The War in the Air; Vol. 1

The War in the Air; Vol. 1 - The Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force

When Great Britain declared war upon Germany in August 1914, she staked her very existence as a free nation upon an incalculable adventure. Two new means and modes of warfare, both of recent invention, enormously increased the difficulties of forecast and seemed to make precedents useless. Former wars had been waged on the land and on the sea; the development of submarines and aircraft opened up secret ways of travel for armed vessels under the sea and promised almost unlimited possibilities of observation and offence from the heights of the air. Of these two new weapons the submarine was brought earlier to a state of war efficiency, and because it seemed to threaten the security of our island and the power of our navy, it excited the greater apprehension. But the navigation of the air, whether by airship or aeroplane, is now recognized for the more formidable novelty. The progress of the war has proved that within the narrow seas the submarine can be countered, and that the extension of its capabilities on the high seas is beset with difficulties. For aircraft the possibilities are immense. It is not extravagant to say that the 17th of December 1903, when the Wright brothers made the first free flight through the air in a power-driven machine, marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the world. The differences to be looked for in this new era were both over-estimated and under-estimated, according to the temper of those who considered them. (p. 002) Imaginative people, and sentimental people, looked for the speedy fulfilment of Tennyson's vision: ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 28226
Author: Raleigh, Walter Alexander
Release Date: Mar 1, 2009
Format: eBook
Language: English