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340 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
by simply crossing the English Channel
and flying over the British Isles. If the
weather were fair, a crossing of the Atlantic
could be effected by the Zeppelins
in less than four days. This, of course,
would not be practicable. The fuel supply
would have to be replenished from
the store on board the attendant battle
cruisers. The pace of the water craft
would be that set for the air squadron.
By avoiding the customary sea lanes,
this hostile force could readily take New
York City by surprise.
At the close of a cloudy summer's day
several of these huge craft could swoop
down upon the metropolis, locate by their
unmistakable outline the chief buildings,
and drop bombs upon them until the supply
of explosives was exhausted.
Such a feat would be inconceivably
The Zeppelins could come down so low
as to strike a building with every bomb.
New York City would not be destroyed,
but hundreds of lives and millions
of dollars in property would be sure
to be destroyed. How easy this would
be is evident when we picture in our
mind's eye one of these battleships of the
air. It is so large that inside of it could
be put the biggest American steamer
sailing to Europe. Think of this huge
cigar-shaped thing, not as a gas bag
but rather as a bird cage, divided into
more than a score of compartments, each
containing an individual gas bag. Think
of this enormous framework covered
with both fire- and water-proof cloth.
Visualize on the "roof" of this a platform,
upon which are mounted five machine
guns.
THE TARGETS FOR A ZEPPELIN
This photograph, snapped from the rear car of one of the air pirates, shows how easy it would be for Germans to make
targets of our skyscrapers or munition plants.
easy: the city taken by surprise; daz- Conceive of this gigantic thing and
zlingly conspicuous because of its blaze then consider that a single twelve-inch
of lights; only a few aeroplanes, and no gun weighs two tons more than it
anti-aircraft guns, to beat off the attack, weighs! Think that the anchor of the