IN THE AIR.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 February 1916, Page 5

IN THE AIR.

THE JANUARY RAID, ~... TOTAL OF Received Feb. 27, 6:6 p.m. Londoi, Feb. 95. "•" The final casualty list of the air qfcty on January 31 is as follows.— Kßki, [ 27 wen, 25 women, and 15 children* (m jured, 45 men, 53 women, 19 children. ' The number if bombs dropped w»» JW, TRANSPARENT AEROPLANE?* I'll**. INVISIBLE AT 6000 FEET, _,,■). * •( Military authorities await the If vclopinent of the new' French UvUifcla «-■ aeroplane with great interest. Tho \ French Government is, naturally, vary 'secretive about this inventiss, which] bids fair to revolution!?* a.eria.l warfare, and information in difficult to obtain, but it is rumored that one of {hest, machines recently 'attacked and 4eV ' stroyed a German Aviatik withoht aj oattle. Tlie enemy craft had w iir ". timatien «f the attack, until under fee from the mitrailleuse of the Ffcnthj machine. <

In. type this new marvel is simjhtf f tithe "Voisin." The body and fraaaetforic are constructed, as in erdigsrjl machined, of aluminium braced with; wire. Over the framework, instead o* canvas, is stretched a transparent material, which lo»ka like a cross be* tween mica and cellulaid. It is called "cellon," and is a chemical combination of cellulose and acetic acid. Of almost the same transparency as glass, it doe* not crack or splinter and has the teugh* ness and pliabilitv of rubber.. It ii. neither inflammable nor soluble, and il impervious to the effects of gasoline. ' Experiments with cellen have *J» been made extensively by the German* and f*r the same purpose, but without success, because of a tendency to which thry were unable to overceae, . The French success lies in having eliminated that tendency. And in delag so they have completed a practically in-. vincible as well as invisible machine. Al. a keigrht of 3(100 feet it becomes an ia* distinct blur. At SOOO feet "it is ab»lutely lost to sight. This mesa* a> ■great increase in scouting peMibilitie* ■ and lens danger U operators. Since the aeroplane can be. detected enly by the neise of its engines, it is no .longer «, target f«r hostile gun?. The Kuropean war might well b» .called a AVar of Aircraft; and tke •pinion ij growing that its issue will b* decided by the birdnen. Almost erery '' day sees r.ew inventions or matted* introduced to still further inerene speed or'power or efficiency. A few. weeks ag« it was the massive new German aeroplane, said to be pr»pelkd by four motors of SO horse-power each, so heavy and unweildly that the steering gear is of a necessity operated by machine, and able to carry 1+ pMsenferi, at a speed hitherto unheard of. , Now is the still greater wend<a*-» machine tl-at is invicible. In the hands of the daring French aviators great results rafv be expected, and the triuwk of its production shows tVat the FnsptK have net been idle. —"" *;