MASTERING THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 85, 3 January 1918, Page 5

MASTERING THE AIR

RIVAL NATIONS MATCHING SKILL IN DESIGN WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENT IN AVIATION (By Arthur I). Howdcn Smith, in the New York "Evening Post.")

In 110 branch of warfare have tlid developments been so rapid as in the building and fighting of aeroplanes. In loss than three years wo have seen tho military neroplane progress from tlio old-fasiiioned, liglitly-built bus, carrying at, most two men, with a speed or fifty miles an hour, to a multiplicity of specialised types, including the fast-flying scout !and armoured bombing machines, carrying a ton or more of cargo and capable of ■ lon: r range lights at 80 to 120 miles an ho-.r. Nor has the development of tho figlit- . ing 'piano yet come to a halt. Its evolution is constant and unceasing, and several of the warring nations have surprises, in the shape-of. still higher-powered machines, preparing for their opponents. To Americans the- history of tlio aeroplane on tho Western front in France, where most of the improvements in aeroplane designing and con-, struction have been worked out, must be more than ordinarily interesting in view of the colossal appropriation of 1,000,000,000 dols. for an air fleet recently passed by Congress. It is incumbent upon the nation to spend this money wisely. Vast and far-reaching plans have been laid for our participation in' aerial warfare, and emphasisis being laid—very properly—upon the development of our campaign along lines congenial to our own peculiar mechanical genius. But_ it is possible to overdo the most praiseworthy motive, and unless intelligent account is taken of the painful experiences of our Allies and enemies wc must reckon on great losses of men and ninchinos which might otherwise he avoided.

Great Task for United States. ' Tho story of. the -different types of aeroplanes hero presented in tho words of Sergeant-Pilot Dean Ivan Lamb, an American who lind nineteen months' active service in the British Royal Flying Corps—sixteen months'in France, and three months on the defences of London—should help all Americans to form a more definite conception of the tremendous task ahead of our (lying administration, and the thousands of men who will fly and fight the machines with the' Indian's head insignia. It will be noted that Mr. Lamb makes <1 special point of the danger of overstandardisation.

"Much of the trouble experienced by the British in the air must be attributed to the influence of the Royal .Aircraft Factory," said Mr. Lamb. "The power of the men at the head of this institution over aeroplane development .frequently has been harmful and always has tended toward checking free and unhampered progress. They have been jealous* of inventions and improvements by other manufacturers, t,nd have delayed the use of such new ideas, often with disastrous effect. And they have also been responsible for the employment of several types of 'planes which have been nothing less than death-traps. The Royal Naval Air Service, unlike the Royal Flying Corps, ,has been independent of the Royal Aircraft Factory, and the navy men have been several jumps ahead of the Army flyers in the efficiency of their machines. But I cannot speak definitely of what they have done because 1 never had i any practical experience with them.

British Reliance on Skill. "Early in the war the standard British machine was the BE 2c, a product of the Royal Aircraft Factory. It (vas not a bad bus. It was remarkably stable, for one thing—you could fiy it with; your hands oil' the controls almost indefinitely. The engine was a copy of the Renault motor, with improvements ' by the factory's experts, and the horse-power- .was increased from eighty to ninety; but it was not so good a motor as the old Renault; The speed was about fifty-eight miles an hour, fully loaded. This; machine was put out to oifset the 1 German Taubes, which couki do from fifty-eight to sixty-five miles an hour, and 1 it accomplished purpose. It could climb as fast or faster than, the Taubes, and thg British pilots then, as now, individually were superior tb the Germans. Incidentally, I might say, tho task, of the Royal Flying Corps from the start has been to encounter superior machines with inferior machines, winning its victories . by the superior skill and initiative of its pilots. The British have lagged behind the Germans and the French in aeroplane development, but you can't beat their pilots.

"Another early British machine was the Vickors gun bus, as it was popularly called, which came into use during July and August, 1915. It was of of the pusher type, and had a rotary 100-horse-power motor. It 'was very slow and unstable, but not a bad fighting machine for that time. Its principal defect was the number of accidents it caused. It never l-cpluced tic BE2c. During May and June, IUIC, tlio remaining Vickers gun buses were replaced by the FE2I3, also a puslior type, with a 120-horse-power Bearditioro motor. The YE2B did sevenlyfive miles an hour, and had the merit of groat stability. It was an excellont gun-platform. Machines of this type are still in use.

"Fritz has always been ready with something new, whenever the balance of power in the air was upset against him. The ltoyal Aircraft Factory ordered thousands of the"BE"2c type inachino, blissfully confident they had a sure antidoto for liun flyers. Then, after they had been committed to this piogramme, the Germans in the spring cf 1916 suddenly produced the Foklwr monoplane, which did ninety-five miles an hour and mounted the first synchronised machine gun—that is, amchino gun which could fire through the propeller. Up to November, 1915, our machines wore armed only with riiles and pistols, but in that mouth tl.ey were equipped with light machine guns firing over tlio propeller and planes. Even so, tlioy were no match for the Fokkers, and our losses in tlio opening months of 1016 lyero terrific.

Built to Beat the Fokker. "But very shortly after the appearance of the Fokkor the French brought out the Nieuport Scout, the MorancSaultor monoplane, and the lloraneSaulter biplane, the last-named being a two-seater. Tho British used tlieso to meet the Fokker menace, as well as the Bristol Scout, a new British machine, developed by independent manufacturers, which carried the first synchronised machino gun seen on our side. Tlio French machines wero all very fast, doing from 100 to 115 miles an hour, but none of thorn had synchronised machino guns, fhoy bad something almost as good, however, in steel deflectors on the propeller-blades, which enabled the pilot to lire a machine gun through the propeller, those bullets which struck the blades being caught in steel channels and detleeted sideways. But, of course, the flow of bullets thus achieved was, not as continuous or as powerful as from the synchronised German j guns. "The Aforanc-Sauiter monoplane was the fastest of the new types, and it. drove Fritz out of tho sky, but it was too dangerous for {joneral use, and was replaced by the Nieuport. With the

Fokker, by tlio way, it was tho last of tho monoplanes. Tho superior stability and lifting power of tho biplane pushed it aside. For months after those new machines were employed by thn Allies you could fly around without sighting ft singlo lTun machino 011 our sido of tlio line. During tlio summer of 191 fi I was sometimes over tho German lilies for two hours at a stretch in perfectly clear weather quite undisturbed. Occasionally you might meet an LVG or BFW, bombing and artillery observation 'planes, or a Fokker; but Fritz wouldn't fight.

"In July, 1916, however, the Germans brought olifc tlio Roland Scout, a two-seater, which did from 105 to 110 miles an hour, and carried a synchronised machine-gun. Fritz began _to hold up his head, and our machines didn't always conic home with the. bacon. Very soon our losses bagan f" equal thoso of the Germans. Hut I ■ Roland Scout had been nock of '.lie an- for only a few jveeks when llio I'reijcli sent up tho SPAD, a ISO- - single-seater, with a synchronised machine-gun and . f-pc ed rf from 125 to 130 miles an hour. Tho French built a great many of this type, .and, thanks to their use, wo stopped Fritz from carrying on his favourite trick of climbing high and diving on our artillery buses. (In tho same way, by keeping plenty of SPADS in the air wo were able to prevent him from attacking our unescorted bombing machines.

Enter the Albatross. "Tliis brings us to about September, 1916. Tho British were very slow in adopting the SPAD, but during the fall they introduced the Martinsydo Super-scout, a bombing machine, with a 120-horse-power Beardmore motor and a speed of sixty-fivo miles an hour. It would carry 250 pounds of bombs, and it mounted a. Lewis gun that fired over the top planes. Of course, ,it wasn't much use for anything except bombing, 011 account of its slow speed. It was about this time, too, that the Germans brought out the Halberstadt Bingle-seaWr, designed to answer the threat of the SPAD. It mounted two synchronised machine-guns, both firing through the propeller ahead, and had a speed of 125 miles ait hour. "Tho French, as usual, came back at the Germans smartly with an improved type of SPAD, 200 horse-power, speed 140 to 145 miles an hour, a, singleseater, mounting'one and two synchronised ijiachine-guns. This was a fine machine for scouting purposes, very easy to handle. At the same timeAhe British brought out the Sopwith Pup and the Sojxwith Camel, so called because of _ their appearance. '■ Thev were not quite so good as tho SPADS, but did good work, because their pilots wera better than'the Germans.

"Fritz is a. hustler, though, and after the French produced the improved SPADS he sent up the three Albatross typos—D, D 2, and D3—all single-seaters, with Übersal and Mercedes motors, and speeds up to 145 miles an hour. They appeared serially through the fall of 1916 and tho winter of 1916-17. The last of thorn, Albatross D 3, was armoured, had a 210 horse-power Mercedes motor, and was equal if not superior to the 200 horsepower SPADS. The answer of the Brit, ish to the Albatrosses was the SJD-5, which came out in the spring of -1917. It was a 150 to 200 horse-power single-seater, with a speed of 140 to 145 miles an hour and two synchronised machine-guns, and largely , because of the gameness and skill of British pilots, held its own against the Albatross D-3.

. "In the meantime the Royal Aircraft Factory was busy on its masterpiece. It was about last December, I think, that some of the experts conceived the idea of an improved and faster BEtype machine. Tho BF-2c had showed itself a stable bus, and these experts undertook' to make it faster. So the built what they, called, the 'RAF' motor, rated at 140 horse-power,. It was very, heavy and very unreliable. According to the stories that reached us in the Flying Coi;ps that motor was practically forced on the British Government. The experts of the factory put this motor first in the BE-12, which the same as the old BE-2c. a single-seater.

Reducing Safety Factors, "Now, notice what, happened. This is an impressive lesson 1 in nasty, ill-con-, sidered designing. It was soon found that the new machine did not have enough iving surface. The motor also developed a. nasty trick of shedding its cylinders. 'Fact. When the mechanicians had trouble with that machine they. would first of all look to see if any of the cylinders had dropped off. Well, the experts thought awhile, and filially they put extensions on the top plane and increased the centre section of the top plane. They called this latest product tho BE-12a. It was not successful, except to bring up ( the casualty list of the Flying Corps.- It had one synchronised gun and a speed of eighty-five miles an hour. Realising that they had failed to produce a world-beater, the experts now decided to change the BE-12a into a two-seater, so that sho could mount a second gun to fire to the rear, and be used for artillery observation work, as well as for other purposes. "But they were disappointed again, for tho speed called for in this typo was 100 miles, and she could not make it. , So they took a desperate step. They cut down the factor of safety, and, of course, she didn't have sufficient lift. ' Not deterred hy this experience, they altered her again by increasing the span of 'the bottom plane with short sections, inserted next to the fusilage, and, by increasing the centre section of the top plane. They called this latest model the 1115-8. Its lateral stability was very good, hut it was slow in coming out of turns, and it didn't have enough fin surface. and often went into spins, in which circumstances it could seldom be brought under control again. Because of the reduction of tho factory of safety, the extensions or the 'overhang often folded in mid-air. There would be a military funeral the next day.

"Still another trouble with Hie RE-8 wan Unit it often caught Jin; in the air, always with fatal consequences, of coutso. With fho increased cnginepower given to it, tlio under-earriago had not been "strengthened, and in briii(<;iii{4 it down, unless a perfect landing was made, the. machine was, usually sinaslied. ' Its official speed was 95 miles; actually it never did more than 80 to 8!i miles, Fully loaded— that is, with pilot and gunner aboard, a synchronised Maxim and Lewis gnu and their ammunition. The cylinders of its motors -wen} always 'konking out,' as they call it in the corps. It means going dead. This machine to date has caused more casualties than any other ever used liy the Jtoyal Flying Corps.

Explaining tho Demand, "Tho Royal Aircraft Factory ordered thousands of the ltK-8 typo. I believe tliey are still being manufactured, and of course, while, manufacturers were working on them, other and better machines Miat wore perfected could not bo built. The JiK-8 has been used for all purposes, not only bombing and observation, but for scouting, and ever since its advent on 1 the. Western front the casualties of I ho Flying Corps Im ve mounted. Its backers say there is a never-ceasing demand for it —and there is, for the reason that so many machines are lost in air lights, through accidents in the air, and through crashes in landing, that the squadrons to which REBs are assigned linvo to keep up a steady stream of requisitions for new ones. This shows what over-standardisation can do. Standardisation is all right, mind you. J. am not saying anything against it in reason. But the development of the aeroplane is so rapid that

you can't ailord to standardise arbitrarily. Improvements take placo from month to month. "That tho British can produce good machines is proved by tho DIM, wliieh which was brought out last fall, but did not put in its appearand; in Franco until last spring. It is u. twoseated bus, with a 360-liorse-powcr Rolls motor, a speed of 137 miles an I hour, with two synchronised machineguns mounted in front of the pilot, and a Lewis gun behind for the •gunner. Besides this, it carries 250 pounds of bombs and fuel for iivo hours' uying. it is adaptable to scouting, bombing, or ' long reconnaissance work. All around, it is one of the best machines ill existence. "The last development of the Germans was the Gotlia, a bombing 'plane, which mado its first appearance last summer. It is an exceptionally powerful bus, frequently with an armoured fusillage, carries three men, three guns, one firing through a gun-tunnel behind and underneath, and 800 pounds of bombs. I has a speed of about 80 miles an hour. As a matter of fact, however, it is only an adaptation, with improvements, of tho British Handleyl'ago maohiue, one of which came down by accident in the Lille aerodrome during the summer of 1916. AVhy it is so I don't know, but the Handley- | Page, ft bomb-carrying weight lifter, has never been used to any extend in France by the Royal Flying Corps. "I might say the British now have a type of maciiine which has a speed far beyond anything over attained by any other 'plane, and if their air authorities could get down to business and stop frittering -with other types, they could drive the Huns from tho air with this bus. I'd like to give the particulars of it, but 1 don't believe it would bo fair to do so, The British are evidently holding it back as a surprise, and I think that Fritz will be surprised when it comes over."