An item reported that an inventor handed over to the American general William Allen (1), Chief of the Signal Corps, Washington, DC, USA a model of a flying battleship.(2) Allen said that the floating annex flying battleship was “one of the most terrible things, on paper and otherwise, that he ever considered.” It went far beyond the fantasy of the notorious Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Münchausen (11 May 1720 Bodenwerder, Germany-22 February 1797 Bodenwerder, Germany). It was a hybrid mix between a ship and a plane which could “dip out of the sky and settle down like a duck in the water among a flock of battleship, and when it gets ready can open fire righy and left with twelve-inch (30.48cm) and twenty torpedoes. When the captain desires he can rise out of the water, fly over the fleet, and land anywhere he wants, for instance, in Central Park, New York, and from there open fire.” Sadly enough was no more details supplied. (1)
Notes
1. This must be brigadier general James Allen (13 February 1849 La Porte, Indiana, USA-19 February 1933 Washington, DC, USA) who was Chief Signal Corps between 10 February 1906-13 February 1913. He was the first chief of the Aeronautical Division of the Signal Corps which can be considered to be a forerunner of the US Air Force. He urged the US Army to buy a dirigible, which became the Signal Corps Dirigible No. 1 in 1908.
2. On 14 November 1910 made a plane with as pilot Eugene Ely the first take-off from a warship. This was the American cruiser USS Birmingham VL-2. The US Navy was in the 1910s interested in sea-based floaplanes and flying boats.
Source
New Zealand historical newspapers. Papers Past
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