| OCR Text |
Show .jo THIS WAR OF SCIENCE. ' ' Of all the military projects that our government has undertaken since the fateful April day when the war was declared, the most interesting and appealing to the popular popu-lar mind is the development of the air fleet. This fleet has three functions : One Scout work, location of enemy defences and direction of artillery fire; two fighting and driving back the enemy planes that undertake the same purposes over our lines; three bombing attacks in the rear. The first two purposes are necessary, but auxiliary to other forces. The third undertaking is new and promises to reach heights of effectiveness scarcely touched as yet. The past summer has seen these attacks on a small scale, but we should be able to increase their power and range tremendously. The trouble with these attacks as now carried on by the English and French is the limit of the freight carrying carry-ing capacity of the ordinary type airplane. Three hundred hun-dred pounds is a common limit of weight that can be carried car-ried in the form of bombs, or about 1 1-2 pounds per horse power. Airplanes aro now being built up to 600 horse power. A much greater freight carrying capacity is secured in these, estimated at 10 pounds per horse power. Such a plane therefore should be able to carry three tons of explosives ex-plosives and to accomplish 20 times the destruction possible possi-ble from one of the ordinary craft now in use. Such a plane should be able to deliver an explosive to any point near or far from the trench line, with an accuracy accur-acy and destructiveness greater than that of any gun vet invented. When these big fellows begin to get busy, the Boclie will think twice about the power of Uncle Sim's despised "wooden sword.'' The big munition works and the fleet at Kiel ought to be within reach of such attack |
