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A WASP OF THE AIR

HOW THE FOKKER FIGHTS. The Fokker is a racing monoplane, such as that skilful and daring aviator, Gustave Hamel, used to fly in aerial races. The British military authorities discarded the monoplane as less suitable fqr war work than the_ biplane, but the Germans have emphatically demonstrated the utility of tho fast monoplane for defensive operations against enemy aircraft. The Fokker is fitted with a large engine of 150 to 200 horse power, and the great speed this .engine gives to' ihe light machine, combined with the ability to climb rapidly in the air, and so secure the advantages of the upper berth in an aerial duel, constitutes its chief advantages. It carries a machine gun which, when fired by the observer accompanying the pilot, can be aimed in any direction, as it works on a swivel. When the Fokker is so small as to be incapable of carrying an observer the machine gun is fix'ed in a way which enables the pilot ( to fire it straight ahead through the propeller, or,. to speak technically, the tractor screw. As most people know, tho tractor screw of an aeroplane is in front of the machine, not behind, as is the case with a ship's propeller. The advantage of being able to fire straight ahead through the_ tractor -screw of a Fokker monoplane is that tho pilot of a Fokker,- while, pursuing an enemy, machine, and overtaking it by means of superior speed,'can get the pilot, observer, engine, and oil tanks of the v*nemy machine all in a line, and thereby increase the prospect of damaging the enemy machine or wounding the occupants. The danger of firing through the propeller has been that of smashing the propeller blades aid thereby-crippling the machine, but the propellor blades of the Fokker are fitted with deflector_ plates which turn aside all bullets which hit the blades. It is estimated that only five or six bullets out of a hundred are likely to [lit the plates. "The favourite method of attack is for the Fokker to get up high—to about 1500 feet or so —and hang about till one of the Allies' machines appears in sight below," states a correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian." "Then if of the fixed gun type, the Fokker stands on its head and dives straight for its victim, loosing off a stream of bullets as 600n as it gets within range. By making tho descent ever so slightly spiral the straight stream of bulleta becomes a cone of fire with_ its_ apes at the gun and with tho Tictim inside, so that-whichever way tho lower machine tries to oscape it must pass through that cono.

"When the Fokker gets close to its enemy, if he has not already been hit, it approaches dircctly from behind, firing straight along the body or fusilage, so as to have pilot, passengers, tanks and engine all in one line of fire; and unless the pursued machino is very quick on its controls and is able to clodgo liko a rabbit, some vital part is bound to ho hit sooner or later. The Fokkors, which do not firo through their propellers, almost always attack their victims from behind, diving under their tails and coming up in a position that while they can shoot up into tho body of the pursued machine, tho passenger in that machine, even if sitting behind tho pilot, cannot shoot at the Fokkor for fear of blowing, his own tail off.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19160325.2.13

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2729, 25 March 1916, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
584

A WASP OF THE AIR Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2729, 25 March 1916, Page 3

A WASP OF THE AIR Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2729, 25 March 1916, Page 3

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