AEROPLANE ENGINES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1526, 23 March 1916, Page 4

AEROPLANE ENGINES.

The statement of the Undersecretary for War in the House of Commons recently—that highpowered aeroplane engines of British manufacture are now coming forward —has a direct bearing on the recent controversy about the Fokker, An aeronautical correspondent of the London Times remarks that there is a danger lest the technicalities of the controversy should obscure the real issues. The unpleasant fact is that, for the moment, the Germans are employing against British airmen a machine which, skilfully used as it is, in the manner which gives it the greatest possible advantage, is considerably interfering with their daily work. It is not surprising to learn from British headquarters that the airmen are not seriously perturbed by the Fokker; their indifference to danger is known to the world, and to no one better than the enemy. They profess to have a machine which can deal with it. There is, indeed, reason to believe that Britain has “a machine” as good as, or better than the Fokker. The question is whether it exists at present in sufficient numbers in the field to neutralise the efforts of its natural adversary. The success of the Fokker is due to its big engine, which is apparently of 150 160 h.p. The machine itself is a copy, with a large engine, of the Morane monoplane, which Britain was using until she abandoned it' for something better.