An hour later I made another flight in order to try my new gyroscopic
stabiliser, which--for the benefit of those unversed in aerial
navigation--I may say is an invention which incorporates a horizontal
reference plane of accuracy and integrity to which all angles can be
referred.
I flew across to the Thames, and followed the winding silvery streak
with dotted blotches of houses up to Windsor and back, finding that the
invention rendered my machine a platform which was not only steady, but
was also held in constant relation to the horizontal.
That morning was ideal for flying and, on my return, I was not surprised
to find that both Teddy Ashton and Roseye were up again. Indeed, as I
brought my machine to earth I saw Roseye flying at a great height coming
in from the south.
Two or three of the school-buses were up, circling the aerodrome,
including an unwieldy one that always reminded us of poor Cody's
"cathedral."
As soon as I landed, Eastwell came across again, eager to inquire how
the new gyroscope arrangement had worked, for, like myself, he was a
great enthusiast over all new notions, however wild they might be.
Indeed, I believe he had tried every newfangled idea produced during the
past couple of years.
I having pronounced it good, he begged me to let him try it, and a few
moments later he was in the pilot's seat. Then after Theed had spun the
propeller, our friend rose quickly, and went out to meet my well-beloved
on her return.
Roseye, seeing my bus, thought I was flying it, but as she circled
gracefully down she realised at last that it was Eastwell, and both
machines, after making several fine circuits of the aerodrome, came to
earth almost at the same moment.
I had been watching Roseye. For a woman, she was certainly a most
intrepid flyer. Crossing to her, I glanced at her self-registering
altimeter and saw that she had been up over eight thousand feet.
"I've been across to Dorking," she laughed gaily, as she sprang out of
her seat, raised her goggles and pulled off her heavy leather gloves.
"I followed the railway from Dorking along to Guildford and met two men
up from Farnborough. At Guildford I kept over the South Western line to
Surbiton, and then steered back by compass."
She also inquired how my stabiliser had worked, and I told her that
Lionel had been trying it.
Later, Eastwell was full of most glowing praise of the new invention,
after which I put my machine back into the hangar and, taking Roseye
with me in my two-seater, deposited her at home in Cadogan Gardens in
time for lunch.
Then, as was my habit, I went on to the Royal Automobile Club in Pall
Mall, and, after my meal, sat in the window of the big smoking-room
chatting with three of the boys--airmen all of them.
George Selwyn, a well-known expert on aircraft and editor of an aircraft
journal, had been discussing an article in that morning's paper on the
future of the airship.
"I contend," he said firmly, "that big airships are quite as necessary
to us as they are to Germany. We should have ships of the Zeppelin and
Schutte-Lanz class. The value of big airships as weapons of defence
cannot be under-estimated. If we had big airships it is certain that
Zeppelin raids--more of which are expected, it seems--would not be
unopposed, and, further, we should be able to retaliate. We've got the
men, but we haven't got the airships--worse luck! The Invisible Hand of
Germany has deceived us finely!"
"That's so," I chimed in. "The Germans can always soothe their own
people by saying that, however dear food is and all that, yet they can't
be strafed from above--as we unfortunately are."
"I quite agree," declared Charlie Digby, a well-known pilot, and holder
of a height-record. A tall, clean-shaven, clean-limbed fellow he was
lying back in the deep leather armchair with his coffee at his side.
"But is it not equally true that, if we had aeroplanes of the right
construction and enough of them, we could give the night-raiders in
Zeppelins a very uncomfortable time?"
"Quite so. I'm all in favour of suitable aeroplanes," Selwyn admitted.
"We must upset this Zeppelin menace by some means or other. Here we
are--the greatest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen,
worried three times a month by the threat of these German gas-bags! It
is quite possible to obtain such aeroplanes as would enable us to fight
the Zepps. As somebody wrote in the paper the other day regarding the
future range of the naval big guns, it is useless to send up
half-trained quirks on soggy seaplanes accompanied by still less trained
spotting officers equipped with short-range wireless which cannot
receive. The gun-spotter in a Fleet action should be a fully trained
and experienced gunnery-Jack, seated in a comfortable observation-car
where charts and navigating instruments can be used with accuracy.
Therefore, if we can't get the proper aeroplanes, we must have airships
for the purpose, as they are at present the only apparent vehicle for
scientific gunnery in a Fleet action."
With this we all agreed.
"Another point," I said, "was advanced by a clever writer in the
_Aeroplane_ the other day. It was pointed out that in the matter of
fighting Zeppelins, however good aeroplane patrols may be, they must
depend on their eyes to find enemy airships. One may silence engines,
but one cannot silence air, and, though one may shut off and glide
slowly, yet there will always be enough whistling of wind round wires
and struts to wash out any noise of airship engines, gears, and
propellers, unless they are very close indeed. An airship, on the other
hand, can shut off and float. There may be some creaking of the
girders, and stays, but there will be no continuous whistling.
Therefore an airship makes a perfect listening-post for enemy aircraft
of all kinds."
"I'm quite sure of that," declared Charlie Digby from the depths of his
chair. "If we are to win the war we must fight the Zeppelin. We want a
real good man at the head of affairs and we should allow him a free
hand, and put a stop to the endless committees and conferences and
confabulations which have been the curse of this country in every
department since war began--and before. Let that man have the advice of
all the specialists he may require, and let him encourage people with
ideas to offer their advice, instead of turning them down, as is the
custom of most people in commanding positions."
Those same sentiments I had read in one of the papers that very day.
I said nothing more. It was time for me to be off, so I rose and left,
having an appointment with Teddy Ashton.
As I passed through the big hall of the club I reflected how true were
Digby's words. If we were to win the war we must fight the Zeppelins
effectively.
_But how_?
That same question had occupied the minds of both Teddy and myself for
many months, long indeed before the first Zeppelin had crossed the North
Sea. Both of us had realised the deadly peril of those huge
murder-machines against which we would be utterly powerless.
During the first year of war the public had laughed at the idea of
Zeppelins coming over to drop bombs on undefended towns, or making an
air raid upon London. The popular reply to anyone who ventured to
express fear of such a thing as had been openly threatened in the German
Press was: "Bah! they haven't come yet!"
But at last they had come, and they had dropped bombs upon inoffensive
citizens. There were some writers already crying, "Never mind the
Zeppelins!" In the sluggish apathy which refused to worry as to the
state of our air-defences they discovered a sort of heroism! "Surely,"
they exclaimed, "civilians, including women and children, ought to be
really glad and proud to share the risks of their sons or brothers in
the trenches."
A poor argument surely! The unarmed people of London and the provinces,
when summoned to confront the hail of fire and death, had showed an
imperturbable coolness worthy to compare with the valour of the soldiers
in the field. On that point, testimony was unanimous. The people had
been splendid. But they expected something more than passive heroism.
It was so very easy to shut one's eyes to the ghastly record of
suffering a hundred miles off, easy, as somebody had said, to doze under
the hillside with Simple, Sloth and Presumption.
Long ago I had agreed with Teddy that some means must be found to fight
effectively the German airships now that anti-aircraft guns had proved
unreliable for inflicting much damage, except in a haphazard way. In
conjunction, therefore, we had been actively conducting certain secret
experiments in order to devise some plan which might successfully combat
the terror of the night.
Zeppelins had flown over the coast towns and hurled bombs upon its
defenceless inhabitants. Each raid had been more and more audacious in
its range, and in its general scheme. London and the cities of the
Midlands had been, more than once in sight of the enemy's airships. Yet
a certain section of the Press were still pooh-poohing the real
significance of the attempt to demoralise us at home.
Out in St James's Square--on the cab-rank which the Club had taken for
its own--I jumped into my car and drove away down to Gunnersbury, beyond
Chiswick, where, in a market-garden, I rented a long shed of corrugated
iron, a place wherein, with Teddy, I conducted the experiments which we
were making into the scientific and only way by which Zeppelins could be
destroyed.
While the world had been wondering, we had worked, and in our work
Roseye constantly assisted us. It was hard and secret work, entailing
long and patient study, many experiments, and sometimes flights
necessitating much personal risk.
Failures? Oh! yes, we had many! Our failures were, indeed, of daily
occurrence. More than once, when we thought ourselves within an ace of
success, we found that we were faced with the usual failure.
Many, alas! were the disappointments. Yet we all three had one goal in
view, keeping it ever before us--the fighting of the Zeppelin.
Little did we dream of the strange, dramatic events which were to result
from our secret scientific investigations, undertaken in all our
enthusiasm.
Could we but have foreseen what the future held for us--or the power put
forth against us by the Invisible Hand!