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Show Army Olficers Says the Sharpshooters Can Stop Them New- York, Nov. 2. Major General Frederick D. Grant, commander or the department of the east, who was one of the closest followers of the work of the airmen at the Belmont Park meet, sees no war peril in tho aeroplane. As an engine of war, he thinks they will be found comparatively compara-tively harmless. At a range of leas than' C,00 feet, he Is convinced that sharpshooters could easily pick off the best of them, while at. a greater height their distance would probably defeat their own purposes. "In the present unperfected state of the areoplane." he bins, "it will be useful for scouting purposes, but not formidable as an engine of war. The blrdraan's lot as u scout will be dangerous, dan-gerous, for he will bo the target for sharpshooling. If he can escape the bullets, he will bo of reat aid to his commander In describing the position of th enemy, the lay of the land, the condition of the forces, etc., but the chances of his scouting trip ending In disaster will be ten to one against him. "I watched the, marvelous flights at the International meet without any feeling of dread nt encountering a new and alarming factor In warfare, for I felt confident thai our men could have brought down any number of these fliers from a height of a mile. "I would use sharpshooters and not cannon against a hostile aeroplane or fleet of aeroplanes. The army rlflo is effective at any range up to C.000 feet. The aeroplane would be useless at a greater height, for the aviator would not I able to distinguish objects ob-jects below' with sufficient clearness to make the results useful "This is about the way we would go about fighting an enemy in the air: L'ndr the command of an officer armed with a field glass that contains con-tains a new mirror device for determining deter-mining sky-like sky distances, we would 6tatlon platoons of sharpuhoot-ers sharpuhoot-ers to watch the enemy s aeroplanes. The officer would communicate the range to the riflemen and they would Are quick volleys at the man in tho flylag machine. "If they did not kill him, they could so disable his motor or other vital parts of his machine as to cause him to drop to the earth." |