§ 66. The Steel Dart. A form of gravitational projectile or missile introduced during the present war is the steel dart; this commonly consists of a piece of steel wire or rod some 5 in, or 6 in, long by 5⁄16 in, in diameter, pointed at the one end and "feathered" at the other. In size and shape the missile resembles and ordinary well-sharpened graphite pencil, the feathering being done in some cases by the milling away of the tail portion to a cruciform section; alternatively the rear two-thirds of the missile may be made of thin-gauge tube. The weight is about 1 oz. This "pencil dart" is used against the personnel of the enemy—i.e., encampments, men or cavalry on the march, etc.; the rate of fall, if dropped from a few thousand feet altitude, would be little short of the limiting velocity, say some 400 ft, or 500 ft, per second. The penetration at this velocity should be equal to several inches of spruce planking. Steel darts are either allowed to fall out of a hopper or may be simply thrown out or "sown" by hand. They appear to be quite effective when they find their mark, but their discharge and direction are subject to the same limitations as to accuracy which apply to the throwing of the hand-grenade or bomb, with much greater uncertainty as due to air resistance. Beyond this the steel dart, to be effective, must be dropped from a height—a very considerable height—and so it is not possible to make a sudden descent for the purpose of bringing off an attack, as is the case when the bomb is the weapon chosen. For these reasons the author does not believe that the dart will have a very great vogue. Once the aeroplane has been satisfactorily adapted to the carrying of a machine-gun, it is quite clear that the steel dart, weighing, as it does, as much as the ordinary Service cartridge, must be regarded as a weapon of doubtful utility.
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