I see no reason to depart from the forecast of the future military
flying-machine which I make in my _Strategy and Tactics of Air
Fighting_.
Since the fixed-wing machine will probably retain a slightly superior
performance over the moving-wing machine (although it is fair to
Señor de la Cierva to add that some of the best mathematicians find
on theoretical calculation that the moving-wing aircraft should be
equal in all-round performance to the fixed-wing type), it is likely
that, excepting a proportion of army co-operation machines and a small
proportion of night-bombers the moving-wing machine will not in the
future be used in large numbers for war purposes.
Before constructing the machine of the future, let us go to the
R.A.F. annual Display, and refusing to be fascinated by the intricate
shape of the breeches worn by officers and men, let us examine an
experimental single-seater fighter of the present. When in the air the
machine is remarkable only for the undercarriage-struts and wheels
which hang below the fuselage. They look like a labourer’s hands in the
drawing-room, they are sturdy but, in the air, they do not seem to know
what to do with themselves, they are in unaccustomed surroundings.
Let this machine be compared with the gull. I use the gull for these
comparisons because it is common and easily observed and so provides
an accessible model. Indeed, it was the gull which instructed Mr A.
V. Roe and helped him to become, on June 8th, 1908, the first man to
fly over British soil. The experimental single-seater fighter at the
R.A.F. Display has very few characteristics of which any bird need be
ashamed. One of these characteristics, however, is undoubtedly its
undercarriage. The gull folds up its undercarriage when it is in the
air; it lets it down only when it is about to land.
But now compare the experimental machine with one of the standard
machines in an R.A.F. squadron. The standard service-machine looks as
if it has got into the hands of an accessory fiend, one of those who
believe that the part is greater than the whole. It is so cluttered
up with odds and ends, so cut about, modified, added to, and altered
that it resembles no other flying-machine, animal or artificial. It
is a sort of winged Air Ministry, a receptacle full of interesting
information about everything but the air.
Since this mania for encumbering service-machines is only a superficial
failing, it is possible, after remarking it, to go direct to the
service-machine of the future.
There is first a new type to be noted, the aerial artillery-machine.
This will be a large multi-engined monoplane carrying a single
medium-sized gun and a few rounds of ammunition. It will be able to
direct close range gunfire from the air at important ground-objectives.
The advantage of the aerial big gun over the bomb will be in accuracy,
the advantage of the bomb over the aerial big gun will be in the
great weight of projectile made possible by the absence of any heavy
launching-apparatus like a gun. The height of the aeroplane acts on
the bomb as the explosive charge on the projectile. But at long ranges
the bomb, with the newest sights and under the best conditions, is
inaccurate, and at short ranges its velocity is low. The aerial big gun
permits ground-objectives and ships to be attacked at short range with
projectiles travelling at a high velocity.
The success of low-flying attacks by machine-guns in the late War was
a sufficient demonstration of the potentialities of the low-altitude
gun-attack from the air. Experiments were made long ago in mounting
small guns in aeroplanes and in arranging for the absorption of the
recoil. Against other aircraft the aerial big gun would not be used. In
aerial fighting weight of projectile is of less importance than rate of
fire.
The night-bombing machine of the future will be an immense flying-boat.
It is likely that this type will also be used for day bombing. If so,
it will be heavily armed with machine-guns and will not go out without
a strong screen and escort of fighting machines.
The fighting aeroplane will be particularly interesting. It will be
a small monoplane without external bracing-wires or struts and the
undercarriage will be retractable. It will carry one man, and will be
an all-metal machine mounting a gas-turbine of some 1,000 h.p.
Performance-figures must be the wildest guess work, because the closest
examination of the trend of research gives but small information on
the probable rates of progress in speed and climb. Mr A. V. Roe has
frequently stated his belief that the future flying-machine will attain
1,000 miles per hour. I will, therefore, give my fighter of this
generation 400 miles per hour, 800 miles per hour in the dive, a climb
to 20,000 feet in 4 minutes, and a service-ceiling (the height at which
the rate of climb falls below 100 feet per minute) of 60,000 feet.
In order that the fighter may operate at high altitudes, and in order
that it may be able to change height suddenly by diving or climbing
steeply, the pilot will be housed in a pressure-cockpit, from which he
will look through a streamline conning-tower made in some transparent
material. Unless he were enclosed in some such pressure-chamber or
pressure-suit, the pilot would be unable to withstand the cold and
the reduced pressure of extreme altitudes, and the sudden changes in
temperature and pressure, when the machine was climbing or diving.
Pressure-suits are now being experimented with in France and probably
elsewhere.
Oxygen would be supplied to the pressure-chamber and an emergency
oxygen-apparatus would provide against the chamber being pierced by
a bullet. Some form of dessicating apparatus would be essential to
prevent the transparent conning-tower from fogging up. The fewest
accessories would be carried by these fighters of the future.
In general military aircraft will be more specialized than they are
to-day, there will be no many-purpose machines. Instead, the number of
specialist machines will steadily increase. In addition to the aerial
big guns, there will be flying-tanks or lightly armoured low-flying
machines for attacks on ground-targets. These will be developed from
the “Salamander”, “Vampire”, and other armoured aircraft introduced
during the late War.
Armour for fighting and bombing-aircraft will not be employed for many
years. The gunners on the large flying-boat bombers, however, will be
provided with small shields.
Perhaps a general idea of the future of the flying-machine in war may
best be given by quoting a newspaper report of a day air-attack on
London in the next war.
I cut the headlines and start with Our Special Correspondent, who, with
the printer’s assistance, has, if I may be permitted to say so, trodden
on it through all four gears:
“The greatest air-raid in history was launched on London yesterday
evening by a formation estimated at between six and seven hundred
aeroplanes.
“For nearly two hours the earth shook to the thunder of the guns,
while far up in the blue vault of Heaven there was the flash of
wheeling wings, as the heroic pilots of the Royal Air Force plunged
again and again to the attack.
“Never before has the heart of the Empire been the objective of
so powerful and so determined an offensive, never before have the
British air-forces so covered themselves with glory.
“Owing to the vigorous defence which met the raiders as they neared
London, casualties are low. Official figures have not yet been
issued, but it is thought that fewer than 1,000 people were killed
while only some 7,000 were wounded.
“FIRST WARNING.
“The raiders were first reported by the ‘concrete ears’ or wireless
disc and super-sensitive microphone sentries which encircle
the coast. A large formation (there was much doubt as to the
number of machines) was said to be approaching Southampton, and
with the exception of three emergency squadrons, every R.A.F.
fighting-aeroplane rushed to the attack.
“As our machines, sweeping through the freezing blue of the great
altitudes, approached the raiders, the raiders turned and made off
at full speed. Our machines bent on reaching the enemy, tore after
them.
“It was at this moment that ominous news came through. A second
hostile formation, far larger than the first, had been detected
approaching the East coast south of Harwich.
“Nearly the whole of the defending airforce was far away: London’s
bosom was bared to the attack.
“The new formation—first given as 400 machines but later corrected to
600—was in four great layers and flying at 170 miles per hour.
“The three emergency R.A.F. squadrons, numbering 54 machines of an
old type with five or six experimental machines from Martlesham Heath
and Farnborough, went up at once and hurled themselves at the vast
enemy formation.
“THREE TO ONE ODDS.
“The second layer of the hostile formation, which consisted of
about 150 long-distance fighters, engaged them. A furious battle
ensued, while the remainder of the hostile fleet, aerial big guns,
flying-boat bombers, and, at an extreme altitude, a further batch of
long-distance fighters, continued on their way towards London.
“The old R.A.F. machines were literally butchered by the whip-lashes
of lead which cracked and curled from the small-calibre stream-fire
enemy guns. One of our machines had both its wings cut off and fell
to the ground with such force that the airscrew-boss was buried 18
feet in the earth.
“Meanwhile wireless messages had reached the R.A.F. formation, which
had been drawn off by the feint attack on Southampton. _They had
turned and were tearing to the rescue at 350 miles per hour._
“The two big formations were in sight of each other when the enemy
was about 20 miles south west of Chelmsford. At this time there
was no active opposition to the invaders in the air. Anti-aircraft
batteries, however, were blackening the sky with shells, and had
succeeded in bringing down two enemy machines.
“There seemed now no hope that London would escape the full force
of the attack. Already two ten-ton wireless-controlled flying-bombs
had struck the city. Even so there was little panic. The gas-mask
distribution had worked well, and no one was unprovided. The usual
shelters were made full use of, but many people, against the orders
of the police, remained in the streets anxiously looking skywards and
listening to the almost continuous tear and roar of the guns.
“ANXIOUS MOMENTS.
“For some reason the news that the first hostile formation had
retired had not come through on the wireless. And, since no one knew
that far the greater part of the R.A.F. defending forces had gone in
pursuit of that formation or that the emergency squadrons had been
cut to pieces, a good deal of uneasiness prevailed among the watchers.
“Where are the R.A.F. fighters? was the question uppermost in
everyone’s mind.
“As the noise of the guns grew louder and seemed to vibrate and echo
among the houses, considerable alarm was displayed. There were one or
two ugly scenes, and some women and children were trampled to death
in raid shelters at Hoxton and Liverpool Street.
“A quarter of an hour before dusk the two lower layers of the hostile
formation were sighted by some people who had been foolish enough to
take up positions on the roof of the _Daily Post_ offices in Fleet
Street. Only the trained eyes of the anti-aircraft spotters aided
by the new visual detection instruments could distinguish the upper
layers.
“Still there was no sign of our aeroplanes. The stories of those
irresponsible alarmists who, in books and articles, have prophesied
as far back as 1927 that London would be wiped out by aerial attack,
seemed likely to prove too true. Excitement among the watchers gave
way to a certain grimness. Then came a change in the situation.
“‘What’s that?’
“THE BATTLE JOINED.
“Someone was pointing immediately overhead. Nothing could at first be
distinguished in the blue sky; then someone else waved excitedly.
“‘Yes, I caught a glimpse.’
“Just then the light of the setting sun glinted momentarily on some
infinitesimal speck like a minute silver fish, rushing through the
air at a great height. No one dared to express the hopes which they
felt.
“A moment later what looked at first like a small red rose sprang
into being high up over the enemy, high over the smoke-blackened sky
where the anti-aircraft shells were bursting. Then it fell, like a
flaming bomb. There was fighting going on up there, out of sight, in
the upper air.
“Still the lower hostile layers came on through the roar and shock
of the anti-aircraft fire. They were already over the outskirts of
London. Something else fell from above twisting horribly. The white
of parachutes drifting fantastically could be observed through
high-powered glasses.
“Quite suddenly the continuous thunder of the anti-aircraft
fire ceased. It was succeeded by an uncanny calm, and then by a
high-pitched metallic scream which grew in an ear-piercing crescendo.
_The R.A.F. aerial destroyers were engaging the lower enemy layers._
“The R.A.F. arrows of the upper air plunged into the very heart of
the raiders, streaming fire and lead. They wheeled and turned among
them with a swift, purposeful agility.
“RAIN OF BOMBS.
“The hostile formation began to split up, and simultaneously the
enemy commander gave by wireless the order to bomb. On the outskirts
of London huge factories and houses were suddenly transformed into
pillars of white dust. The shriek and thump of the falling bombs was
heard clearly in Central London.
“‘It was as if the ground were being torn up under your feet’, said a
postman eyewitness. ‘The people in the shelters came out and began
to run. They didn’t stop to think; they just ran like wild beasts,
trampling on each other, and hitting out at anyone who got in the
way, whether man, woman or child.
“‘The rain of bombs was so continuous that for as far as you could
see earth and buildings were spouting up in the air with human limbs
mixed up in them. The sound of the bombs falling was what knocked
people’s nerves up as much as anything.
“‘The gas-bombs didn’t seem so bad, but the incendiary bombs were a
nasty sight, at one time it looked as if the whole air had caught
fire.’
“According to official information, damage was small. Only the aerial
artillery-machines attained an objective of military importance. They
completely destroyed the F.E. aircraft factory at Finsbury Park.
“The raiders had timed their attack so as to escape in the dark, and,
although the new night detection flood-lights worked well, there is
no doubt that the hostile casualties were so few because our fighters
were hampered by the darkness.
“According to figures supplied by the Air Department of the War
Ministry, 37 hostile machines were brought down while only eighteen
of our own aerial destroyers were lost. The three emergency R.A.F.
squadrons which first attacked lost 39 machines and had several more
severely damaged.
“The raid is regarded by experts as a decisive victory for the
British Air-arm and a complete and convincing justification of the
policy of the Air-staff. It is pointed out that the raiders were
prevented from reaching their objective, and that, apart from the
old-type R.A.F. machines, our casualties are smaller than those of
the enemy.”
In another part of the same paper was this insignificant paragraph.
“A late Central News message, delayed owing to the disorganization
caused by yesterday’s air-raid, states that the hostile formation
which made a feint attack on Southampton and was driven off by our
machines, later returned to the same place and bombed it continuously
for half an hour, causing many casualties and much material damage.”
In the stop-press news was this:
“One a.m. Large hostile formation of aircraft reported approaching
mouth of Thames.”
In the above skit I have not dwelt on the terrible side of air-warfare
in the future. Yet I feel that that is the side upon which all who are
competent to do so, and who wish to prevent future wars should dwell.
Several novels have given pictures of future aerial warfare, but I have
not seen its inevitable horrors realistically portrayed. Unless those
horrors are portrayed frequently and in their true and shocking form,
people will soon forget the unpleasant side of air-war and think only
of its romantic and glorious side.
In the interests of humanity it would be a good thing if some able
novelist or film-producer would give us a statement of the crude
horrors of air-war. If such a one arises, he will have the satisfaction
of having helped the cause of peace and of having his work banned by
the Censor.