How will aviation affect warfare in the future? Will it abolish entirely this undesirable condition of affairs, or will it serve to provide added inducements? It is, indeed, a debatable point. If we incline to the latter view, every known argument and theory points to the fact that warfare of the future will be to all intents and purposes instantaneous. There will be no preparatory delay caused by the necessity of placing large armies in the field, of gradually marching forward to establish contact with the enemy, and of carrying out skirmishes which may be prolonged to weeks and months before the actual battle takes place. The belligerent fleets will set off in the dawn or in the darkness, as the case may be, and before twelve hours have elapsed, after entering into the conflict, a definite decision will have been reached. For the airman, there is no falling back to a second line of trenches, to a natural position heavily defended, or to a concrete fortress or emplacement, or to fight a rearguard action. The fight in the air must be to the death, without quarter asked or given, for no prisoners can be taken. The loss of men and material will be tremendous.
It is doubtful whether aviation will entirely do away with fighting on land and sea, but it is very obvious that either fleet or army of one belligerent nation, at the mercy of the air fleet of another nation, will be in a very helpless position. Should the warfare in the air be indecisive, were such a condition within the realm of reasonable argument, it might be possible for the fleet or army to be brought into action with advantage, but even this is doubtful. As regards our own nation, before 1926, the Royal Naval Air Service will be the largest and most important service in Great Britain. Possibly there will be a single Air Service, and before ten years will have elapsed it will be the most important of all the British services, and will be composed both of aeroplanes and airships. The only other form of aircraft, the seaplane, being too slow, too clumsy, and too costly, will long ago have been abandoned.
Before we enter upon the discussion which is the subject of this paragraph we wish to guard ourselves against one misconception. It is possible that readers of this chapter may already have come to the conclusion that it is possible to develop aircraft for one purpose, and one purpose only: that is, either for war or for commerce; and impossible to develop them for both. This would be an entirely erroneous idea. It is true that we have already laid stress upon the fact that there is a very imminent danger that aircraft may be developed too greatly for war purposes to the detriment of others, but provided that the necessary precautions are taken, there is yet ample time for the commerce-carrying machine to be developed at the same time and in the same manner as the war machine. Within a very short time we may find that the Super-Zeppelin of the air will have entirely replaced not only the Dreadnought of the sea, but also the giant passenger liners. Both the war and the peace craft will be considerably larger in size than the 1916 type; the balloon portion of the Zeppelin will have trebled itself in size; it will be, if anything, of greater length and of slimmer formation, while the covering will be composed of some light but durable metal, such as aluminium, to prevent the possibility of explosion of gas caused by the firing of the guns. The narrow gondola beneath will be wider, and will mount several guns of 4.7-inch or larger caliber: for although the Zeppelin of the future will be a much more stable and airworthy craft, by reason of its lateral stability it will never be possible to fire a gun of any size from either bow or stern of an airship or a Zeppelin, without bringing the whole craft canting over, and possibly breaking its back. Thus, all Super-Zeppelins of the future will be heavily armed amidships, that is to say, where the proportion of strain on the craft is least felt. The passenger-carrying variety will differ very slightly from the war machine, save that the gondola will be deeper, more graceful, and more on the lines of the hull of the present-day ocean-going ship or steamer. The Parseval and similar types of large airship will replace the cruiser and the battle-cruiser; also the large cargo-bearing steamers of to-day.