The German military Zeppelin dirigible, which took part in the manœuvres at Hamburg in April, 1910, and was wrecked by a high wind at Weilburg on the return journey to Cologne.
Glenn Curtiss, after his trip down the Hudson from Albany, declared that he could have dropped a large enough torpedo upon the Poughkeepsie Bridge to have wrecked it. His subsequent feats in dropping “bombs,” represented by oranges, have given weight to his claims.
By some writers it is asserted that the successful navigation of the air will guarantee universal peace; that war with aircraft will be so destructive that the whole world will rise against its horrors. Against a fleet of flying machines dropping explosives into the heart of great cities there can be no adequate defence.
On the other hand, Mr. Hudson Maxim declares that the exploding of the limited quantities of dynamite that can be carried on the present types of aeroplanes, on the decks of warships would not do any vital damage. He also says that many tons of dynamite might be exploded in Madison Square, New York City, with no more serious results than the blowing out of the windows of the adjacent buildings as the air within rushed out to fill the void caused by the uprush of air heated by the explosion.
The Lebaudy airship “La Patrie.” As compared with the first Lebaudy, it shows the rounded stern with stabilizing planes, and the long fin beneath, with rudder and dipping planes.
As yet, the only experience that may be instanced is that of the Russo-Japanese War, where cast-iron shells, weighing 448 lbs., containing 28 lbs. of powder, were fired from a high angle into Port Arthur, and did but little damage.
In 1899 the Hague Conference passed a resolution prohibiting the use of aircraft to discharge projectiles or explosives, and limited their use in war to observation. Germany, France, and Italy withheld consent upon the proposition.
In general, undefended places are regarded as exempt from attack by bombardment of any kind.