SUPREMACY OF THE AIR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 228, 5 March 1915, Page 6

SUPREMACY OF THE AIR.

VIEWS OF A HERMAN CHIEF. The chief of a German aeroplane squadron reconnoitring round Rheims has give n the correspondent of the New York Times his views of aerial warfare. He said:— "We are all eagerly awaiting orders for a raid on England. I have flo\v:i over Paris. doing to Paris is mere chauffeur's work. Six machines of the squadron have covered 15.000 miles since the war began. The French military machines are about "0 miles faster tha n ours, but there is no advantage in going so fast, for you cannot make good observations. At a height of (iOrtO feet you are quite secure against fire from below. We also find the safest thin? to do is to circle right over the battery. They cannot get at you then. Fights m the air are regular occurrences now. We attack every chance we get, in spite of the fact that we have only our revolvers against their machine guns mounted 01, their aeroplanes. We find the best defence against their machine gun fire ,s to get up close to the French aeroplane and then dodge and twist in sharp dips and turns, spoiling their aim and giving lis the advantage with our revolvers. "One of the most interesting engagements was between n squadron of four of our aeroplanes armed with revolvers jnd a big and a little ISauernschrcck "scarecrow,'' the Oman nickname forFrench aeroplanes armed with machine guns. The fight lasted nearly an hour, at an altitud- ranging from five to six thousand feet., the big scarecrow beina finallv forced to land, while the little one flew off. One of our airmen did a fine piece of work recently? landing lie-

hind the French lines and destroying the railway at that point and flying oil' again. "The French are magnificent flyers, so are the English, but we Hermans lia> - c the training. Especially in trained observers we have a big advantage." Oineral vo n ITerringen told the correspondent that the Allies' :u roplanc-. owimr to their equipment in maehinepins, are jrreatly superior to the, (W-y----mans, but said that this was hcing :omedied. f!rmral von Launch, Chief of Staff to von TTeerinjjen, declared: — £ 'A\Y recently br; li.Lrlif. down a French aeroplane from an altitude of Slflflft. Our ne.v pun can shoot fonr miles high.-

The correspondent explains that just as all the Herman cavalrv are not ns, so all tli;* Herman aeroplanes fiTc not Taubes. Tn Far more frequent nsr than the Tallin* is the doubledecker Aviatik, which has a monoplane body with the observer and pilot sitting tandem-fashion and a Mercedes motor in front. These machines are designed not for speed, but for wightlit tinu'. as indicated by their formidable arsenal of bombs. Tn beauty, workmanship and finish these infernal machines the correspondent found most intere-t-

The 10-ponnders and 20-pounders looked lik" miniature torpedoes with slightly bulb-shaned bodies, tapering rounded i;e-!'-, a tiny three-bladed propellor !'?.«• tail, and a steep rin«r to serv as a handgrip. When the airman is ready to drop the bomb, all lie has to do is !■. make a simple adjustment taking no more than a- second, which releases Ci" pre-pello;*. As the bomb drops the prnp«'llor w set in rapid motion, driving t'.e clockwork mechanism in the bomb. Aft< r a hundred yards drop it is all readv to explode when it strike-. There ar.akn mimd e.nmonball bombs and special bomb- for starting a conflagration when they strike. The 'lennans are now "silent death darts," every oee of which bears on one side of the point the legend in French, "French invention," :"mI e-, flic other side the words. man manufacture."