On the other hand, the motor and
fuel tank of the conventional machine offer attractive targets:
both may be put out of action readily, and the disablement of the
motive power of an enemy's craft, be it torpedo-boat, battleship,
or aeroplane, immediately places the same at the assailant's
mercy.
Nevertheless, of course, the disablement of the airman brings
about the desired end very effectively. It deprives the driving
force of its controlling hand; The aeroplane becomes like a ship
without a rudder: a vessel whose helmsman has been shot down. It
is unmanageable, and likely to become the sport of the element in
which it moves. It is for this reason that aviators have been
urged to direct their fire upon the men and mechanism of a
dirigible in the effort to put it out of action. An uncontrolled
airship is more likely to meet with its doom than an aeroplane.
The latter will inevitably glide to earth, possibly damaging
itself seriously in the process, as events in the war have
demonstrated, but a helpless airship at once becomes the sport of
the wind, and anyone who has assisted, like myself, in the
descent of a vessel charged with gas and floating in the air, can
appreciate the difficulties experienced in landing.
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