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Nowadays, marvellous scientific discoveries come upon us so thick and fast that we have almost lost the capacity for wonder. Yet although aeroplanes almost as familiar to us as motorcars, we cannot help stopping and staring whenever an aeroplane, humming like a great bee flashing in the sun, passes over our heads. And it is well indeed that we should wonder; for how marvellous a thing it that men have conquered the air and can now fly in the sky like birds. This has been done in our day, for invention is so recent that, if people had been told only twenty-five years ago that we should be flying today, they would have the prophecy to scorn.
The invention of the aeroplane will bring about as great a revolution in men's habits as that of the engine and the steamship a hundred years ago. Then the world shrank in size; for whereas in the old days of sailing vessels, England was months away from India, it is now only three weeks away by steamer and railway train. But the size of the will shrink much more now. When we have a regular air service between Karachi and London in a few years' time, England will only five days away. What a difference this will make to trade and commerce, to men's habits, and their views of things!
So for times of peace. But it is in the conduct of war, and the aeroplane will bring about the greatest revolution. Aeroplanes played important part in the latter part of the Great War, although when the war began, the invention was only a few years old. But the next war comes, it will be largely a war in the air. Frontiers, fortresses, wire-entanglements, and the ocean itself be no protection to any country. A fleet of battle aeroplanes, loaded with poisonous gas and tons of high explosive bombs, will be to wipe out a great city in a few minutes. And then man's wonderful conquest of the air, that should have been nothing a blessing, will prove a curse and his undoing.