The war in Europe, its causes and consequences; an authentic narrative of the immediate and remote causes of the war, with a descriptive account of the countries involved, including statistics of armies, navies, aeroplanes, dirigibles, &c., &c . ^ are armedwith machine guns usually operated by a gunner who sits below theaviator with the gun fixed between his legs, and very fair aeroplaneshooting records have been reported. The recoil of the gun does notnoticeably disturb the balance of the machine. Various bomb-drop-ping devices have been invented; but so far nothing of that kind has AEROPLANE
The war in Europe, its causes and consequences; an authentic narrative of the immediate and remote causes of the war, with a descriptive account of the countries involved, including statistics of armies, navies, aeroplanes, dirigibles, &c., &c . ^ are armedwith machine guns usually operated by a gunner who sits below theaviator with the gun fixed between his legs, and very fair aeroplaneshooting records have been reported. The recoil of the gun does notnoticeably disturb the balance of the machine. Various bomb-drop-ping devices have been invented; but so far nothing of that kind has AEROPLANES 121 proved reliable. Bombs, of course, can be thrown overboard at ran-dom from any aircraft, and may by accident do great damage, but toplant them surely upon a given spot mider war conditions is quiteanother matter. Anyone who has ever tried to hit a stationary target,at a known range, with a rifle, can easily imagine the difficulty offiring from an air-ship going at the rate of fifty miles an hoiu, eitherat a stationary object or at an aeroplane darting about the heavenslike a great dragon-fly. On the other liand, before the war began,. The Car of a French Armored Aeroplane very successful records were made with guns and rifles from theground against kite-targets representing aeroplanes and drawn byautomobiles; and despatches have frequently mentioned the destruc-tion of both aeroi^lanes and air-ships by gun-fire. No aircraft canoperate effectually at a greater altitude than 5,000 feet, and thoughthat is nearly a mile in the air, it is well within rifle-range, not to men-tion howitzers, which can throw shrapnel shells, belching clouds ofbullets, three times that distance. Guns specially designed for useagainst aircraft can be made to shoot vertically if necessary. The air-ship has two great advantages over the aeroplane—twoadvantages, in fact, which make it greatly to be dreaded. It can sailat night and, in favorable weather, remain almost stationary over achosen spot. Th
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectworldwar19141918
