LA.ND AND .WAT Ell. 
May 29, 1915. 
Tlje Aerial Torpedo : A Short Hiitory With a Moral 
Tho writer under.-.tand3 that, towards the end of 1907, an 
aerial torpedo was submitted to our authorities. How it was 
dealt with by our officials (lie writer does not pretend to know; 
but what is clear is that the British Governmeut did not con- 
sider it worth while troubling about. Had our Goveraroent 
acquired the Unge's putctit, it ia very likely that the Germans 
would have been depri%-ed of the po.?iibilit.y of arming their 
ftircraft with aerial torpedoes. 
The Uugo's aerial torpedo is the invention of Colonel 
T/nge, of the Swedish Army, and the secret of it was carefully 
kept. 
In the beginning of 1908 the " Mars Ge?e!l?chaft " 
acquired the rights of manufacturing the Unge's aerial tor- 
pedo, and, a few months afterwards, sold them to the Krupp 
Company. 
In i909 one hundred Vage aerial torpedoes were built in 
Stockholm and despatched to Esaen for experimental pnr- 
poi'es. It was announced at the time that these aerial tor- 
pedoes liad an initial speed of 164 ft. /see., which increased 
vp to 984 ft. /sec. during its flight of 2.79 miles. 
Since then, and up to the time of the outbreak of hostili- 
ties, there is, so far as the writer is aware, no mention made 
of the aerial torpedo. But is it not probable that it is Unge's 
invention which Krupp's have now developed for the German 
Government f 
The moral which the writer would like to draw from the 
preceding lines — -and he does it with a full knowledge of what 
be is saying— is that the newly-organi.sed Government should 
not forget tho great need of strengthening the staff to which, 
at the Admiralty or at the War Office, is entru.st-ed tiie ex- 
tremely responsible duty of examining new ideas and new 
isventious concerning aeronautics. 
Description of the Aerial Torpedo. 
The shape of the aerial torpedo, as can be seen from tha 
■ketch (Fig. 3), is a cylinder, against one extremity of which 
rests a cone. 
Tha aerial torpedo c-Misists of three distiact parts. lo 
front there, is the explosive portion, which is provided with 
a conical apex with, a detonator and which contains a power- 
ful explosive; trim conie.i a cylindrical portion of thetorpeda, 
v/hich is fitted with some powder of such a composition that, 
when ignited, it does not burn with any flame, but produces 
Percussion Tropulslx^e Charg^e 
Tuz Zxplosii'e Turbirie 
Charge \ 
'M ( ^ 
DI-iCR-^Mif aTXC sketch OF AERIAL TOSPSDO. 
during its combu.^tion a great quantity of ga.i and of smoke; 
and, lastly, at its rear extremity there is a small turbine. The 
aerial torpedo is fired from a torpedo tube which is mounted 
on a support with a luu'versal joint, so that it may be pointed 
in any required direction. 
By mean.i of an electric spark the propulsive charge ia 
ignited, and the gases emanatiug from tiie ignition of the 
propulsive charge escape at the rear of the torpedo, causing 
the propul.iiou of the aerial torpedo by the working of the 
small turbine. 
Besides having a great speed gi.-en to it by the turbine, 
the aerial torpedo has also a considerable speed of rotatiou 
which enables it to keep well within its trajectory. 
The writer hopes to be able to deal with the incendiary 
and tiie anti-submarine aerial bomb in a subsequent article. 
HIGH EXPLOSIVE SHELLS. 
By COLONEL F. N. MAUDE; C.B. 
THE whole trouble with regard to high explosive sheila 
originates in the fact that the British nation haa 
always refused to believe in the possibility of a 
straggle for existence on the present scale, and con- 
tinued its disbelief np to August 4, 1914, if not 
beyond, and has never been willing to accept the risks which 
»re inseparable from a due preparation for such an occurrence. 
High ex])losive shells came first into importance about 
1885, when we learnt of some terrible accidents, both in 
France and Germany, arising from experiments with new 
explosives, to be used as bursting charges instead of the old 
black powder with which common shell had up to then been 
filled. These accidents made people nervous, 
I happened to be in Germany, staying with some German 
" comrades " — as we used to call one another in those days — 
when some very important experiments were made with these 
new projectiles against a target fort, copied full size from the 
works then being erected by the French between Toul and 
Verdun. My hosts made no secret about the matter, though 
Ihey begged me to keep away from the practice ranges in ord;r 
to avoid unpleasantness for them. All day long I heard the 
eiplosions, which were very different in note from those to 
which Shoeburyness and India had accustomed me, and in 
the evening I was told about everything that had happened 
and been done. It was impo.ssible to mistake the tremendous 
impression made upon all who took part in or had merely 
observed tho experiments. 
The target fort had been practically razed to the ground, 
and they all believed that when war came — owing to certain 
frontier incidents, it seemed very near at the time — they 
iwonld be able to surprise and demolish the French frontier 
'defences when and where they pleased, exactly as they have in 
fact since destroyed those of Liege, Namur, Maubeuge, and 
other places. I also learnt that the same explosives were beini; 
used In field guns as well — a point of importance in the present 
icase. 
Returning to England, I placed my information with ilia 
proper authorities, who knew all about the explosives used. 
but could not find, a satisfactory fuse with which to ensura 
'■■ detonation." 
For year."? I wrote about the matter in technical papers, 
and worried every artillery officer of my acquaintance as to the 
reed for considering it. All the response I could get was that 
every attempt to devise a reliable fuae had so far failed. That 
this was true enough was made clear in South Africa, where 
our high explosive shells most signally failed to come up to 
expectations. 
One of the highest authorities of his day ultimately told 
ir.e that the real secret of the delays and failures lay in the 
dangerous nature of the cxperirnents. Tiiey could get tha 
lyddite to detonate perfectly, but only by using a propor- 
tion of fulminate which made the handling of the shells exceed- 
ingly dangerous. Should a serious accident occur from thii 
cause — say, the explosion of a liinber-box in transit by railway 
or on board ship — such difficulties might be raised by tha 
owners, the civil authorities, and the public as to paralvsa 
troop movements entirely in time of peace. 
How the French, German, Austrian, and Russian gunners 
managed to transport these particular shells with safety wo 
did not know then. But as the liigh explosive shell 
then exlifcd in our service for field artillery, and as 
in view of the battle-work of the future common 
to all armies shrapnel was uudoubtediv the better " man- 
killer," our artillerymen were perfectly justified in 
deciding to retain this latter as the principal projectile foi 
field service. 
It wa.s only after the '•' Immortal " 7th Divi.sion had 
brought about a comj)lete change in the character of the war, 
through saving tho whole situation by their heroic resistanca 
in the great gap of Ypres, that the "demand for high explo- 
sives becamu urgent. Even then the extraordinary and 
wholly unprecedented quantities that would be required could 
not in reason have been fore.?een. And no one'who is not 
intimately acquainted with the whole machinery of ordering 
shells, laying down and increasing the necessary new plant, 
&c,, (tc, can possibly have any idea of the magnitude of th« 
strain which was thus thrown upon our resources. 
18* 
