| Description | Written from Bonskeid, Pitlochry, Scotland
' I am here in a YMCA hostel for a short holiday, between end of term and examination conference. I had no holiday during the Easter vacation, and the last weeks have not smoothed my nerves. But I feel that in this quiet valey I shall quickly recover. I wonder what you have felt during the last weeks. Although we have prophesied some of the events facts have been worse than imagination. It worries me very much that in much life, wealth,happiness is wasted by the omissionof proper foresight and prevention.The weak point is always the missing fantasy. The British react soundly to a given situation but do not prepare for a future possibility. I have once written to Lindemann about a special point (the danger of landing troups with hydroplanes on the lowly Scottish lochs) and his secretary replied that it would be considered by the proper authorities. Now I do not dare to bother him again. But I am thinking permanently about the situation, and it seems to me that there is one most important point: the Rhine bridges. This is of course trivial; it is certainly clear that their destruction would be most important, but just as clear that it is impossible. But I think that such a problem is only impossible to solve from a definite standpoint, and not if it is taken as a technical problem. I have made a suggestion to S T Thornton already months ago: to use magnetic mines, floating on the river under the surface, which go up when passing an iron bridge. It should be much easier to drop these in the river some distance above the bridge where no strong air defenses are. Another idea is a dirigible bomb which could be directed from a plane in great height with help of electric waves. It looks first sight impossible as no geographical direction can be fixed. But it could be done in this way: the bomb carries rudders, two sets in mutually perpendicular directions; one of these directions is visible as a line in the telescope of the aiming man in the plane who keeps a line in his field of sight coinciding with it. This motion of the telescope is coupled to the two switches which control the radio waves for the "parallel and "normal" motion. In this way the motion is in principle completely determined by the observer. Whether it is possible to do it technically is another question. But as Dymond has built a sending apparatus in his balloons for registering cosmic rays on the ship (as the balloons in Greenland were generally lost) I can see no obstacle for such a directing device, - Do you think it possible to promote such a suggestion? Or is it quite hopeless? Please do what you can. I believe that something little like that is essential. I remember that there are 4 or 5 bridges in Cologne; if there are as many as that in the 3 or 4 other big cities, one has at most 20 to destroy. No big traffic could go to the Nazi army if this could be achieved.
If you think I am phantastic please destroy this letter.
My scientific work has come to a standstill, as two of my collaborators have been interned (Furlis and Kellermann). A few people continue their Ph.D. theses, and I help as much as I am able; but some of the problems chosen by Furlis are quite strange to me, Furth is doing good work; he has several papers partly in print, partly in preparation, I am too nervous to be able to concentrate on abstract work.
Let me know how you and your family are going on. With best wishes. ' |