With the
ordinary captive balloon it has been found that, in clear
weather, a radius of about 3 3/4 miles at the maximum elevation
constitutes its range of reliable utility.
With the aeroplane, however, the conditions are very dissimilar.
In the first place the machine owing to its diminutive size as
compared with the airship, offers a small and inconspicuous
target. Then there is its high independent speed, which is far
beyond that of the airship. Furthermore its mobility is greater.
It can wheel, turn sharply to the right or to the left, and
pursue an irregular undulating flight in the horizontal plane,
which renders it well nigh impossible for a gunner to pick it up.
The machine moves at a higher relative speed than that at which
the gun can be trained. It is the rapid and devious variation
which so baffles the gunner, who unless he be highly skilled and
patient, is apt to commence to fire wildly after striving for a
few moments, and in vain, to pick up the range; he trusts to luck
or depends upon blind-shooting, which invariably results in a
waste of ammunition.
A gun, to be of tangible destructive efficiency when directed
against aircraft, especially those depending upon the gas-bag for
equilibrium, must be of special design.
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