Page:Aircraft in Warfare (1916).djvu/47

Rh gas-bag of the dirigible, its destruction is immediate and complete. There is no defence possible against this mode of attack. The crew of the dirigible may not have even the most slender chance of stopping the aeroplane by machine-gun fire; 'the attack can be made from above by a steep vol plane or a vertical dive. In the case of a large airship of the Zeppelin type, even with machine guns mounted "on the roof," the chances of defeating such an attack are remote; the speed of a machine descending vertically, or steeply, is approximately that of its limiting velocity—commonly about 150 miles per hour—leaving a very brief period in which to score a hit. Beyond this, no ordinarily fatal hit is effective under the conditions in question; no injury to the motive-power installation is of the least effect as a stopper, and the pilot is in almost perfect security in his position behind the engine. If by an exceptional chance he should be wounded, he is still able to effect his purpose, unless totally disabled.

The steep or vertical descent is admittedly a dangerous feat of airmanship, but it is not intrinsically dangerous; the risk involved is due to the structural stresses to which the machine is subjected when "flattening out." These, it is well known, may become excessive; any objection on the score of danger has obviously no weight whatever under the conditions contemplated. It is an open question whether airmen will be found ready to step forward at the critical moment to go to certain death, and so the general feasibility of ramming tactics must for the time being remain in doubt. However, there are many other modes of attack open to the aeroplane pilot, all more or less untried at present; unquestionably also there are still other methods that will in due course be devised. In the case of the non-rigid dirigible, as in the ordinary spherical balloon, it is almost