STORY OF THE FOKKER PLANE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 33, 3 November 1919, Page 5

STORY OF THE FOKKER PLANE

WIRELESS-STEERED BOMBER AIR COASTING AS A SPORT In a message to (ho tlxehange Telegraph Company from Amsterdam ail American correspondent describes a conversation he has had with ,M. A. U. 11. Fokker. the Dutch inventor whose name U'associated with the noty famous Fokker aeroplanes. "It Ihe war had gone on for several I more vears, how far would the aeronlanes have developed?" 1 asked M. l:'o\;11 is answer revealed what ho assured me had been a great military secret. "We would have put the artillery out of commission," ho said. "We would have made the big guns as old-fashioned as soears. It was all (ho fault of the Army 'red tape' in Berlin that it was not begun sooner. "It was like this: In 19Hi the Army authorities asked me if I could make a verv cheap aeroplane with a very cheap engine, capable of Hying about four hours, which, could be steered through the air bv wireless waves.' They intended io load ea|:li one of these aerolilani's with a huge bomb and gelid them inlo the aiifl under the control of one 'flying man, who would herd thein through the sky by wireless like a flock of sheep. lie would be able to steer them as he pleased, and send them down to earth in just exactly the spot he •selected. To Supplant Big Guns. 1 "The Herman idea was that, it was a tremendous waste to send shells through the air by means of explosives; their idea was to put nil their explosives inlo the shells, and their move the shells to their destination by gasoline power. They lind renllv lost faith in the use of big guns. The 'Big Bertha,' which fired shells 75 miles to Paris, was probably partly intended to delude Ihe Allies into believing that the Germans were developing their big guns instead of preparing to discard tliem, and if they had •not got tangled up in their own 'red time' Ihov would have rendered the big guns useless before the armistice came. "I prepared tlie plans they asked for., I found that we could make use of old engines that were not reliable for fighting 'planes. All we asked of an engine was that if should flv for about four hours at the most. Of course, each one of these aeroplanes with its engines would be blown up when the bomb exploded, but the whole Ihing iras not much more expensive than firing longrange shells, and it would be far more sure and far more deadly. "ilv plans were accepted bv the authorities. and then the War Office made its great mistalco —decided to make the aeroplanes itself, i The War Office bungled along with Ihe manufacture of the 'pianos for manv month?, and when thev had finally turned out a few machines thev found tlieij. could not be dene"ded upon. "In the summer of 1918, three mouths before the armi-'fice, they came lo me and gave me a huge order for wirelesssteered aeroplanes. I had insli got ready to manufacture them in wholesale quantities when the end of Hie war came. Those aeroplanes would have worked havoc wherever they were used ; it would liave been like shooting huge shells hundreds of miles with a range that. was absolutely accurate."

The Plane of the Future. "Whal "ill be Ihe aeroplane of the next war?" !• asked. , . "The winged wireless-steered bomb ami great aeroplanes that will carry hundreds of men." ~ "How fast will fhw fro? lVhnt is the speed limit of an aeroplane?" "The only speed limit is your pocketbook. ("live me plenty of monev and f can'make an aeroplane that M ill go as fa-it as vou can imagine." jr. Fokker sihmved mo a photograph of an aeroplane without, an engine, is m.v-very, .latest id«a," he said. "This is an aeroplane that can be. towed behind another plane. "Jfy idea now is to put. it out as a sporting idea. It costs very little to make a motor-less aerotdane. Sporting contests wilib such machines would be. very much like tobogganing contests on tihe winter r u"s in Hip Alps. An .'aircoaster' could b° towed by an aeroplane to a height of nOOflft. or more, and then cnii biose and elide down. "There are dozens of different that migh l - be made with these 'aircoasters.' Tl"\v are jnst as safe «<i aero-pl-Mies. and T'th'»k the day will come when 'air constin"' withouii engines will b« a "mat sport." Jf. I'Vkkcr would lell me litfle of bis further plan to tow 1 » se-ie? of these machines as a locomotive tow- a siring of cars, but he has such a »lnn. "Tt wonld no! be impossible to set out with a line of towed coasters," lie said, "anrl have each coaster cut loose w'hen it reached Ihe town where the iias=en<™rs in lilip nai'ticular coaster w'slml to a'iebl." "Ton know." he said-in conclnsinn, "|bere is no limit to wliat can b? done with aeroolaties nroviding Ihe monev is forthcoming. T have plan".'now for a 20,000 horse-nowo" a°rordane."