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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0037.PDF
1 JANUARY 1954 FLIGHT 13 BARON FITZERMINE AND THE SIEGE-ENGINE NOW this old Baron Fitzermine, was filled with fear. Daily came reports that his neighbours, the young robber barons, were preparing to strike at his ancient castle. So he sent for his armourers. "They tell me that siege-engines are all the rage," he said. "Build me the biggest and toughest siege-engine in the whole of Mercia." "But, sire," said the Chief Armourer, "our enemies are many and will attack from all sides. The siege-engine is essentially an attacking weapon. It would not help us to defend ourselves." "Build me the largest siege-engine in Mercia," the old Baron thundered. " But, sire, there are no timbers within the castle strong enough for such an enterprise. And there are no missiles large enough or heavy enough to feed such a monster." "Use the great beams of the inner keep for your construction," said the Baron, "and use the great stones of the outer walls as your missiles." The armourers withdrew and began their labours . . . Seven moons later the siege-engine was completed. It was fifty-eight hands in height, and ninety-two hands long: it could hurl a projectile weighing five hundredweight a distance of fifty-two yards. The Baron was delighted. When the invasion began the engine counter-attacked and fired two rounds in the first day. One projectile landed in a swamp and drenched the enemy with spray ; the other merely lobbed over the castle wall and rolled into the moat where it formed a bridge for the invaders. The first direct hit from the light siege-engines of the robber barons reduced the weakened inner keep to rubble, and the first wave of assault troops crashed through the weakened outer wall like a mailed fist through matchwood. "Your trouble," said the robber barons as they led Fitzermine away into captivity, " is that you are living in the wrong century." "I'm beginning to think you're right," said the Baron. In pursuance of their firmly held beliefs in matters of twentieth- century defence against air aggression, Folland Aircraft Limited, of Hamble, Hampshire, have undertaken an intensive programme of research, design and prototype development. FOLLAND
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