THE WINNING COURAGE

Southland Times, Issue 18816, 8 May 1920, Page 10

THE WINNING COURAGE

SOLVING AIR SERVICE PROBLEMS.. LIVES AT HAZARD. A WONDERFUL STORY. Captain W. H. G. Geake, MR-E., AAL, who was the Australian representative on the British War Board of Inventions, 'recently told, in the Sydney Sun, of' the great heroism of those, whose job in the War it was to pile invention on invention, and to ascertain, frequently, by taking hair-raising risks, boa a new difficulty in the field was to be overcome. It is hard to over-estimate the value in aerial warfare of obviating the danger of a ’plane taking fire (says Captain Geake (. Even the. most daredevil air fighter was always prepared to confess tost his one great dread when mixing things at close quarters was that an incendiary bullet might set fire to his T)aa. Every aeroplane sent to France daring the last six months of toe war was equipped with a new selfsealiag petrol tank, tbe invention of a young Canadian, Lieutenant Imber. This was looked upon as one of toe biggest triumphs in warplane equipment; toe : difficulties that had to be overcome were particularly exacting owing to the limitations in weight ami the wonderful incendiary properties of the enemy machine-gun bullet, also owing to a Utile-known phenomenon in tanka containing liquid, called’ a water hammer, as a result of which an armour-piercing 1 bullet entering the tank gives off its energy to the contents, with the result that the tank is spht as well as pierced. •' With devilish ingenuity toe Boefae always loaded' his machine gun belts tip alternately with amour-piercing bullets between each pair of incendiary bullets, the effect being that the armour-piercing boQet shattered the tank, and the incendiary bullet set fire to the escaping gases. After over 13 months experimenting and exhaustive tests a tank was produced which would not allow a angle drop of petrol to escape although perforated, as in one tost, in 82 places by enemy ammunition; furthermore, this tank did not weigh more than 15 per cent, above that of the standard metal tank previoudy used. The ’ amazingly ample idea behind the invention was that of covering a thin soft metal tank with a three-eighth costing of pure rubber, the essential ' condition being that tbe rubber was fitted to the outside of the tank in such a manner as to be always in a state of compression. The bullet upon entering would quite destroy tbe inner metal casing; but the rubber only helped to make the sealing more effective by softening the texture of ' toe robber. This invention allowed our air fightora to take unheard-of liberties in attacking an enemy plane. As, unless tbe pilot was actually hat, or one of the- small controls of the engine severed, it was practically impcatifale to put a pfooe thus equipped out of action. The chief joy of the invention was that the Bocbe could not copy it, became be had not any rubber.

SPECS AL BULLETS,

Another ianaQ argument in favour r of an hn mediate armistice was the invention and ocpiiprrvent of our war-plane* with a rwolutitwary tk-ngn of machine-gun indicts. To outward appearance it was exactly ehniiar to the well-known .303 machine-gun ammunition, but the ballet was divided into four divisions, which separated immediately upon leasing the barrel, and two of these divisions carried an incendiary charge. The design did not trespass on the regulations laid down by the Hague Convention, and was absolutely distinct from an ordinary shot gtm. The secret was also remarkably armpit; each bullet was divided into four segments, which remained dovo-tailed together while in the barrel, but each segment was bo arranged as to be directly exposed to the gas of the propel Eng charge, the result being that each segment accumulated its own high velocity before becoming separated. The great advantaoge was no alterations were necessary to the nra-chrne-gtma or belts. To appreciate what these two inventions in themselves had contributed to the efficiency of our incomparable airmen, remember that the machine-guns had already been upended up until they were firing 1200 shots per minute, consider that each of these shots was really four bullets, again remember the safety protection afforded by the seif-sesiing tank, and that in an emergency, two or, perhaps, three machineguns, could be brought to bear. It will be seen that our pilots could dive close down upon an enemy plane, and that a regular hint of Ised, practically ten thousand separate shots per minute, could be hurled at the enemy plane each time he came wihin range. PROTECTING THE BOMBERS. One of the great weaknesses of the heavy bombing place, until very recently, was that it had one very vulnerable point. It was proved again and again that a fast flying scout could fly in directly under the tail of a big bombing plane, and remain in that position quite safely, as none of the machine guns on the bomber could be brought to bear. To find an answer to the fcal-srttcr without altering the design of our planes, wss another fascinating problem sent to the Research Section from Headquarters, France, And it was successfully solved- The great difficulty that had to be met was that the fragile construction of the war plane, would not withstand the recoil of any of the standard types of bomb-throwing apparatus; the solution was found by drawing upon the ingenuity of the Ancient Romans. A modem adaptation of the original catapult was fitted to the fuselags of the bombing plane, and a ten-pound bomb operated by a time-fuse, which functioned only after having travelled 40 feet through the air, was thrown by this catapult, straight astern. The machine which hurled the bomb would travel from the explosion, whilst the following machine in the potation described above, would be travoWrng> towards bomb abotzt to explode. If the plasoe were anywhere within a radius of a hundred feet of the bomb when it exploded, it would be hopelessly crashed, even if not actually struck by the ahrapneL A SIMPLE WONDER. It has always been the ambition of those who specialised in the armaments of war ’planes to find some method by which a real gun as distinct from machine-guns, could be fitted; something in the shape of a mud! pompom was what we were looking for. But the airplane designers and instructors, after endless tests, proved conetearvety th»t the reooil on such a fragile structure was almost sure to spell disaster, particularly because of the varying strains to which the machines were continually subjected, and the varying angles at which the gun would have to be fired. Endless cushioning and shock absorbing devices were tried, but without saeeeea. An Australian inventor hit upon the only pcmihle solution, and it simply doubled the offensive sUeugth of oar heavier warplanes, like each of the other solutions the idea was aiuipbeity itself. The gun was made so w to fire Bimnltaneoueiy both directly ahead sod astern; that is, the recoil was neutralised by the reooil from the shot fired in the opposite direction. At each driebarge one shot was wasted, but, in aerial gunnery, as m attacking a Zeppelin, one shot was all that was needed, especially as this shell buret in 300 fragments of ahrapneL This is rather a happy instance of the method by which the Australian inventor scored over the more highly-scientific designers from other parte of the m>rfd—he aiwsye tackled problems from the most gtorioudy unorthodox angle. INTO THE NET. One of the finest instances of calculated courage imaginable was provided in connection with experiments with screens suspended from balloons. To understand the story, it mart be explained that for the six months prior to Christmas, 1917, very exhaustive experiments hod been carried out, and eounttess tests made in an endeavour to produce a very fight screen, which could be supported by & captive baboon, and, which would entangle any hostile aircraft in its merftee. As an outcome of these teste the beat type of screen was adapted m«ngfaLlni>»l in large quantities, «nrl certainly proved of the very greatest value in preventing air raids.

This was in 1917—ex months later our airplanes were nightly bombing the Rhine towns, and the Boche, being always a good copyist, promptly put up screens of a timi- | lar type to protect toe cities on the Rhine, Following the usual practice the problem was sent to us for any possible solution; that is, w© were asked to find some way of getting through the very nets which we had previously spent six months in making impenetrable. A TERRIBLE RISK. Every known principle of wire-cutting was carefully examined; tests were made until the best possible high-speed cutting device was arrived at, and two of these were fitted to tbe leading edge of the wings of the ’plane at their extreme tips. A steel guide wire was carried in front oi • the propeller, and from there it ran down I into the jaws of these cutters, forming, as it were, a wedge-shaped entrance in front I of the ’plane, thus keeping the wire of the screen oat of the propeller, and guiding the wire into the jaws of the cutters. Naturally, every part was tested very carefully upon the ground; but although these wen? satisfactory we could not look upon anything aa being accomplished until the device wee tried in the air. With very real trepidation the officers responsible for this experiment talked the matter over with two of the experimental pilots on the. station; but the trial was so fraught with pen! to the pilot who would actually have to attempt to drive his machine through a net that we had spent ax months in making absolutely certain death to all aircraft—particularly as nothing of the same type had ever been attempted before—that we simply had to wait for a volunteer to undertake the risk. HAVE A CUT AT IT. The younger of the two pilots, a Scotchman who was little more than a school boy, examined the machine pretty thoroughly, and then very nonchalantly remarked that he would like to have a cut at it the following morning. When the following morning arrived some little difficulty occurred in getting tbe screen, up, and it was late in the afternoon before all was in readiness. Our volunteer pilot merely asked that the net might be ran up another 1000 ft. and then just casually jumped into his machine, ran the engine up, and three or four minutes later was cirrdmg round at 4000 ft, while we on tbe ground were suffering the tensest agony of suspense. Without more than a moment’s hesitation the pilot, having got his altitude, turned her nose down, and dived straight for the net. "When be hit it we could see from tbe ground that them was something wrong; a rat I am afraid all present fort several heart bests, particularly those responsible for tbe design. What bad actually happened was that tbe cutter on the starboard wing had cut through successfully, but the port wing had not been so successful. The momentum of the machine had carried it through tbe screen, and in spinning round on toe other tide it had unhooked the port wing tip, winch, through not cutting, had become entangled. The machine turned over like an autumn leaf and lost height for over 1000 ft, before tbe pilot again got control. Two or three minutes later he was gliding to earth and. cafanly walking up to the knot of still awe-stricken officers, whom ho greeted with the simple intimation that ho was entitled to a “gaeper” (cigarette), as “that cutter up there was a blinking dnd.” ANOTHER MYSTERY AWARD. An examination of the machine was made at once, and was more than acceptable as a relief from the strain of the last two or three minutes. Tbe chap who had actually taken the risk was by far the coolest man present. Tbe examination showed that there was a slight difference in the teruaoo of the guide wire which formed the entering wedge, on’ the tide that had hot functioned. It is unnecessary to say how much care

was expended in making the port side eoc-. aetiy m the starboard, or to say tint the

whole gear was examined again and again, both that night and first tiling in the morning. And while this examination was in progress before breakfast and before the rest of the station realised that there was anything under way, oar pilot friend strolled carelessly oat to where we were working, threw away his cigarette, and in a quarter of an hour was safely back in the ’drome again, having cut the set through. The only record that the public knew of this piece of superbly-quiet daring was the Gasette notification of another mystery award for serrieee undefined. The only Intimation the Boehe had of it was the seeming utter fertility of several perfectly well-hung screens supposed to be protecting the Rhine towns.