For complaints, use another form. Study lib. Upload document Create flashcards. Flashcards Collections. Documents Last activity. Add to Add to collection s Add to saved. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www. PART A. PART B. PART C. PART D. Isendahl Italian 1B et seq. When, some five years ago, work on this annual was first commenced, the military aviator was an idle dream.
Fighting men in dirigibles were a bare possibility; but nothing more than that. Beyond that, nothing! To-day everything is completely changed and except as a war machine the aeroplane is of little interest or use to anyone. A few civilian aviators are still flying, but in practically every case they are doing so in connection with the business aspect of the question. It is as a war machine that the aeroplane has come into its own. The Italian aeroplanes over and over again proved their utility in Tripoli.
Although in the Balkan War aircraft were less in evidence than many expected, this may be attributed to the peculiar circumstances of the campaign and also to the scarcity of available machines. Every country is now engaged in forming its aerial fleets. How far the naval and military branches will coalesce, or how far they will differentiate remains to be seen.
The probabilities, at present, all point in the latter direction, and that just as an army is made up of cavalry, infantry, artillery, etc. The increased war utility of aircraft has necessitated an extension of the pages devoted to organisation of military aviation, etc. The details given are by no means as full as I could wish; but all organisations are being so continually changed owing to increased experience that satisfactory data are not very easy to come by. During the past twelve months or so we have learned at least one or two important things.
The mere fact of the possession of aeroplanes by a nation is a military factor of comparatively little importance. A nation possessing next to no aeroplanes can easily acquire a few hundreds in case of emergency if she has the people to build them.
