes for which Mr. H. G. Wells is this week asking. And without doubt they would most effectually have justified their cost. Whether the necessary number of pilots could also have been brought to efficiency is altogether another question. But unfortunately in any case the aviation industry in those dark days was up against as stiff a problem to solve as any set of struggling enthusiasts could desire. It is, however, hardly worth while discussing " back numbers " now. It is the present and immediate future that matters. We are sorely afraid, however, that although Mr. Wells, in his magnificently patriotic enthusiasm, will have every Britisher with him, in spirit, in his desire to send great flights of aeroplanes on their war errands, he will have to face facts.'as they are, not as he might depict them in one of his inimitable pen-pictures of a few decades hence. Perhaps it would be well for him to ascertain quietly a few of those facts, when we are afraid his splendid ideas of launching a series of flights of a couple of thousand aeroplanes each against the Krupp armament works will have to undergo serious modification. Such numbers of machines are not pos sible, at even a distance of several months. To supply efficient and sufficient pilots in six times the same period would be an achievement to which we fancy not even the most optimistic pro-aviationist would care to sub scribe, whilst there is, in addition, the very important item of wastage of men and machines to be taken into consideration, leaving out for the moment the question of the supply of engines. Our list of flying officers is being steadily augmented, but the Nation can hardly dare to hope, in spite of expert opinion, for such immediate progress as would enable Mr. Wells' very patriotic scheme for ending or shortening the war to be put into execution. If, however, it should be deemed in any way remotely possible, then no consideration of cost should stand in the way. At least in one direction there is highly promising pilot material at hand, in the non-commissioned officers and mechanics of the Flying Services, the employ ment of whom as pilot-chauffeurs has already been advocated by us in FLIGHT. ® ® The Roll of Honour. THE following casualty has been announced by the Secretary of the Admiralty :— Under date June 17th : Accidentally Killed whilst Flying. Flight Sub-Lieutenant Reginald A. J. Warneford, V.C., R.N. 448 JUNE 25, 1915, The raids of the Germans by means of dirigibles are upon a totally different footing to aeroplane attacks, hence Mr. Wells' contention must go by the board, that " instead of taking up the aerial offensive against Germany, we permit the Germans, whose natural quality in the air is altogether inferior to ours, to carry out offensive raids against us." Our sympathy is altogether with Mr. Wells in his campaign, and although he will have to considerably curtail his programme, his efforts towards inducing even more energy into the aerial sections of our offensive, cannot but have a good effect. How much Mr. Wells' views in the abstract coincide with those so consistently put forward in FLIGHT may be judged by the following extracts from his manifesto in the Daily Express, which is headed, "THE QUICK WAY TO ESSEN." " How TO END THE WAR." " Every one has heard of the intelligent American who was shown the Boer positions on the Tugela, and who remarked, ' Yes, very strong. But isn't there a way round ?' And after we had hammered ourselves sufficiently at Colenso and Spion Cop we found the way round and got into Ladysmith. Now three hundred miles of Frenchmen and thirty or so of Englishmen, and perhaps a score of miles of Belgians are confronting three hundred and fifty or so miles of Germans, and doing their best to break through that line and perform certain engagements they have made with Westphalia and the Rhineland. But the way to the left is barred by the sea, and the way to the right by Switzerland, and though we have started to go round by the Dardanelles, that seems to be likely to prove a more lengthy journey to Berlin than we supposed at the beginning. There is a way, however, to the rear of the Germans, and it is quite open to the French and English to take it whenever they choose, and that way is through the air. " The way to end the war is to go through the air to the German rear and smash up their munition factories, and it is open to us to take when we choose, for one perfectly simple reason ; the German strain cannot produce aviators to compare for one moment with the French and English aviators " Man for man we can beat him in the air ; it is in the air that we should meet him. // is through the air that our first blows should fall. We could clear him out of the air altogether if we had enough aeroplanes now. That done, his wonderful artillery has become blind, his communications can be destroyed ; his arsenals can be smashed up, and an advance upon the ground would be robbed of half its difficulty. Every aviator we have in the air now is worth a hundred men saved from death below." No doubt, as a sequence to the Karlsruhe The Next rajj by the French, a further series of Raid. attacks may be expected in London. It is such a delightful excuse for more fright- fulness. But this little retaliation in kind has probably caused more commotion amongst those who have been wildest in their exultation over the bombing of our un protected towns than the Germans care to admit. How far Karlsruhe is a purely citizen town, leaving out of the question the permanent military character of the city, may be judged by the inscription on a shell case which was found last year in a German gunpit by Mr. Russell Wilkinson, a Hendon resident. The wording indicating the "country of origin " is as follows :— d.20. AWS. Patronenfabrik, Karlsruhe (Army Works, Cartridge Factory, Karlsruhe). Yet the Kaiser is reported to be incensed over the Baden episode, forgetting the total of 83 attacks by aeroplanes and 21 raids by Zeppelins, all upon open towns, as com piled this week by the Paris Matin. ® ® The following casualty in the Expeditionary Force has been reported to the War Office:— Undated: Previously reported Missing, now reported Killed. Second Lieutenant I. N. Woodiwiss, Lincoln Regt. and R.F.C.
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