Aerial Warfare Research Articles

The Garrison State

The garrison state is a developmental construct about the future course of world-politics, whose function is to stimulate the individual specialist to clarify for himself his expectations about the future as a guide to the timing of scientific work. The trend of the time is away from the dominance of the specialist on bargaining, who is the businessman, and toward the supremacy of the specialist on violence, the soldier. Methods: It is probable that the ruling elite of the garrison state will acquire most of the skills that we have come to accept as part of modern civilian management. Particularly prominent will be skill in the manipulation of symbols in the interest of morale and public relations. Unemployment will be psychologically abolished. Internal violence will be directed principally against unskilled manual workers and counter-elite elements who have come under suspicion. Incomes will be somewhat equalized in the interest of maintaining morale under modern conditions of socialized danger. The practice will be to recruit the elite according to ability (in periods of crisis); authority will be dictatorial, governmentalized, centralized, integrated. Value distribution: The power pyramid will be steep, but the distribution of safety will be equalized (the socialization of danger under modern conditions of aerial warfare). The income and respect pyramids will be between the other two-each pyramid flattened at the top, bulged out in the upper-middle and lower-middle zones. Value production: The elites will seek to hold in check the utilization of the productive potentialities of modern science and engineering for nonmilitary consumption goods. The rate of production will be regularized. Production will be affected by the tendencies toward rigidity in a military state, but these effects will be largely neutralized by the skill groups of science and technology.

Effect of Noises of Warfare on the Ear

THE rapid development of high-explosive weapons of destruction and attack accompanied by increased blast effects has necessitated increased protection against the possibility of physical injury. The dangers of destructive effects on the sense organs though less obvious have become increasingly serious, and of these impairment of the sense of hearing is of considerable importance. The disturbances likely to endanger the aural and nervous system during bombardments or air raids consist mainly of intense sudden noises of an explosive character. Much information is available on the effect on the ear of these intense noises, and to a certain extent it is possible to minimize or mitigate possible damage to the aural system. Less intense sounds of longer duration which are sometimes referred to as ‘horrific noises’ and which the enemy have recently introduced as a form of aerial warfare can of themselves produce no damage to the ear. Their panic effect is a psychological one and is calculated to be enhanced by surprise when used without regularity.

Some aspects of the Aerial Warfare in the German-Polish Campaign

This lecture is an attempt to give a brief survey of some facts observed during the German-Polish campaign, which are thought to be of interest to the aircraft industry. The authors wish to stress that they fully realise the scarcity of actual data on which any possible conclusions could be based. There is no doubt that a “Blitzkrieg” provides all of the experience to the winner, particularly if he enjoys an overwhelming superiority in the air and has secured a “total” victory, as was the case in this campaign. His vision was clear and far-reaching, his striking arm able to inflict blows, wherever required by tactical considerations.

Kiriadolouv. Germany.

International Law — Sources of — Analogy of Rules of International Law in pari materia — Hague Conventions of 1907 concerning Warfare on Land and Sea — Applicability to Aerial Warfare.516Aerial Bombardment — Application to Aerial Bombardment of the Rules Concerning Bombardment by Land Forces and Bombardment by Naval Forces — Distinction between Bombardment for the Purpose of Occupation and Bombardment for the Purpose of Destruction — Chemical Warfare — Respect for Life and Property of Non-Combatants — Bombardment of Bucharest.

Legitimate Targets in Aërial Bombardment

The first non–stop flight to Europe was, perhaps, a victory for the cause of peace and international goodwill, but to those who have followed the developments in aerial warfare and the attempts which have been made in recent years to formulate rules for the conduct of belligerent operations in the air, this and successive flights come as a reminder of the still nebulous state of international air law.

Proposed Rules for the Regulation of Aerial Warfare

When the World War, in which aircraft was employed for the first time on an extensive scale as an instrument of combat, broke out, there were few conventional rules and naturally little or no customary law in existence governing the conduct of hostilities in the air. There was, to be sure, the declaration prohibiting for a period of five years the launching of projectiles and explosives from balloons or by other new methods of a similar nature, signed at The Hague in 1899 and renewed in 1907 for a period extending to the close of the third peace conference. Since the third conference has never been convoked, the declaration may be regarded as still binding onthe states which have ratified it, in a war in which both or all the belligerents are contracting parties. But it is significant that only about half the states represented at the second conference signed the declaration, and among those which did not were Germany, France, Russia, Spain and Italy. It thus happens that the principal military states of Europe are not parties to it and its value therefore is slight. In consequence of the so-called “solidarity” clause it was not binding upon any of the belligerents during the World War, not even upon those which had ratified it.

Military Aircraft and their Armament

AN article of considerable interest, under the title of “La Technique Allemande de l'Armement Aerien,” appears in La Nature for October 6 by Jean-Abel Lefranc. The author traces out the development of German aerial warfare, with particular reference to the armament of military aircraft. Victory in the air, he says, depends on two sets of factors-tactical and technical. Under the former head he places favourable time of attack, good position, powerful formation; under the latter, armament, speed, flexibility of control, and altitude. To secure a good tactical position a machine must possess good technical factors; for instance, good armament is useless unless a machine is fast enough to be able to challenge the enemy to battle. Nevertheless, the pilot counts for a great deal, and the “Farmans” of 1915 beat the “Aviatiks,” although the latter were faster, better armed, and more flexible. M. Lefranc remarks that the relative importance of the technical elements depends on the purpose of the machine; for a battleplane, he places them in the order speed, flexibility, armament, and altitude. The last attribute might be omitted, since a fast machine is always a good climber unless the landing speed is abnormally high. For slow and heavy machines designed for bombing, a powerful defensive armament is most essential. For night raiders radius of action, bomb capacity, and facility of landing are more important than armament. The speed of both French and German fighters varies from 100 to 120 miles per hour. These speeds could be higher but for the necessity of a reasonable landing speed and a good climbing rate. The heavy bombing machines fly at speeds from eighty to ninety-five miles per hour. Flexibility nas now dtveloped almost without limit.

The Use of Explosives in Aerial Warfare, with Some Remarks on Methods of Defence

The Use of Explosives in Aerial Warfare, with Some Remarks on Methods of Defence

The Use of Explosives in Aerial Warfare, with Some Remarks on Methods of Defence

The Use of Explosives in Aerial Warfare, with Some Remarks on Methods of Defence