The Aeroplane in War

by Claude Grahame-White; Harry Harper

This, surely, should tell its own story. It is unusually impressive, as a matter of fact, seeing that artillery experts, both in France and Germany, have been ready to declare that well-directed gun-fire will rob aeroplane scouting of its significance. But those who control constructive policy, both in France and Germany, have judged impartially; and, as a result, they have bought more aeroplanes.

The difficulty, in carrying out tests of gun-fire, as directed against aeroplanes, is to obtain artificial conditions which shall, even roughly, approximate to those which would prevail in actual war. So far, it has been clear that, in all tests which have been carried out, conditions have been in favour of the gunner. But, even so, the results obtained have been inconclusive—to say the least of it.

Let us take, for purpose of illustration, one of the experiments conducted in France. In this a large box-kite was employed. It was allowed to ascend, in a strong wind, until it flew at a height, in regard to its size, which represented, approximately, the target which would be represented by a scouting aeroplane.

Then it was towed past a battery of artillery. Twelve shots were fired at it; and, out of the dozen, one hit was recorded. This was not a good result, from the gunner’s point of view. In this test, too, conditions favoured the men at the guns.

To begin with, they expected their target, and knew from which direction it would appear. In the second place, the target was, in comparison with an aeroplane, moving much more slowly than the flying machine would have done; and, in the third place, the kite was towed in a perfectly-straight line, and was not pursuing an erratic course, as an aeroplane would certainly do—in the efforts of the pilot to escape being hit—were it under fire. And yet, even with these points in their favour, the gunners achieved but one hit in a dozen shots.

It is possible to cite another instance, in this connection—that of a series of tests carried out, in American waters, from a warship. Here, again, the target was a box-kite, and it was flown above the vessel at an altitude of about 800 feet. Ten blue-jackets were then formed up upon the deck; and they fired three volleys at this representation of an aeroplane. The bullets, in the first two volleys, all went wide of the mark. In the third, however, the box-kite was hit.

Here, again, although conditions favoured the riflemen, they failed to obtain satisfactory results. During the three volleys, the box-kite was flown at an unvarying height. This was a point very greatly in their favour.

In actual warfare, had they been firing at an aeroplane, the machine would, probably, have been travelling at a speed of sixty miles an hour or more; and it would, therefore, have presented a different range, at each volley fired.

Another experiment, carried out from an American battleship, is also of interest. In this case, a plunging kite was sent up to a specified height, and 160 rounds were fired at it with rifles. Although the kite swung about a good deal, it did not vary its altitude. In connection with this test—in which picked shots were employed—40 hits, out of the 160 rounds, were recorded.

As a result of the tests recorded above, and of others less interesting, the Secretary of the United States Navy was led to make the pronouncement that no aeroplane could, with any degree of safety, approach nearer than 1000 yards of a position protected by rifle-fire.