CAB38-23 — Page 12

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on an airship disobeying the signal made, The necessity for such an enactment turned upon the ability of aircraft to discharge explosives or to commit acts of espionage. At the last meeting Sir Arthur Wilson had disputed the former possibility on the ground that the airship would not have sufficient spare buoyancy to enable it to carry a sufficient quantity of explosives to do any hàrm. But this view was mistaken. It arose from applying to an airship the considerations which applied to an ordinary free balloon. Owing to loss of gas, an ordinary balloon had constantly to sacrifice weight in order to keep to any particular height. But with an airship the difficulty was to keep from going too high. There was no loss of gas, but a large and constant consumption of petrol which rapidly increased the buoyancy of the airship. He had gone into this question most carefully with Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman, the Superin- tendent of the Army Aircraft Factory, who had more experience of the question than anyone else in this country, and who had himself made a long voyage in a Zeppelin' airship. The difficulties imagined by Sir Arthur Wilson did not exist, and he was convinced that in calm weather one Or more German airships could start from Bremerhaven and reach these shores with an adequate supply of explosives in ten hours; with an easterly breeze, perhaps in half that time. That being so, the question was to devise means to protect Sheerness and Dover,

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MR. CHURCHILL said that the airship which was reported from Sheerness was most probably German; as to that reported in the newspapers to have passed over Dover on the night of the 5th-6th January the Admiralty had as yet no information.

SIR JOHN FRENCH said that the airship reported from Dover might have been French. The General Staff would find out if it was.

COLONEL SEELY said that the ability of an airship to carry wireless telegraph apparatus with a range of 600 miles was another factor of great importance. It was essential to have the power to warn them that they crossed prohibited areas at their peril.

THE PRIME MINISTER asked what the powers under the existing Act were.

MR. CHURCHILL said that it gave the Home Secretary power to prohibit flying over certain areas on certain occasions, with penalties for disobedience,

COLONEL SEELY said that the present Act was of no use from the naval and military point of view, as no penalties could be exacted from the culprit unless he could be caught and served with a writ or summons, but the airship would not come to earth in this country at all, and there was no practicable means of dealing with it at present except by shooting at it.

MR. CHURCHILL asked whether the Army had got a weapon with which they could hope to hit an airship.

COLONEL SEELY said that at present they had only a howitzer, which had been adapted. Some of these were in position. He thought it unlikely that a shell from them would hit an airship, but the knowledge that we had guns mounted and intended to use them would be a powerful deterrent. The experimental 1-inch gun would, he hoped, be ready in April.

MR. CHURCHILL said that the naval 3-inch trial gun was ready. It could fire at an angle of elevation of 80 degrees; had a range of 6,000-7,000 yards. Its action was semi-automatic, enabling it to discharge twenty or thirty rounds a minute. They had, however, only one of them.

MR. MCKENNA enquired what would become of the pieces of the shell.

MR. CHURCHILL said that, of course, they might fall on our own people, but that could hardly be helped.

COLONEL SEELY said that the pieces would be very small.

LORD HALDANE said that it did not appear to him that the Biil as drafted gave them any power to shoot.

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