Chapter I: Preface

Not since gunpowder was first employed in warfare has so revolutionary a contribution to the science of slaughtering men been made as by the perfection of aircraft and submarines. The former have had their first employment in this world-wide war of the nations. The latter, though in the experimental stage as far back as the American Revolution, have in this bitter contest been for the first time brought to so practical a stage of development as to exert a really appreciable influence on the outcome of the struggle.

Comparatively few people appreciate how the thought of navigating the air's dizziest heights and the sea's gloomiest depths has obsessed the minds of inventors. From the earliest days of history men have grappled with the problem, yet it is only within two hundred years for aircraft and one hundred for submarines that any really intelligent start has been made upon its solution. The men who really gave practical effect to the vague theories which others set up--in aircraft the Wrights, Santos-Dumont, and Count Zeppelin; in submarines Lake and Holland--are either still living, or have died so recently that their memory is still fresh in the minds of all.

In this book the author has sketched swiftly the slow stages by which in each of these fields of activity success has been attained. He has collated from the immense mass of records of the activities of both submarines and aircraft enough interesting data to show the degree of perfection and practicability to which both have been brought. And he has outlined so far as possible from existing conditions the possibilities of future usefulness in fields other than those of war of these new devices.

The most serious difficulty encountered in dealing with the present state and future development of aircraft is the rapidity with which that development proceeds. Before a Congressional Committee last January an official testified that grave delay in the manufacture of airplanes for the army had been caused by the fact that types adopted a scant three months before had become obsolete, because of experience on the European battlefields, and later inventions before the first machines could be completed. There may be exaggeration in the statement but it is largely true. Neither the machines nor the tactics employed at the beginning of the war were in use in its fourth year. The course of this evolution, with its reasons, are described in this volume.

Opportunities for the peaceful use of airplanes are beginning to suggest themselves daily. After the main body of this book was in type the Postmaster-General of the United States called for bids for an aërial mail service between New York and Washington--an act urged upon the Government in this volume. That service contemplates a swift carriage of first-class mail at an enhanced price--the tentative schedule being three hours, and a postage fee of twenty-five cents an ounce. There can be no doubt of the success of the service, its value to the public, and its possibilities of revenue to the post-office. Once its usefulness is established it will be extended to routes of similar length, such as New York and Boston, New York and Buffalo, or New York and Pittsburgh. The mind suggests no limit to the extension of aërial service, both postal and passenger, in the years of industrial activity that shall follow the war.

In the preparation of this book the author has made use of many records of personal experiences of those who have dared the air's high altitudes and the sea's stilly depths. For permission to use certain of these he wishes to express his thanks to the Century Co., for extracts from _My Airships_ by Santos-Dumont; to Doubleday, Page & Co., for extracts from _Flying for France_, by James R. McConnell; to Charles Scribner's Sons, for material drawn from _With the French Flying Corps_, by Carroll Dana Winslow; to _Collier's Weekly_, for certain extracts from interviews with Wilbur Wright; to _McClure's Magazine_, for the account of Mr. Ray Stannard Baker's trip in a Lake submarine; to Hearst's International Library, and to the _Scientific American_, for the use of several illustrations.

W. J. A.

NEW YORK, 1918.

CONTENTS

Page
PREFACE iii

CHAPTER

I.--Introductory 3

II.--The Earliest Flying Men 14

III.--The Services of Santos-Dumont 39

IV.--The Count von Zeppelin 59

V.--The Development of the Airplane 82

VI.--The Training of the Aviator 103

VII.--Some Methods of the War in the Air 123

VIII.--Incidents of the War in the Air 159

IX.--The United States at War 182

X.--Some Features of Aërial Warfare 207

XI.--Beginnings of Submarine Invention 235

XII.--The Coming of Steam and Electricity 256

XIII.--John P. Holland and Simon Lake 271

XIV.--The Modern Submarine 294

XV.--Aboard a Submarine 318

XVI.--Submarine Warfare 333

XVII.--The Future of the Submarine 362

Index 383

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page
Fighting by Sea and Sky _Frontispiece_
Painting by John E. Whiting

Dropping a Depth Bomb 4
Painting by Lieut. Farré

A Battle in Mid-air 8
Painting by Lieut. Farré

Victory in the Clouds 12
Painting by John E. Whiting

The Fall of the Boche 16
Painting by Lieut. Farré

Lana's Vacuum Balloon 18

Montgolfier's Experimental Balloon 21

A Rescue at Sea 24
Painting by Lieut. Farré

Montgolfier's Passenger Balloon 27

Charles's Balloon 31

A French Observation Balloon on Fire 32

Roberts Brothers' Dirigible 34

Giffard's Dirigible 37

A British Kite Balloon 40

British "Blimp" 40
Photographed from Above.

A Kite Balloon Rising from the Hold of a Ship 48

The Giant and the Pigmies 60
Painting by John E. Whiting

A French "Sausage" 64
Photo by Press Illustrating Co.

A British "Blimp" 64

The Death of a Zeppelin 72
Photo by Paul Thompson

A German Dirigible, Hansa Type 76

A Wrecked Zeppelin at Salonika 76
Photo by Press Illustrating Co.

British Aviators about to Ascend 80

Langley's Airplane 84

A French Airdrome near the Front 84

Lilienthal's Glider 86

A German War Zeppelin 88

French Observation Balloon Seeking Submarines 88
Photo by Press Illustrating Co.

Chanute's Glider 90

A German Taube Pursued by British Planes 92

The First Wright Glider 93

Pilcher's Glider 94

Comparative Strength of Belligerents in Airplanes at the Opening
of the War 96

Comparative Strength of Belligerents in Dirigibles at the Opening
of the War 96

The Wright Glider 98

At a French Airplane Base 100
International Film Service

Stringfellow's Airplane 101

The "America"--Built to Cross the Atlantic 104

A Wright Airplane in Flight 104

First Americans to Fly in France 108
The Lafayette Escadrille

Distinguishing Marks of American Planes 116

What an Aviator must Watch 116

A Caproni Triplane 124

A Caproni Triplane Showing Propellers and Fuselage 124

The Terror that Flieth by Night 128
Painting by Wm. J. Wilson

A Curtis Seaplane Leaving a Battleship 132
Photo by Press Illustrating Co.

Launching a Hydroaëroplane 132

At a United States Training Camp 138

A "Blimp" with Gun Mounted on Top 138

Aviators Descending in Parachutes from a Balloon Struck by
Incendiary Shells 140

The Balloon from which the Aviators Fled 140

German Air Raiders over England 144

One Aviator's Narrow Escape 148

Downed in the Enemy's Country 156

Position of Gunner in Early French Machine 160

Later Type of French Scout 160
Photo by Kadel & Herbert

A French Scout Airplane 168
Photo by Press Illustrating Co.

"Showing Off." A Nieuport Performing Aërial Acrobatics around a
Heavier Bombing Machine 168

An Air Raid on a Troop Train 174
Painting by John E. Whiting

A Burning Balloon, Photographed from a Parachute by the Escaping
Balloonist 176

A Caproni Biplane Circling the Woolworth Building 184

Cruising at 2000 Feet. One Biplane Photographed from Another 184

An Air Battle in Progress 192

A Curtis Hydroaroplane 192

The U. S. Aviation School at Mineola 208

Miss Ruth Law at Close of her Chicago to New York Flight 216

A French Aviator between Flights 216

A German "Gotha"--Their Favorite Type 224

A French Monoplane 232

A German Scout Brought to Earth in France 232

A Gas Attack Photographed from an Airplane 240

A French Nieuport Dropping a Bomb 244

A Bomb-Dropping Taube 248

A Captured German Fokker Exhibited at the Invalides 252

A British Seaplane with Folding Wings 252

British Anti-Aircraft Guns 256

An Anti-Aircraft Outpost 264

A Coast Defense Anti-Aircraft Gun 264

The Submarine's Perfect Work 270
Painting by John E. Whiting

Types of American Aircraft 272

For Anti-Aircraft Service 288

The Latest French Aircraft Guns 288

Modern German Airplane Types 296

A German Submarine Mine-Layer Captured by the British 304

The Exterior of First German Submarine 312

The Interior of First German Submarine, Showing Appliances for
Man-Power 312

A Torpedo Designed by Fulton 320

The Method of Attack by Nautilus 320

The Capture of a U-Boat 324
Painting by John E. Whiting

A British Submarine 336

Sectional View of the Nautilus 336

U. S. Submarine H-3 aground on California Coast 344

Salvaging H-3. Views I, II, and III 348

U. S. Submarine D-1 off Weehawken 352

A Submarine Built for Spain in the Cape Cod Canal 356

A Critical Moment 360
Painting by John E. Whiting

A Submarine Built for Chili Passing through Cape Cod Canal 364

A Submarine Entrapped by Nets 368

Diagram of a German Submarine Mine-Layer Captured by British 372

A Submarine Discharging a Torpedo 374

A German Submarine in Three Positions 376

Sectional View of a British Submarine 380

THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR