Page:Aircraft in Warfare (1916).djvu/142

§ 67 § 67. The Rocket and the Air-Borne Torpedo. A suggestion which has been made over and over again is that of the employment of the rocket in some shape or form; the objective is usually presumed to be a dirigible or airship, and the rocket is to be fired from a rockettube or gun of some kind from an attacking aeroplane. There are two replies to this suggestion: firstly, no weapon can be contemplated as forming part of an aeroplane armament which is confined in its purpose to the attacking of the airship. The airship is already being regarded as a prospective {[lang|fr|bonne bouche}} for the aeroplane squadron fortunate enough to encounter it in the open, and, as the recent exploit at Dusseldorf has shown, it is not in a much happier condition when at home. It is already recognised that the airship may not expose itself to the attentions of hostile aeroplanes, and when the latter are able to attack by one-pounder shell fire, in addition to bombs (explosive and incendiary), the airship, already little more than a name in active hostilities, will cease to have any, even verbal, interest. Apart from the above, the supposed effectiveness of the rocket, or of other spitfire projectile, is based to a great extent upon a misconception. The modern airship is not so easily set on fire as is commonly supposed; in the rigid type, as exemplified in the Zeppelin, it is reported that the space between the gas-bags and the outer envelope is charged with a non-flammable gas, and it may be penetrated by any ordinary rocket through and through without the smallest chance of ignition.

The aerial torpedo (proposed by the author in 1897) at first sight appears promising. Such a torpedo would consist of a gliding model of high velocity adapted to be