Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Part 19

The airman sails out over the lines of battle, so far above the earth when necessary as to be out of range of the most powerful guns, and with gla.s.ses looks down upon the whole country. His machine, whether it be a dirigible balloon or airplane, is equipped with a wireless telegraph instrument with which he is able to send brief messages back to his own line or military headquarters. He can and does mark the changed positions of the contending forces, note the entrenchments and reinforcements, follow movements, and last but not least, as was noticeable in one of the desperate attacks upon the German position in June, 1917, swoop down upon the enemy, attack the lines and forces with bombs, and rain bullets upon them from rapid-fire guns.

No longer can the enemy mask its heavy batteries or conceal them beneath earthen mounds, plant them in corners of the forests or in clumps of bushes without their being located. The "eyes of the sky," as the planes are now termed, can spy them out. And when the airman has communicated to his military commanders the positions of the opposing batteries, he acts as a director in instructing the friendly gunners in finding the range and cleaning out the enemy.

THE AIR SCOUT'S USEFULNESS.

The air scout can detect the enemy's lines of communication and raid it with bomb attacks. Even when the land forces cannot reach the enemy with gunfire he can rain missiles of all sorts upon them. Sometimes the airman flies over the enemy lines and drops glittering tinsel or bright metal devices, which falling to the ground serve as marks for the artillerymen in finding the range.

Where the cavalry scout or creeping scout of days gone by could never have proved successful, the airman has easily accomplished his purpose.

He has carried messages from one frontier to another in hours, when it would have taken days for a scout on horseback or on foot to have rendered the service, if they could have accomplished it at all. He has eliminated distance.

Trench warfare developed in the world-war in a way that has never before been deemed necessary or possible, but the miles of trenches which conceal the men from the fire of the enemy are plainly visible to the airmen. And armed with cameras having powerful telescopic lenses they can photograph the entire scene and send to their own military headquarters not mere indicated plans of the battle lines, but exact photographs.

The war has shown conclusively that once the formation of the battle line has been decided upon it is, in a measure, a fixture. It may be subject to rearrangement, but this is when the force of battle demands, or for strategic purposes, but such an arrangement requires a great deal of time and much work. The battle fronts on the borders of France and Belgium have ranged from 100 to nearly 300 miles in length, with nearly 3,000,000 strung out in opposing lines along the entire distance.

LIKE AN IMMENSE GRIDIRON.

The ground has been dug up and trenched until the surface of the earth looks like an immense gridiron. The soldiers almost live within the trenches and dugouts beneath the ground. Telephone and telegraph wires run through the trenches and even railroad tracks are laid so that small engines go whirring through the ditches like "d.i.n.ky" locomotives in a coal mine.

And the "eyes in the skies" make it possible for the commanders to know each other's strength and the disposition of the forces at all times.

Particularly has the air scout proved valuable in enabling commanders to execute their final orders without grievous error. There is danger of possible misjudgment because of the great length of the firing lines.

The airmen verify positions and make last minute reports, taking minutes to perform services that cavalry forces or other scouting parties would have taken hours or days to render.

Operated in conjunction with cavalry scouts, and motor and cycle squads, the airplane is a destruction-directing and defensive force. And it was the large fleet of aircraft that aided Germany in making such rapid advance in its drive toward Paris in the early days of the war. The scouts reconnoitering in the early dawn were able to report the situation and give the commanders time to move their forces before the Belgians and French were aware of what was being done.

Germany had probably the largest fleet of airplanes at the beginning of the conflict and is said to have possessed upward of 500, of various sorts, and this does not include the famous Zeppelins or dirigible balloons. She also had something like two dozen factories which could turn out flying machines, and had been at work on the development of her aircraft long enough to have her patterns and methods of manufacture somewhat, if not entirely standardized. During the third year of the war it was estimated that she had more than quadrupled her force of flying machines.

GERMANY'S PREPAREDNESS.

Germany's preparedness in this as well as in other directions was what enabled her to obtain such a tremendous advantage in the beginning of the war. Later England and France concentrated on the development of aeroplane squads or corps, and when the United States entered the war one of the first detachments sent into France consisted of 100 aviators.

How rapidly the aeroplane forces were developed is indicated by the statement made in the beginning of 1916 that the air forces of the Allies were represented by 3380 aeroplanes of various types and 64 dirigible balloons, while Austria and Germany had 2000 aeroplanes and 70 dirigibles.

The dirigibles--the type of airs.h.i.+p commonly referred to as Zeppelins--have the advantage over the heavier-than-air machines of being almost silent in their operations, while at the same time they can remain for a longer time suspended in air over a camp or battleground without being detected. The Zeppelin is the development of the old balloon, made, however, in a conical shape with a long basket or car attached. They are driven by propellers similar to those used with aeroplanes, but as the power generated by the engines is merely used to drive the machines and has nothing to do with maintaining their position in the air, the motors do not have to be so powerful. They are steered by rudders.

Some of the largest Zeppelins which have been leading factors in night raids conducted by the Germans on London and English coast resorts are capable of maintaining a speed of 60 miles an hour. One of these immense Zeppelins was reported to have covered 1300 miles in less than forty hours, covering the German borders, and still keeping in touch with its base. The Zeppelins, because of their large size, can carry large quant.i.ties of bombs, wireless apparatus, signals and electric searchlights. They can rise to a height that places them fairly beyond the range of the aerial guns used for fighting the air forces of the army.

MANY KINDS OF BOMBS.

The bombs used are as diversified as the crafts on which they are carried. The French aviators at one time dropped long steel billets or arrows which had swedged heads and sharpened points. These missiles, dropped from the height of a thousand feet or more, attained a velocity and force which made them dangerous weapons of the minor sort.

The bombs, in the main, however, consist of jacketed sh.e.l.ls containing high explosives, some of which are constructed on what is called the delayed-action principle. Such bombs explode after penetrating the fort or object which they strike, instead of going off by contact. Germany is said to have developed some of these that were of such size and power as to penetrate an armored s.h.i.+p. As much as 50 pounds of explosives or chemicals is declared to have been carried in some of the larger ones.

The big dirigibles mount machine guns of superior range. Some of them have been armored to an extent, and to make them less easily detected they have been painted tints and colors to harmonize with the clouds and sky. Special kinds of gas have been used to fill the envelopes or bags, and instead of one large bag they consist of a series of bags enclosed in an envelope or casing, so that if a bullet would penetrate the envelope it would only destroy one of the gas bags, and not cause the whole thing to collapse.

Besides having proved of great value in the land campaigns, the aircraft has shown itself to be one of the most effective devices of warfare for use against the submarine, and all manner of naval craft. From the heavens they can see the submarine under the water, and as either the dirigible or the aeroplane can develop a speed greater than that of any battles.h.i.+p or cruiser, it is not difficult for it to soar over the vessel and drop bombs upon it. Even gas bombs have been used in the raids by the aircraft.

ACCURACY THE GREAT DIFFICULTY.

The difficulty in the use of bombs has been in accurately directing the death-dealing devices when the airs.h.i.+p or aeroplane is in motion. To a.s.sist in this work aerial range finders have been devised. These are constructed on the principle of the finder on a camera, with graded scale markings to indicate the allowance that must be made for speed and motion. Complete apparatus has been built up for launching the projectiles from the large dirigibles, and to insure the missiles traveling properly vanes have been attached to some of them.

In a test made under the auspices of the French Government and the Aerial Club of France, a few years ago, one of the bomb-launching machines on an aeroplane scored eleven bull's-eye shots in a target ten yards in diameter, from an alt.i.tude of more than 2000 feet, while the aeroplane was going at a speed of more than 65 miles an hour.

Though there has not been any widespread use of the plan the air has been "mined" in an experimental way to protect certain sections against night raids by the airmen. Mining the air consists of locating small balloons over an area, each balloon being attached to the other with wires. The small balloons have attached to them explosive bombs which would destroy the larger aircraft if it was to run into this nest of air vessels in the dark.

Reverting to the use of aircraft in naval warfare it may be said that to the aeroplane the relatively fast fleet is virtually stationary. About the only case parallel to the aeroplane looking over the hill and down on concealed enemy positions would be in rising above the smoke screen thrown out by destroyers.

THE SMOKE SCREEN.

The smoke screen, by the way, which has been used by the British with marked success in many instances, is an American invention. The low, swift craft are equipped with special oil burners which throw off dense volumes of heavy smoke, which float low over the surface of the water, concealing the maneuvers of the larger boats and protecting them from the skill of enemy gunners. Its effectiveness, of course, is influenced by the direction and strength of the wind. Used generously by small craft convoying a s.h.i.+p through a submarine area, it should be of great value.

A battles.h.i.+p can see about as far as it can shoot, anyhow. Except for smoke screen, or the famous "low visibility," which means foggy weather or darkness, no enemy within range can be concealed.

What the fleet commander wants to know is how those enemy vessels beyond the horizon, which may be within range of his guns tomorrow, the day after, or next week, may be distributed, and how many of them there are.

This is where the speed of the airplane comes in.

A machine which can travel 100 miles an hour covers a thousand miles in 10 hours. Locating an approaching enemy fleet this distance away, it brings back the news of the approach in 10 hours. It takes the fleet, traveling at 15 miles an hour, two days and 18 hours to cover this distance. The aeroplane can beat it by two days and eight hours.

But the aeroplane flying high enough to give it the widest practical range of vision is able to see only over a path 75 miles wide under the most favorable weather conditions. Haze will cut this down considerably.

This means that for anything like complete scouting work a fleet must be equipped with a large number of them.

PROPORTION OF FIGHTING PLANES.

Then, too, there must be a generous proportion of fighting planes to spread out in a very wide circle beyond the fleet. It will be appreciated that this circle must be a mighty wide one if the enemy planes be kept far enough away to prevent their counting the number and type of s.h.i.+ps in the command. There is required also a large detail to guard against the submarines. While an aeroplane can see quite deep in the sea, this penetrating vision is limited to the water directly beneath it. It can see straight down in the water, but not off to the side at an angle.

If such a thing is possible, air control at sea is more important than over the land, and of first value is the fighting plane. In this connection there is an aeroplane gun which works well. It is a double-ender. That is, there is a breech in the middle, and the two ends are muzzles. In air fighting it is seconds and fractions of seconds that count, and the advantage of this gun lies in that it can be fired in opposite directions, thus cutting down the length of the arc through which it has to be swung to be brought to bear on the enemy.

Of exceptional value to the United States navy is the super-American type of planes which the Curtiss factories have developed and which have done such wonderful service for the British. In this type the fuselage is entirely enclosed, built with a hull much along the lines of the motorboat or hydroplane. The 'plane may thus come to rest safely in the open sea.

It weighs nearly 6000 pounds and can carry a useful load of more than 2000 pounds. The boat is slung well below the planes, eight feet below the lower one, which has a span of 66 feet. Eight feet above this is the upper plane, which overlaps the lower plane by 13 feet on each side. The complete span of the upper plane is 92 feet. It can carry six to eight men, if necessary, altogether a huge, st.u.r.dy, dependable machine with two powerful motors.

And what was done to give America the equipment of 'planes which we needed?

RESOURCES AT GOVERNMENT'S COMMAND.

Fifteen aeroplane manufacturers, with a combined capital of $30,000,000 and a total capacity of 175 machines a week, organized and placed all their resources at the command of the government. The organization provided for the interchange of ideas and plans and for the standardization of manufacture, which resulted in a material increase in output.

One hundred and seventy-five machines a week should give us, in a year, 9100. And there are other conditions which may modify the estimate both favorably and unfavorably. There is, for instance, a limit to the amount of seasoned lumber available in this country of the peculiar type and quality needed for airplane construction. Provision must be made for the future in this respect. All-steel machines have been made and used in Europe to some extent, but no metal alloy has been developed which is likely to take the place of wood in general construction. The manufacturers developed some interesting things along these lines which were not given to the public.

In the Spring of 1917 the fighting in the air took on an entirely new interest abroad, because of the German policy of painting their machines most grotesque patterns. They seemed to have taken this idea from the old American Indian custom of painting their faces to frighten their opponents, or else the fancies of the German airmen were allowed to run riot with vivid color effects.

British pilots daily brought home from over the lines new reports of fantastic creations encountered amid the clouds. The gayest feathered songsters that came north with the Spring did not rival the variegated hues of the harlequin birds that rose daily from the German airdromes.