Picture the havoc a dozen such vultures could create attacking a city
like London or Paris. Present-day defense against these ships is
totally inadequate. In attacking large places, the Zeppelins would
rise to a height of from 6,000 to 8,000 feet, at which distance these
huge cigar-shaped engines of death, 700 feet long, would appear the
size of a football, and no bigger. I know that Zeppelins have
successfully sailed aloft at an altitude of 10,000 feet. Picture them
at that elevation, everybody aboard in warm, comfortable quarters,
ready to drop explosives to the ground. The half informed man--and
there appear to be many such in European cabinets, which recalls the
proverb about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing--likes to say
that a flock of a?«roplanes can put a dirigible out of business.
Consider now an a?«roplane at an elevation of 6,000 feet and remember
that the new Zeppelins have gone thousands of feet higher. An aviator
at 6,000 feet is so cold that he is practically useless for anything
but guiding his machine. How in the world is he or his seat-mate
going to do harm to a big craft the size of the Zeppelin that is far
above him? An aviator who has ever gone up, say 8,000 feet, will tell
you when he comes down what a harrowing experience he has had. What
good can an individual be, exposed to the temperature and the elements
at such an altitude, in doing harm to the calm, comfortable gentlemen
in the heated compartments of the Zeppelin?--Quatsch! which is a
German army term for piffle!
At 8,000 feet the small target a Zeppelin affords would move at a rate
of speed of from thirty-five to sixty miles an hour.
Pages:
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252