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WINGED DEFENSE I THE AERONAUTICAL ERA THE world stands on the threshold of the "aeronaut.. ica! era." During this epoch the destinies of all people will be controlled through the air. Our ancestors passed through the "continental era" when they consolidated their power on land and developed their means of communication and intercourse over the land or close to it on the seacoast. Then came the "era of the great navigators," and the competition for the great sea lanes of power, commerce, and communication, which were hitched up and harnessed to the"land powers created in the continental era. Now the competition will be for the possession of the unhampered right to traverse and control the most vast, the most important, and the farthest reaching element of the earth, the air, the atmosphere that surrounds us all, that we breathe, live by, and which permeates everything. Air power has come to stay. But what, it may be asked, is air power? Air power is the ability to do 3 4 Winged Defense something in or through the air, and, as the air covers the whole world, aircraft are able to go anywhere on the planet. They are not dependent on the water as a means of sustentation, nor on the land, to keep them up. Mountains, deserts, oceans, rivers, and forests, offer no obstacles. In a trice, aircraft have set aside all ideas of frontiers. The whole country now becomes the frontier and, in case of war, one place is just as exposed to attack as another place. Aircraft move hundreds of miles in an incredibly short space of time, so that even if they are reported as coming into a country, across its frontiers, there is no telling where they are going to go to strike. Wherever an object can be seen from the air, aircraft are able to hit it with their guns, bombs, and other weapons. Cities and towns, railway lines and canals cannot be hidden. Not only is this the case on land, it is even more the case on the water, because on the water no object can be concealed unless it dives beneath the surface. Surface seacraft cannot hide, there are no forests, mountains, nor valleys to conceal them. They must stand boldly out on the top of the water. Aircraft possess the mogt powerful weapons ever devised by man. They carry not only guns and cannon but heavy missiles that utilize the force of gravity for their propulsion and which can cause more destruction than any other weapon. One of these great bombs hitting a battleship will completely destroy it. Consider what this means to the future systems of national defense. As battleships are relatively difficult to destroy, imagine how much easier it is to sink all The Aeronautical Era 5 other vessels and merchant craft. Aerial siege may be laid against a country so as to prevent any communications with it, ingress or egress, on the surface of the water or even along railways or roads. In case of an insular power which is entirely dependent on its sea lanes of commerce for existence, an air siege of this kind would starve it into submission in a short time. On the other hand, an attempt to transport. large bodies of troops, munitions, and supplies across a great stretch of ocean, by seacraft, as was done during the World War from the United States to Europe, would·be an impossibility. At that time aircraft were only able to go a hundred miles before replenishing their fuel; now they can go a thousand miles and carry weapons which were hardly dreamed of in the World War. For attacking cities that are producing great quantities of war munitions that are necessary for the maintenance of an enemy army and country in case of war, the air force offers an entirely new method of subduing them. Heretofore, to reach the heart of a country and gain victory in war, the land armies always had to be defeated in the field and a long process of successive military advances made against it. Broken railroad lines, blown up bridges, and destroyed roads, necessitated months of hardships, the loss of thousands of lives, and untold wealth to accomplish. Now an attack from an air force using explosive bombs and gas may cause the complete evacuation of and cessation of industry in these places. This would deprive armies, air forces, and navies even, of their means of 6 Winged Defense...

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