Aerial Warfare

Coulson Kernahan (1908) The Red Peril, London, Hurst and Blackett Limited A planned German invasion of Britain. The Emperor smiled. " Why don't you warn the English Government," he said, that in view of the certainty of the introduction of the airship within the next few years, England would do well to prepare for foreign invasion by raising an army on the same scale as the armies of other great Powers, and by the only system that she can possibly hope to do so —I mean, of course, by conscription? It is the only method. No Continental Power of any ...

H.G. Wells, (1908) The War in the Air The War in the Air, a military science fiction novel by H. G. Wells written in four months in 1907 and serialised and published in 1908 in The Pall Mall Magazine, is like many of Wells's works notable for its prophetic ideas, images, and concepts—in this case, the use of the aircraft for the purpose of warfare and the coming of World War I. The novel's hero is Bert Smallways, a "forward-thinking young man" and a "kind of bicycle engineer of the let's-'ave-a-look-at-it and enamel-chipping variety." Overview [Wikipedia] The first three chapters ...

Charles M. Doughty (1909) The Cliffs and (1912) The Clouds His book-length poems are all fantastic in nature, and two of them are of some sf interest as perhaps the most arcane Future War tales ever told: The Cliffs (1909) features an airborne "Persanian" invasion of England, which is successfully repelled; in The Clouds (1912) a similar invasion is successful, and England occupied. Both poems are designed as warnings to complacent Britons, though it is hard to think that more than a few hundred readers ever came to terms with Doughty's deeply eccentric though formidable style. [SFE] Full text (The ...

William Le Queux (1909) Spies of the Kaiser. Plotting the Downfall of England Spies of the Kaiser  was published in 1909, and raised spymania to new extremes. Again, Le Queux’s fantasies had their popularity massively boosted by the  Daily Mail’s hype machine. And again the story was presented as non-fiction. [Graeme Shimmin, Le Queux: How One Crazy Spy Novelist Created MI5 and MI6] Still, as fanned by Le Queux, Lord Roberts and the press, British suspicions of Germany reached its high-water mark upon publication of Spies of the Kaiser. Teeming with authentic and, if not evidence, at least well researched ...

Rudolf Emil Martin (1909) Der Weltkrieg in den Lüften Britain, which had allied itself to France, is defeated by a fleet of German airships ...

A. A. Milne (1909) The Secret of the Army Aeroplane - Punch 26th May 1909 Note: the year is misquoted by I.F. Clarke and copied by later writers as 1908. THE SECRET OF THE ARMY AEROPLANE. (Mr. WILLIAM LE QUEUX wishes to deny indignantly that the following tale was written by him. On the contrary, he identifies himself completely with the proprietor of The Daily Mail in deprecating the publication of scare stories. As the proprietor of The Daily Mail truly says, such stories " place England and Englishmen in a ridiculous and humiliating light before the German people." At ...

Compton Irving Carter (1910) Peggy the Aeronaut. Carter's story, Peggy the Aeronaut, was dedicated to Colonel H. S. Massy, founder and first president of the Aerial League of the British Empire, and introduced by Major B. S. Baden Powell, another propagandist for the air weapon. Powell claimed that, as today's fiction is tomorrow's fact, the British public must be 'goaded on to realise what they have to face in the near future'. Hence his endorsement of this predictive novel. The story concerns Peggy — a female aviator — and her friend Justin, inventor of an advanced fighting aeroplane armed with ...

Arthur Wellesley Kipling (1910) The Shadow of Glory: A History of the Great War 1910-1911 A German invasion and occupation of Britain is countered by the use of British airships attacking the Germans. After France enters the war, on Britain's side, Paris is besieged but is supported by airship. The Japanese use aircraft to attack the American navy. A fuller description can be found in Michael Paris (1992) Winged Warfare (pp. 43-44) ...

Jack London (1910) The Unparalleled Invasion Under the influence of Japan, China modernizes and undergoes its own version of the Meiji Reforms in the 1910s. In 1922, China breaks away from Japan and fights a brief war that culminates in the Chinese annexation of the Japanese possessions of Korea, Formosa, and Manchuria. Over the next half century, China's population steadily grows, and eventually migration overwhelms European colonies in Asia. The United States and the other Western powers launch a biological warfare campaign against China, resulting in the destruction of China's population, the few survivors of the plague being killed out ...

Louis Gastine (1912)  Les Torpilleurs de l'air: Prodigieux exploits d'un aviateur français, Paris, La Maison du Livre Moderne.  Translated into English (1913) as War in Space: Or, an Air-Craft War Between France and Germany , London, The Walter Scott Publishing Co. A future war tale of aerial warfare between Germany and France ...

Gustaf Janson (1912) 'A Vision of the Future' in Pride of War (translated from Swedish and published by Sidgwick & Jackson) A story of the use of aircraft fighting against conventional troops. The backdrop is the Italian-Turkish war of 1911. The general stepped back a pace. At a the sappers began to push the machine airman took his seat and started the motor experimentally. It was working perfectly. The great flying-machine wobbled about. The ground was not its element. With mighty, outspread wings, which demanded air and space under them, the machine moved heavily forward for a few yards. The ...

Strang, H. (1912) The Air Scout: A Tale of National Defense An adventure story for juveniles. The Chinese invade Australia ...