25^ 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



There is perhaps one reason why the 

 urgency of this matter is not more fully 

 recognised. It is the cry of "wolf." 

 The idea has so often been brought for- 

 ward before. Mr. Wells has vividly de- 

 picted what we may expect from " war 

 in the air," as have others more in 

 earnest. But they were a bit premature. 

 Hitherto no aerial fleet was " in being." 

 Some even doubted if such would ever 

 become a reality. Now we have changed 

 all that. Yet the subject is hardly taken 

 seriously. 



It is often asked why we have not got 

 any of the huge airships such as are 

 now becoming a feature of the offensive 

 appliances of some foreign nations. A 

 simple answer may be given — Because 

 we are not aggressive and do not pro- 

 pose to attack other countries through 

 the air or drop tons of explosives. For 

 mere defence our little airships may 



suffice (if numerous enough). But the 

 question now arises as to whether it is 

 possible to defend ourselves against 

 such attack and whether our only polic\' 

 is not to make counter-attacks. 



Let us, with all force, insist u]ion 

 the absolute urgency of this matter. Our 

 land forces, and even our Navy, must 

 take a back seat in the face of such a 

 question. Do let it be borne in mind 

 that as far as defence is concerned it is 

 infinitely more imjjortant for us to have 

 adequate aerial defence than to possess 

 one or two more " Dreadnoughts " or 

 50,000 more men. A hundred new aero- 

 planes or a dozen new dirigibles ma\- 

 make all the difference between peace 

 and defeat. These are an absolute 

 necessity, but their cost, with all appur- 

 tenances, need not amount to one-tenth 

 that of a new battleship. 



THE PRESENT POSITION : WHAT SHOULD BE DONE. 



They are waking up at Home to the 

 fact that Great Britain is open to ter- 

 rible attack from the air, and that she 

 cannot at the moment resist this with 

 any degree of success. Colonel Seely, 

 Secretary for War, made a long and in 

 some ways reassuring statement in the 

 House of Commons recently. He 

 showed that the aerial corps had actu- 

 ally 148 aeroplanes, the majority of 

 them of the best type in the world ; that 

 there were 45 certified pilots who had 

 passed a far more rigorous examination 

 than was required in any other country, 

 and sixty others who were certified 

 flyers, although they had not yet passed 

 the army tests. 



He pointed out that no large dirig- 

 ibles had been built, because Britain was 

 not seeking means of aggression, and 

 these craft were useless for expedi- 

 tionary purposes on the distant frontiers 

 of our Empire, owing to the impossi- 

 bility of transport and the difficulty of 

 filling them with hydrogen. All the 

 needs of an expeditionary force were 

 met by the small portable dirigibles 

 the Aerial Corps had built and was 

 building. 



Whilst this IS satisfactory so far as it 

 goes, there was but cold comfort to be 



got from his remarks, for none for a 

 moment can suppose that these 14S 

 aeroplanes, even if they are actually all 

 in flying trim, could hope to effect ivel\- 

 oppose a fleet of Dreadnought airshijis 

 such as Germany and France have in 

 being. For the present, at any rate, 

 Britain must rely for defence upon wea- 

 pons specially designed to destro)' 

 hostile aerial visitors. The latest guns, 

 says Colonel Seely, are very effecti\e, 

 and the difficulty of finding the range 

 of a swiftly moving airship is said to 

 have been solved. It is true that an 

 airship is a particularly vulnerable 

 thing, easily disabled, but when we re- 

 member the immense height to which 

 it can ascend, the difficulty of destroy- 

 ing it by gun fire from the earth seems 

 almost insuperable. Unless guns capable 

 of doing this have been invented, and 

 are available in large numbers at every 

 important city, Britain obviously lies at 

 the mercy of any invader who possesses 

 a powerful air fleet. 



The securit)' given by the narrow sea 

 which divides Britain from Europe has 

 vanished in large measure, for although 

 an air squadron could never land large 

 bodies of troops in England, it could 

 paralyse the nation by destroying cities 



