Under the heading of "Military Aerial Navigation" the Times of
Friday prints a most interesting telegram de- scribing the flight of the steerable balloon Lebaudy,' which took place on Thursday. The object in view was a recon- naissance of the military defences between Toul and Nancy. Having on board the head of the engineer corps of the fortress of Toul, the balloon left the aerostatic park at 6.55 a.m. "It crossed the forest of La Haye, which it ex- plored, passing over the forest posts, and was steered towards the fort of Vondreville, inspecting on the way all the military works up to Nancy. There it turned right about above the barracks and came straight back to Toul. It descended in front of the shed, where the engineer corps awaited it, at 9.50." The balloon is said to have moved at the rate of about twenty- two miles an hour. Those who took part in the experiment seem to have been convinced that such a, balloon would be of great use during a siege, as it would enable the besiegers to plan, and even photograph, the works and dispositions of the besieging force, which would be fully exposed to view. If navigable balloons of this kind come into common use for purposes of observation, they will, of course, have to be met by aerial-balloon destroyers, sent out, or rather up, to counteract their operations. Air cruisers will then be called into existence to protect the observation balloons, and finally battle balloons to protect the cruisers, till at last we shall realise the poet's dream, and see whole squadrons "grappling in the central blue," and the air, like the water and the earth, profaned by war. Imagine looking up at a battle in the air, and the torpedoed craft not sinking in the embraces of the sea, but hurtling with awful velocity through the open sky !
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