recp:nt aeronautical rKUGRESs. 129 



Mageisfontoin. could have gone into be.sieged Ki]nl)crley and heard 

 their news, and could have run l)ack to report to Lord Methuen. 1 

 need not repeat the many instances that occur to me of the extreme 

 value of such an apparatus for reconnoissanee. We might really sny 

 that none of those avvlcward reverses which we suffered in the earl}^ 

 part of the war would have occurred liad we known the exact where- 

 a])outs of the enemy. Latterly, how easily the evasive commanders 

 coukl ha\e been located and followed up. Reconnoissanee by captive 

 balloon may be considered dangerous, but an apparatus traveling 150 

 feet a second runs an intinitely smaller chance of being hit l)v pro- 

 jectiles. If the dropping of explosives on the heads of an enemy is 

 not now considered ""fair play'' (though it is difficult to see why this 

 should 1)6 less humane than throwing lyddite shells from a howitzer), 

 yet there are many more uses to which the aerial tighter might ]>e put. 



He could blow up the railway lines and bridges, even if he had to 

 descend to do so. He coidd cut all the telegraph wires in the comitry, 

 and could set light to stores and do other damage. A machine soaring 

 about over a town or camp occupied by the enemy would certainly 

 have a very decided moral etfect on him. Communication could be 

 kept up with, and even, perhaps, a few stores introduc(>d into a 

 besieged place. 



I need not go further into the possibilities of the future. The more 

 we think the matter over the more can we realize the extraordinary 

 effect such an innovation would produce in war, 1 do not think any- 

 one would deny that, had we been in possession of such apparatus 

 during the late war, the operations would have been so greatly facili- 

 tated that the campaign would have been ended in a comparatively 

 short time, and that we should have })een saved an expenditure of 

 many millions of pounds. 



Even in naval warfare, if such speeds as 1 have mentioned were 

 possible, the aerial machine should prove of intinitel}' more value than 

 a submarine or a torpedo boat. If the invention of the Brennan 

 torpedo was considered worth £110,000, how nuich more would ])e the 

 value of a dirigible aerial torpedo! 



Another important purpose to which flying machines could be 

 applied would be for the exploration of unknown lands. With a 

 rapidly traveling apparatus, the North Pole could T)e reached in a few 

 hours. From the north of Noi-way it is about 1,300 miles to the pole. 

 It would then be almost possible to go there and back in twenty -four 

 hours. When we think of the large sums which have been devoted to 

 arctic and antarctic explorations, and remember that very possibly a 

 tenth of this amount might produce a machine capable of thoroughly 

 exploring both these regions in a few weeks, it seems really worth 

 considering whether such money is not wasted. The trackless deserts 



SM 1902-^ !) 



