On Friday week there was a display of flying at
Hendon, organized by the Parliamentary Aerial Defence Committee with the help of Mr. Grahame-White. A particularly surprising series of experiments was that of dropping imitation bombs on a diagram representing the deck of a ship. The bombs were dropped with considerable accuracy, and it is not too much to say that the practical impossibility of hitting aeroplanes in flight with any sort of artillery now in use made plain the extreme impor- tance of proceeding at once to the proper organization of aerial defence. The great influence flying will have on national defence is now beyond doubt. Perhaps the only con- solation in the presence of this new method of warfare is that it would, in the matter of invading an island, tend to give an advantage to the defenders rather than to the invaders. Imagine the effect of bombs dropped from the skies upon transports while engaged in disembarking troops. We are glad to see that the Aerial League of the British Empire has convened a meeting, to be presided over by the Lord Mayor, to take place at the Mansion House on May 24th. The chief purpose of the meeting is to arrange for the establishment of a National Institute and School of Aerotechnics.
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