It is designed to acquire information respecting the movements of
the enemy, so as to assist the heavier arms in the plan of
campaign. On the other hand, the fighting corsair of the skies
might be likened to the cruiser or battleship. It need not
possess such a high turn of speed, but must be equipped with
hard-hitting powers and be protected against attacking fire.
One attempt to secure the adequate protection against gun-fire
from the ground assumed the installation of bullet-proof steel
plating, about one fifth of an inch thick, below the tank and the
motor respectively. The disposition of the plating was such as
to offer the minimum of resistance to the air and yet to present
a plane surface to the ground below. So far as it went this
protection was completely effective, but it failed to armour the
vital parts against lateral, cross and downward fire while aloft.
As the latter is more to be feared than the fire from the ground,
seeing that it may be directed at point blank range, this was a
decided defect and the armour was subsequently abandoned as
useless.
The only effective method of achieving the desired end is to
armour the whole of the carriage or fuselage of the adroplane,
and this was the principle adopted by the Vickers Company.
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