Willis J. Abbot
Published: 2016-10-19
Total Pages: 542
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Excerpt from Aircraft and Submarines: The Story of the Invention, Development, and Present-Day Uses of War's Newest Weapons Nor since gunpowder was first employed in warfare has so revolutionary a contribution to the science of slaughtering men been made as by the perfection of air craft and submarines. The former have had their first employment in this world-wide war of the nations. The latter, though in the experimental stage as far back as the American Revolution, have in this bitter contest been for the first time brought to so practical a stage of development as to exert a really appreciable in uence on the outcome of the struggle. Comparatively few people appreciate how the thought of navigating the air's dizziest heights and the sea's gloomiest depths has obsessed the minds of inventors. From the earliest days of history men have grappled with the problem, yet it is only within two hundred years for aircraft and one hundred for sub marines that any really intelligent start has been made upon its solution. The men who really gave practical e ect to the vague theories which others set up - in aircraft the Wrights, santos-dumont, and Count Zep pelin; in submarines Lake and Holland - are either still living, or have died so recently that their memory is still fresh in the minds of all. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."