Lakehurst

New York City had been no stranger to the bombing campaign being waged by the Confederate Air Flotilla. This is perhaps the reason that most of it’s residents had become so accustomed to seeing the cigar shaped bombers that they paid them almost no mind at all. They would seek shelter but, any real panic and urgency to do so was long gone by 1901. It would seem that the residents of Manhattan had some solid reasons for taking the bombings with a grain of salt. Despite the increased tonnage, they were simply not doing that much damage and, for most of the residents, the disruptions to their lives became little more than annoyance. The government actually sided with this attitude because, as the bombing campaign continued, it was realized that the work stoppages, created by air raid warnings, were actually doing more damage than the bombs.

The attacks on New York were logical from the point of view of Richmond. While the size of the United States might hide this fact, the simple matter is that New York city is largely the whole of the US economy. Even large cities such as Chicago only grew to the their metropolitan status because of a need to feed New York. Cities like San Francisco were large due to a gold strike but, where did this gold get traded? It was in New York. Until the mid twentieth century, when industrial centers and major organizations became more diversified, New York cities supremacy was very much the case. If the US lost NYC it would be a handicap on the magnitude of Britain loosing the Suez Canal.

By November, the Allies were growing desperate and Joe Wheeler seemed to offer them a way by which they could negotiate from a position of strength. Given that it was unlikely that Roosevelt would have accepted the terms that were being discussed in London, it is likely that a successful fire bombing of New York would have prolonged the war for at least another year and, quite possibly, even longer. As events would prove, the forces that were about to butt heads were largely bluffs but, of the kind that cannot be ignored. They would also impact the future in many significant ways.

The actions around New York City in the late fall of 1901 have been portrayed in an overly dramatic fashion ever since they happened. For those who were actually involved it is hardly a stretch to believe that they thought this anything but high drama. It is most certainly true that none of them even realized the strange turn of events that would lead to this chapter of the war’s ultimate conclusion. It is also highly unlikely than any of these people, only a hand full at best, realized that the fates of countless millions rested on everything that they were doing.

This was particularly true of the US warplane crews who had become somewhat frustrated with the results of their efforts. Had this been any other type of project it is likely that the entire project would have already been scrapped. The main reason this did not happen was because those that were involved were extraordinarily passionate about what they were doing. They saw this as the future. What their political patron, Theodore Roosevelt saw this as, was his political career that was very much hanging in the balance, along with the fate of his nation.

There is little doubt, given the comments made by those around him, that Roosevelt was extraordinarily apprehensive when he ordered Langley to deploy his entire compliment of planes to the environs around New York. The Confederates had now tested their moonshine and it had started a considerable blaze in Central Park. The otherwise laconic residents of the city became almost panicked. Everyone knew what had happened to Atlanta and now, it seemed, that pay back was on the way. There was a mass exodus from the city and nearly all the facets of normal life came to a complete standstill. That’s when Roosevelt found that he had to gamble everything. He released the existence of his airplanes to the newspapers, in an attempt to calm down the situation. It had very little effect and Roosevelt could see the sharks already gathering, to pick his bones, when Langley and the Wright Brothers failed.

What no one knew, and this included Roosevelt, was that several factors had combined to increase the effectiveness of their new weapon. The first of these was the new ammunition. The tracer rounds were about to get their first try in the Browning rifles. The second was the location that Langley picked to set up his catapults, that being a field just outside of Lakehurst, New Jersey. That November was a bit warmer than most and the area around Lakehurst was getting an almost constant breeze, most of which was causing a considerable up draft. The last factor, and quite possibly the most critical, had nothing to do with US efforts.

As noted before, the Confederate ordinance was excessively bulky and heavier than the usual loads they carried. The US had actually toyed with the idea of these alcohol bombs in the early stages of their own project. The idea had been rejected for the exact same reasons that the Confederates were now having problems with. The size of these caskets were much larger than regular bombs and this meant more flights. The weight caused considerable drag and that meant the engines had to work harder. It limited the range of the zeppelins and, this meant in order to actually reach New York they would have to fly lower, where the air was thicker, requiring less fuel for the trip.

All of this added up to the airplanes being able to get higher, faster, while the lumbering zeppelins would have to fly within their range and at much slower speeds. This would even prove to be less of a blessing than the main factor and that was the very nature of the ordinance to be delivered. When the very first zeppelin came within range of a catapult, Lucy Q. Jones and her gunner, Corporal Douglas H Parks, a black soldier from Iowa City, launched towards their target. This was their third combat mission and it would be the first that they actually reached their target which was the CSS Chattahoochee.

Jones was actually able to get above the Zeppelin which, apparently, astonished her since this was the first time she had ever been able to accomplish such a feat. Normally the airships would start climbing no sooner than they spotted an approaching plane. It is now believed that the Chattahoochee was attempting to climb and this explains what happened next. Parks got off a single burst from his Browning Automatic, and apparently hit the top of the frame but, once again, it appeared to have no effect. Then, as Jones reported, they almost had the first mid air collision in history. This is where it seems that Chattahoochee was trying to get some more altitude.

The next move by the US airplane was also atypical of the pattern that had developed over the course of the past few months. Both pilot and gunner were in the prone position, laying along the axis of the central fuselage, and had very little to hold them into place. No one had thought that WF-07 was capable of any significant turns, anyway, so no one had put much thought into it. As Lucy came down on the far side of the airship, she tried just such a move and almost lost control. Both her and Parks almost fell to their deaths as well. Then they encountered an even more serious problem.

When Jones managed to re-establish some semblance of level flight, something that modern experts believe was only by the virtue of pure luck, she also had to overcome a few moments of disorientation. By her own recollection, she did not even realize which way was up until they were about to fly right into the underside of the Chattahoochee. Jones quickly started to dive but, not before parks got off one last burst with his automatic rifle. There is no way to know for certain but, what we believe happened was that Parks was lined up perfectly with the bomb bay. We also know that nearly half of Chattahoochee’s load were the glass containers that had been termed ‘bomblets.’ It is believed he must have shattered enough of them causing the fuel to spray the gas bags and that some sort of spark, the kind that you get when firing pyrotechnic bullets into an enclosed space, set the alcohol off.

This was not the only lucky break that the US caught on this day. Not only did the CSS Chattahoochee combust in mid air and begin to fall to the ground as her skin burned away but, thanks to another technological innovation that we have already covered, the entire world would get to see this happen. Lakehurst is not very far from Menlo Park and when Thomas Edison heard the buzz concerning the activities there, he quickly dispatched a crew with a motion picture camera. Despite later claims, Edison was not present when the film was shot but, he did recognize it’s importance and copies were being printed and distributed within days.

The US Air Force would also have it’s second kill later that afternoon and, despite the fan fair surrounding Jones and Park, the second interception was actually far more important. The CSS War Cloud met a similar fate after the US pilots, based on the reports from Jones, figured out the weakness of their enemies. When Sergeant’s Leeland and Conklin intercepted the War Cloud, they went right for the bomb bay doors and scored an immediate and critical hit. Now it was definitive that the first interception was no fluke. The US suddenly seemed to have a viable weapon and, thanks to Thomas Edison, it would not be long before the entire world could see this with their own eyes.

While it was very clear to the war planners and national leaders alike, and this included Roosevelt, that the air plane was not yet a viable weapon system they also realized that it did not have to be. Both sides were already teetering on the brink, the first overtures of peace had been made, and the airplane was simply what tipped the balance. What Balfour in London, and Wheeler in Richmond, both had to contend with was that the fire bombing had failed, even if most of the bombers did reach their targets. They also had to realize that while the airplane was not that powerful in 1901, if they chose to continue the war that might not be the case in 1902. It was also a technology that they were lagging far behind in. The zeppelins came about from established and well understood technologies. The airplane was simply too revolutionary and not that simple to develop. The US lead would give then an undisputed edge and it was not the kind that could be easily ignored. The ultimate result would be that the US could stop raids while continuing their own.

This is why Wheeler telegraphed Balfour, in London, and Wilson in Geneva. He outlined his own demands for a cease fire and the negotiations to end the war began in earnest.