FIGHTING AT HIGH ALTITUDES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3167, 18 August 1917, Page 8

FIGHTING AT HIGH ALTITUDES

HOW WE HAVE "CLIMBED" SINCE 1914. At the beginning of the war the average height flown on active service was from -1000 to MOO feet, oimply because few of the machines then in use, with the impedimenta carried could got much higher. To-day a height of 20,000 feet is sometimes reached, and it is fairly certain that if progress continues at its present rate heights a great deal beyond this figure will be reached as a usual thing. These great altitudes bring forward many difficulties which will h.ive to be seriously considered. The first trouble in the winter will bo the extreme cold to which the occupants will be subjected, unless they are- protected by special cowling which will gather in the warmth given off by the engine. A height of 20,000 feet is almost equal to four miles. At this height it is impossible to distinguish clearly anything on the gronnd. According to an expert airman, it becomes difficult to make out the details of a town or of the countryside after au aeroplane rises beyond 3000 feet. At 6000 feet the buildings of a town or the trees and fields of a landscape coalesce, and are seen as a compact maes, with hardly any detail. At 12,000 feet hardly iinything is perceptible except a vogue dividing line between land arid sea.

The squadrons o-' German aenylanes which have been raiding English towns fly at 12,000 feet or mere. Doubtless they would like to fly lower, so as to be able to take some sort "f aim with t' ie ' r bombs, but they we obliged to keep high for the purpose of safety. It is not tho anti-aircraft guns that they fear,' but pursuit by British aeroplanes. Their «reat height represents a long start in case of pursuit, as they can disappear homeward before pursuing aeroplanes can climb up to them. In aerial fighting it ie the man on top who has .ill the advantages on Ms side. Bu:; the German, aeroplane raiders have found thi.t although they can defy pur3ii.it from aerodromes on English soil, they cannot evade the British naval aeroplanes and seaplanes at the British avintion Wise at tho French Channel pert of Dunkirk. As soon as the pre?enco of German aerial raiders over England become known, the news is telephoned to Dunkirk, and squadrons of aeroplanes climb up to 12,000 feet and more, and hove'- over the Tjelgian coast au-1 r.ver the Channel, awaiting the return of the raiders.

Sir J. Madden, K.C.M.G., etc.. Lieuten-ant-Governor and Chief Justice of Victoria, when delivering judgment iu a case in which an inferior substitute had been pushed as "just as Rood" as SANBEE'S EUCLAYPTI EXTRACT, said with regard to the GENUINE SANDER EXTRACT: "Whenever an article is commended to the public by reason of its good quality, it is not permissible to imitate any of its features." When using a medicine it is "good quality" that you want, and SANDER'S EXTRACT has tho endorsement and approval of tho highest authorities. Inhaled, applied locally, taken on sugar or in water as directed, SANDER'S EXTRACT is equally beneficial becauso it is specially refined and prepared by Pander's process and contains no harmful by-offects. TJee SANDER'S EXTRACT only when you desire good and lusting effects; no "just as good."—Advt.

The season of Miss ll;mo Tempest and Mr. Graham Browne at Sydney has been phenomenally wiccessftil. tind is now noarinpr its close A visit to Brisbane, will follow with the complete repertoire, then Adelaide and Perth in that order, Mies Tempest and Mr. Cjrahum Biwno returning to Melbourne tip open at tho Theatre Royal al Cup time. A tonir of Nrw Zealand will ho mado n,* a Chiistmas attraction in the Dominion.