Page:Secrets of Crewe House.djvu/252

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186
SECRETS OF CREWE HOUSE

leaflets when the angle of projection was high and the wind was favourable, but hitherto had not been successful with pamphlets. It was recognised that aeroplanes were the best means of reaching distant targets with accuracy; that for shorter distances, from a few hundred yards up to ten miles, projectiles would secure great accuracy.

With regard to range, it was recognised that aeroplanes had the widest limits, and the scattering of literature in Berlin by the French and in Vienna by the Italians was considered an accomplishment of great brilliancy and promise of usefulness, and that the types of paper balloons in use were thoroughly effective for ranges up to twenty or thirty miles, and with less certainty of aim up to 100 or 150 miles; but that with larger balloons (such as the fabric balloons in the possession of the English, or the new larger "doped" paper balloons then being prepared in England, or the reinforced paper balloons being experimented with in France) the distances could be increased to several hundred miles.

As to the bulk that could be distributed, it was stated that each of the standard balloons, then used by the English and