Lanterna Rally

Author: Henry Woodhouse

Publisher:

Published: 2015-09-27

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9781330624029

Excerpt from Textbook of Military Aeronautics One of the purposes of this book it to make available to our prospective American aviators the educational in formation regarding the manner in which aviators fight the enemy - information which the enemy gets whenever Allied aviators are brought down oral printed instructions are found on them, and by daily observations of what the Allied aviators do. The author has found by talking to Allied officers and from the score or so of periodicals of the European countries engaged in this war that all information about modus operandi and aeroplanes and devices becomes known to the enemy almost immediately, through the capture of aeroplanes and aviators and through observation of repetition of actions. Another purpose of this book is to supply to military authorities an illustrated pen picture of the history of the evolution of military aeronautics, its present status, and the direction of its development. The hundreds of letters received from naval officers regarding the value to them of the "Textbook of Naval Aeronautics" convinced the author of the need for a similar book about military aeronautics rather than for a book dealing with the mechanics of military aircraft and their equipment, an extensive subject that would fill a book as huge as this volume. The following excerpts of letters from the commanding officers of war-ships give the general sentiment expressed in the letters received about the "Textbook of Naval Aeronautics." which are close to one thousand in number. Acknowledging the receipt of two copies of the text-book, one for himself and one for the ship's library, for the use of the crew, the commanding officer of a United States war-ship writes: I know they will be of inestimable value. I have already spent same pleasant and instructive hours in reading a copy and must admit I knew little of the state of the art as applied to naval aeronautics until this time, and I am sure officers and men will be astonished to know how far this science has progressed in our service, and I am further satisfied it will awaken keener interest in this brunch of naval activity and produce recruits for this service among our skilled mechanicians and those daring souls to whom the routine life aboard battle-ships may become irksome. There is as much difference between aerial warfare in connection with army operations and aerial warfare in connection with naval operations as there is between the operations of the army and navy proper. The naval aviator who has to hunt submarines, convoy troop-ships, locate submarine mines, patrol the sea-lanes, and man uver his aircraft over the sea in scouting or bomb-dropping expeditions must have a training which is entirely different from that of the military aviator, who locates and watches the movements of the enemy's artillery and infantry, photographs the enemy's positions, and cooperates in attacking soldiers in the trenches or on the march, etc. Hence the necessity of the two books. Supremacy in the air is the key to victory. "Had Use Allies one thousand more aeroplanes, we could have easily defeated the Germans." This is the general expression that one hears as the German offensive is raging. It is an official as well as a public expression, and everybody scans the reports to find out what the aeroplanes are doing and whether the Allies have sufficient aeroplanes to maintain that supremacy in the air which is necessary to decide the war in favor of the Allies. With one thousand additional warplanes, the Allies would have been able to prevent German aviators from mapping the Allied positions; and could have destroyed the military bases, munition-dumps, gun emplacements, the railroads upon which the troops, munitions, and supplies were transported."