Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1916. AIR SUPREMACY.

Nelson Evening Mail, 22 September 1916, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1916. AIR SUPREMACY.

ALTHOUGH the Allies have obtained a -very important advantage over the Germans by their almost incontestable supremacy in the air on the Soirune fiont, it. must not be considez-ed that they are complete masters in the air. Whilst the Zeppelin raids on Britain have been disappointing- to the Germans the airships have, especially as naval scouts, performed most important work. It has been proved that the Zeppelin® which were scouting in front of their own fleet at the Jutland battle, were able to' warn the German admiral of the approach of the British battleships in time for him to slip out of the liet. But the Zeppelins have ibeen little in evidence in land- operations. And it is here that the Allies appear to have concentrated most of their attention. According to an American correspondent Great Britain has spent £40,000,000 since the beginning of the war on the construction of aircraft, and also, incidentally, General Bird wood has selected' 200 officers from the Australasian forces for the Flying Corps. Aeroplanes can be built for £2OOO, and the number built to date must be very formidable, for a large part of the £40,000,000 would doubtless be spent in this direction. Tl)e latest volume of Nelson's "History of the War" (No. 13} contains a very interesting chapter on "The Winter's War in the Air," and gives a particularly instructive account of the way in which specialisation is carried out in this branch of warfare. Germany, for example, began with an immense number of planes of the "Taube" type, large machines, clumsy to handle., and they proved ineffective against the handful of Allied machines which were superior in fighting power, j Both Germany and the Allies soon learned that different types of aircraft were re-

quired for different work. Mr John Buchan divides "them into four main classes. There are first the scouts, for reconnaissance work. These must 'be fairly large, and carry an observer, photographic apparatus, and one 01* two ma-chine-guns. They must be handy to manoeuvre, so as to escape the enemy's guns, and must have good climbing power so as to escape from enemy planes. The latest type have motors of from 80 to 150 horse-power, and are capable in still weather of doing nearly 100 miles an hour. In the work of reconnaissance, the Allies have more than held their own, seeing that for one German reconnaissance over the Allied lines at Verdun the Allies made five over the German. In the .present offensive on the Western front, our predominance is even more marked. The second class, the machine which "spots" for the guns, is usually a small ma cine which can-climb rapidly and earn be easily handled i nail winds. A German machine which appeared early this yeai- and ha<l its body. sheathed in some metal which protected it against rifle 'bullets, seems to have been; very successful. The third class contains the bonib-droppers. It is essential to this- type to possess great carryl- - and to be able to climb high so that in its journeys to its objective it should escape notice from the ground.

The French Caudron, we are told, often*' carried its crew far inside the Germans lines at an altitude of 14,000 feet or so (nearly the height of Mount Blanc),'j which no German 'battle-plane could reach. Bombardments are usually -undertaken by squadrons of airplanes, and it will be remembered how a French-, squadron flew to Stuttgart and dropped' 30 bombs on the Palace of the King of ; Wurtemberg, several other 'bombing' raids being carried out at the same time, as i eprisals for the German- Zeppelin* raids on London in September last. The fourth class contains the battle-planes, or the ' avions de chasse," as the French call them, which are intended' to engage and destroy hostile machines. The German Fokker was at first a formidable weapon of this class, but- has now been outclassed 'by the Allies' fighting planes. 1 here are, of course, in addition, the Zeppelins. Experience has shown that it easily misses its objective, that it has to drop its bombs blindly from a great height, and that so far the military damage done by Zeppelins is very slight. It is recognised, however, that they are of value as scouts for the Fleet, and this, no doubt, is the reason why England has at last started on the construction' of similar airships.