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Show r i j i The Dreams of da Vinci ,V 'V Tlie artist painted a picture of future warfare - ' - - ments, da Vinci designed canals which are still In use In Italy. From his study of fish hull to forms, he created the spindle-shape- d used hull in the the replace war ships of his time, giving vessels more balance and less water friction, thus greater safety and speed. He planned fortifications that are still marvelled at by engineers. His military maps were astonishing "Hn their accuracy. In fact, it would be hard to find a sphere of military science which has not felt the influence of da Vinci's rare combination of technical genius and sense of civic duty. "When besieged by ambitious tyrants. I find a means df offense and defense in brder to . tnord da v preserve the chief gift of nature which is liberty." These words, written almost, five hundred years ago by the titan of the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, have a special meaning today aPfcberty loving people are again seeking new.means to protect that same . "chief gift." ; And da Vinci was as good as his word, for the talented painter of the Mona Lisa was also probably the greatest military engineer of all time. The principles behind the airplane, the helicopter, the tank, the machine-guthe jeep, the flamethrower were all products of da Vinci's busy brain devising new ways to safeguard, his native Florence from aggression. Some of these inventions, as these pictures from the International Business Machine collection show, are startling In their close resemblance to modern day counterparts. The sweptback wings of his airplane (which crashed after a brief flight, breaking its pilot's legs) afe not too far a cry from the twentieth century's sleek Jet fighter. breech-loadin- g His machine gun CS clearly the ancestor of the multiple machine gun mounts of today. And his wooden tank, strong enough to withstand the Impact of cannon balls, must have been in the back of Winston Churchill's mind when he ordered the secret construction of the first modern juggernauts which "caught the Germans by surprise In World War I. In addition to his other amazing achieve- - - Vine) mI portrait) round-bottom- ed n, i man-power- multi-barrell- rt Jock of all military oas Iha had it fara- - (ft dVt spring drfrf ' bvutf y, Japanaas ud similar davica far miaas, 'I 1 . man-powr- loading was this d IAMH.V Wtnif t 1 MAOAIMI i J mi wa 4 liar had twalva bartvls. Whiia ana bank was firing, a second was baing loaasd and lha third was cool- ing. Pictvrad with it: a mwltipU 50 cal. "qttad." Each i k shows principle f r da Vinci's km which modani siutsni-!- ! tsibU. UTVWUZ St, tripl-tir- mocftiM-au- n. ro Wrklnf 1 tank. biMR U.S. mm og mrwfB K r a mad. M rV Da Vinci's 4 A SrUtliag with innmun ed & 1 brsach 1 ed Da Vinci's pdal-aashia- g alaaa, aa w it, th twin- - hH, Chanca-Vavg- ht F7U-J"Ctlas- s" Navy fights craft. |