Early Approach to Anti-Aircraft, 1917

JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

[Source: Illustrirte Zeitung, March 17, 1917.]

This is an odd image--or at least at first glance it looks odd--showing Turkish soldiers at "Salonikifront'/Salonica, Thessalonia practicing at anti-aircraft fire and enemy plane control.  The thing is that in order to have an sort of effectiveness in bombing or strafing the aircraft would have to be relatively low and slow, even for those times. It is possible that they could be shooting at aircraft traveling at 80mph and low enough to be reachable by rifle fire.  With this many rifles, the idea may have been workable.