File:Airfare of to-day and of the future (1918) (14782552624).jpg

Identifier: airfareoftodayof00midd (find matches)
Title: Airfare of to-day and of the future
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Middleton, Edgar Charles, 1894- (from old catalog)
Subjects: Aeronautics Aeronautics, Military
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's sons
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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e not yet materialized (?) wemust consider our present possible methods ofdefence, and they consist principally of anti-aircraft guns and aeroplanes. With these it wouldsurely be reasonable to establish, somewhere alongthe east coast, a definite line of defence ; or rathershall we call it an air-board similar to the sea-boardsupplied by the North Sea ? Here concentrate allour aerial defences ! Of them all, the anti-aircraft gun is most effective, FIGHTING THE ZEPPELIN 139 but even that is useless without a good searchlight.Neither is dispensable to the other. The modusoperandi is for the distant listening post to givewarning of the approach of the Zepp, as will alsothe incessant barkings, or rather whimperings, of thedogs of the neighbourhood over which the Zepp mayhappen to be. The searchlight will then first locatethe craft, and following it incessantly with the light,put it within easy view of the gunner. The gunner,having the craft in view, proceeds to find the rangeas follows:—
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FIG. 7. TRIANGULAR METHOD OF OBTAINING RANGE ANDALTITUDE OF HOSTILE AIRCRAFT Thus far we have confined our attention to sta-tionary guns alone. Many of the A.A. guns, andpractically all those of the enemy, are mobile—that 240 AIRFARE is to say, they are mounted either on motor-lorriesor on railway trucks. Being able to move the gunsquickly from place to place makes the matter ofrange-finding and accurate firing easier and lesscomplicated for the gunners. But the Zeppelin,despite its great bulk, is a most elusive target.: In the first place, we will suppose that the shellhas burst on or in close proximity to the aircraft.Had the envelope been in one single piece, as wasthe case in former days, the craft would crash downto earth immediately. Nowadays, however, theenvelope is merely the outer covering to somethirty odd smaller ballonets. If only one or two ofthese are pierced the craft can still continue on itsway without any really serious disadvantage.Again, a Zeppelin, by reason of

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