Identifier: aeroplaneinwar00grah (find matches)
Title: The aeroplane in war
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Grahame-White, Claude, 1879- Harper, Harry, b.1880
Subjects: Airplanes Aeronautics, Military
Publisher: Toronto : Bell and Cockburn
Contributing Library: ASC - York University Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Ontario Council of University Libraries and Member Libraries

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nce of Empirelies at the absolute mercy of an aerial machine, whichcould plant a dozen incendiary missiles in certainpre-selected spots. The point to be considered, in this connection,is this: such an aerial attack is no longer a vaguepossibility. It was only the other day, whilediscussing the destructive capabilities of modern-type aeroplanes, that a famous constructer showedhow—if a large fleet of machines was marshalledtogether—it would be possible for an enemy to dropa couple of hundred tons of explosive matter uponLondon, suddenly appearing from across the Chan-nel by air, and as flying quickly back agam. What such an aerial attack as this would meanhas been pictured by Lord Montagu of BeauHeu.Suppose London was thus assailed, from the air, atthe beginning of a war, he says: What would theresult be? Imagine the Stock Exchange, the chiefbanks, the great railway stations, and our means ofcommunication destroyed. Such a blow at the veryheart of the Empire, declares Lord Montagu,
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^k^y.^ \r. — - 7- - z I THE AEROPLANE IN WAR 209 would be like paralysing the nerves of a strongman, with a soporific, before he had to fight for hislife: the muscular force would remain, but the brainswould be powerless to direct. When delivering an attack upon a city, a squa-dron of aeroplanes engaged in such work would, de-clare military experts who have specially studied theproblem, probably sweep over the principal buildingsin a long line, dropping bombs as they flew. Thenthey would wheel round, and return over the samearea, again releasing a certain number of missiles.The disastrous effect of such an aerial bombardment,carried out systematically by a large number ofmachines, may readily be imagined. Although, as has been mentioned, German experi-mental work, regarding the value of aeroplanes forpunitive work, has been kept very secret, the resultof one interesting test, at least, has become known.In this case, a squadron of dragoons w^as speciallyemployed to give realism to th

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