Aircraft: its development in war and peace and its commercial future (2024)

AIRCRAFT

The object of this book is to explain the fundamentalprinciples of aeronautics and to point out the historicdevelopment of both the heavier-than-air and thelighter-than-air craft. The treatment is simple. Technicalphrases have been avoided wherever possible.Emphasis has been laid on the changes in the design orconstruction of aeroplanes and dirigibles, which showthe evolution of flight and aircraft from early experimentswith balloons and gliders to the transatlanticflights of the NC-4, the Vickers “Vimy” Bomber, andthe R-34. Only those things have been singled outwhich indicated a step forward in the science of aeronautics.Emphasis is placed upon the commercialaccomplishments of the aeroplane and the dirigible,and many of the present uses and future possibilitiesof aircraft as a commercial vehicle have been pointedout.

I am indebted to many sources for the informationcontained herein. Mr. Henry Woodhouse, the well-knownaeronautical authority and editor of FlyingMagazine and author of the text-books on military andnaval aeronautics, has been the source of much of myinformation, and the volumes of Flying Magazinehave supplied me with much historic data. Aerial AgeWeeklyand Mr. G. Douglas Wardrop, the managing[viii]editor, have also been very helpful. The British periodicalsFlight, The Aeroplane, and Aeronautics havefurnished me with many facts regarding British aircraft.The articles of Mr. C. G. Grey, the editor ofThe Aeroplane, dealing with the growth of heavier-than-airmachines, and of Mr. W. L. Wade on lighter-than-aircraft, have been the source of many of thefacts regarding the evolution of aircraft. Many otheraeronautical authorities have afforded statistics, facts,etc.

Evan John David.

New York, August 12.

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ILLUSTRATIONS

AIRCRAFT[1]

CHAPTER I

THE FIRST BALLOONS

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FREE BALLOON—THE CAPTIVEBALLOON—THE DIRIGIBLE—THE BLIMP—THEKITE BALLOON

Ever since man first noticed the flight of a bird throughthe air he has longed to fly. How often, during thecountless ages of unrecorded time, he attempted tosoar above the earth we cannot know. That he triedoften and failed always we have ample proof; indeed,the phrase, “might as well try to fly,” expressed theacme of the impossible. That many scientific men fornearly two thousand years believed that eventually amechanical means could be devised to lift man off theground like the wings of a bird and to propel himthrough the air, we have evidence in their writings andthe history of their lives.

Ancient mythology is full of stories of the heroeswho attempted to imitate the flight of the fowls ofthe air. The earliest efforts of the aeronauts themselvesappear to have been along this line. Naturallymany of the experimenters lost their lives. A mereenumeration of their names would take too much spacefor this volume.

Perhaps these struggles to use wings suggested tothe tight-rope walker Allard the possibility of performing[2]a novel stunt. At any rate, in 1660 he successfullymade several glides for exhibition purposes inFrance. Seventeen years later another Frenchmannamed Bosnier also made spectacular glides. Theseexperiments, however, led to the invention of theglider, which finally developed into the aeroplane orthe heavier-than-air machine.

A glider consists of a rigid rectangular plane constructedof frail framework, similar to a kite, and coveredwith linen or cloth, much like the wing of a modernaeroplane. This plane surface might be a dozenor more feet long and two or more feet wide. Theearly experimenters jumped off hills with this planefastened to their arms or shoulders, and balancingthemselves in the centre, glided several feet over theground, keeping their equilibrium by means of theirfeet. Later two planes fastened together like a box-kitewere employed, with the flier stretched out onhis stomach on the lower planes. Lillienthal andeven the Wright brothers learned most about longitudinaland lateral balance by gliding on gliders of thelast type. A great deal of sport can be had withthese man-carrying kites even to-day.

The experiments of the two French brothers, Josephand Jacques Montgolfier, with paper bags inflated withhot air started a new period of development in aeronautics,for the paper bags suggested the silk ones,which were, of course, much lighter. On September19, 1783, they gave an exhibition before the royal familyat Versailles.

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The authors of the first ascension, the first actualstep in the conquest of the air, were two Frenchmen,Marquis d’Arlandes and Pilâtre de Roziers, who madethe first ascension near Paris on November 21, 1783.From that time on free ballooning became a verypopular sport. The escaping of the hot air or gas,forcing the balloon to descend too suddenly, led to theinvention of the parachute as a means of descendingslowly from the collapsing bag. The possibility ofusing this type of balloon for observation purposes wasrealized by the French, and the first recorded battlethat the captive balloon was employed in was at FleurusJune 26, 1794, thus supplying “aerial eyes” for theFrench army to observe the movements of the Austrians.

The free balloon was, however, entirely at the mercyof the winds, and the captive balloon could not bemoved about readily, so that it was thus limited in itssphere of observation, except when attached to somemovable conveyance. This showed the necessity ofinventing some means of propulsion and steering. Thefirst experiments were attempts to row ordinaryspherical balloons, as you would a boat, but the earliestrecord of any definite progress being achieved inforcing a lighter-than-air craft through the air was theexperiment in France of two brothers named Robertin 1784. They constructed a melon-shaped balloon,52 feet long and 32 feet in diameter, made of proofedsilk. The gas employed was pure hydrogen. Underneaththis envelope was suspended a long, narrow car,[4]in general idea not unlike that used on some modernairships; and three pairs of oars with blades made likeracquet-frames covered with silk, and a rudder of similarmaterial, were the only implements for navigation.

The two brothers and their brother-in-law went upin the apparatus and succeeded in describing a curveof one kilometre radius, which showed, at any rate,that they could deviate slightly from the direction ofthe feeble wind then prevailing.

The development of the steam-engine was potentwith suggestions for aerial navigation of a dirigible.Thus, on December 24, 1852, Henry Gifford, anotherFrenchman, first ascended in a dirigible balloon. Itwas spindle-shaped, 143 feet long and 39 feet in diameter.It was driven by a 3 horse-power steam-engineand an 11-foot screw propeller. He went out from theHippodrome in Paris and made six miles per hourrelative to the air and several successful landings.This was the first recorded dirigible flight.

A decade later, Tissandier, with a spindle-shapedballoon, much on the lines of those of his predecessors,succeeded in reaching a speed of eight miles an hourwith the aid of an electric motor and a bichromate-of-potashbattery.

Captain Charles Renard brought the airship anotherstage toward realization by building an envelope witha true stream-line. The method of suspending the carwas of the type adopted by later builders, namely, toplace an enormous sheet over the back of the airshipand to attach suspensory cords to its edges. This[5]airship had a cubic capacity of 66,000 feet, and waskept rigid by means of an internal air balloonet orinterior gas-bag which was confined to a definite shapeby an outer framework or cover. This balloonet waskept full by a fan-blower coupled to the motor.

The car was 108 feet long, and really served as aspar employed in later airships of what became knownas the semirigid type.

An electric motor was installed, weighing 220pounds, which developed 9 horse-power. The batterycomposed of chlorochromic salts, delivered one shafthorse-power for each 88 pounds, and this great weightseriously handicapped the performance of the airship.The first trials were made in 1884, and apparentlywithin the limits of its propulsive power the airshipwas an unqualified success, so far as navigation wasconcerned. On one occasion it flew around Paris atan average speed of 14½ miles an hour.

As early as 1872 Herr Hanlein, in Germany, built anairship of quite reasonable proportions, propelled by a6 horse-power Lenoir gas-engine. Apparently the enginewas run on gas from the envelope. A speed of 10miles an hour or so was achieved.

In 1879 Baumgartner and Wolfert built an airshipwith a Daimler benzine motor. An ascent was made atLeipzig in 1880, but owing to improper load distributionthe vessel got out of control and was smashed onthe ground.

The first rigid dirigible with aluminum frameworkwas built by an Austrian named Schwartz in 1897.[6]This was the prototype of the Zeppelin, and no practicalrigid lighter-than-air ship could now be lifted byhydrogen unless it had an aluminum framework.

The invention of the gasoline engine was anothertremendous advantage to the Zeppelin.

M. Santos Dumont built an extraordinary collectionof small airships during a period of several years commencingin 1898. His first effort was a cylinder ofvarnished Japanese silk, 82½ feet long and 11 feet indiameter, with pointed ends, which gave it a capacityof about 6,300 cubic feet. It was fitted with the usualinternal air balloonet and a 3½ horse-power motor-cycleengine weighing 66 pounds. The engine wasfitted to an ordinary balloon basket, which hung beneaththe envelope and drove a two-blade propeller.The pilot also sat in the basket. The poise of the vesselwas controlled by shifting weights, and steeringwas effected with a silk rudder stretched over a steelframe. In September, 1898, this miniature airship leftthe Zoological Gardens at Paris in the face of a gentlewind, and performed all sorts of evolutions in the neighborhood.

M. Dumont’s No. 5 was fitted with a four-cylinder,air-cooled motor driving an enormous propeller of 26feet in diameter, which gave a thrust of 120 pounds at140 revolutions per minute. There is, however, somedifference between this number of revolutions and the1,400 per minute now generated by all the standardaeronautical motors. Among other novelties waterballast was used and piano wires replaced the old typesuspension cords.

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No account of the lighter-than-air machine would becomplete without mentioning the man after whom theZeppelins were named. As a matter of fact CountZeppelin added nothing strikingly new to his airships—hesimply made them much larger than any of theirpredecessors; thus increasing the net lifting power andmultiplying the number of engines and the horse-power.

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin first began to experimentin 1898. His first rigid dirigible was 410 feet andthe gas-bags contained 400,000 cubic feet of hydrogen,and the net lifting power, after allowing for the engines,fuel, gear, etc., was about two tons. The frameworkwas of aluminum latticework divided into seventeencompartments, fifteen of which had gas-bags. Twocars were attached and in each was a 16 horse-powerGerman Daimler gasoline motor driving two propellers,and the machine gained a speed of 15 miles an hour,which was far in advance of any airship of that period.

By this time practically all the fundamentals of constructionof dirigibles had been incorporated in theseairships. Further refinements were made, more enginesand balloonets added, and the length of the dirigibleand the volume of hydrogen gas used for inflationwas increased, as was also the horse-power, but nothingmore in the way of radical changes was employedto the end of the Great War. Therefore a descriptionof the Zeppelin which was brought down in Englandwill serve as an excellent idea of the size of thesemammoth airships.

The Zeppelin forced to land in Essex measured from650 feet to 680 feet in length and measured 72 feet[8]across its largest diameter. The vessel was of thestream-line form, with a blunt, rounded nose, and atail that tapered off to a sharp point. The frameworkwas made of longitudinal latticework girders, connectedtogether at intervals by circumferential latticeworkties, all made of an aluminum alloy resemblingduraluminum. The whole was braced together andstiffened by a system of wires, arrangements being providedby which they could be tightened up when required.The weight of the framework is reckoned tobe about 9 tons, or barely a fifth of the total of 50 tonsattributed to the airship complete with engines, fuel,guns, and crew. There were 24 balloonets arrangedwithin the framework, and the hydrogen capacity was2,000,000 cubic feet.

A cat-walk, an arched passage with a footway nineinches wide, running along the keel enabled the crew,which consisted of twenty-two men, to move aboutthe ship and get from one gondola to another. Thisfootway was covered with wood, a material which,however, was evidently avoided as much as possiblein the construction of the ship. The gondolas, made ofaluminum alloy, were four in number; one was placedforward on the centre line, two were amidships, oneon each side, and the fourth was aft, again on the centreline.

The vessel was propelled—at a speed, it is thought,of about sixty miles an hour in still air—by means ofsix Maybach-Mercedes gasoline engines of 240 horse-powereach, or 1,440 horse-power in all. Each had[9]six vertical cylinders with overhead valves and watercooling, and weighed about 1,000 pounds. They wereconnected each to a propeller shaft through a clutchand change-speed gear, and also to a dynamo usedeither for lighting or for furnishing power to the wirelessinstallation. One of these engines with its propellerwas placed at the back of the large forwardgondola, two were in the amidships gondolas, andthree were in the aft gondola. In the last case one ofthe propellers was in the centre line of the ship, andthe shafts of the other two were stayed out, one oneither side. With the object of minimizing air resistancethe stays were provided with a light but strongcasing of two or three ply wood, shaped in stream-lineform. The gasoline tanks had a capacity of 2,000 gallons,and the propeller shafts were carried in ball bearings.The date, July 14, 1916, marked on one of them,is thought to indicate the date of the launching orcommissioning of the vessel.

Forward of the engine-room of the forward gondola,but separated from it by a small air space, was first thewireless operator’s cabin and then the commander’sroom. The latter was the navigating platform, andin it were concentrated the controls of the elevatorsand rudder at the stern, the arrangement for equalizingthe levels in the gasoline and water tanks, the engine-roomtelegraphs, and the switchboard of the electricalgear for releasing the bombs. Provision was made forcarrying sixty of the latter in a compartment amidships,and there was a sliding shutter, worked from the[10]commander’s cabin, which was withdrawn to allowthem to fall freely. Nine machine-guns were carried.Two of these, of 0.5-inch bore, were mounted on thetop of the vessel, and six of a smaller caliber wereplaced in the gondolas—two in the forward, one eachin the amidships ones, and two in the aft one. Theninth was carried in the tail.

The separate gas-bags were a decided advantageover the free balloon and earlier airships which carriedall the gas in one compartment, for if the latter spranga leak for any reason it had to descend, whereas theZeppelin could keep afloat with several of the separatecompartments in a complete state of collapse.

Since the Zeppelin, like all airships, is buoyed up byhydrogen gas which is .008 lighter than air, the dirigiblewas sent up by the simple expedient of increasingthe volume of gas in the envelope until the vessel arose.This was done by releasing the gas for storage-tanksinto the gas-bags. In order to head the nose up, air waskept in certain of the rear bags, thus making the tailheavier than the forward part, which naturally rosefirst. Steering was done by means of the rudder or theengines, or both, and the airship was kept on an evenkeel by use of the lateral planes. The airship could bebrought down by forcing the gas out of the bags intothe gas-tanks, thus decreasing the volume and by increasingthe air in the various compartments.

This airship had a flying radius of 800 miles andcould climb to 12,000 feet, and could carry a usefulload of four tons and could remain in the air for fiftyhours. Without a doubt it is one of the largest rigiddirigibles ever built.

Owing to the great amount of material used, the immensecost, and the time necessary to construct a Zeppelin,under the urgent demands of war, the Britishbuilt and developed a small rigid dirigible measuringbetween 200 and 250 feet in length, buoyed up by twoballoonets, one front and back, and carrying a fuselageand one aeromotor, and propeller situated directlyunder the cigar-shaped airship. These vessels madeabout fifty miles an hour, carried two men, were fittedwith wireless, and made excellent scouts over theNorth Sea and waters contiguous to allied territory,looking for submarines. These air-vessels were calledBlimps.

The kite balloon was cigar-shaped and non-rigid,with only a basket suspended underneath. It was attachedto a rope and was lifted by the gas and thewind which passed under the fins, which extended fromthe sides near the rear. It combined the principle ofthe free balloon and the man-lifting kites.

These balloons were used very extensively in theGreat War for observation purposes. Suspended atthe end of a cable attached to a donkey-engine or awindlass at an altitude of 3,000 feet, they afforded thebest observation for artillery-fire, and by means of thetelephone in the basket the observer could keep headquarterswell informed of troop movements within aradius of many miles.

Naturally it was the special delight of the aeroplanes[12]to dive down on these stationary balloons andby means of incendiary bullets to ignite the gas. Itwas dangerous work for the heavier-than-air machines,for all the way down the antiaircraft guns blazedaway. It was also dangerous work for the observersin the imprisoned balloon, who often had to jump withtheir parachutes in order to escape.

Thus by 1918 man had devised an aircraft that couldpropel him through the air faster than the eagle, fartherthan the sea-gull, and soar aloft higher than thelark! No wonder he felt that no mechanical feat wasimpossible.

THE AEROPLANE

EXPERIMENTS WITH PLANES—LILLIENTHAL’S GLIDER—LANGLEY’SAERODROME—SUCCESS OF THE WRIGHTS—FIRSTAEROPLANE FLIGHTS

The evolution of the heavier-than-air flying-machine,like that of the lighter-than-air, covers a long period oftime, and was fraught with many difficulties and dangers.For ages many scientific men played with theidea, but owing to the lack of motive power lightenough to be mounted on a glider yet supplying sufficientstrength to drive a set of planes through theair at 45 miles an hour, very little progress was madeuntil the perfection of the steam-engine and the developmentof the gasoline motor. Indeed, such thingsas lateral and longitudinal balance of planes, as wellas steering by rudder, could only be worked out to asuccessful conclusion by man-carrying gliders movingat a sufficient velocity to keep them off the ground.Since no mechanical device driven by man could supplythis want, the science lacked practical developmentuntil the last quarter of a century.

Perhaps the acrobatic tight-rope walker Allard, in1660, was the first to make long glides during an exhibitionof his profession. But nothing of material advantageto the science was accomplished.

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In 1809 Sir George Cayley, an Englishman, plannedan aeroplane with oblique planes, resting on a wheeledchassis, fitted with propellers, motors, and steering devices.The machine was never built.

In 1843 another Englishman, Samuel Henderson,designed and patented an “aerial steam carriage,”which was to be an aeroplane of immense size to beused for passenger carrying. Like the former it wasnever built.

M. Strongfellow, another Englishman, designed atriplane, which he fitted with a tail and two propellers.A triplane differs from a biplane only in that a thirdplane is superimposed over the second plane at thesame distance as the second plane was above the firstor monoplane. This model was shown at the exhibitionof the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain in1868. As in the case of previous inventors, nothing inthis model indicated that he had any comprehensionof the principles of stability or knowledge of the liftingcapacity of surfaces, or the power required for dynamicflight.

In 1872 a French inventor, named Alphonse Penaud,constructed a small monoplane. It was only a toy—twoflimsy wings actuated by a twisting rubber—butit had fore-and-aft stability. These model aeroplanes,however, aided the science materially by demonstratingthe necessity for stability before planes could besteered through space. Subsequently, in 1875, Penaudtook out a patent on a monoplane fitted with twopropellers and having controlling devices. But this[15]was not built, principally because it would have requireda light motor, and the lightest available at thattime weighed over 60 pounds per horse-power. To-daymost aeromotors weigh less than two pounds perhorse-power.

Louis Pierre Mouillard, a Frenchman, who had observedthat large birds in flight, while seeming at rest,could go forward against the wind without a stroke ofthe wings, constructed a number of gliders built onthe principle of bird wings, and experimented withgliding. He published a work called “L’Empire del’Air,” which inspired many late experiments withgliders.

The net results of all these designs and experimentsof these inventors demonstrated that thin, rigid surfacesof a certain shape, structure, and design couldsupport weights when driven through the air at asufficient velocity. Further than that they contributedpractically nothing to the science of aviation.

As a matter of fact, it was toward the close of thenineteenth century before means were found to makean aeroplane rise from the ground, maintain its equilibrium.These latter-day pioneers of aviation weredivided into two schools. The first sought to achievesoaring flights by means of large kitelike apparatus,which enabled them to fly in the air against winds,their machines being lifted up and supported by theinertia of the air as kites are. The second sought todevelop power flight, that is, to send their kitelikemachines through the air at high speed, being tracted[16]or propelled by revolving screws actuated by motorpower.

The most prominent experimenters of the first gliderschool were Otto Lillienthal, a German, P. L. Pitcher,an Englishman, Octave Chanute, and J. J. Montgomery.

Lillienthal was the first man to accomplish successfulflights by means of artificial wing surfaces. In 1894,after much experimenting, he constructed rigid wingswhich he held to his shoulders. He used to rundown hills with them until the velocity he was movingat would catch the air and lift him completely off theground. By observation of birds he saw that theirwings were arched, which suggested reason for failuresof previous experiments in this line; so afterward hisplanes were arched also. He was the first man to belifted off the ground by plane surfaces, and to demonstratethat arched surfaces were necessary to sustainedflight of heavier-than-air craft.

To the rigid wings Lillienthal fastened a rigid tailand this constituted his glider. There were no controllevers and the only way he could steer was byshifting the balance, by use of his legs, in one directionor another. By means of an artificial hill he had constructedhe could coast downward for some distancewithout striking the ground. He was unfortunatelykilled in one of these experiments in 1896.

Chanute’s experiments in gliding were similar toLillienthal’s, but they were conducted on the sand-dunesalong Lake Michigan, near Chicago. His apparatus[17]was more strongly constructed, of trussedbiplane type—a construction suggested to him by hisexperience in bridge building, and one which persiststo-day as the basis of strength in our present militarybiplanes. In design it was similar to a box kite, andit was the kind which the Wrights adopted for theirexperiments.

The leaders of the second school were: ClementAder (1890-97), Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1890-94),and Samuel Pierpont Langley (1895-1903).

Clement Ader, the famous French scientist, underthe auspices of the French Government, conducted experimentsfrom 1890 to 1897. In 1890 he filled hisArion, a boat-shaped machine with two propellers,with a steam-engine, but the apparatus never flew. Hefinished his next machine in 1897 after six years ofhard work. It was large enough to carry a man, but,like its predecessor, it never left the ground, and theFrench Government refused to support his experimentsfurther.

While Ader was making his experiments in France,Sir Hiram S. Maxim was at work constructing a largemultiplane for the English Government, which he fittedwith two steam-engines of 175 horse-power. But likeAder’s experiments it toppled over at the first trialand was badly damaged, and the British Governmentrefused further backing.

The experience of Samuel Pierpont Langley in Americais not unlike the experience of Ader in France andMaxim in England. He was employed by the Board[18]of Ordnance and Fortification of the United Statesarmy to construct the “Aerodrome” of his own invention.Congress appropriated $50,000 for the purpose.Langley’s machine was a tandem monoplane, 48feet from tip to tip, and 52 feet from bowsprit to theend of its tail. It was fitted with a 50 horse-power engineand weighed 830 pounds. The trials of this aerodrome,two attempts to launch it, were made on October7 and December 8, 1903. On both occasions theaerodrome became entangled in the defective launchingapparatus, and was thrown headlong into the PotomacRiver—on which the launching trials were made.Following the last failure, when the aerodrome waswrecked, the press ridiculed the whole enterprise, andCongress refused to appropriate money for further experiments.The Langley aerodrome, fitted with aCurtiss motor and Curtiss controls, flew in 1913-14.

As with experiments of the first school they did notattain practical results. The machines were usuallywrecked at the first trial without giving any clew tothe nature or whereabouts of the trouble. AlthoughLangley’s machines were reconstructed and flown laterthis should not detract in any way from the fame of theWright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, who really werethe first to construct an aeroplane which was drivenby a gasoline motor, lifting a man off the ground, andpursuing a steered and sustained flight through the air.

The experiments of Lillienthal and his death in hisglider were the direct incentives to the Wright brothersto conduct their investigations with gliders. The[19]Lillienthal way of balancing the planes by swinging hislegs they judged to be a poor means of controlling thedirection of the flight. So they set out to discover anothermethod of controlling the stability of the planes.Their experiments began in the fall of 1900 at KittyHawk, North Carolina, as Mr. Henry Woodhouse, theaeronautical authority, has pointed out. They took allthe theories of flight and tried them one by one, only tofind, after two years of hard, discouraging work, thatthey were based more or less on guesswork. Thereuponthey cast aside old theories and patiently put the apparatusthrough innumerable gliding tests, ever changing,adding, modifying—setting down the results; after eachglide comparing, changing again and again, until theyfinally constructed a glider which was easy to balanceboth laterally and longitudinally. But in order tocontrol fore-and-aft balance they had to eliminateLillienthal’s method of swinging his legs and substitutea horizontal elevator. This elevator was raisedand lowered by a lever operated by the pilot stretchedout on the centre of the lower wing of the glider. Thisdevice kept the glider level with respect to the ground.In fact, this elevator was absolutely necessary to preventthe planes from diving up or down, for if the pilotfound the glider pitching too much forward, tending todive, he would tilt the elevator upward by means ofthe lever, thus pulling the nose of the glider back intoits proper position. At first the Wrights built theelevator in front of the planes so that they could seeand study its effect. They soon discovered that the[20]control of the glider was much better with the elevator.This elevator has been incorporated as a standard finon the tail of the fuselage of every aeroplane and isone of the chief factors in steering up or down.

Having completely mastered this most importantstep, the Wrights next took up the problem of lateralcontrol. The natural tendency of the glider was toflop about like a kite with too light a tail. In order tocorrect this lateral instability the Wrights determinedto make the air itself, rather than gravity,supply this balance, instead of Lillienthal’s methodof swinging his legs from side to side by observingclosely the way in which a pigeon secures its lateralbalance by varying the angle of attack with its twowings, whereby one wing would lift more forcibly thanthe other, thereby turning the bird in any directionaround any given axis of flight. In order to accomplishthis variation the Wrights made the ends of the gliderloose while the rest remained rigid. Then by a systemof wires operated from a lever they could warp thesewing ends of the glider, one to present a greater angleof attack to the air and the other a smaller angle, justas the pigeon did. In other words, by pulling downthe rear edge of the tip of one wing and by pulling upthe extreme edge of the other the angles of the wingswere varied with respect to the way in which they cutthrough the air on very much the same principles asthe tail elevator on the fuselage. Also, if a flat surfacemoves through the air horizontal to the ground, if youtipped the rear edge upward the air would strike it onthat edge and have a tendency to force it down, thusforcing the forward edge upward. To pull it in theother direction would cause the opposite effect. TheWrights were first to incorporate this in a glider oraeroplane. They patented it, and although a hinge,called an aileron, was later attached to the end of thewings of an aeroplane to produce the same effect andat the same time to allow more rigid construction ofthe ends of the wings, nevertheless this idea was distinctlya Wright discovery and innovation.

But that was not all the Wright brothers did to makeman-flight over a sustained and steered course in aheavier-than-air machine possible. Directional controlor power to steer the glider in a straight line or tovary it had not yet been acquired, so the Wrights installeda vertical rudder which they also operated bylever, just as the rudder on a power-boat is controlled,and the effect on directional steering was thesame. Indeed, passage through the medium of theair is in many ways similar to passage through water.Thus the moment the glider swerved from right toleft the rudder was pulled in the opposite directionand the planes came back to the steered course.

But this was not invented at once nor installed untilafter the Wrights discovered that whenever the gliderwas in flight the effect of warping the wings to controlthe rolling had a serious unexpected secondaryeffect, namely, a tendency for the high wing, whichthey desired to bring down, to advance faster throughthe air than the low wing, and solely by its higher[22]velocity to develop a higher lifting capacity and thusto neutralize the benefit of the warp. After much experimentingthey hit upon the rudder idea and thatcorrected the difficulty.

Thus the Wrights gained complete mastery of theglider; they could steer it up and down, turn it fromright to left, and bring it back safely to the earth.This is the basis of the Wright patents to-day.

The next thing to be done was to install upon anaeroplane a power plant sufficient to drive it throughthe air fast enough to make the air lift it off the groundand sustain it in the “liquid blue” until the pilot sawfit to glide to the earth again. This was by no means asimple matter, for from 1900, when the Wrights begantheir glider experiments, to 1903, when they madetheir first flight, the gasoline motor was in its impotentinfancy. They set about building a small light motor,however, to install in their planes.

In the meantime they experimented further withwing surfaces. Langley and Chanute had proved flatwings inefficient and curved wings necessary for liftingcapacity. Of course, those early experimenters didnot know how much those curvatures affected theclimbing angle of a glider, so the Wrights set out tofind out by using the wind-tunnel method and testingscale models in the same, with a blast of air generatedby an engine-driven fan. This tunnel was cylindricalin form, sixteen inches in diameter. The smaller modelsof wings were hung in the centre, the air-blast turnedon, and the balance arm, which projected into the tunnel[23]and on which the wings were mounted, measuredthe air forces and the efficiency of the varied wingshapes from the standpoint of rounded wing tips andcurvature.

Data acquired in experimenting with their six-inchmodel biplane in this determined them to build theiraeroplane on that scale, even though it was discoveredthat two wings together were less efficient than onewing by itself. The rigidity of two wings added asafety factor, so they adopted the biplane or two-planesurface rather than the monoplane or one-planesurface.

In these experiments the Wrights also discoveredthat all surfaces shaped like a fish offered less resistanceto the air than blunter obtuse surfaces, so they adoptedthe stream-line method in construction of struts orsupports to the two wings, so that now all surfacesthat cut the air in the forward progress of the planesare rounded off so that the air slips off with the leastresistance. This was an important discovery, for laterwhen the enclosed fuselage or body in which the aviatorsits was constructed it had much to do in determiningits shape and design.

Propellers had already been experimented with as ameans of propulsion through the air. Because of thelow horse-power at which they were driven very littlescientific data as to propeller efficiency had been compiled.Because the first motor constructed by theWrights had only 16 horse-power at maximum speed,which soon fell off to 12 horse-power, the two propellers[24]mounted on their first machine developed ahigh propeller efficiency. To-day propeller efficiencyhas reached approximately 70 per cent of efficiency,and much study has been devoted to the propeller.

Because no gasoline motor was in existence lightenough to mount on their glider the Wrights builttheir own in their shops in Dayton. It was a four-cylinderwater-cooled upright motor, and it could develop12 horse-power. The engine was mounted onthe rear of the planes of the glider and by a chain drivepropelled the two blades mounted in the rear of thetwo planes, thus making a pusher type of aeroplane.The estimate of the total weight of the machine andthe operator was between 750 and 800 pounds.

With this machine, on December 17, 1903, WilburWright made the world’s first sustained steered flightof 852 feet in 59 seconds in a heavier-than-air machine.To them really belongs the honor of having inventedthe aeroplane and of having demonstrated the feasibilityof navigating the air in a heavier-than-air machine.It is true that the Frenchman M. Bleriot was theman who covered the fuselage, put the engine in frontof the aviator, and constructed a monoplane similarin shape to a bird. Nevertheless, it is the Wrights whobuilt the aeroplane which met all the fundamentalrequirements of flight through the air.

WHY AN AEROPLANE FLIES

THE HELICOPTER—THE ORNITHOPTER—WING SURFACE—FLYINGSPEED—LANDING SPEED—EFFECT OFMOTORS—THE SEAPLANE

The heavier-than-air machines are divided into threeclasses. The helicopter is a machine which theoristsof that school believe can fly straight up into the skybecause its air screw propeller works on a vertical axis.This type of aircraft has never been successful, for thereason that the propeller does not lift. It simply pullsa stream-lined surface through the air. The liftingmust be done by planes.

The ornithopter is another heavier-than-air craftwhich seeks to fly by flapping wings like a bird. Theeffort to build this type of machine is as old as humandesire to imitate the fowls of the air and it has been asunsuccessful as the helicopter.

Before we begin to discuss the aeroplane we must rememberthat before a modern machine leaves theground it must be moving at least thirty-five miles anhour with respect to the air. This forcing of theedges of these broad-pitching, curved surfaces throughthe air at such a velocity naturally drives the airdownward and these particles of atmosphere react in[26]exactly the same degree upward, thus forcing theplanes and the attached apparatus upward. Therefore,as long as the aeroplane rushes through the airat that or greater speed the thousands of cubic feet ofair forced down beneath the wings deliver up a reactionthat results in complete support. When an aircraftfails to move at that velocity it loses “flying speed”and falls to the earth. The net result of this reactionis called “lift,” and as long as the machine sweeps forwardat that momentum it has lift. The engine, ofcourse, must supply this forward movement, and whenit stalls, the heavier-than-air machine must glide to alanding-place or fall perpendicular to the ground.

To understand why a heavier-than-air machine fliesit is necessary to remember that air or atmosphere hasmany of the characteristics of water. Indeed, like theocean, its pressure varies at different altitudes. Atsea-level a cubic foot in dry weather weighs 0.0807pounds, but at a mile above sea-level it weighs only0.0619 pounds, and at five miles 0.0309 pounds percubic foot and so on up. Therefore machines designedto fly at sea-level often fail to get off the ground at12,000 feet above the sea in such countries as Mexico.

Air also has motion. Its tendency to remain motionlessis called inertia, and its characteristic desire toreoccupy its normal amount of space is known as itselasticity, and the tendency of the particles of air toresist separation is described as its viscosity. Thus wesee that air has practically the same characteristics aswater, only it is much lighter.

[27]

Without going into a technical discussion of all theforces that enter into the flight of an aeroplane wemust, however, realize that if the pressure of the atmosphereis uniform in all directions, in order to makethe air forced under a wing or plane lift more thanthe air above forces down, the wing of the plane mustbe curved in such a way that the forward motionof the edge of the wing causes the air underneathto force any particle of the surface upward, while theupper surface is relieved of the pressure. This is doneby curving the surface of the planes so that the undersurface is concave while the upper part is almostconvex, like the outspread wing of a bird. When thiswing is forced horizontally through the air it createsa vacuum immediately behind the upper or convexpart, the under pressure is still constant and the surfaceis lifted upward. That is why a plane coveredwith a curved surface will fly and a plane with a flatsurface will not. In short, a curved surface whenmoving through atmosphere causes eddies in the air,and if the curvature of the wings is properly calculated,it leaves a vacuum near the rear edge of thesurface of the plane and it climbs upward. Thesmaller the angle the smaller the lift or climbing powerof the plane. Thus a 15-degree angle will lift one pound;if reduced to 10 degrees it will only lift two-thirds of apound, but because a wing is curved a plane could flyat several degrees less than 0 degree, but its “stalling”or critical angle beyond which it is not safe to go is 15degrees.

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It must be borne in mind that the larger the wingsurface the larger load the aeroplane can carry, for thelift of a heavier-than-air machine depends entirely onthe number of square feet of surface in the plane orwings. The larger the planes the more power is requiredto force them through the air and the less easythey are to manœuvre and land. The Nieuports,Spads, Sopwiths, and Fokkers, with their small wingspread of less than 30 feet, made them much easier tofly, even though they land faster than the “big busses.”Therefore every pound of weight added to an aeroplanedecreases its speed proportionately and requiresan equivalent increase in horse-power to force it throughthe air. Of course, an increase of speed gives an increasein lift, so by doubling the speed of a plane youincrease the lift just four times.

There are, however, a number of factors which tendto decrease the progress of a machine through the air:the head resistance of the fuselage, the motor, thestruts, the wires, the landing-gear, etc. These thingsdo not add to the lift and are described as “dead-head”resistance. Stream-line, or the tapering of allsurfaces which resist the air, helps reduce this resistance,so that the design of the plane has much todo with its speed, also as to whether the plane canclimb faster than fly straight ahead. Naturally thehorse-power of the motor determines the flying speedof the aeroplane as much as any other factor.

To lift a plane off the ground it must be travellingat least 35 miles an hour with respect to the air, as[29]we have pointed out before. So if a gale is blowing20 miles an hour the aeroplane may be lifted off theground when moving no faster than 15 miles an hourwith respect to the earth. Likewise unless a machineis moving 35 miles an hour it will lose flying speed andfall to the ground.

Machines do not all land at the same speed. Thefamous Morane monoplane skimmed along the groundat anywhere from 45 to 90 miles an hour. It is manifestlyimpossible to do more than suggest the fundamentalprinciples of aeroplane flight here. To be sure,the type of aircraft has, as we have indicated, much todo with why and how it flies. Because of its similarityto the bird and owing to the lack of struts, etc., toincrease the head resistance the monoplane or single-wingplane is the fastest machine. The absence ofstruts and the few bracing wires brings a greaterstrain on the wings and increases its chances of breaking.The biplane, with its two parallel wings separatedby struts, is more easily braced and proportionatelystronger. The lift is also greater, due to the additionalwing surface. The vacuum made over the lower wingis interfered with by the upper plane, and thus neutralizessomewhat the lifting and flying efficiency ofthe upper wing. Since a plane must reverse all itsstresses when looping, the double supports of the biplanemake it less susceptible to doubling up and falling.These are some of the reasons for the popularityof the biplane.

The triplane is so called because it has three tiers of[30]wing surfaces set one above the other. This allowsfor even greater strength in construction, and despitethe resistance several very fast-climbing triplanes havebeen built. The famous Caproni triplanes with threemotors have a wing spread of 127 feet. Many biplanesand flying-boats also have approximately 126-footwing spread. The well-known Handley Page bomberand the NC-1, NC-2, NC-3, NC-4 Naval Flying Boats,which tried the Atlantic flight, had a similar wingspread.

In the war the small aeroplane of the monoplane orbiplane type with a small wing spread and equippedwith a rotary motor, whose nine or more cylindersrevolved with the propeller, or a small V-type motor,was called a scout. These biplanes seldom had a wingspread of over 28 feet and the horse-power of the rotarymotors seldom developed more than 150 horse-power,whereas the stationary motors for these same machinesgenerated as much as 300 horse-power, as in the caseof the Hispano-Suiza. These machines were used forfighting because they made as high as 150 miles anhour and responded so easily to the slightest movementof the “joy stick” and, consequently, manœuvredso readily. Since trick flying was absolutely essentialto air duels these machines were best for this purposeand for quickly getting information of troop movements.

The next larger size, seating two men and driven bythe same types of motors or even larger twelve-cylinderRolls-Royce or Liberty motors, but with a wing spread[31]of from 34 to 48 feet, was used for taking photographs,directing artillery-fire, and general reconnaissance inwar. The multimotored machines, with a wing spreadof anywhere from 48 to 150 feet, were used for bombingat night or during the day. Owing to the size of thesemachines and because of their slow-flying speed theywere easy to land. Some of the scouts weighed, withpetrol and two hours’ fuel, less than 1,000 pounds,whereas the four-motored bombers, with 127-foot wingspread, weighed over six tons and could carry a usefulload of three tons.

The hydroaeroplane does not differ fundamentallyfrom the aeroplane as regards flying principles. Instructure it may be a biplane or triplane, but owingto the supports necessary to carry the pontoons itcannot be easily attached to a monoplane. Structurally,it differs from the aeroplane only in having pontoonsor a boat substituted for wheels and landingchassis. Owing to the surfaces presented by the pontoonsor the hull of the boat, looping is practicallyeliminated and the spread of these flying craft is muchslower than land machines.

Although M. Fabre conducted experiments withaeroplanes carrying floats instead of wheels, Mr.Glenn H. Curtiss was the first to successfully constructand fly a hydroplane. At the time of his flight downthe Hudson River from Albany to New York heequipped his plane with a light boat to protect himselfin case of a forced landing on the water. Encouragedby this experiment under the Alexander Graham Bell[32]Aerial Experiment Association, and by later attachinga canoe, he succeeded in landing and getting off thewater. Later he built a hydroaeroplane and flew successfullyat San Diego, Cal., thus establishing Americaas the land which invented and developed the seaplaneand flying-boat.

Structurally, the modern seaplane has two smallpontoons on the end of each wing and a small boat inthe centre, or sometimes only two pontoons in all whichare side by side near the fuselage. The flying-boat hasone large boat instead of a fuselage, with a small pontoonon the end of each wing. The former is used forfast flying, but owing to the air resistance to the pontoons,and especially to the boats, the speed cannot becompared to that of the scout aeroplanes. Moreover,they are much harder to do stunts with and few areknown to have looped the loop. Like the big landbombers the flying-boats may be equipped with asmany as three motors. One of these has carried asmany as fifty passengers at one time.

Contrary to the accepted notion, these flying-boatsare very hard to land on the sea because it is so difficultto calculate the position of the wave when youstrike—both are moving so rapidly.

As we have already seen that due to the fact that aheavier-than-air machine must be moving at least 35miles an hour to get off the ground or water, a strongand powerful motor is absolutely essential to makeaeroplane flying possible. We have already discoveredthat the Wrights had to construct their own motorbecause none was light enough for an aeroplane. Their16 horse-power single-cylinder engine weighed over200 pounds. To-day the Liberty is rated at from 400to 450 horse-power, and it weighs less than two poundsper horse-power. An Italian aeronautical engine develops700 horse-power, and one sixteen-cylinder Americanmotor generates 900 horse-power. This showsthe tremendous development of the motor for modernflying.

But, aside from the matter of weight and horse-power,the aeromotor has been called upon to performat altitudes of as high as 30,000 feet as efficientlyas on the ground. Since the atmospheric pressure atthat height weighs a great deal less than at sea-level theflow of gasoline and lubricants is very much decreased,so that the efficiency of the motor may fall off proportionately.To meet these requirements the aviationmotor must be especially designed, and since the vibrationof the propeller shakes the frail frame on whichthe engine is mounted, the materials must have thegreatest strength and resistance.

Nevertheless, in both types of motor, the rotary air-cooledand the stationary V type, the engineers havesucceeded in making engines that would climb stillhigher than the 30,500 ceiling already made, if theaviators could stand the cold or have enough hydrogento keep them from fainting.

The motor then is the heart of the heavier-than-airmachine, and when it stops the aeroplane must volplaneor fall to the earth, a slave to the laws of gravity.

LEARNING TO FLY

EARLY METHODS—DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOLS—STUDYINGSTRUCTURE OF PLANES, MOTORS, THEORY OFFLIGHT, AERODYNAMICS, MAP READING—FRENCHSYSTEM—GOSPORT SYSTEM

From the time of the first flight of the Wright brothersin 1903 to the breaking out of the Great War in July,1914, the art of flying an aeroplane was not taughtsystematically either in private or military schools,primarily because flying in a heavier-than-air machinewas regarded by civilians as a very dangerous sportand by military authorities as hardly more than adubious scout for locating troop or train movements.For that reason very few civilians were induced totake up aviation except a few of the more daringsportsmen. Consequently, civilian flying on a largescale did not flourish.

It is true, however, that several small schools attachedto manufacturing plants did attempt to teachthe rudiments of flight and aircraft construction.These schools did not prosper because only a few pupilswho wished to give exhibition flights attended, andthe art of flying and aircraft development suffered.

In England several schools were started with indifferentsuccess for the same reason as obtained in[35]America, and in France and Germany, aside from afew aviators who were striving for new world’s records,most of the flying training was in the army.Therefore most of the great fliers, like the Wrights,Beachy, Martin, Curtiss, Farman, Bleriot, Garros,Vedrines, Graham-White, Sopwith, A. V. Roe—to mentiononly a very few—learned to fly themselves. Forthat reason the toll of lives taken in flying was high.Nevertheless, that did not stop these daring fliers fromstunting and exploring all the aerial manœuvres possiblewith a heavier-than-air machine. As a resultPegout looped the loop; Ruth Law flew at night; Bleriotcrossed the channel; Garros the Mediterranean Sea;Vedrines flew from Paris via Constantinople to Cairo;and in July, 1914, Heinrich Oelerich climbed to26,246 feet altitude in Germany, and in the samemonth another German flew for twenty-four hours oneminute, without stopping.

Meanwhile France had trained several hundred aviatorsfor her army and Germany had five or six hundredtrained fliers, including those in the Zeppelinservice. The United States army had hardly morethan fifty fliers when the Mexican trouble broke out,and only half a dozen aeroplanes to use on the Mexicanborder.

As soon as the war began and aircraft demonstratedthat the side which got control of the air could putout the eyes of the opposing army and that the greatstruggle might be decided in the air, all the belligerentnations began to train aviators for the war in the air.

[36]

France was the first to develop a school of flying,and the French method, with slight variations, wasadopted by England and the United States. A descriptionof their method will give a comprehensiveconception of the training necessary for a militaryflier in the war.

Early in the war most of the army, navy, and privateaviation schools of the United States adopted thepenguin system of learning to fly. That method, inventedby the French, consisted of using as a training-machinean aeroplane that had so small a wing spreador so weak a motor that it merely hopped five or sixfeet off the ground when the motor was wide open.The small wing spread caused it to zigzag along theground like a drunken man. For those reasons, perhaps,it was named after the penguin, which does notremain long on the ground or in the air and which hasan irregular gait.

The first step in learning to fly consists in studyingthe structure of the aeroplane and of the aeronauticalengine, and aerodynamics, or the science of the forcesthat aid or hinder the flight of heavier-than-air machines.During the last half-dozen years many of themanufacturers of aircraft maintained schools in orderto encourage men to learn the art of flying, andhave given their pupils the chance to study at firsthand the designing, the building, and the assemblingof aeroplanes and hydroplanes. That has given thepupils a thorough knowledge of every detail of the aircraft—aninvaluable asset to an aviator who has been[37]compelled to make a forced landing far from a repair-shop.In the “ground” schools conducted by theUnited States Government for instructing aviationofficers at the various institutions, like Cornell, MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, and Princeton, agreat deal of time was devoted to assembling aeroplanes.

Most of the manufacturers of aircraft in this countrydo not make the motors used to propel their aeroplanes.The aeronautical motor is one of the mostdifficult machines to build successfully. A motor thatruns as smoothly as a watch on the ground may hesitateand sputter at an altitude of a thousand feet, andat three thousand feet may stop altogether. Engineerssay that that is because the change in temperature andin atmospheric pressure causes a difference in carburization.All these things the prospective flier hadto learn as well as the reasons for the same.

Contrary to the general notion, the construction ofthe aeronautical motor differs radically from that ofthe automobile engine. In point of weight the differenceis marked. Seldom is any stipulation made thatlimits the weight of the automobile motor in proportionto the amount of horse-power; a few pounds moreor less is not an important consideration in a pleasure-caror a motor-truck. But in an aeroplane everyounce of superfluous weight must be eliminated fromthe engine, which must nevertheless be strong enoughto withstand the most violent strain.

The aeroplane motor is subject to far greater strains[38]than the automobile motor is. Except during a race,one rarely runs the engine of an automobile at itsmaximum speed; the aeroplane motor, on the contrary,usually runs at full speed from the moment theaeroplane starts until the motor is shut off and beginsto volplane down to the earth. It is true that youcan regulate the aeroplane engine by the throttle torun from as low as three hundred revolutions a minuteto as high as sixteen hundred; but except whentesting the motor there is rarely any reason for slowingit up while in the air. The load that the propellerof an aeroplane carries is much less than the load thatthe shaft of an automobile carries, but, on account ofthe frail structure of the plane, the vibration is muchmore violent. A battle plane seldom weighs morethan two thousand pounds, and a scouting machine ofthe Nieuport type tips the scales at not more than onethousand pounds.

For these reasons aircraft require special kinds ofmotors. The V type is so called because the cylindersare set in the form of that letter; the rotary motor hasthe cylinders arranged in a circle like the spokes of awheel, and it revolves on its shaft like the propeller.The rotary motor is used in scouting machines becauseit is light. The revolving engine also revolves on itsshaft, but it has a great many more cylinders arrangedside by side like the cylinders of an automobile engine.It is much heavier than the rotary type; it mayhave as many as thirty-two cylinders.

Of course, a knowledge of the automobile engine[39]was an aid to the prospective aviator; for, except inthe process of cooling and the revolution of the cylinders,the principles of the automobile motor andthose of the aeroplane are identical.

At aviation schools the pupils went thoroughly intoall those things and supplemented their knowledge bycontinually mounting and dismounting engines andexamining their most intricate parts. The schoolsalso kept on hand large aeroplane models, which thestudents took apart and put together again. In theclassroom the prospective aviators studied the mathematicsand the theory of aerodynamics. All this workwas very important, for an aeroplane is such a nicelybalanced machine that if it is not perfectly constructedmathematically it will not fly safely.

For example, if the tail plane or flat, finlike surfacethat projects from the sides of the tail of the body, orfuselage, has too much “incidence,” or, in other words,is slanted at too sharp an angle downward, it has atendency in flight to lift the rear of the machine andto make it dive. A seaplane, when properly constructed,is so evenly balanced that, when the cranethat lifts it off the mother ship holds it suspended inthe air, the machine is equipoised like a bird withwings spread in flight. If the plane is heavier on oneside than on the other, it will, while “banking,” orturning a corner, slide toward the centre of the circle;that sometimes causes a “tail spin,” in which themachine whirls round as if it had been caught in awhirlpool. That is a very difficult situation, for an[40]aviator usually ends in a smash at the bottom of thewhirlpool unless the pilot has altitude enough toflatten out his plane before it gets too close to theground. These things were all taught before the novicewent up in the air.

Map reading and air navigation were the nextstudies in military aviation schools. First, the studentlearned how to judge the height of hills and the sizeof towns from different altitudes, so that when flyinghe could tell what part of the country he was passingover. Many of the schools perched the prospectivefliers high in the air in a classroom and spread out aminiature landscape made of dirt and sand on a mapbeneath them so they could get practice in perspective.

Of course, when an aviator is lost in the fog or abovethe clouds he needs to use all the instruments on boardto find his position. For that purpose drift instrumentsare mounted on aircraft; those tell how muchthe air-currents, which have the same effect on aircraftas the tide has on a boat, have driven him off hiscourse. A compass indicates the direction in whichhe is travelling, and other instruments show himwhether his machine is climbing, diving, or “banking”;the aneroid barometer indicates the altitude. It isessential, of course, for the aviator to know how toread those instruments correctly. Without the informationthey give him, he might not know, if flyingat night or in a cloud, that his craft was climbing at adangerous angle until wrenches or other loose implementsbegan to fall out of the machine.

[41]

As the next step in the training the student learnsthe controls. To do that he runs the “taxi” or “lawn-mower,”as the training-machine is called, up anddown the field. The “hopping” of this machine familiarizeshim with “getting off” and landing, andwith the noise of the propeller. After he has learnedto steer his machine in a straight line, he takes longer“hops” until he is thoroughly familiar with the “joystick” which pulls the elevators or ailerons up ordown or operates the rudder.

Soon afterward the student went up with an instructorfor a long flight. The purpose of the flightwas to get the pupil used to higher altitudes and tothe motion of the aeroplane, and to give him a chanceto watch his teacher actually running the machine.Strange to relate, many who have felt an uncontrollabledesire to jump off high buildings have no suchfeeling while in an aeroplane. That is because theysit and look out horizontally instead of perpendicularlydownward, and because they move at such tremendousspeed.

After several trips of that kind, the instructor letthe student handle the controls until he could climb,dive, and “bank,” or turn the machine in the air.But the pupil was not permitted to land a machineuntil near the end of his course; for next to gettingout of a tail spin, a dive, or a side slip, landing was thehardest task in flying. Statistics show that moreaviators have been killed in making landings than inany other way. Many of the accidents, of course, were[42]caused by the nature of the ground, for when the engineof the aeroplane stops, the aviator has to volplaneor glide down wherever he can.

One of the difficulties of landing is owing to the factthat even training-machines cannot land at a slowerspeed than thirty-five miles an hour. If the wheelsof the aeroplane, when they first touch ground, do notskim over the surface of the field, the machine isliable to “nose in” and turn a somersault. Indeed,that is why the pusher type of training-machine, withthe propeller in the rear of the pilot, is being abandonedfor the tractor machine, which has the propellerin front. If an accident does occur with a tractorthe engine does not “climb your back.” One of thegreatest dangers of flying a seaplane is due to the factthat the engine is installed not in the hull but highabove the aviators’ heads, upon which it is apt to fallin case of a crash.

The student was next permitted to fly alone. Mostmachines were so strongly built that accidents wereseldom caused by breakage, although, of course, beforeeach flight the aviator and his mechanic critically examinedhis machine for broken parts. With a reasonableamount of care straight flying by daylight wascomparatively safe.

In the French aviation schools, before the militarybirdman could pass his final examinations, he had toclimb twice to an altitude of six thousand feet andspend an hour at a ten-thousand-foot altitude. If hepassed that test successfully, he had to fly over a[43]triangular course of one hundred and fifty miles andland at each corner of the triangle.

Before he could fly his machine on the battle-frontthe French flier had to know how to loop, to fall ordive at such a steep angle that his machine actuallydropped through the air for several hundred feet beforeit flattened out—a tremendous strain on the wingsof a machine—to side slip or round a curve with hismachine banked at such an angle that it graduallyslid toward the centre of the circle, to climb or taildive at such a pitch that the aircraft actually slipsbackward tail foremost. Indeed, in the last days oftraining the student was encouraged to practise allkinds of stunts and tricks, for when an enemy descendedon you from the clouds above and was sittingon your tail weaving a wreath of bullets from a machine-gunround you, your only chance of escape wasby means of a loop, a dive, a side slip, or a roll.

Another interesting test a pilot had to undergo beforehe got his license to do battle was to ascend fifteenhundred feet, cut off all power, and volplanedown in a spiral to a fixed point. To perform the manœuvresuccessfully required great skill. All the membersof the famous Lafayette Escadrille had to undergothose tests before becoming fighting aviators, andAmericans who received their final training in Francehad to go through the same training.

In our government flying-schools at Mineola in LongIsland and the other flying-fields in Texas and otherparts of the country, at San Diego in California, the[44]students were put to similar tests of skill. In the privatecivilian schools, however, instructors rarely attemptto teach their pupils more than straight flying.But most aviators agree that every flyer ought toknow the “stunts” in order to meet successfully anyextraordinary situation that may confront him.

Of course the training for aerial observers, wirelessoperators, and photographers was very different fromthat of the pilots. In each case the instruction waspeculiar to the science they were to practise, and ithad little to do with aviation, only in so far as it wasactually affected by flying. The men who took thepictures had to make a study of the science of photography.The same was true of the wireless operator.The observer, however, had to study topography andthe use of the machine-gun, and target practice suchas characterized the work of the pilot. In differentcountries this differed with the methods developedthere. In England the pilot often shot at toy balloonsin the air while chasing them with his machine or attargets on the ground. The same method was employedby the United States. Nearly all the greataces in the war were very clever shots, and MajorBishop attributed most of his success to his skill withthe machine-gun.

Finally the Gosport system of training aviators wasadopted by the British and the American armies becauseit permitted the training of tens of thousands offliers at the same time. The principles taught werethe same as those enumerated above. The system,[45]however, reduces the time spent on each operation tothe minimum, specifying the number of hours to bespent on each step in the course. Here is a sample ofthe outline of the training under that system:

STANDARD OF TRAINING

Part 1. Pilots—Flying Wings

To insure a certain amount of continuous practice the followingminimum times will be spent on ground subjects. Itmust be realized, however, that efficiency, and not time spent,is the ultimate passing standard.

Lectures will be given covering—

Thus every step in the education of the flier wasprovided for and thus the United States turned outover 10,000 aviators.

AEROPLANE DEVELOPMENT, 1903 TO 1918

ADER’S EXPERIMENTS—MAXIM’S MULTIPLANE—DUMONT’SAEROPLANE—WRIGHTS’ 1908 PLANE—VOISINPUSHER—BLERIOT’S MONOPLANE—AVRO TRIPLANE—FARMAN’SAILERONS—OTHER TYPES

Although the Wright brothers made their first flightin a heavier-than-air machine in December, 1903, itwas not until September 15, 1904, that Orville Wright,flying the Wright biplane, succeeded in making thefirst turn, September 25 before they made the firstcircle, and October 4, 1905, before they managed tostay in the air for over half an hour. Moreover, it wasnot until 1908 that they made their first public flights.

Long before the Wrights first flew at Kitty Hawkmilitary men realized the value of observation from theair, and balloons attached to cables had been used forthat purpose in the Franco-Prussian and Boer warsfor discovering the movement and disposition of troops.Clement Ader, however, was the first to succeed insecuring an appropriation for the construction of aheavier-than-air machine which was to fly in any directionlike a bird. In 1890 he induced the FrenchGovernment to appropriate $100,000 for the constructionof such an engine. After many experiments his[48]machine failed to get off the ground, and in 1897, afterseven years of hard work, the French Governmentrefused to appropriate any more money.

In 1905, however, as soon as the same governmentheard of the sustained manœuvred flight of 33 minutes,17 seconds, done by the Wrights, they negotiated forthe acquisition of the machine, provided it could attaina height of 3,000 feet. But at that time theWrights had not flown over three hundred feet, norrisen above one hundred feet, and could not promise tofill the French requirements.

The British Government had also given Sir HiramMaxim an appropriation for constructing a flying-machineabout the same time that the French Governmentwas financing Ader. Maxim built one of themultiplane type, measuring 120 feet, equipped withtwo steam-engines of 170 horse-power and weighing7,000 pounds, but like Ader’s experiment it never gotoff the ground.

We have already noted the appropriations made bythe United States Government to Samuel P. Langleyfor his aerodrome. It was the United States Government,upon the recommendation of President TheodoreRoosevelt, which first ordered a military aeroplane inDecember, 1907, giving definite specifications for thesame. The machine was required to carry two personsweighing 350 pounds and fuel enough for a 125-mileflight, with a speed of at least 40 miles per hour.

The Wrights were the only persons to submit bidsand they delivered a machine which Orville Wright[49]flew at Fort Myer in September, 1908, making a newrecord of one hour, fourteen minutes, twenty seconds.An accident prevented the fulfilling of the two-passenger-carryingrequirement. In August, 1909, however,the Wright biplane, with a wing spread of 40 feetand equipped with a 25 horse-power engine, flew onehour and twenty-three minutes with Lieutenant FrankP. Lahm as a passenger.

The success of the Wrights naturally stimulated theFrench, Alberto Santos-Dumont, the Brazilian, whohad experimented successfully with lighter-than-aircraft, first circling the Eiffel Tower, while Louis Bleriot,the Voisin brothers, Captain Louis Ferber, HenryFarman, Leon brothers, Delagrange, and others beganto experiment with aeroplanes.

In 1906 Santos-Dumont flew 700 feet in an aeroplanein one sustained flight and in 1908 the Wrights visitedFrance and gave public demonstration flights at Pauand other places. Their machine was a biplane drivenby a small four-cylinder water-cooled engine and twolarge propellers. These were both actuated by chainsgearing on the engine-shaft, one chain being crossed soas to make its propeller revolve in the direction oppositeto the other, thus giving proper balance to thedriving force. Alongside the engine and slightly infront of it was the pilot’s seat, and there was also aseat for a passenger in between, exactly in the centre,so that the added weight would not alter the balance.

Unlike present-day aeroplanes, this machine had nohorizontal tail behind the main planes, and so it was[50]called the “tail-first” type, or “Canard” or “duck,”owing to its long projection forward which resembledthe neck of that bird. This type did not steer easilyand was abandoned.

The 1908 Wright Plane

The Wright machine had vertical rudders aft, andrelied on the two big elevator planes forward for itsup and down steering. Its lateral, or rolling, movementswere controlled by warping or twisting the wingsso that while the angle of the wings on one side was increasedand gave more lift, the angle on the other sidedecreased and gave less lift, thus enabling the pilot toright the machine. The elevators were controlled bymeans of a lever on the left-hand side of the pilot, thewarp by a lever on his right, while by waggling thejointed top of the right-hand lever he also controlledthe rudder. This complicated system of control wasvery difficult to master.

In 1910 the Wrights attached a horizontal tail atright angles to their rudder, and in 1911 they droppedthe front elevators entirely. When the United Statesentered the war, Orville Wright, as engineer for theDayton-Wright Company, supervised the building ofthe famous DH4’s, making several thousands of themfor shipment to France.

Unlike many machines that followed, the Wright1908 was launched from a carriage which ran on a railuntil the planes were lifted into the air, leaving thecarriage on the ground. This same principle was used[51]for launching planes from battleships, although it isnow abandoned.

Meanwhile Charles and Gabriel Voisin had successfullydeveloped their machine. On March 21, 1909,Mr. Farman flew a little over a mile at Issy, nearParis, successfully turning, and on May 30 Leon Delagrangecovered eight miles at Rome, and finally onSeptember 21 he flew forty-one miles without stoppingat Issy.

This Voisin biplane differed from the Wrights’ inthat it followed the box-kite principle. It had a box-kitetail to which the rudders were mounted, whilethe wings had vertical partitions and the plane had nolateral controls, with the result that it could not flyin any kind of a wind without coming to grief. Thefirst machine had a 50 horse-power Antoinette engineand the latter ones a 40 horse-power Vivinus—an ordinaryautomobile engine, heavy but reliable.

In 1909 the famous Gnome rotary engine appeared.It had 11 cylinders set like the spokes of a wheel; onewas fitted to a Voisin biplane by M. Louis Paulhan.There were several innovations on this machine. Theunder-carriage and tail-booms and much of the understructurewas made of steel tubing. Its greatest contributionto the modern aeroplane was the steering-wheel.This was operated by a rod or joy stick, whichran from the front elevator to a wheel in front of thepilot which was pushed forward to force the nose ofthe machine down, and pulled back to force it up.This made steering much easier. The rudders were[52]worked by wires leading to a pivoted bar on which thepilot’s feet rested. Pushing the right foot steered tothe right, pushing the left foot steered to the left—whichwas also a very natural motion. This methodof construction has been maintained to this day on allmachines. The Voisin was the first “pusher” type ofmachine with single propeller in the rear of the engineand the plane. The Voisin was always heavy, but in1915 it was built in large numbers for bombing purposesbecause the forward nacelle or nest which heldthe observer and gunner afforded such an unobstructedrange of vision for the observer.

To M. Louis Bleriot goes the honor of first constructingmonoplanes and of putting the engine in the noseof the machine with a tractor screw in front of it. Healso first designed the fish-shaped, or stream-line, body,with the tail and elevator planes horizontally and thevertical rudder fixed at the rear end of the fuselage.This was the first successful tractor aeroplane with thepropeller in front.

In 1909 M. Bleriot came to the fore with his type X1machine, the prototype of all successful monoplanes.In this he incorporated the Wright idea of warping thewings to give lateral control, and so produced the firstmonoplane to be controllable in all directions. Withthis type of machine, equipped with a 28 horse-powerthree-cylinder Anzani air-cooled engine, M. Bleriothimself flew over the Channel on July 25, 1909. Histype X1 model, with a few structural details, was thefirst to loop the loop regularly in 1912. After 1909,[53]when fitted with Gnome or Le Rhone rotary engines,the performance of the machine was greatly improved.Since the Bleriot under-carriage, excellent for its purpose,could not be made so as to be pushed rapidlythrough the air, it was abandoned.

M. Bleriot introduced the stick form of control, sothat by moving the control stick forward or backwardthe nose of the machine moved down or up. Pushingthe stick to the right forced the right wing down, movingit to the left pushed the left wing down. The rudderwas worked by the feet as in the Voisin. Thus anatural movement was given to all the controls and agreat step forward was made.

The 1909 and 1910 Avro

Meanwhile in England Aylwin Verdon Roe was experimentingunder strictly limited conditions. In 1908he had got off the ground in a Canard-type biplane, andin the fall of that year he built a tractor biplane, and inthe summer of the next year he had it completed. Hisengine was a 9 horse-power J. A. P. motorcycle engine,the lowest power which has ever flown an aeroplane.It was also the first successful triplane.

In general lines and plan the machine is the prototypeof the modern tractor biplanes and triplanes; ithad warping wings, tail elevators, and a rudder astern,while the control was by rudder and stick, similar tothe Bleriot.

This little machine was further developed in 1909and 1910. Later Mr. Roe abandoned the triplane for[54]the biplane, which he fitted with a Green engine of thevertical-cylinder type, which was the first of its kindinstalled in an aeroplane. Thereafter the triplanepractically disappeared till it was revived by GlennCurtiss, as well as British, French, and German designersduring the war.

They are great climbers and attain great speed inflying. The small 1910 Avro, equipped with a V water-cooledengine, was the forerunner of the single-seatedfighters of the last days of the war.

Because of its fast-climbing ability the 80 horse-powerAvro and the Sopwith Snipe were used for thedefense of such cities as London and Paris againstZeps and aeroplanes. The large two-seater Avro, withonly an 80 horse-power Gnome, flew over 80 miles anhour. As a war-machine early in the conflict it didexcellent work bombing. Later, with slightly higherpower, it was a very good training-machine. Amongtwo-seated biplanes it marked as great an advance asdid the Sopwith Tabloid. Among single-seaters, forthe reason that it had been carefully lightened withoutloss of strength and all details for stream-line hadbeen observed, the same is true.

The Farman Brothers’ Plane

While M. Bleriot was developing his monoplanes,Henry Farman left the Voisin brothers and began experimentingon his own account. The result of hisexperiments was first seen at the Great Rheims meetingwhen his Gnome-engine biplane appeared, and on[55]November 9, 1909, he made a new world record of 145miles in four hours, eighteen minutes, forty-five seconds!Like the Wrights’, his machine had a front elevatorstuck out forward, but the vertical partitions had disappearedfrom the wings, though retained in the tail.The whole machine was built of wood, so that it wasvery much lighter than the Voisin. Its most remarkablestep forward, however, was the use of balancingflappers, usually called ailerons, fitted into the rearedge of each wing. These ailerons were pulled downon one side to give that side extra lift when the machinetilted down on that side. Thus the ailerons had thesame effect as warping the wings, and as it then becameunnecessary to twist the wing itself, it became possibleto build the whole wing structure as a fixed box-girderstructure of wood and wire. This was lighterand stronger than was safe with a warping wing. Forthis reason aileron control is used on all aeroplanes ofto-day.

The Farman biplane was fitted with the stick controlused by M. Bleriot, the stick working wires fore andaft for the elevator and lateral for the ailerons. Arudder-bar for the feet operated the rudder wires. Thiswas the beginning of the present-day idea of the pusherbiplane.

In 1911 Farman abandoned the front elevator andused only the elevator control that was used by monoplanes,and he put the pilot and observer out in frontof the machine so that the range of vision was entirelyuninterrupted. Later this was covered and called a[56]nacelle or nest by the French. Here the machine-gunwas mounted in the days of the World War.

In 1912 Maurice Farman, a brother of Henry, builta machine independent of his brother. He constructeda deep nacelle, giving greater comfort to the pilot. Ithad a forward rudder, and because long horns supportedthe rudder, it was called the mechanical cow. Whenthis front elevator was abolished later, it was knownas the “Shorthorn.” This was the prototype of the“gun busses” and early war training-machines in England.

In 1913 Henry Farman’s pusher design began totake on its ultimate form. The whole machine wasmore compact. The nacelle sheltered the pilot better,and the machine did not look as detached from tailand elevator as formerly. The general effect was moreworkmanlike and less flattened out. This type wasultimately combined with the “Shorthorn” by MauriceFarman into a machine nicknamed the Horace, acombination of Henry and Maurice. In 1917 it wasused as a means of training and aerial travel ratherthan as a fighting-machine.

The 1909 Antoinette Monoplane

The Antoinette monoplane was evolved from theearly experiments of MM. Gastambide and Mangin,and designed by the famous M. Levavasseur, the engineas well as the aeroplane. This is the plane in whichHerbert Latham failed to cross the English Channelby only a few hundred yards. At the Rheims meeting[57]in August, 1909, it was in full working order, and duringthe last few days of the meet there was a continualfight for the distance and duration records betweenLatham of the Antoinette, Henry Farman of the Farman,and Paulhan of the Voisin. The Antoinette wasmuch the fastest, but its engine always failed to holdout long enough to beat the others. However, theAntoinette proved in other respects to be the fastestflying-machine of the year.

It was the first machine in which real care was takento gain a correct stream-line form. The wings wereking-post girders. The body was largely a box-girdercomposed of three-ply wood. The tail was separatedfrom the rest of the plane by uncovered longerons.

Unfortunately, the internal structure of later machinesof this type was weak, so that there were manyfatal results from breaking in the air. The controlwas also very hard to learn. One wheel worked thewarping of the wings, another worked the elevator,and there was a rudder-bar for the feet. In spite ofthis the plane was very beautiful to look at.

The 1910 Breguet

The first successful machine of this type was designedby M. Breguet, a French engineer, who hadbegun experimenting in 1908, and it appeared the latterpart of 1910. The first of the year he produced a machinewhich was nicknamed the “coffee-pot,” becauseit was enclosed entirely in aluminum. This was developedlater into a bombing-machine which had many[58]interesting features. It was almost entirely constructedof steel tubes covered with aluminum plates,which led some to call it an armored aeroplane, whichit was not. The tail, which was one piece with therudder, was carried on a huge universal joint at thetip of the body, so that it swivelled up or down orsideways in response to the controls. The wings hadone huge steel tubular spar, and as a result only onerow of interplane struts.

The under-carriage had a shock-absorber of a pneumatic-springconstruction, which was highly satisfactory,and was the prototype of the elastic-rubberdevices.

The machine was heavy, but it was fast and a greatweight-carrier. Because of minor defects in detail themachine never was generally used, but it was the firststep toward the big tractor biplane of to-day. TheBreguet 1913 seaplane, equipped with a Salmson engine,200 horse-power, was one of the first to utilizelarge horse-power and was thus the forerunner of thehuge flying-boat of to-day.

The Nieuport

In 1911 the brothers Charles and Edouard de Nieuportproduced the monoplane more commonly knownas the Nieuport. The fuselage was a very thick body,tapering well to rear. The pilot and passenger satclose together, with only their heads and shouldersvisible above the fuselage. All unnecessary obstructionwas removed to reduce head resistance. Theunder-carriage consisted only of three V’s of steel tube,[59]of stream-line section, connected to a single longitudinalskid, thus diminishing it to a noteworthy degree.

This made a very fast machine. With only a seven-cylinder,50 horse-power Gnome engine it travelled 70miles an hour, and with a fourteen-cylinder, double-row,50 horse-power Gnome, rated at 100 horse-power butactually developing 70 horse-power, it reached between80 and 90 miles an hour. M. Weyman, in theJames Gordon Bennett race in the Isle of Sheppey,made an average speed of 79.5 miles an hour, so thatallowing for the corners, he must have done around 90miles an hour on straights.

The fast modern tractor biplanes show the influenceof the flat stream-lined, all-inclusive body of the Nieuport.

The most remarkable of the small machines of 1916was the Nieuport biplane, with the 90 horse-powerengine and later the 110 horse-power Le Rhone engine.This was similar to the German Fokker, an excellentfighting-machine, and a direct successor of theSopwith Tabloid. It was noteworthy for the odd Vformed by the struts between the wings.

The 1912 B. E. (British Experimental)

In 1912 the British Government, realizing the importanceof the aeroplane as a war-machine for scoutingpurposes, established the Royal Aircraft Factoryat Farnborough, with Geoffrey de Havilland, one ofthe early British experimenters, as designer. Machinesof his invention have been called D. H.’s. His 1912aeroplane contains some of the ideas embodied in the[60]Avro, Breguet, and the Nieuport. The machine hadthe lightness of a Nieuport, the stream-line of a Breguet,and the stability of an Avro. It was very lightfor its size and capacity, and with a 70 horse-powerRenault engine it attained a speed of about 70 milesan hour, and it responded in the air and on the groundin a manner never before attained. It was the prototypeof a long line of Royal Aircraft Factory designs,through all the range of B. E.’s on to the R. E. seriesand the S. E. series.

The initials B. E. originally stood for Bleriot Experimental,as M. Bleriot was officially credited with havingoriginated the tractor-type aeroplane. Later B. E.was understood to indicate British Experimental.The subsequent development into R. E. indicatedReconnaissance Experimental, these being large biplaneswith water-cooled engines and more tank capacity,intended for long-distance flights. S. E. indicatesScouting Experimental, the idea being thatfast single-seaters would be used for scouting. Theywere, however, only used for fighting.

Another R. A. F. series is the F. E. or large pusherbiplane, descended from the Henry Farman. Theinitials stood originally for Farman Experimental, butnow stand for Fighting Experimental, the type beingvariants of the Vickers Gun Bus.

The 1914 B. E. 2c

Just before the war broke out the British R. A. F.produced an uncapsizable biplane nicknamed “Stability[61]Jane.” Officially she was known as the B. E. 2cand was another type of Mr. De Havilland’s originalB. E. Once it was in the air the machine flew itselfand the pilot had only to keep it on its course. It wasso slow in speed and manœuvring that it was called the“suicide bus,” yet the type was useful for certain purposes.

The 1912 Deperdussin

A very small monoplane, designed by MM. Bechereauand Koolhoven for the Deperdussin firm to competein the James Gordon Bennett race at Rheims,proved to be the fastest machine built to the close of1912. It was a tiny plane with a fourteen-cylinder,100 horse-power Gnome engine. It covered 126½miles in an hour—the first time a man had ever travelledfaster than two miles a minute for a whole hour—andwon the race. Allowing for corners, it musthave flown well over 130 miles an hour on the straightcourse.

The little machine was stream-lined, even to theextent of placing a stream-lined support behind thepilot’s head. Two wheels, an axle, and four carefullystream-lined struts made up the under-carriage. Theplane was remarkable for having its fuselage builtwholly of three-ply wood, built on a mould without anybracing inside. It was the prototype of all the veryhigh-speed machines of to-day. In 1916-17 thethree-ply fuselage was adopted in all German fighting-machinesand this country is gradually appreciating[62]the improvement and has made many fuselages ofthree-ply wood.

The 1912 Curtiss Flying-Boat

But perhaps the most remarkable achievement of1912 was the Curtiss flying-boat. Glenn Curtiss, whowon the James Gordon Bennett race in 1909, had succeededin rising from the water in 1911 with a similarbiplane fitted with a central pontoon float instead of awheeled under-carriage. This he made into a genuineflying-boat, consisting of a proper hydroplane-boat,with wings and engine superimposed. All the greatmodern flying-boats have descended from this, and itis the forerunner of the great passenger-carrying seaplanesof the future. Curtiss is also credited with theinvention of ailerons.

The 1912 Short Seaplane

Another type of seaplane was also developed in 1912when, after many trials, the Short brothers, of Eastchurch,England, built a successful seagoing biplane,equipped with twin floats instead of the ordinarylanding-gear. This, with only an 80 horse-powerGnome engine, was the first flying-machine to arisefrom or alight on any kind of sea.

The 1912 Taube

The German Taube was yet another development of1912. This plane is so called because the wings areswept back and curved up at the tips like those of a[63]dove. The builders were Herr Wels and Herr Etrich,of Austria, in 1908. Herr Etrich took the design toGermany, where it was adopted by Herr Rumpler.

This machine was designed to be inherently stable,that is, uncapsizable, and it was successful to a greatdegree. If it had altitude enough it generally succeededwhen falling in recovering its proper positionbefore striking the ground. Other builders had strivenfor inherent stability, but had failed to get beyond acertain point. Owing to the greater financial supportobtainable in Germany the 1912 type Taube lasted,with small changes, far into 1915, when it was succeededby the large German biplanes, which hadgreater speed and carrying power. Several machinesin Britain and the United States have attained a considerablereputation as having inherent stability.

The 1913 Sopwith Tabloid

T. O. M. Sopwith, Harry G. Hawker, the Australianpilot who first went to Newfoundland to fly the Atlantic,and Mr. Sigrist, Mr. Sopwith’s chief engineer,turned out early in 1913 an extremely small tractorbiplane, equipped with an 80 horse-power Gnome engine,which surprised the aeronautical world by doinga top speed of 95 miles per hour and a climb of 15,000feet in ten minutes, while it could fly as slowly as 45miles per hour. It was achieved by skilfully reducingthe weight, paying close attention to the designing ofthe wings, and by carefully stream-lining externalparts. All the modern high-speed fighting-biplanes,[64]such as the “Camels,” “Snipes,” “Kittens,” “Bullets,”“Hawks,” and others, are descended from theoriginal “Tabloid,” so called because it had so manygood points concentrated in it. Because of its fast-climbingability it was used for the defense of suchcities as London and Paris against the Zeps and aeroplanes.

The 1914 Vickers Gun Bus

The first genuine gun-carrying biplane, designed andbuilt by Vickers, London, came early in 1914. Clearlyof Farman inspiration, it had an especially strongnacelle to stand the working of a heavy gun. Equippedwith a 100 horse-power Gnome engine it made over 70miles an hour. It was known everywhere as the “GunBus,” and the name stuck to the whole class.

The 1914 German Albatross Biplane

Meanwhile the Germans were busy developing machines,so that another development of 1914 was theAlbatross tractor biplane, with a six-cylinder verticalwater-cooled Mercedes engine of 100 horse-power.This engine was the ancestor of the Liberty engine andof all the big German tractor biplanes. The planeresembled the French Breguets and British Avros of1910.

The 1915 Twin Caudron

The first aeroplane to fly with consistent successequipped with more than one engine was the twin-motoredCaudron, with two 110 horse-power Le Rhoneengines. Various other similar experiments had beenmade and some machines were designed which afterwardmade good. The French twin Caudron, however,may claim to be the first twin-engined aeroplane.The engines were placed one on each side of the fuselagebut inaccessible to the pilot.

The 1916 Twin Handley Page

In 1916 the British Handley Page machine with 100-footwing spread, driven by two Rolls-Royce motorsof 250 horse-power, performed many remarkable bomb-carryingfeats for long distance. A later machine, with127-foot wing spread and four engines, flew via Cairoand Bagdad to Delhi, India, and still another carrieda piano over the Channel. A large fleet of these bomberswere ready to attack Berlin when the armisticewas signed.

The 1917 Spad

The Spad was designed by M. Bechereau, of Deperdussinfame. It and the Albatross D3 model were bothdescended from the Deperdussin, the Nieuport, andthe Tabloid. The Spad superseded the Nieuport as afighting scout on the West Front because of its superiorspeed when driven by a Salmson engine.

The 1917 D. H. 4

The 1917 D. H. 4 was designed by De Havilland,and the S. E. 5 was built by his successors at the RoyalAircraft Factory. Both were descendants of the B. E.,[66]as is the Bristol Fighter, built by the British and ColonialAeroplane Company, of British, and designed byCaptain Barnwell.

The German Gotha, which bombed London so often,was a descendant of the Caudron and the HandleyPage twin-engine planes.

In 1917 Italy produced her famous three-enginedCaproni triplane, driven by three Fiat 1,000 horse-powerengines. It had 150-foot wing spread and wasused for bombing purposes. S. I. A. and Pomilio weresmaller fighting-machines, equipped with Fiat engines.All of these machines were exhibited in the UnitedStates and many Caproni triplanes were built in thiscountry.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE AEROPLANE FOR WARPURPOSES

GERMAN AERIAL PREPAREDNESS—PRIZES GIVEN FORAERONAUTICS BY VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS—FIRSTUSE OF PLANES IN WAR—FIRST AIRCRAFT ARMAMENT

There is no gainsaying the fact that Germany, in hereagerness to develop every engine of war further thanany other nation, so that when “Der Tag” came shewould be mechanically superior and thus able to quicklycrush any adversary, instantly saw the advantage thatcontrol of the air would give her.

For that reason, as soon as the Wrights began todemonstrate in France, in 1908, the feasibility of theaeroplane as a scout, the Germans realized the importanceof the aeroplane as an adjunct of the dirigible,whose development they had already been committedto since 1900, when Count Ferdinand Zeppelin builthis first rigid lighter-than-air craft. Since aeronauticmotors had to be used on both types of aircraft, andsince the speed and flying radius depended on theefficiency of the engine, the Germans set about to developthem.

The French War Department had in 1910 laid downrules and regulations for a competition to developaeronautics. They specified that the aeroplane and[68]engine should be made in France, and that the distanceof flight must at least be 186 miles, carrying 660pounds of useful load, or three passengers, and to attainan altitude of 1,640 feet. The sum of 100,000francs was to be paid for the machine which accomplishedthis feat, and 20 other machines of the sametype were to be bought for 40,000 francs each. Inthe lists of that year 34 aeroplanes of as many designswere built, but only 8 passed the tests. Weyman’sNieuport with a Gnome engine attained an averagespeed of 116 miles an hour.

As a result of this contest England, Germany, andAustria established aeroplane meets for 1912. Englandoffered 10,000 pounds in prizes. Prince Henryof Prussia urged the German Government to appropriate$7,000,000 for military aeronautics. On January27, 1912, the Kaiser offered 50,000 marks in prizesto develop aeromotors. The Aerial League of Germanystarted a public subscription which brought in7,234,506 marks. The purpose of the league was totrain a large number of pilots for a reserve and to encouragegeneral development of aeronautics in Germany.

This proved to be a great success, for by the end of1913, 370 additional German pilots had been trained,making a total of over 600. Meanwhile, German constructorsincreased from 20 to 50 in the same periodof time.

The development of aeronautics under the auspicesof the Aerial League induced the Reichstag to appropriate[69]$35,000,000 to be expended during the next fiveyears for military aeronautics. This was by far themost liberal appropriation made for war aeronauticsby any government in Europe.

Under this encouragement, by the middle of July,1914, the German aviators broke all the world’s records,making a total of over 100 new records of all kinds.The non-stop endurance record of 24 hours, 12 minuteswas made by Reinhold Boehm, and Heinrich Oelrichattained a new ceiling at 26,246 feet. Herr Landsmancovered 1,335 miles in one day, making the world’srecord for distance covered by one man in one day.Roland Garros held the world’s record of 19,200 feetbefore Otto Linnekogel made 21,654.

The stream-lining of aircraft and the developmentof the Mercedes and Benz gasoline motors under theincentive to win the Kaiser’s prize was the big factorin this aeronautic progress. Not only did the Germansmake new aviation records, but they also wonthe Grand Prix race in Paris, 1913, with engines the detailsof which were most jealously guarded, defeatingthe best English and French machines. Indeed, theMercedes motor used on Zeppelin, aeroplane, and automobilewas the same in fundamentals.

To Americans who are familiar with the difficultieswe experienced in the early days of our entrance intothe World War in getting quantity production withthe Liberty motor, it is evident from the fact thatthe Germans had three large factories filled with tools,dies, gigs, etc., for quantity production of the Benz,[70]Mercedes, and Maybach engines, that Germany believedthat she had control of the air in June, 1914.She had already broken all the world’s records in road-racing,as well as in the air, and she had more than ascore of Zeppelins and over 500 standardized planes.

Naturally, the preparations of the Germans did notfail to attract attention in France. Races and aeronauticcontests at military manœuvres, besides aeroexpositions, were held by the French, and the successof the Paris-Madrid and Paris-Rome race in 1911 influencedthe French Chamber of Deputies to appropriate11,000,000 francs for military aviation. TheKaiser’s prize and Prince Henry of Prussia’s recommendationof $7,500,000 appropriation for Germanaviation caused the Paris Matin to start a nationalsubscription by donating 50,000 francs for an aeronauticfund similar to that subscribed by Germany.

In 1911 Mr. Robert J. Collier loaned his aeroplaneto the United States Government to be used for scoutduty on the Mexican frontier.

In February, 1912, during the Italian-Turkish War,the Italians used one aeroplane for locating the positionof the Arabs, and several bombs were droppedwithout any attempt to do any more than guess atthe place where they would land. As a matter of fact,they fell far from their objectives, and served nomilitary purpose further than to frighten the horses.In locating the distribution of troops, however, thisaeroplane was most valuable.

For that reason many military men even thought[71]that the aeroplane, because of the velocity at whichit moved, could not be of much value other than forscouting, and as no guns had been successfully mountedon aircraft before the World War, the aeroplane wasnot regarded as an offensive weapon. Indeed, thatwas one of the developments of the war.

The first attempts to mount a machine-gun on anaeroplane were made in France on a Morane monoplane.In order to shoot over the propeller a steelscaffolding was erected, and the pilot was supposedto stand up to sight his gun. This was impracticable,and the structure retarded the vision of the pilot andthe speed of the aeroplane.

In the early days of the war pilots seldom flew over3,000 feet high, and since there were no machine-gunsmounted in a practical way, the pilots could only contentthemselves with firing revolvers at one another.The only thing they had to fear was rifle-shot and thetrajectory of artillery. The few antiaircraft gunshad no greater range than 3,000 feet, and, as a matterof fact, most of the reconnaissance work done at Verdunin the first six months of 1916 was at 3,000 feetaltitude.

The first historic record of a machine-gun mountedon an aeroplane was in the despatch telling of thedeath of the French aviator Garaix on August 15, 1914,by the aerobus Paul Schmitt. Garaix had 200 roundsof ammunition. In December of that year the 160horse-power Breguet piloted by Moineau mounted amachine-gun. The French pusher Voisins, with no[72]obstruction of vision to the gunner in the nacelle, affordedan excellent opportunity for the use of machine-guns.Moreover, most of the aeroplanes brought downin the early days of the war were the victims of enginetrouble or shots from rifles on the ground. A staffreport of October 5, 1914, of the Germans relates thatthe French aviator Frantz, flying a Voisin with hismechanic Quenault, shot down a German Aviaticplane with two aviators from 1,500 metres altitude,killing the two Germans. For this feat Sergeant Frantzreceived the Military Medal, the first decoration givena French flier in the war.

On October 7 Captain Blaise and Sergeant Gaubert,in a Maurice Farman, with a rifle shot down LieutenantFinger, a Boche who had defended himself with a revolver.Captain Blaise expended eight shots beforehe got the German flier.

The first recorded equipment of a machine-gun ona German machine was on October 25, 1914, when aTaube near Amiens opened fire on a Henry Farmanmachine piloted by Corporal Strebick and his mechanic,who were directing artillery-fire. The Germansfirst used a Mauser gun for their aeroplanes.

Meanwhile, the need for having a machine-gun fixedstationary on the aircraft and armed by manœuvringthe aeroplane became more evident. Roland Garros,who was the first to fly across the Mediterranean Seafrom France to Tunis, Africa, mounted a gun toshoot through the propeller on February 1, 1915. Inorder to protect the blades from the bullets, he had[73]the propeller-tip covered with steel. Thus, when thebullets hit, they were deflected. Only 7 per cent hitthe blades, however.

This was a crude way of mounting the gun, and itwas Garros’s mechanician who worked out the methodof gearing up the machine-gun so that it shot its 600bullets between the revolutions of the propeller. Thisenabled the so-called single-seater scout tractors, withpropeller in front, to fly armed with a machine-gunmounted over the hood of the engine, directly in frontof the aviator. It was also the beginning of the useof the aeroplane as a fighter in aerial duels and in contactpatrol of later days when it descended to attacktroops in the trenches and trains on the tracks.

January 1, 1915, was the date of mounting the firstLewis machine-gun on a Nieuport aeroplane to shootover the propeller. The Germans copied this withtheir Parabellum light gun, but it was not till July,1915, that the German Fokker first appeared with asynchronized machine-gun mounted on it. Since apropeller revolves 1,400 times a minute, a blade passesthe nose of the gun 2,800 times a minute, and the machine-gunswere geared to shoot about 400 shots aminute, so that one shot passes through to every sevenstrokes of the propeller-blade. Sometimes, however,as many as two guns were synchronized to shootthrough the same propeller. A push-button on thesteering-bar fires the gun while the pilot keeps his eyeon the enemy through the telescope in front ofhim.

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The Lewis gun is an air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fedgun, weighing 26 pounds with the jacket and18 pounds without. The facility with which the guncan be manœuvred into any position or angle makesit a very efficient aeroplane gun. The ability of thisgun to function automatically, and the speed withwhich it operates, is due to the use of a detachabledrum-shaped, rotating magazine which holds 47 or 97cartridges each. When the magazine is placed in positionit needs no more attention until all the cartridgesare empty, when the magazine is snatched off and anotheris stuck on. This gun is the invention of ColonelIsaac Lewis, a retired American army officer.

The Vickers is an English gun, belt-fed, water-cooled,recoil-operated. It can shoot from 300 to 500 shotsa minute. Since all the shells are in a belt it can befired continuously until the 500 shots have been usedup. Its water-cooled devices were dispensed with onthe aeroplanes.

The German Maxim is similar to the Vickers. TheLewis shoots .33 and Vickers and Maxim .30 ammunition.In the beginning of the war the Colt gas-operatedgun was also used on aeroplanes, as were also theHotchkiss and Benet-Mercier. The first gun shooting400 shots a minute was similar to the Vickers.

Owing to the ease with which the cotton-belts containingthe cartridges on Vickers guns jam, it wasused only for fixed positions in front, whereas the Lewiswas employed in the observer’s nacelle and other positionswhich required sudden change in the aim. As[75]many as half a dozen machine-guns were mounted onsome of the large bombers in the last days of the war.

Many attempts to mount cannon on aircraft havebeen made, but owing to the recoil, the room necessaryfor mounting and manipulating, and the speed withwhich the gunner and the target move through theair, not much success was attained.

Captain Georges Guynemer, the first great Frenchflier to down more than fifty Hun planes, is creditedwith mounting a one-pounder on his Nieuport, single-seater.It could not shoot through the propeller, so itwas arranged to shoot through the hub. The gun wasbuilt into the crank-case, the barrel protruding twoinches beyond the hub. It is said that Guynemerbrought down his forty-ninth, fiftieth, fifty-first, andfifty-second victims with this type of gun; but becauseof the fifty pounds extra weight above that ofthe machine-gun it was an impediment.

Attempts to use on aeroplanes the Davis non-recoilgun, invented by Commander Davis of the UnitedStates navy, have not been entirely successful. Thetwo-pounder is 10 feet long, weighs 75 pounds, andshoots 1.575 shell with a velocity of 1,200 feet a second.The 3-inch Davis fires a 12-pound shell and weighs130 pounds.

Several other guns have been used, and with theincrease in the size of planes there ought to be muchincrease in the size of aeroplane guns.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE LIBERTY AND OTHER MOTORS

DEBATE IN REGARD TO ORIGIN OF LIBERTY MOTOR—LIBERTY-ENGINECONFERENCE, DESIGN, AND TEST—MAKERSOF PARTS—HISPANO-SUIZA MOTOR—ROLLS-ROYCE—OTHERMOTORS

There has been more discussion of the Liberty motorthan any other motor made during the war. This wasdue to the publicity given to the motor by the publicationof a romantic story of the motor, issued fromWashington over the signature of Secretary of WarBaker, to the effect that the motor was conceived ina few days, and built and perfected within a month.Of course every engineer knows that that could notbe done, and it took at least six months before theLiberty engine was perfected, and this was long afterthe Creel Publicity Bureau in Washington issued itsstatement.

As we have pointed out elsewhere, if the AircraftProduction Board had taken the patterns of a standardmotor like the Hispano-Suiza, which had been flownfor nearly three years under all kinds of war conditions,and which was being built in this country, andif they had ordered gigs, dies, and tools, and whenwe entered the war had requested our engineers to[77]follow Chinese patterns in the making of the same, thedies, gigs, etc., could have been made at once instead ofmonths later, and many American-made aircraft couldhave been operating over the lines when the Americansbegan to fight at Château-Thierry, and notmonths later, as was the case. Undoubtedly this delaycost the lives of thousands of American soldiers, andset back the Allied victory by just so much. The failureto deliver aircraft on schedule was the reason whyGeneral Pershing had to demand haste in the productionof machines. Regardless of the fact that the aeroplanemotor is radically different from the automobilemotor, because it must be much lighter, neverthelessautomobile men were called in by the Aircraft ProductionBoard to design the Liberty motor, and many ofthe engine-building companies that had been constructingaeronautical motors were not consulted.

After the Liberty engine was completed a lively debatewas instituted as to which of the two companiesthat was represented at the designing of the enginedeserved the most credit for the job. One of the automobilecompanies advertised the fact that they wereresponsible for the Liberty motor, and the other companyimmediately replied, trying to prove that becausethey had built successful motors before the war thatthey were the real designers of the motor.

To be sure, no one would have objected to theconstruction of a Liberty motor on the side, but todelay the construction of motors in quantity until September,1917, put the United States back just six[78]months in production, for a number of factories werealready producing parts for Rolls-Royce engines, andthe Wright-Martin Company had been building theHispano-Suiza motor since January, 1916.

Be that as it may, the facts regarding the Libertymotor appear to be that General Squier, E. A. Deeds,Howard E. Coffin, S. D. Waldon, of the Aircraft ProductionBoard, called in to consultation on May 29,1918, E. J. Hall, chief engineer of the Hall-Scott MotorCompany, builders of a number of 4, 6, 8, and 12 cylinderaeroplane engines, and Jesse G. Vincent, experimentalengineer of the Packard Motor Car Company,who had just completed a design and an experimentalaeroplane engine, which had never up to that time beenin a plane.

Both these gentlemen were in Washington attemptingto interest Signal Corps officials in the aeroplaneengine each had designed.

Liberty-Engine Conference

A five-day conference between Mr. Hall and Mr.Vincent, called by Mr. Deeds and Mr. Waldon of theAircraft Production Board to consider aeroplane-enginedesign and production, was held. The two engineersgot together in designing a standardized,directly driven, five-bearing crank-shaft engine of8 cylinders, and one of 12 cylinders, with a seven-bearingcrank-shaft. After a session of twenty hours’work in a room at the New Willard Hotel, in Washington,during which meals were served the two men,[79]and both lived, worked, and slept in the apartmentsof Mr. Deeds, a new 8-cylinder 230 horse-power aeroplaneengine was laid out, described, and drawings oftransverse and longitudinal sections were made byVincent and Hall themselves. This was the firstLiberty motor designed.

On the morning of May 30, 1917, near the close ofthe designing session, Mr. Vincent dictated a jointreport to the Aircraft Production Board. The salientpoints and a rough draft had been agreed upon thenight before. It was dated May 31, 1917, and signedjointly by E. J. Hall and Jesse G. Vincent.

On June 4 Hall and Vincent finished a layout ofan 8-cylinder engine, and presented the drawings andreceived an order to build ten sample engines, and onJune 8 the Packard Company arranged for pattern-making,production work, etc.

This motor after intensive work on detail drawingswas put into preliminary production. The first onewas delivered to Washington, July 3, 1917. In themaking of the sample engine Mr. Vincent’s companyplaced its factory organization at the disposal of thegovernment, and through Mr. Vincent’s untiring effortsand enthusiasm the first motor was completed withinthe sixty days.

The other companies which aided in the work ofbuilding this motor were:

The General Aluminum and Brass ManufacturingCompany of Detroit made bronze-backed, babbitt-linedbearings and aluminum castings.

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The Cadillac Motor Car Company of Detroit madethe connecting-rods, connecting upper-end bushings,connecting-rod bolts, and rocker-arm assemblies. TheCadillac Company had perfected the design of connecting-rodsof the forked or straddle type, and had beenusing them for several years in their 8-cylinder engines.

The Parke Drop Forge Company of Cleveland madethe crank-shaft forgings. These forgings completelyheat-treated were produced in three days, simply becauseMr. Hall gave them permission to dig out theHall-Scott dies which were used in making the firstLiberty crank-shaft forgings.

Hall-Scott Motor Car Company of San Franciscosupplied all the bevel-gears out of its stock for thestandardized line of Hall-Scott 4, 6, 8, and 12 cylinderaeroplane engines.

The L. O. Gordon Company of Muskegon made thecam-shafts.

The Hess-Bright Manufacturing Company of Philadelphiamade the ball-bearings.

The Burd High Compression Ring Company ofRockford, Ill., supplied the piston-rings out of stockmade up for the Hall-Scott line of standardized aeroplaneengines, for which it had perfected a piston-ring.

The Aluminum Castings Company of Clevelandsupplied the die-cast alloy pistons, and machined themup to grinding, as they had been engaged in makingthem for several years for the Hall-Scott line of standardizedaviation engines.

The Rich Tool Company made the valves.

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The Gibson Company of Muskegon made thesprings.

The Packard Company made the patterns and severaldies in order to obtain drop-forgings of the properquality. It also machined the crank-shafts.

After the preliminary tests passed by the 8-cylinderengine, August 25, 1917, Government Inspector LynnReynolds said “that the design has passed from theexperimental stage into the field of proven engines.”The machine was tested at Pike’s Peak, Colorado, foraltitude in August, 1917. Reports from the battle-fielddecided the board to build 12-cylinder engines.Thereupon standardized parts made interchangeablefor all types of Liberty engines were detailed, andorders placed with the various firms named to buildthe same. Production was started on a large scale.

On October 17 the production of the Liberty motorstarted, over six months after we entered the war.

The delivery of the first Liberty 12 was made onThanksgiving Day, 1917.

One of the unrecorded incidents of this period concernedthe “scrapping” of $400,000 worth of semi-finishedparts of an automotive aircraft engine, whichwas assumed O. K., and parts had been ordered for250 motors. It was actually in production at thetime Hall and Vincent were ignoring practically all itsfeatures and “laying out” the designs for the Liberty8 and Liberty 12. It had never been tested in aplane, and its design and all its parts were rejected.

Owing to the slowness of production due to the new[86]gigs, dies, tools, etc., necessary to build the engines,much criticism was directed at the lack of shipmentsof Liberty engines for army air service in the wintermonths of 1917.

Charged with the necessity of protecting the Americanarmy transport, the Navy Department had firstcall on all air-service equipment. As a result it receivedthe first Liberty 12’s turned out. These wereinstalled in navy aeroplanes, where they did goodwork.

The preliminary Liberty 8 was delivered to theBureau of Standards, Washington, D. C., July 3,1917, by the group of industrial concerns named. A54-hour test was made of a Liberty 12 on August25 by the Bureau of Standards. The Liberty 12 wasdetailed for quantity production, and the actual workwas begun, and the work done by these companies inproducing Liberty-engine parts is above praise. It wasthen that the mighty energies of their splendid organizationsdemonstrated the ability of American industriallife to fight the battle behind the lines.

War Department Statement

Departing from its policy of secretiveness concerningall things of a military character, the United StatesWar Department on May 15, 1918, issued an authorizedstatement dealing with the technical features and characteristicsof the Liberty 12, then in quantity production.This statement was published in the CongressionalRecord of an early subsequent date.

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Secretary of War Baker in his report published elsewherein this book gives the following account ofLiberty motors built:

Production of Service Engines

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The Hispano-Suiza

It is evident from the records made by the GermanMercedes, which are given in another chapter, that itwas the best aviation motor in existence in July, 1914.Naturally, this motor had considerable influence onthe aeronautical engineers of the Allies. Mr. MarcBirkright, a Swiss engineer to the Hispano-Suiza Company,automobile builders in Barcelona, Spain, andParis, designed the aviation motor which now holdsthe world’s record for altitude—28,900 feet. When hedesigned the motor he had in mind the constructionof the machine-tools necessary to build the same.

In the summer of 1915 the first motor of 150 horse-powerwas delivered to France after a test of 15 consecutivehours. The next two were tested for 50hours, and proved satisfactory. France placed alarge order, and the Hispano-Suiza factory beganproduction at the end of 1915. Before the end of thewar three Italian, fourteen French, one British, oneJapanese, and one Spanish factory, besides 25,000 peoplein America, were producing Hispano-Suiza engines.

The motor had great success in the single-seaterfighters flown by such men as Captain Georges Guynemer,Lieutenant Fonck, Nungesser, and dozens ofother aces.

With the exception of increasing the horse-powerfrom 150 to 180, 200, 300, very few changes were madein this motor in this country.

Four hundred and fifty engines were ordered by the[90]French Government of the General Aeronautic Companyof America early in 1916. When the Wright-MartinAircraft Company was formed in September ofthat year, less than 100 motors had been delivered.At the end of July, 1917, 1,000 motors were on theirbooks.

From July, 1917, the American factory concentratedon the 150 horse-power engine. The Wright-MartinCompany had to build its own plant for aluminumcastings for the engine. In November of that year thecompany was ordered to build 200 horse-power engines,and later the 300 horse-power was ordered. In May,1918, the French and British Governments decided touse the 300 horse-power motor in large quantities, andby October the factories of the company in New Brunswickand Long Island City were tooled up to produce1,000 motors a month, which represented a $50,000,000order. Early in the spring of 1918, 15 motors a daywere produced, and in August of that year the companywas committed to a schedule of 30 engines a day.

The Rolls-Royce Motor

“There is no doubt,” says London Motor, “that theconception of the Rolls-Royce aeronautic engine isextremely good, but no one will gainsay the fact thatthe care exercised in manufacture and the elaborateoperations through which the various parts have topass are in part the reason for its success. This refinementnecessitates the passing of certain parts throughfifty or sixty operations that might be easily carried[91]out in a comparatively small number if superfine finishwere not desired or required.

“The Rolls-Royce ‘Eagle’ engine, originally designedas a 200 horse-power unit, developed 255 horse-poweron the first brake test. Diligent research and experimentwere pursued with extraordinary results, as willbe seen in the following record of official brake tests,all made without any enlargement of the dimensionsor radical alteration in design. A 12-cylinder engine,4½-inch bore by 6½-inch stroke, developed in March,1916, 266 horse-power at 1,800 R. P. M. By Julythe power was increased to 284 horse-power; ninemonths from this date, in September, 1917, it hadrisen to 350 horse-power, and in February, 1918, 10more horse-power was added, making the total 360horse-power. In addition to the ‘Eagle,’ a smallerengine giving 105 horse-power at 1,500 R. P. M. wasturned out under the name of the ‘Hawk.’

“The ‘Eagle’ engine was used in the large HandleyPage machine, and in the successful long-distancebombing raids into Germany. In 1916 another enginefor fighting planes was added to the list, under thename of ‘Falcon,’ and was almost exclusively used inthe Bristol fighting plane. The increase in the powerdeveloped by the ‘Falcon’ engine, which has a 4-inchbore, was as follows: April, 1916, 206 horse-power at1,800 R. P. M.; July, 1918, 285 horse-power at 2,000R. P. M.

“From the stamping-plant through the machine,gear-cutting, and grinding shops and welding department,[92]the care with which each engine is turned out isapparent. Take apart a cylinder which has a stampedsheet-metal water-jacket welded externally, and theoriginal billet is found out of which the cylinder wasmade, but reduced almost by half when it is ready toreceive the valve cages, and during the process of removalof the metal and forming into proper shape thepiece is subjected to several heat treatments so as tobring the metal to that stage of perfection needed forthe work it has to perform. The elbow cages that arefitted to the cylinders might be cast and cored, but thevalve cage is an actual solid stamping, and the right-anglebend through the elbow has to be bored out byspecial machines.

“One point illustrates the care in the choice ofmetal and the multifarious operations through whicheach part has to pass. A crank-shaft stamping withextension piece on the rear and about one foot long iscut off, and test pieces of this metal, properly numberedwith each crank-shaft, are passed through thesame treatment as the crank-shaft itself, and then subjectedto minute examination by highly skilled engineers.The actual manufacturing side of the workwould naturally be very similar to the manufactureof a car engine, but one obtains a better perspectiveof what an engine is subjected to by passing from theerecting and manufacturing shops to the engine-testingshop, where the ear-splitting reports from the openexhausts of a number of engines being tested at thesame time are heard. Here one sees how dissimilar[93]the aviation engine is from the car engine. It isalmost impossible, without having actually witnessedit, to picture to oneself a 12-cylinder engine runningat 2,200 R. P. M. against a brake test. As the exhaustports are on either side of the engine, the cylindersbeing placed in the form of a V, it is possible, bypassing on either side, to look into the combustion-chamberand see the valves rising and the spit of theexhaust, and, what is almost incredible, that the exhaustvalves are actually red-hot and run in this conditionfor hours. Little wonder is it that the valveshave to be made of superfine material and of particularform.

“The variation in the color of the flame of the exhaust,due to strong and weak mixtures, makes itquite possible to test the good running of an engineby the color of its exhaust. The strength of the mixturehas necessarily to be altered according to atmosphericconditions and the altitude to which the pilotdesires to climb.

“No doubt airplane-engine practice of the last fouryears and the advance that it has made will be reflectedin a very marked degree in the automobile, not necessarilyby fitting large airplane engines in cars, but byapplying to car practice the knowledge that has beengained in manufacture.

“The Rolls-Royce works had in 1907 an area of 5,312square yards, and during the war this was increasedto 67,935 square yards. At the present time the payrollis somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,650.”

GROWTH OF AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING INUNITED STATES

THE 1912 EXPOSITION—THE FIRST PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION—THEMANUFACTURERS AIRCRAFT EXPOSITION—DESCRIPTIONSOF EXHIBITORS—GROWTH OFAIRCRAFT FACTORIES—NAVAL AIRCRAFT FACTORY

As soon as the Wright brothers demonstrated thefeasibility of aerial flight in 1908 a great many companieswere organized to manufacture heavier-than-airmachines. Naturally, most of the designers andbuilders were young men who learned to fly, asthere was no science of aircraft construction taught inthe universities or colleges in the pioneer days. Atfirst little capital was obtained, and as the use of theaeroplane was confined to sporting purposes, the demandsfor the same were small. Nevertheless, byMay, 1912, the manufacturing of aircraft had developedto such an extent that a show was held at theGrand Central Palace, New York, from May 9 to18. The exposition was held under the auspices ofthe International Exposition Company. Nine monoplanesand twelve biplanes and one quadriplane wereexhibited.

The Wright brothers exhibited a two-seater biplane.It differed little from the regular headless models, the[95]only change being the two long, narrow, vertical planesin front and a larger vertical rudder in the rear andwing-warping. The gasoline-tank is placed behind thepassenger-seat, while the radiator was put in the rearof the engine. On the Wright stand was also to be seenfor the first time one of their new 6-cylinder 6 horse-poweraeroplane motors, as well as a new three-stephydroplane, designed expressly for use on their machines.

Curtiss

The Curtiss Aeroplane Company showed three oftheir latest biplanes and two motors.

The centre of attraction of the Curtiss exhibit wasthe new small-spread headless machine. This machinehad a spread of only 21 feet 3 inches, and a chord of4½ feet, and an over-all length of 32 feet. It wasequipped with a 75 horse-power 8-cylinder V water-cooledCurtiss motor. A Curtiss hydroaeroplane wasalso shown.

In addition to the hydro and racer the Curtiss Companyshowed a two-passenger military-type machine,fitted with a shift control.

Burgess

The Burgess Company showed three biplanes, one alarge two-seater military tractor, a regular Burgess-Wrighthydroaeroplane, and the “Flying Fish,” theoriginal Burgess.

The military type was a large tractor biplane having[96]the engine and propeller mounted in front of thefuselage. The seats for the aviator and passengerwere arranged tandem fashion behind the gasoline-tanksand immediately between the two planes. Nearthe rear of the fuselage was attached a stationary horizontalstabilizing tail, while at the extreme rear wasthe horizontal rudder.

The power-plant consisted of an 8-cylinder V air-cooled70 horse-power Renault motor, which drovethrough under gearing a large Chauviere tractor propeller.

In addition the machine was equipped with a verycomplete wireless set for receiving and sending messages,the current being generated by a small dynamo,which was placed underneath the fuselage and wasdriven by the engine.

The Burgess-Wright shown was of the regular two-passengertype, capable of being started from the seat,and fitted with a 6-cylinder 50 horse-power silencedKirkham motor in place of the usual 35 horse-powerWright.

Schill

Paul Schill, of the Max Ams Company, exhibited alarge Farman-type hydroaeroplane, equipped with a100 horse-power 8-cylinder Max Ams motor, whichcould be cranked from the seat. This biplane had acovered-in cabin with seats for three persons. Thehydroplanes were fitted to the regular skid struts andwere of the single-step type.

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Coffyn

Frank T. Coffyn exhibited a hydroaeroplane. Thismachine was the regular standard Wright pattern,but fitted with Coffyn’s own hydroplanes. Coffyn wasthe first man to successfully fit double hydroplanes toan aeroplane.

Another improvement made by Coffyn was thefitting of a starting-crank to permit starting the motorfrom the front without having to turn the propellers.

Christmas

The Christmas Aeroplane Company showed a biplane.The wings of this biplane were set at a doubledihedral angle, with an opening about two feet widein the centre of the top plane, to take up the blast ofair made by the propeller. The edges of the wingswere flexible like a bird’s. The controlling-gear consistedof a semicircular wheel, which by rotatingworked the ailerons, while a twisting movement ofthe whole on its axis turned the vertical rudder, anda fore-and-aft movement, operated by warping, thelarge horizontal rudder in the rear. The motor usedwas a 7-cylinder 50 horse-power Gyro.

Gressier

The Gressier Aviation Company exhibited a “Canard”type machine which was fitted with a 50 horse-powerGnome. This machine has an elevator in frontof the fuselage, while the main planes and motor were[98]in the rear. The seats for pilot and passenger weresituated just in front of the main biplane cellule.

The biplane shown was fitted with three skids andsix Farman-type shock-absorbing wheels.

Rex

The Rex Monoplane Company exhibited an all-Americanmonoplane. This machine had a long,graceful fuselage, which carried at its front end themotor and gasoline-tank, the wings and the pilot’s seat,and at its rear the flat, non-lifting tail plane and elevatorflaps with the vertical rudder immediately behindthem. The landing-gear was quite novel, andconsisted of a single skid and two shock-absorbingwheels. These wheels were attached to the fuselagethrough telescopic tubes having springs inside themto absorb shocks. The axle also strapped to thelanding-skid by rubber bands, the whole forming thefirst flexible and efficient shock-absorbing landing-gear.

The main planes had a peculiar reverse curve inthem, and were pivoted to a centre upright in thefuselage, thus permitting of warping the whole winginstead of only the tips.

Antoinette

Harry S. Harkness exhibited the Antoinette monoplanewith which he carried the first war-despatchin the United States, on February 7, 1911. This[99]machine was fitted with an 8-cylinder 50 horse-powerAntoinette motor and Normale propeller.

Baldwin

Captain Thomas S. Baldwin showed the biplanewith which he has toured in many parts of the globe.This machine was a cross between an early Farmanand a Curtiss. The power-plant consisted of a 60horse-power 8-cylinder Hall-Scott motor.

Multiplane Ltd.

The Multiplane Limited, of Atchison, Kan., showeda large quadruplane built under the patents ofH. W. Jacobs and R. Emerson. The machine was ofthe headless type, having four main planes in front,with four lifting tail planes in the rear, and an elevatorimmediately behind the two. The propellerswere mounted on the same axis and placed midwaybehind the main planes, and were driven by leather-coveredflat steel belts from two 8-cylinder 80 horse-powerstaggered V-type air-cooled motors. Themachine was designed for weight-carrying, and wasfitted with a large cabin having a double row of seats,capable of holding five people comfortably. Thelanding-chassis consisted of one long centre skid, havingtwo large 48-inch wheels in front, and a single swivellingwheel in the rear. These wheels were not fittedwith pneumatic tires, but instead had a broad, flat,strip steel rim. The wing spread was 37 feet; length,29 feet 8 inches; height, 17 feet.

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Gallaudet

The Gallaudet Engineering Company exhibited aspeed monoplane named the “Bullet.”

The fuselage was torpedo-shaped, having a sectionfour feet square at the point where the aviator sat,and tapering sharply to a point in the front, and moregradually toward the rear. The nose of the machinewas made up of sheet aluminum, having a series ofholes stamped in it to permit of efficient cooling of the14-cylinder Gnome. The main planes were attachedto the centre of the fuselage in a position just behindthe engine, while at the rear of the fuselage were thesmall triangular-shaped elevator and the verticalrudder. A three-bladed propeller was used. Thedimensions were: length over all, 20 feet 6 inches;spread, 32 feet; width of wings, 8 feet wide at the body,tapering slightly toward the tips.

Twombly

Mr. Irving W. Twombly exhibited a Bleriot-typemonoplane which was fitted with one of his 45 horse-power7-cylinder air-cooled revolving motors. Theplanes were covered with transparent celluloid in thevicinity of the body for the purpose of affording thepilot a good view of the ground immediately belowand in front of him.

Another exhibit of Mr. Twombly’s was a shock-absorbingsafety harness of his own invention forstrapping aviators in their machines. This harness[101]was so constructed as to prevent the aviator from beinglurched out of his seat, and yet at the same time permittinghim to quickly detach himself from the harnessin case of emergency.

Nieuport

The Aero Club of America exhibited a 50 horse-powerGnome Nieuport aeroplane.

Queen

The Queen Aeroplane Company exhibited two machines,one an aero-boat designed by Grover C. Loening,and the other a Bleriot-type monoplane equipped witha 30 horse-power Anzani motor.

The aero-boat consisted of an aluminum-coveredboat, to which were attached in front on an uprightstructure the main wings, with the motor and propellerjust behind them. The power-plant consistedof a 50 horse-power Gnome, which was placed in theboat proper, and drove through a chain the propeller,which was just behind and a little above the mainplanes. The controlling arrangement was quite novel,and consisted of two horizontal levers resembling thetillers of a boat, which the operator grasped one ineach hand.

National

The National Aero Company exhibited a Bleriot-typemonoplane which was equipped with a 4-cylinder40 horse-power Rubel “Gray Eagle” motor and Rubel[102]propeller. The motor was fitted with an acetyleneself-starter, which was controlled from the seat.

American

The American Aeroplane Company exhibited a largemonoplane with a very low centre of gravity. It wasfitted with two 50 horse-power 2-cycle air-cooled revolvingmotors and self-starters, and was designed tofly with either motor, and to carry six to ten persons.

The First Pan-American Aero Show

It is notable that no engine exhibited at this expositionhad more than 80 horse-power, whereas theLiberty motor of 1917 developed 450 horse-power andthe Fiat 700 horse-power.

The first Pan-American aero exhibit was held atthe Grand Central Palace, February 8 to 15, 1917.By that time the war had demonstrated the value ofaircraft for scouting, bombing, reconnaissance, andcontract patrol, and because of the exploits performedby famous aces, had attracted the attention of hugenumbers of people.

During the five years that had elapsed from the timeof the former exhibit the construction of aircraft hadadvanced fully a decade, due to the intensive acrobaticsaircraft had to be put through in aerial fighting.America was, of course, far from the seat of the war,but owing to the orders placed with the Curtiss Aeroplaneand Motor Company and other companies bythe British and other governments, constructors were[103]kept more or less in touch with developments in Europe.It is true that owing to the rapid changes in designsof motors and aeroplanes, due to the competition betweenthe Central Powers and the Allies for controlof the air, the speedier planes like the scouts and battle-planeswere built in England, France, and Italy, whilethe United States manufacturers produced seaplanesfor hunting submarines, and training-machines, ofwhich there was a tremendous demand.

The Curtiss Company immediately turned theirenergies to building J. N. 4 training-machines, andlarge seaplanes, like the “America,” which CaptainPorte was to attempt to fly across the Atlantic forthe British Government.

A large number of accessories were also exhibited.President Wilson opened the convention by wireless,and Governor Whitman delivered an address.

The next aero show was held by the ManufacturersAircraft Association at Madison Square Garden,March 1-15, 1919. This organization had beeneffected on February 15, 1917. The following werethe incorporators of the association: The AeromarinePlane and Motor Company, John D. Cooper AeroplaneCompany, L. W. F. Engineering Company, S. S. PierceAero Corporation, Standard Aero Corporation, SturtevantAeroplane Company, Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation,Witteman-Lewis Aircraft Company, Wright-MartinAircraft Corporation.

In the meantime the United States had entered thewar. At the beginning a great many newspaper editors[104]who did not know the difficulties of constructing aircraftin quantity, and imagining that they could beproduced as easily as automobiles, wrote glowing editorialsdemanding the immediate construction of 100,000aeroplanes to invade Germany in the air and destroyher manufacturing industries, as well as terrorizethe people into surrender. The Aircraft ProductionBoard, however, realizing in a measure the difficultyof constructing aeroplanes in quantity, especially asthere were very few aircraft factories in the countryat that time which could deliver quantity production,planned to build only one-fourth that number. As amatter of fact, the Curtiss Aeroplane and MotorCompany was the only organization that was constructingaircraft on a large scale at Buffalo, N. Y., and theCurtiss plant in Toronto, Canada. Nevertheless, theAircraft Production Board laid down plans for the productionof 22,500 planes. Even this was too optimisticalan estimate, although the Aircraft ProductionBoard did not at that time realize it. This, however,has been explained in the official reports of the AircraftProduction Board by General Kenly, Howard E. Coffin,and John D. Ryan.

To get into production the Aircraft Production Boardhad the government take over a number of plants ona cost plus 10 per cent basis, and those companiesimmediately began to expand their manufacturing capacityto make the new orders the government wasplacing with them. The Curtiss Aeroplane and MotorCompany, Dayton-Wright, Standard Aircraft, RubayCompany, Springfield Aircraft Corporation, Aero-marine[105]Plane and Motor Company, the Fowler AircraftCompany, and a number of others received largeorders from the government. Unfortunately, the AircraftProduction Board did not see fit to give ordersto the smaller manufacturers in proportion to thesize and capacity of their plants. Many of thesesmaller manufacturers could have produced a fewmachines for the government, and this would havetended to swell the whole to a greater figure. Theinability of some of the manufacturers to increasetheir plants in proportion to the orders, naturally delayedthe manufacture of aircraft.

In the matter of the Liberty motor the samemistake was made. Instead of taking patterns andblue-prints of a good foreign motor, like the Hispano-Suiza,which was already being built in this country,and producing them in quantity, the governmentstopped to design a new motor—the Liberty motor—whichthe Aircraft Production Board evidentlythought could be built in a day. This was not done—asa matter of fact, it took almost six months tocomplete the first production motor—whereas a goodforeign motor could have been put in quantity productionalmost immediately, and with the failure ofmanufacturers of aircraft to turn out the desirednumber of planes, this caused a tremendous outcryfrom the disappointed American public, who thought100,000 aeroplanes could be built as easily as 100,000automobiles. This led to an aircraft investigation.Judge Hughes was appointed by President Wilson toconduct the investigation. The report failed to find[106]any one libel to prosecution. Indeed, most of theerrors were those of judgment or lack of ability.Later President Wilson pardoned those who mighthave been prosecuted.

Another error was caused by the delay in determiningon the type of aeroplane which should be built inquantity in this country. Several types were adoptedand then cancelled. Finally, however, the CurtissJ. N. 4’s were adopted as the standard training-machineand the standard J. was discarded. The D. H. 4’swere turned out in large quantities by the Dayton-Wright;Curtiss produced some Bristol machines inaddition to their training-machine and seaplanes. TheStandard Aircraft Corporation built a few Capronisand Handley Pages, Curtiss-H-boats. Owing to afailure to adapt the Liberty engine to the Bristolfighter after three pilots lost their lives, the machine wasabandoned. If the war had lasted another year thesecompanies would have been in quantity production,and undoubtedly America would have delivered a portionof the thousands of machines which were promisedon the West Front.

As nearly every company which had built for thearmy or the navy was represented at the March, 1919,aero show, a description of the exhibits will give thebest idea of the types of machines produced:

Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company

Model 50 flying-boat, similar to the Model 40 exceptthat in the latter machine the cabin is closed in by a[107]transparent hood, and it is driven by an Aeromarine130 horse-power type-L engine. The Model 50 is asport machine designed for pleasure flying.

The upper plane has a span of 48 feet 4 inches, lowerplane 37 feet 4 inches. Fully loaded the machineweighs about 2,500 pounds. Unloaded the weight isabout 2,000 pounds.

Boeing Aeroplane Company

The Type C-1 F. Navy Training Hydroaeroplanewas flown from Hampton Roads, Va., to Rockaway,N. Y., for exhibition at the aero show. This machineis equipped with a Curtiss OXX-5 100 horse-powermotor. It is an experimental type built for the navy,and has single float instead of the double floats usuallyemployed on Boeing seaplanes.

Burgess Company

The Burgess Company exhibited a car designed forone of the “C” class twin-motored navy dirigibles.The car is of streamline form, 40 feet long, 5 feet inmaximum diameter, with steel tube outriggers carryingan engine at either side. Over-all width of outriggers,15 feet. Complete weight of car, 4,000 pounds.

Seven passengers may be carried, but the usualcrew consists of four.

The engines are made by the Union Gas Engine[108]Company, and are 150 horse-power each. Fuel capacity,240 gallons; oil, 16 gallons. Four bombs,totalling 1,080 pounds, are carried at the side.

The dirigible for which the car was designed is 192feet long, 43 feet wide, and 46 feet high; it has a capacityof 180,000 cubic feet. Its high speed is 59miles per hour, at which speed it has an endurance of10 hours. Cruising speed, 42 miles per hour; cruisingradius, 12½ hours. Climb, 1,000 feet per minute.

The Cantilever Aero Company

The Christmas Bullet has caused a great deal ofcomment in aeronautical circles because of its freedomfrom struts and wires. It is the first heavier-than-airmachine built on the Cantilever truss principle, and isthe result of years of painstaking investigations andexperiments made by the inventor, Doctor WilliamWhitney Christmas.

The wings of the Christmas Bullet are flexible andresemble true bird form. Because of this yieldingprinciple the machine is absolutely immune from allstrain and resistance, as are “stiff-wing,” parallel-strutmachines.

A Liberty “6” is used, giving 185 horse-power at1,400 R. P. M.

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Caproni Company

The Caproni Company exhibited a giant triplanewhich has been famous since 1915, when it made itsfirst appearance. This triplane has a spread of 130feet. It is equipped with three 400 horse-power engines,two of them in tractor position at the nose ofthe fuselage, and one a pusher at the rear of the centralnacelle. This machine has climbed to an altitude of14,000 feet with a ton of useful load, and with onlytwo of the engines running. The triplane was usedas a bomber, and carries a bomb compartment belowthe lower plane.

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company

Curtiss J N 4 D

The J N 4 D Tractor shown by the Curtiss Company.General specifications are as follows:

The motor is Model OX 5, 90 horse-power. Speedrange of 75-45 miles per hour. Climb in 10 minutes,2,000 feet.

The Curtiss M F Flying-Boat

The Curtiss M F Flying-Boat, a sportsman’s model,is the smallest of the Curtiss boats, a development of[110]the popular “F” boat, carrying two persons side byside.

The Curtiss H-A Hydro

The Curtiss H-A Hydro, a two-place single-floatseaplane. The upper wing has a dihedral of 3 degreesand the lower plane a dihedral of 1 degree. Bothplanes have an incidence of 2 degrees and a sweep-backof 4½ degrees. In official tests by the NavyDepartment this machine has made a speed of 131.9miles per hour with a full load. Its climbing speed is8,500 feet in 10 minutes.

The float is 20 feet long, 3 feet 6 inches wide, and2 feet 6 inches deep. It has three planing steps.

The engine is a Liberty 12, giving 330 horse-power.It is directly connected to a two-bladed propeller 9feet 2 inches in diameter, with a 7 foot 7 inches pitch,or a three-bladed propeller 8 feet 6 inches in diameterand 7 feet 6 inches in pitch, depending upon whetherspeed or quick climb is required.

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Dayton-wright Aeroplane Company

De Havilland 4

The De Havilland 4 Aeroplane, exhibited by theDayton-Wright Aeroplane Company, was the first DeHavilland 4 battle-plane to be built in America, havingbeen completed October 29, 1917, at Dayton, Ohio.This machine has been in continuous service since thattime, and has been used in 2,500 flying tests of variouskinds.

With this machine a distance of about 111,000 mileshas been covered in a time of about 1,078 hours.Twenty-eight cross-country trips have been made init, including Dayton to Washington, Dayton to NewYork, Dayton to Chicago, Dayton to Cleveland, etc.

The battle-plane is exhibited with all its militaryequipment, including two Marlin machine-guns fixedon the front cowling and fired through the propellerat a rate of 750 rounds at 1,650 R. P. M. of the engine,and two movable Lewis machine-guns at the rearco*ckpit which fire 650 rounds per minute. The wirelesscarried has a range of eleven miles to another aeroplaneand a receiving radius of forty-seven miles bya ground-station. A camera located to the rear ofthe observer is worked by means of wind-vane. Photographsare taken at the rate of twenty-four perminute, and magazine carries six dozen plates.

A full complement of twelve bombs are carried underthe lower wings, and flare-lights for night-landingare suspended from the wing-tips. Red and green[112]guide-lights are carried on the lower plane, and a whitelight is located on the fuselage deck aft of the gunner.The engine is one of the first Libertys to be built.

The T-4 Messenger

The “Messenger” was designed as a war-machine,but after being modified in small details it makes anideal machine for commercial and sporting purposes.As a war-machine its use was to have been in carryingmessages from the front lines to headquarters and ingeneral liaison work.

The machine is exceptionally light and easy to fly,making it possible to make landings in places that havebeen heretofore inaccessible.

The fuselage has absolutely no metal fittings nortie-rods of any sort, strips of veneer being used exclusivelyfor the bracing.

The machine comes within the means of the averagesportsman, for its cost is said to be not much over$2,000.

The engine is a 4-cylinder air-cooled V type, manufacturedby the De Palma Engine Company of Detroit.Its weight is 3.7 pounds per horse-power. The engineconsumes 4 gallons of gasoline per hour, and tank has acapacity of 12 gallons. Oil is carried in the crank-case.

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Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation

Gallaudet E-L 2 Monoplane

Striking originality in design was shown in thetwin-pusher monoplane exhibition by the GallaudetAircraft Corporation. Mr. Gallaudet’s 1919 SportModel has a high factor of safety and is easily maintained.

Two stock “Indian” motorcycle engines are locatedin the nose of the fuselage, connected to a commontransverse shaft, and resting on the top of the plane,and driving twin-pusher propellers on longitudinalshafts driven by bevel-gears.

Engines are “oversize” models, giving 20 horse-powereach at 2,400 R.P.M. Weight, 89 poundseach. Propellers are 3-bladed, 4 feet 8 inches in diameter,and 7 feet in pitch. Propellers run at one-halfengine speed, 1,200 R. P. M.

The plane has a span of 33 feet.

The body is of monocoque construction, 3-plyspruce being used. Two seats are provided, side byside, with single stick control.

Over-all length of machine, 18 feet 7 inches.

Eight gallons of fuel are carried, sufficient for twohours.

Gallaudet D-4 Bomber

The machine is powered with a Liberty motor, drivinga pusher propeller attached to a ring surroundingthe fuselage.

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The L. W. F. Company

The L. W. F. Model V Tractor was equipped with125 horse-power Thomas engine, is convertible froma land machine to a hydro. The machine exhibitedat the show had twin floats.

The L. W. F. Company also exhibited one of theH S 1 L Coast Patrol Flying-Boats, with a 350 horse-powerLiberty engine. The machine has a span of62 feet. Over-all length is 38 feet 6 inches, and overallheight is 14 feet 7 inches. The hull weighs 1,265pounds. Gross weight, 5,900 pounds, and weight,empty, 4,810 pounds. Fuel and oil, 750 pounds, andcrew, 360 pounds.

The L. W. F. Model G-2 Fighter

Model G-2 is a two-place armored fighter, carryingseven machine-guns and four bombs. Guns are arrangedto be fired downward through an opening inthe bottom of the fuselage.

The Glenn L. Martin Company

The Martin Bomber

The Martin Twin-Engine Bomber has a speed of118.5 M.P.H., made on the first trial with full bombing[115]load. The climbing time with full bombing loadwas 10,000 feet in 15 minutes, and a service ceiling of16,500 feet was attained. As a military machine theMartin Twin is built to fill requirements of a night-bomber,day-bomber, long-distance photographer, ora gun-machine. As a night-bomber it is equippedwith 3 Lewis guns, 1,500 pounds of bombs, and 1,000rounds of ammunition. A radiotelephone set is carriedon all four types. Fuel capacity sufficient forsix hours. Full power at 1,500 feet.

As a day-bomber two additional guns are carried,and the bomb capacity cut to 1,000 pounds. TheMartin Twin is easily adaptable to commercial useswhich are now practical: they are mail and expresscarrying, transportation of passengers, and aerial mapand survey work. As an example of its capacity,twelve passengers or a load of merchandise weighinga ton may be carried.

General dimensions are as follows:

With a ton of useful load, speed of 100 to 150 M.P. H. is made. Two 400 horse-power Liberty enginesare used.

Packard Motor Car Company

The Packard two-place tractor was designed around,and made a complete unit with, the Model 1-A-744Packard Aviation Engine. This machine will make[116]about 100 M.P.H. with full load, on account of itslight weight and clean-cut design, and yet its landingspeed is as low as the average training aeroplane.

Packard 8-cylinder 160 horse-power at 1,525 R.P.M.Weight, complete with hub starter, battery, and enginewater, 585 pounds.

Standard Aero Corporation

Handley Page Bomber

The American-built Handley Page shown at theGarden was similar to the British, except that Liberty“12” 400 horse-power engines are employed in theformer, and the Rolls-Royce, or Sunbeam, in the latter.Accommodations are made for one pilot and two orthree gunners, and an observer, who operates thebomb-dropping device. Two guns are located at thetop of the fuselage, and a third is arranged to firethrough an opening in the under side of the fuselage,and a pair of flexible Lewis machine-guns is operatedat the forward end of the fuselage. One gunner mayhave charge of all rear guns, although usually twogunners man them.

Each of the two engines gives 400 horse-power at1,625 R. P. M.

Speed at ground, 92 M.P.H.

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The “E-4” Mail Aeroplane

The “E-4” Mail Plane, built by the Standard AeroCorporation, is particularly adaptable to the work ofcarrying mail because of the special features of itsdesign. The machine exhibited has seen considerableservice, having been brought directly to the show aftercompleting one of its regular mail-carrying trips.

The engine is a Wright-Martin Model L Hispano-Suiza,giving 150 horse-power at 1,500 R.P.M. and170 horse-power at 1,700 R.P.M. The Model 1 isan 8-cylinder V type, with a bore of 120 mm. (4.724inches) and a stroke of 130 mm. (5.118 inches).

The Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation

Four aeroplanes shown by the Thomas-Morse Company:the Type S-6, S-7, S4-C Scout, and the M-B-3Fighter.

The M-B-3 Fighter is equipped with a 300 horse-powerHispano-Suiza engine. It is a single-seater, andis said to be the fastest climbing aeroplane in the world.

The S4-C is an 80 horse-power Le Rhone Scout,used for advanced training. It has been used at mostof the army training-schools throughout the UnitedStates.

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The S-6 is a Tandem two-seater, very similar to theS4-C in general appearance. With an 80 horse-powerLe Rhone, this machine has a speed range of 33-105M.P.H. In ten minutes its climb is 7,800 feet.

The S-7 is a side-by-side Tractor, with an 80 horse-powerLe Rhone engine. The side-by-side seatingmakes it especially desirable for pleasure flying. Theco*ckpit contains numerous comforts and conveniences.

The principal dimensions and specifications of theS-7 are:

The United Aircraft Engineering Corporation

This company is showing a Canadian-Curtiss training-plane,such as used by the Royal Flying Corps forinstruction in Canada and England.

A number of Curtiss OX-5 100 horse-power enginesare also on display, together with other equipment,which the company has purchased from the ImperialMunitions Board of Canada.

United States Army

Langley Experimental Flying-Machine

The model of the Langley aeroplane is a copy of theoriginal Langley Flying-Machine which is now in theUnited States National Museum at Washington, D. C.This machine made the first successful flight by heavier-than-airmachine driven by its own power. The machine[119]was launched May 6, 1896, at Quantico, Va.It rose to a height of 70 to 100 feet, and travelled halfa mile at 20 to 25 M.P.H., with propellers revolvingat 1,500 R. P. M.

The total weight of the machine is 26 pounds. Itis driven by a single-cylinder engine, using gasoline asfuel.

Foreign Aeroplanes

Among the foreign aeroplanes sent to the aero showby the War Department are the French Spad, FrenchNieuport, British SEV, and a German Albatross D11.

The Spad is a single-seater scout, with a Hispano-Suizaengine.

The Nieuport Single-Seater is equipped with a rotaryGnome engine.

The SEV, which was put into limited productionin the United States, has a Hispano-Suiza engine.

The Albatross Scout was one of Germany’s bestfighters. It has a Mercedes engine.

United States Navy Department

The F-5-L constructed by the Naval Aircraft Factoryat Philadelphia has a span of 107 feet wing, chordof 8 feet, and an over-all length of 50 feet.

Two 400 horse-power Liberty engines are used, connectedto tractor propellers 10 feet 6 inches in diameter.Five hundred gallons of gasoline are carried, sufficientfor a duration of 10 hours at full speed, near sea-level,and a speed of 102 M.P.H. is maintained.

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Fully loaded the machine weighs 14,000 pounds.This weight included a crew of 5 men, 1 Davis and 4Lewis machine-guns, 4,230 pounds bombs, radio apparatus,telephone system with 6 stations, carrier-pigeons,and 500 gallons of gasoline.

The machine is exhibited with one half covered andthe other half exposed to show the interior construction.

In the making of this machine there are 6,000 distinctpieces of wood, 50,000 wood screws, 46,000 nails,braces, and tacks, and 4,500 square feet of cotton fabric.The hull requires 600 square feet of veneer. The 250pieces of steel tubing total 1,000 feet in length; 5,000feet of wire and cable, 500 turnbuckles, 1,500 each ofbolts, nuts, and washers, and 1,000 metal fittings arenecessary in the construction of this flying-boat.

Navy M-2 Baby Seaplane

The M-2 Seaplane designed by the Navy Department,and built by Grover Cleveland Loening, was tohave been used for submarine-patrol work. It iseasily set up, and occupying so little space, can bestored aboard a submarine.

The machine is a tractor monoplane with twinfloats. The plane has a span of 19 feet and a totalwing area of only 72 square feet. The wing section isa modified R. A. F. 15. Over-all length of machine,13 feet.

The floats are 10 feet long and weigh 16 pounds each.They are constructed of sheet aluminum with welded[121]seams. The interior of the floats is coated with glue,and outside is not painted but coated with oil.

The engine is a 3-cylinder Lawrence 60 horse-powerair-cooled engine, driving a 6-foot 6-inch propeller witha 5-foot pitch. Twelve gallons of gasoline and 1 gallonof oil are carried, sufficient for two hours’ flight.Fully loaded with pilot and fuel, the complete machineweighs but 500 pounds. The maximum speed isabout 100 M.P.H., and the low speed is 50 M.P.H.

Helium-Filled Model Airship

The model dirigible exhibited by the Navy Departmentis inflated with helium. Another item that is ofinterest is the fact that this model dirigible, 32 feetlong and 7 feet in diameter, contains more helium thanhas ever been placed in an envelope of any kind.

Astra-Torres Dirigible

The dirigible car shown by the Navy Departmentis from a ship of the “Astra-Torres” type. The airshipwas built by the French in 1916, and turned overto the Americans in March, 1918, at Paimbœuf, France,the American naval station commanded by CommanderL. H. Marfield, U. S. N. It was used untilNovember, 1918, for coast patrol on the west coast ofFrance.

The car is 45 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 7 feet high.The envelope (which is not exhibited) is 221 feet longand 47 feet in diameter, having a capacity of 252,000cubic feet. Speed, 45.5 miles per hour. With a crew[122]of Americans, this ship has stayed aloft for 25 hours,40 minutes. At its cruising speed of 45.5 miles theendurance is 10 hours.

The car accommodates a crew of 12. Two 150 horse-powerRenault engines with two-bladed tractor propellersare used. They are placed on outriggers.Two Lewis machine-guns are carried.

The ship is one of several large dirigibles purchasedby the United States navy and brought to this countryfor the purpose of development.

B. F. Goodrich Company

The principal exhibit by the Goodrich Companyconsisted of one of the first dirigibles put into theUnited States Naval Service. This is a “Blimp” thatwas completed in August, 1917, and used for seventeenmonths in coast-patrol work in the vicinity of NewYork City. The dirigible is 167 feet long, 33 feet inmaximum diameter, and contains 80,000 cubic feet ofgas. This dirigible held the record for continuousflight.

A Curtiss OX motor is used. The car is arrangedto carry a crew of three men. In cruising a speed offrom 40 to 50 M.P.H. is maintained.

Other exhibits by the Goodrich Company are amodel spherical balloon, relief throttle-valves perfectedby the Goodrich Company, and principally the Grammetervalve, shock-absorber cords, special parachuteattachments, fabrics and cloths for aeronautical use,etc. Another feature of the exhibit will be a short[123]motion-picture, showing how the balloons are manufactured.

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company of Akron,Ohio, was the most extensive aerostatic exhibit of theshow. The outstanding feature of the booth was thedirigible pusher-car, completely equipped, of a typewhich has many sisters in service. A 35,000-cubic-foottype “R” military kite-balloon is suspended andequipped complete. Attractive models of the twin-enginenavy dirigible and a transcontinental passengerdirigible car are on display. These models arecomplete in every detail, including full set of instrumentsand controls, lockers, and upholstery.

A full-sized dirigible car equipped with dual control,indicating devices, including manometers, tachometers,air-speed indicators, incidence and bank indicator,clock, driven by an 8-cylinder OX-2 Curtiss motor, ofthe type used on the FC training dirigible, having acubic capacity of 85,000 feet, form an interesting partof the Goodyear exhibit. Models of “R” type kite-balloon,military free balloons, and of the U dirigibleare also on display.

Growth of Aeroplane Plants

The growth of the aeroplane factories during thewar was enormous. The Aeromarine Plane and MotorCorporation, which was located in a small plant atNutley, N. J., moved to Keyport, N. J., and on a[124]property of 66 acres erected sixteen fireproof buildings,with a total space of 125,000 feet. Most of the workof this plant was done for the navy. Three types oftraining-machines were produced, 39-A type, a turn-floathydroplane, 39-B, a single-float machine, andModel 40, a flying-boat.

The Dayton-Wright Aeroplane plant was incorporatedon April 9, 1912, to build aircraft for warpurposes. In August, 1917, a contract for 400 training-planeswas awarded to the company, and later anorder for 5,000 De Havilland 4 battle-planes was receivedfrom the government.

By November 11, 1918, the 400 training-machineswere delivered and 2,700 D.H.4’s, and the 5,000order was cut to 3,100, which were to be completed.One thousand eight hundred D.H. S-4’s were shippedto France. The three plants were located near Dayton,Ohio. Mr. Orville Wright was the consulting engineerof the company. In addition to the three largeplants which the company operated at the SouthField Experimental Station, which had a total of65,000 square feet, 8,000 people were employed bythe company.

The Curtiss Aeroplane Company were making land-machines,seaplanes, and engines for the British Governmentwhen the United States entered the struggle.Mr. Curtiss, the inventor of the flying-boat, and thewinner of many aeronautical prizes and trophies, wasthe chairman of the board of directors and Mr. JohnNorth Willys president.

In January, 1916, the company was incorporated,[125]and in February of the same year the stock of theBurgess Company of Marblehead, Mass., was acquiredby the Curtiss Company. It also controlledthe Curtiss Aeroplane Motors, Ltd., of Canada andthe flying-fields at Miami, San Diego, Hammondsport,Newport News, and the Atlantic Coast AeronauticalStation. The company had nine plants and four flying-fieldsin 1918. The main plant was at Buffalo, N. Y.The chief plant is now at Garden City, Long Island.The plants consisted of 2,000,000 square feet, and employed18,000 persons.

The company reached a quantity production of112 complete machines a week, and 50 a day was tobe expected had not the armistice been signed onNovember 11, 1918. Before and during the war theCurtiss plants manufactured 10,000 aeroplanes andflying-boats and 15,000 motors. The Curtiss plantsproduced a great variety of machines, including Spads,Bristols, and Nieuports. The famous NC-1-2-3-4,which participated in the transatlantic flight, were constructedfor the navy by Curtiss Company at GardenCity, Long Island.

The Burgess Company was also doing business whenthe war broke out. The firm was organized in 1909.The company supplied machines to the United StatesGovernment for work on the Mexican border in 1914,and many types of seaplanes were also constructed.In 1913 the company secured the rights to manufactureunder the Dunne patents, covering inherentstability.

The Burgess plant at Marblehead, Mass., was one[126]chosen by the navy to build training-seaplanes producingN-9 and N-9-H seaplanes. The company startedproducing one plane a day, but finally got up to foura day, and employed 1,100 men and women. Thecompany also built turn-engine dirigible cars for thenavy.

The Glenn L. Martin Company of Cleveland, Ohio,was organized in the fall of 1917 with the idea of buildinga gigantic American bomber for work with theAllies in Europe. The first machine was flown inAugust, 1918. Mr. Martin had been the organizer ofthe Glenn L. Martin Company of Los Angeles in 1910,and had also been interested in the Wright-Martin AircraftCorporation of New York and New Brunswick,N. J.

The Martin bomber constructed by this companyhad a wing spread of 71 feet and length of 45 feet. Itcarried 11 passengers and pilot, and made severalrecords.

The factory consisted of a single structure of 300 by200 feet. The war ended before the company got intoquantity production of the huge bomber.

The L-W-F Engineering Company, Inc., was organizedin December, 1915, and the plant was locatedat College Point, Long Island, N. Y. The factory hasa floor space of 250,000 square feet. The companybuilt training-machines and flying-boats for the government.The L-W-F fuselage is of the monocoquetype, which means “one shell” as regards the body.It is of streamline laminated wood.

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The Standard Aero Corporation began life in May,1912. Later it occupied several buildings at Plainfield,N. J. The company was reorganized under thename of the Standard Aircraft Corporation in 1917,and acquired the thirty-four buildings of a manufacturingcompany in Elizabeth, N. J. The total floorspace was 614,190 square feet. The company builtseveral thousand Standard J training-machines, whichwere bought by the government, but later discarded.The company also constructed the first Handley Pagemachines in this country, and also the first Americanconstructed Caproni triplanes. Mr. Harry B. Minglewas the president and Mr. Charles H. Day the engineer.

The Standard model J. H. was a hydroaeroplane,and a number of H. S.-1-1 and H. S.-2-1, and D. H. 4’s.Flying-boats were made by this company. ModelJ. R.-1-B. was used by the Post-Office Departmentfor aero mail service between New York-Philadelphia-Washington,making a most excellent record.

The St. Louis Aircraft Corporation was organized inthe fall of 1917. The Huttig Sash and Door Companyof St. Louis and the St. Louis Car Company facilitieswere used for making J. N. 4-D training-planes, whichwere being turned out in quantity in May, 1918.Nine hundred people were employed, and machinesat the rate of 30 per week were being produced.

The Springfield Aircraft Corporation came intobeing on September 27, 1917, and began to manufactureJ. N. 4-D and VE-7 type machines. The company[128]leased the Mason Company’s plants, with 200,000square feet capacity, at Springfield, Mass.

The plant reached a capacity of from 5 to 8 machinesper day when the war ended. Over 1,000 were employed.

The Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation was organizedin September, 1916, to take over the GeneralAeronautic Company of America, the Simples AutomobileCompany, and the Wright Company. TheGeneral Aeronautic Company had received an orderfor 450 Hispano-Suiza engines in 1916, but less than100 motors had been delivered by July, 1917. InMay, 1918, the General Vehicle Company’s plant atLong Island City was bought by the United StatesGovernment and given over to the use of the Wright-MartinAircraft Corporation. Fifteen thousand menwere employed by the company, and the first productionengine was tested in November, 1918. Thecompany also set up a gauge plant at Newark, N. J.The company had orders for delivery of 2,000 motorsa month in 1919, totalling $50,000,000. The companyreached a production of 30 engines a day in October,1918. This engine holds the altitude record of 29,500feet, made by Captain Schroeder in December, 1918.The company produced no aeroplanes during the UnitedStates’ participation in the war.

In 1915 the Sturtevant Aeroplane Company was organizedby Mr. Noble Foss and Mr. Benjamin Foss.The original plant at Jamaica, Mass., had 24,000 squarefeet. The company built 25 machines before the[129]United States entered the war. Experiments weremade with an all-steel fuselage. The B. F. SturtevantCompany had built many aeroplane engines, and ithad been organized by the same two brothers. At theend of the war the company had erected a new three-storybuilding of 35,000 square feet. They had over1,000 employees at the two plants. The AeroplaneCompany was engaged primarily in manufacturingspare parts for the J. N. 4-D and D. H. 4, etc.

The Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company was organizedin 1912 at Bath, N. Y., and built manytypes of machines, both seaplanes and land-machines,before the war. The Thomas Aeromotor firm came tolife in August, 1915. In January, 1917, the two companieswere combined into the Thomas-Morse AircraftCorporation at Ithaca, N. Y., and a factory of threelarge buildings was constructed. The plant has afloor space of 190,000 square feet. The S-4-E, theS-5 scouts, the M-B-1 and the M-B-2 fighters, B-3flying-boat, and D-2 hydro are well known as theThomas-Morse machines.

Other Machines Made

A number of other manufacturers were given ordersto construct aircraft. The Packard Motor Companyestablished a department and Captain Le Pere, theFrench military aircraft engineer, designed a numberof machines which were built for the government.Among them was the G. H.-11, an armored plane, theU.S. Le Pere Triplane, and the Le Pere combat machine,[130]which flew from Detroit to New York to attendthe aero show at Madison Square Garden, March 1,1919. None of these machines were put into quantityproduction.

The Fowler Aircraft Factory at San Francisco hadfifteen planes in construction when their plant was destroyedby fire in May, 1918, with a loss of a milliondollars.

Other factories which were building aircraft to submitto the government were the Lawson Aircraft Factoryat Green Bay, Wis., The Whitteman-Lewis Companyat Newark, N. J., The Alexandria Company atAlexandria, Va., to mention only a few.

The S. S. Pierce Company at Southampton, LongIsland, had an order for 300 “penguins,” as the training-machineswere called, but they were not delivered.

The Goodyear and Goodrich Tire and Rubber Companiesbuilt a great many kite, observation, and propagandaballoons for the army, and blimps for the navy.Their exhibit at the Manufacturers Aircraft Show, describedelsewhere, gives an excellent idea of theirproduct.

The Naval Aircraft Factory

Owing to the fact that the United States Governmentgave little support to the aircraft industry, despitethe fact that we had been on the verge of war withMexico, and that the Great War was on in Europe,when the United States was finally forced into thestruggle the aircraft manufacturers were not tooled[131]up to manufacture seaplanes and flying-boats in quantity,so the navy immediately made plants to establisha naval aircraft factory at Philadelphia.

When war was declared on April 6, 1917, only 93heavier-than-air seaplanes had previously been deliveredto the navy, and 135 were on order. Of thenumber that had previously been delivered, only 21were in use, the remainder having been worn out orlost. The seaplanes were of the N-9 and R-6 types,which are now considered as training-seaplanes.

After eliminating types which had been tried andfound unsuitable, the Navy Department fixed upontwo sizes for war purposes, which had been perfectedin the United States in anticipation of the developmentof a high-powered engine. The engine developedwas the Liberty. The flying-boat is an Americanconception, and it has not been found necessary tocopy foreign patterns to insure our flyers being suppliedwith the best.

With the development of suitable planes and enginesthe navy was able to select the type of aircraftwhich was best suited for its service, and to frame alarge and complete building programme. As a resultover 500 seaplanes were put in use at naval air-stationsin the United States, and up to December, 1918, over400 seaplanes had been sent abroad. Other aircraftat stations, both in this country and abroad, includedairships and kite-balloons.

The demand for aircraft necessitated an enormousincrease of production facilities, and, as a part of this[132]extension, the Navy Department undertook to buildand equip a naval aircraft factory at the PhiladelphiaNavy-Yard. Within 90 days from the date the landhad been assigned the factory was erected and thekeel of the first flying-boat was laid down. In August,1918, the factory was producing 50 per cent more seaplanesthan it had been two months previous. Inaddition, at least five plants were devoted to navywork, and a large proportion of the output of severalother factories had been assigned to the navy.

The delivery of seaplanes for training purposes hasbeen sufficient to more than meet the requirements.The training of personnel and providing of stationsand equipment to carry out this training had expandedsufficiently so that the output of pilots, observers,mechanicians, and men trained in specialbranches was keeping abreast or ahead of requirements.

The navy aircraft factory produced aircraft valuedat $5,435,000 up to the time the armistice was signed.It had completed, ready for shipment, 183 twin-engineflying-boats, at an average cost of $25,000. It hadalso produced 4 experimental Liberty-engine seaplanes,carrying the Davis non-recoil gun, at a cost of $40,000each, and 50 sets of twin-engine flying-boats’ spareparts worth $10,000 per set. In addition considerableminor experimental work and overhauling of machinesfrom other stations was done.

The main factory at Philadelphia had a capacity of50 boats, and could turn out an average of 5 machinesa day when the armistice was signed.

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On October 1, 1917, the first mechanic was hired atthe navy aircraft factory. On November 1, 1918,there were 3,642 men and women employed in buildingflying-boats for the navy.

About 1,500 Liberty engines were delivered to thenavy and assigned to naval air-stations in this countryand abroad. Since the number of Liberty enginesproduced were too small for the needs of the armyalone, it had been necessary for the navy to purchaseothers, to the number of about 700, which were utilizedwhile awaiting a full supply of Liberty engines.

In addition to these a large number of engines ofless power were bought for use in training-planes, allof which were distributed to the flying-schools.

One of the very important duties devolving on theBureau of Steam Engineering was the equipment andmaintenance of stations for the generation of hydrogenfor use in airships. A number of stations were established,and a full equipment of hydrogen cylinders provided,so that any calls might be promptly met.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AERO MAIL

FIRST MAIL CARRIED BY AIRCRAFT—NEW YORK-PHILADELPHIA-WASHINGTONSERVICE—NEW YORK-CLEVELAND-CHICAGOSERVICE—FOREIGN AERO MAILROUTES

As soon as the aeroplane demonstrated that it couldtravel at least twice as fast as the fastest express-train,even when going in the same direction, and that inaddition it could traverse mountains, rivers, forests,swamps in a straight line, its possibilities as a mail-carrierwere immediately realized, and steps were takenin most countries to establish aero mail routes.

In the United States the first attempt to carry mailwas made by Earl Ovington from the Nassau Boulevardaerodrome near Mineola, N. Y., September, 1911.Postmaster-General Hitchco*ck delivered a package toMr. Ovington to be carried to Brooklyn, N. Y. Themachine was a Bleriot. The distance of five andone-half miles was made in six minutes. Two tripsa day were made by Mr. Ovington—one to and onefrom Mineola. On Sunday, September 23, 6,165 post-cards,781 letters, 55 pieces of printed matter werecarried. Captain Beck using a Curtiss biplane alsocarried 20 pounds of mail, and T. O. M. Sopwith, usinga Wright machine, also carried some mail.

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The first regular permanent aero mail service wasstarted on May 15, 1918, at Belmont Park, New York,and at the Polo Grounds, Washington, D.C. LeavingBelmont Park, New York, at 11.30 in the forenoonwith a full load of 344 pounds of mail, LieutenantTorry S. Webb flew in one hour to Philadelphia,from which point the mail was relayed through theair by Lieutenant J. C. Edgerton, who delivered it inWashington at 2.50 P.M. The actual flying time ofthe two couriers, deducting the six minutes’ intermissionin relaying at Philadelphia, was three hoursand twenty minutes. This record was consideredhighly satisfactory for the initial trip with new machines.

Owing to a broken propeller Lieutenant GeorgeLeroy Boyle was forced to descend in Maryland withthe aero mail bound for Philadelphia and New York.On May 16 Lieutenant Edgerton flew from Washingtonto Philadelphia with the mail, making the firstcontinuous connection in that direction. PresidentWilson and official Washington were present at thePolo Grounds to see the first aero mail off.

During the year the aero mail service has been inoperation between Washington, Philadelphia, NewYork, it has demonstrated the practical commercialutility of the aeroplane.

On the anniversary the Post-Office Department releasedthe following summary, which gives us the firstcomplete account of commercially operated air service,dating over the period of a year:

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One Year’s Aero Mail Service

The two aeroplanes that took to the air to-day, oneleaving Washington and one leaving New York, arethe same that carried the mail a year ago, and havebeen constantly in the service, and they are propelledby the same motors. One of these has been in theair 164 hours, flying 10,716 miles, and has carried572,826 letters. It has cost, in service, per hour,$65.80. Repairs have cost $480. The other planehas been in the air 222 hours, flying 15,018 miles, andhas carried 485,120 letters. It has cost, in service,per hour, $48.34. Repairs to this machine have cost$1,874.76.

The record of the entire service between New Yorkand Washington shows 92 per cent of performanceduring the entire year, representing 128,037 milestravelled, and 7,720,840 letters carried. The revenuesfrom aeroplane mail stamps amounted to $159,700,and the cost of service, $137,900.06.

The operation of the aeroplane mail service everyday in the year except Sunday, encountering all sortsof weather conditions and meeting them successfully,has demonstrated the practicability of employing theaeroplane for commercial service, and the air mailorganization has been able to work out problems ofgreat value in the adaptation of machines to this characterof service. From the inauguration of the serviceuntil the 10th of August, the flying operations wereconducted by the army, in connection with its work of[137]training aviators for the war. Since August 10 it hasbeen operated entirely by the Post-Office Department,with a civil organization. When the service wasstarted there was great divergency of opinion amongaeronautical experts as to the possibility of maintaininga daily service regardless of weather conditions,and the opinion was held by many that it would haveto be suspended during the severe winter months.The service has been maintained, however, throughoutthe year with a record of 92 per cent, gales of exceptionalviolence and heavy snow-storms being encounteredand overcome. Out of 1,261 possible trips, 1,206were undertaken, and only 55 were defaulted on accountof weather conditions. During rain, fog, snow,gales, and electrical storms, 435 trips were made.Out of a possible 138,092 miles, 128,037 miles wereflown. Only 51 forced landings were made on accountof weather, and 37 on account of motor trouble. Ithas been demonstrated that flying conditions for sucha commercial service as this, which is regulated by adaily schedule regardless of the weather, are verydifferent from those of military flying. Aeroplanesdesigned wholly for war purposes are not suitable forcommercial service, as they lack the strength necessaryfor daily cross-country work, with its incidentalforced landings. Aeronautical engineers have developedfor the Post-Office Department a stronger andmore powerful plane suitable for commercial servicewhile retaining the excellent flying qualities of the DeHavilland machine. The De Havilland 4’s, which were[138]transferred to the Post-Office Department after thesigning of the armistice, are being reconstructed to fitthem for commercial requirements. In specially constructedmail-carrying planes, for the building of whichthe department has called for bids to be opened June2, a form of construction is called for which will enablea mechanic to make important minor repairs in flight,making it possible with a multiple motor to avoidforced landings.

Danger Eliminated

One of the lessons learned from the operation of theair mail service during the year is that the element ofdanger that exists in the training of aviators in militaryand exhibition flying is almost entirely absent fromcommercial flying. Second Assistant Postmaster-GeneralPraeger, in reporting to the postmaster-generalthe operations for the year, says that the recordof the air mail service, which includes flying at altitudesof as low as 50 feet during periods of markedinvisibility, throws an interesting light on this question.During the year, more than 128,000 miles havingbeen travelled, no aeroplane carrying the mail hasever fallen out of the sky, and there has not been asingle death of an aviator in carrying the mail. Theonly deaths by accident which have occurred werethat of an aviator who made a flight to demonstratehis qualifications as an aviator and that of a mechanicwho fell against the whirling propeller of a machineon the ground. But two aviators have been injured[139]seriously enough to be sent to a hospital. Other accidentsconsisted mainly of bruises and contusions sustainedby planes turning over after landing. Of thethree types of planes operated regularly in the mailservice, one type was more given than the others toturning over on rough ground, and it was principallyon planes of this type that pilots were shaken up orbruised by the plane turning turtle. One type ofmachine in the mail service which has performed almosthalf of the work has never turned turtle. Therecord of the air mail service with respect to accidentswill compare favorably with that of any mode of mechanicaltransportation in the early days of its operation.

One of the first studies to be taken up by the airmail service was to determine whether visibility isabsolutely necessary to commercial flying. The firststep necessary was the refinement of the existing radiodirection-finders so as to eliminate the liability of 3to 5 per cent of error. This has been successfullyworked out by the Navy Department on an air mailtesting-plane. The second problem was that of guidingthe mail plane after it had left the field to thecentre of the plot for landing. This problem has beensolved by the Bureau of Standards in experiments conductedon the air mail testing-plane in connection withthe radio directional compass. This device is effectiveup to an altitude of 1,500 feet, and with the furtherrefinements of the device another thousand feet isexpected to be added. Aeronautical engineers are[140]working upon a device for the automatic landing of amechanically flown plane which would meet the conditionof absolute invisibility that could exist only in themost blinding snow-storm or impenetrable fog.

A year’s flying in the mail service, with all typesand temperaments of aviators, has established the factthat 200 feet visibility from the ground is the limit ofpractical flying, although a number of runs have beenmade with the mail between New York and Washingtonduring which a part of the trip was flown at analtitude as low as 50 feet. The objection of aviators toflying above a ground-fog, rain, snow, or heavy cloudswith single motor-planes is the possibility of the motorstopping over a village, city, or other bad landing-place,with the radius of visibility so little as to affordno opportunity to pick out a place for landing. It isgenerally accepted that with two or more motors,forced landings under such conditions can be avoided.

Flying in Roughest Weather

A number of severe gales have been encounteredduring the flights between New York and Washington.Gales of from 40 to 68 miles an hour have been encounteredand overcome. Pilot J. M. Miller, who wasformerly a naval flier, made the flight from Philadelphiato New York in a Curtiss R4 with a 400 horse-powerLiberty motor, rising from the field against a 43-milegale and arriving in New York through a blinding snow-stormwith a wind velocity reported by the WeatherBureau to be 68 miles an hour and which was 15 percent greater at the altitude at which he flew.

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Mr. Praeger says in his report that from experienceit is learned to be useless to send against a 40-mile galea plane having a top speed of no more than 75 or 80miles. “The two types of planes in the air mail serviceof this speed,” he said, “are the Standard JR 1mail plane, having a wing spread of 31 feet 4 inches,and the Curtiss JN 4, having a wing spread of 43 feet7⅜ inches. Each plane of this type is equipped with a(Hispano-Suiza) 150 horse-power motor, which does notprovide enough reserve power to combat the disturbedair conditions at the surface in a wind of more than 40miles an hour, especially if the wind comes in descendingcolumns or gusts. Under these conditions it is possibleto make headway only with a Liberty engine,which has plenty of reserve power. A plane equippedwith a 150 horse-power motor, if it succeeds in breakingthrough the surface winds, can make only slow andlaborious headway against a full or a quartered headwind of about 40 miles. There have been many instanceswhere the planes equipped with 150 horse-powermotors have been held down to a speed of between 30and 37 miles an hour; and also many instances wherea hundred-mile-an-hour plane equipped with a Libertymotor has been held to between 55 and 60 miles. Afew wind-storm conditions were encountered wherethe planes at the height of the gust were actually carriedbackward.”

The same six planes that were in operation at the inaugurationof the service, and have been in continuousemployment during the year, are in operation to-day,and the one which made the initial flight from New[142]York to Washington, May 15, 1918, made the flightMay 15, 1919. This is regarded as throwing a newlight on the question of the life of an aeroplane and asdemonstrating that the mechanical requirements andthe operation in commercial flying are more economicaland safer and in many instances more practical than inexhibition or military flying.

The fact that there were only 37 forced landings dueto mechanical troubles during flights makes a recordnot heretofore approached in aviation and is creditablein the American-built aeroplane and mechanics whokeep them in fine condition. Especially is this record astrong tribute to the American-built Liberty and Hispano-Suizamotors.

The transportation by aeroplane is ordinarily twiceas fast as by train, and on distances of 600 miles or more,no matter how frequent or excellent the train service,the aeroplane mail at the higher rate of postage shouldequal the cost of its operations. Wherever the trainservice is not as frequent or as fast as it is betweenWashington and New York the aeroplane operationsshould show an immense profit on all distances from500 miles up.

Again, with large aeroplanes and over greater distances,substantial saving in the cost of mail transportationon railroads would be made, besides cutting downthe time of transit by one-half.

Boston-New York Pathfinder Aero Mail

Another step in the evolution of the aero mail servicewas made on June 6, 1918, when Lieutenant Torry S.[143]Webb carried 4,000 letters from Belmont Park, LongIsland, N. Y., to Boston in three hours and twenty-twominutes, the distance being 250 miles.

With R. Heck, a mechanician, as passenger, LieutenantWebb got away from Belmont Park at 12.09o’clock.

Two hours later, as the aviator neared Haddon,Conn., he found that his compass was working badly,and he descended at Shailerville and fixed it.

At 3.31 o’clock Lieutenant Webb circled over Saugus,Mass., near Revere Beach and Boston, and then planeddown on the estate of Godfrey Cabot, now the FranklinPark Aviation Field.

For some reason or another, presumably lack offunds, the service was not made permanent.

New York-Chicago Aero Mail

September 5, 1918, the Post-Office Departmentstarted the first pathfinding mail service between NewYork, Cleveland, Chicago. Mr. Max Miller was scheduledto leave Belmont Park, Long Island, at 6 A. M.,but owing to a storm and the breaking of a tail-skid hedid not leave until 7.08 A. M. After flying through a foghe landed at Danville, N. Y., 155 miles from New YorkCity, and after getting his bearings Lieutenant Millernext landed at Lock Haven, Pa., because his engine wasmissing. At 11.45 A. M. he left for Cleveland. But thefog continued, and he finally was forced to land in Cambridge,Pa., owing to a leaking radiator. After somedelay he flew to Cleveland, but owing to the darkness hehad to remain there overnight.

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At 1.35 P. M. Lieutenant Miller left for Bryon, whichhe reached and left at 4.35 P. M., and he arrived atGrant Park at 6.55 P. M. The distance was 727 milesin a direct line.

On his return trip he left Chicago on September 10at 6.26 A. M. with 3,000 pieces of mail, and he landedat Cleveland, and leaving there at 4.30 P. M., reachedLock Haven, Pa., that night. He left there on September10 at 7.20, and reached Belmont Park at11.22 A. M.

Mr. Edward V. Gardner left Belmont Park at 8.50A. M., Thursday, September 5, 1918, two hours afterMax Miller had started in a Curtiss R. plane, with aLiberty motor, taking Mr. Radel as mechanic, andcarrying three pouches of mail, containing about 3,000letters.

Gardner landed at Bloomburg, Pa., near Lock Haven.He reached Cleveland before dark, and after spendingthe night there, on September 6 Mr. Gardner leftCleveland and landed at Bryon at 5.15 P. M., leavingthere for Chicago at 5.50 P. M., but was compelled toland at Westville, Ind. He left there the next morningand reached Grant Park, Chicago, at 7.30 A. M.On his return trip Mr. Gardner flew from Chicago toNew York in one day, September 10. Leaving at 6.25A. M., he landed at Cleveland, Lock Haven, and landedat Hicksville, Long Island, in the dark.

The record non-stop for the 727 miles between thetwo, Chicago and New York, was made by the armypilot Captain E. F. White in six hours and fifty[145]minutes, on April 19, 1919, flying a D. H. 4 armyplane.

On May 15, 1919, the postal authorities intended toinaugurate aero mail service between New York andChicago, but owing to the fact that some of the machineswhich were being renovated from war-machinesto mail-machines were not ready, that branch of theservice had to be postponed for a few days.

The aero mail between Chicago and Cleveland andCleveland and Chicago was inaugurated. The deliveryat Cleveland and Boston will be reduced to some sixteenhours, and to New York some six hours. Lettersmailed in New York City in time for the train leavingat 5.31 P. M. will reach Chicago in time for the 3 o’clockcarrier delivery instead of the following morning carrierdelivery, as would be the case if sent all the wayby train.

Mail from San Francisco and the entire Pacific coastStates put on Burlington train No. 8, mail from SouthDakota and northern Illinois put on Illinois CentralNo. 12, mail from northern Minnesota and northernWisconsin put on Northwestern train No. 514, mailfrom Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana put onChicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul train No. 18, andmail from Kansas City and the entire southwest puton Sante Fé train No. 10, will reach Chicago in timeto make connection with the air mail eastbound. Theair mail from these trains will be taken direct to theair mail field. At Cleveland the air mail will catchthe New York Central train at 4 P. M. for the East.

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Under this arrangement the air mail will be deliveredin Cleveland and Boston on afternoon deliveriesinstead of the following morning. At Albany, N. Y.,and Springfield, Mass., this mail will catch the morningdelivery instead of the afternoon following.

The aero mail stamps for this service are the same asfor the aero mail service between Washington and NewYork. It will be recalled that originally the amountnecessary to carry a letter was 24 cents. This was reducedto 16 cents, and finally to 6 cents, where it now is.

Without a doubt when large bimotored machineshave been put into aero mail service, letters will becarried for 3 cents apiece between New York andChicago.

One company has already made a proposal to thepostal authorities to supplement the mail service betweenChicago and New York.

The aero mail service between Chicago and Clevelandstarted off on schedule. Pilot Trent V. Fry leftChicago at 9.35 A. M., and arrived at Cleveland at12.48 P. M., in a rebuilt D. H. 4, carrying 450 poundsof mail. The opening trip was made in very goodtime, with a five-minute stop at Bryon, Ohio.

Another plane with Edward Gardner as pilot leftCleveland at 9.30 A. M., carrying 300 pounds of mail,arrived at Chicago at 1.25 P. M.

Foreign Aero Mail Service

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Aero mail service has been started in nearly everycountry in Europe, and many South American countriesare also making plans for carrying mail by aeroplane.In May, 1919, Mr. Joaquin Bonilla, son of thePresident of Honduras, visited the United States tosee about arranging to use New Orleans as one baseand Tegucigalpha as another for the aero mail landing-places.

Mr. V. H. Barranco, of Cuba, is also in this countryfor President Menocole, of Cuba, to arrange aero mailbetween Key West and Havana, Cuba.

The French aerial mail service officially started onMarch 1, 1919, between Paris and Bordeaux, Marseilles,Toulouse, Brest, and St. Nazaire, under the supervisionof the director of civilian aeronautics.

The Paris-Lille Mail Service.—The aeroplanesengaged in the Paris-Lille mail service which had beeninstituted in April, 1919, started from the Le Bourgetaerodrome. The machines and pilots engaged hadbeen lent to the postal authorities by the militaryauthorities.

A daily postal service has been started betweenAvignon and Nice also. An aeroplane carries mailsfor Nice left at Avignon by the Paris-Lyons train whicharrives at midnight. A machine will also deliver mailsfrom Nice at Avignon in time for the midnight trainfor Paris. A regular postal service by aeroplane is alsoannounced between Rabat (Morocco) and Algiers.

Great Britain.—London-Paris (240 miles). Dailypassenger service, weather permitting, by means oftwin-engined D. H. 10 biplanes. Now being jointlyorganized by the Aircraft Transport and Travel (Ltd.),[148]of London, and the Compagnie Generale Transaerienne,of Paris. Average time, two and one-half to threehours.

British aerial highways now in operation: (1) Londonto Hadeigh (79 miles). (2) London to Dover (65miles). (3) London to Easteigh (53 miles) to Settenmeyer(152 miles). (4) London to Bristol (95 miles).(5) London to Witney (55 miles) to Bromwich (51miles) to North Shotwick (72 miles), and to Dublin,Ireland (143 miles). (6) London to Wyton (63 miles)to Harlaxton (41 miles) to Carlton (28 miles) to Doncaster(28 miles) to York (27 miles) to Catterick (38miles) to Redcar (26 miles). Catterick to NewCastle (42 miles) to Urnhouse, Scotland (95 miles) toRenfrew, Scotland (40 miles). New Castle to Renfrew(124 miles). (7) London to Hucknall (114 miles) toSheffield (50 miles) to Manywellheights (97 miles).Hucknall to Didsbury (52 miles) to Scalehall (50 miles)to Luge Bay (99 miles) to Aldergrove and Belfast, Ireland(55 miles). Luge Bay to Renfrew, Scotland(72 miles).

Italy.—(1) Civitavecchia-Terranova, Sardinia (150miles). Daily mail service by means of flying-boats.Inaugurated June 27, 1917; temporarily discontinuedduring the winter of 1917-18; reopened in March,1918. Average time, 2 hours. (2) Venice-Trieste(170 miles). (3) Venice-Pola (80 miles). (4) Ancona-Fiume(130 miles). (5) Ancona-Sara (90 miles). (6)Brindisi-Cattaro (150 miles). (7) Brindisi-Valeona(100 miles).

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Organized shortly after the signing of the armisticewith Austria; operating (8) Genoa-Nice (100 miles).(9) Genoa-Florence (120 miles). (10) Florence-Rome(140 miles). (11) Rome-Brindisi (290 miles).

Air mail lines (8) to (11), now being worked out, willconstitute the Italian section of an interallied air mailservice to be established between London, Paris, Rome,and Constantinople.

France.—(1) Paris-Mans-St. Nazaire (250 miles).Daily mail service by means of twin-engined Letordbiplanes (Hispano-Suiza engines). Inaugurated August15, 1918. Average time, 3 hours. Postage, 75centimes (15 cents). (2) Paris-London (240 miles).(3) Paris-Lyons (240 miles). (4) Lyons-Marseilles(165 miles). (5) Marseilles-Nice (140 miles).

Air mail lines (3) to (5), now being organized, willconstitute the French section of an interallied air mailservice to be established between London, Paris, Rome,and Constantinople.

(6) Nice-Ajaccio, Corsica (150 miles). Daily airmail service by means of flying-boats about to beginoperations.

Various air mail lines, operated by the military, arefunctioning in southern Algeria and Morocco, chieflyfor carrying official correspondence. The organizationof an air mail line from Marseilles via Algiers to Timbuctoois now being worked out. The sectionsBiskra-Wargia (240 miles) and Wargia-Inifel (211miles) and Inifel-Insala (223 miles) are in operation.

Greece.—(1) Athens-Janina (200 miles). Daily[150]mail service; inaugurated August 8, 1918. (2) Athens-Salonica(220 miles). Daily mail service projected.

Denmark.—(1) Copenhagen-Odense-Fredericia-Esierg(170 miles). (2) Copenhagen-Kalundborg-Aarhus(105 miles). (8) Copenhagen-Gothenburg-Christiania(330 miles). Daily mail service projected.

Austria.—Vienna-Budapest (140 miles). Dailymail service; inaugurated July 5, 1918. Postage, 5.10kronen ($1).

Norway.—(1) Christiania-Stavanger-Bergen-Trondhjem(670 miles). Oversea route. (2) Christiania-Bergen(200 miles). Overland route. (3) Stavanger-Bergen(100 miles). Oversea route.

Projected air mail lines to be operated by the Norwegian AirRoutes Company.

Spain.—(1) Madrid-Barcelona (320 miles). (2)Barcelona-Palma, Balears (170 miles).

Projected air mail lines to be operated by a Spanishcompany.

Germany.—Berlin-Munich (350 miles). Daily mailand passenger service, weather permitting. Averagetime, four and one-half hours; passage, $1 per mile.

Several other mail and passenger services are operatingbetween the larger cities, but no details areavailable.

KINDS OF FLYING

NIGHT FLYING—FORMATION FLYING—STUNTING—IMMELMANTURN—NOSE DIVING—TAIL SPINNING—BARREL—FALLINGLEAF, ETC.

Owing to the fact that skilful landing is the mostdifficult thing for a flier to acquire, and because moreaccidents occur to the novice when he brings his machineto the ground than at any other time except,perhaps, when stunting too near the ground, nightflying is especially hazardous. With properly lightedlanding-fields in peace-times much of the peril of landingafter dark can be eliminated, provided the nightis clear and no fog or mist has settled over the aerodromesince the aviators set out. If a mist has settledover the landing-place the flier must take his chancesand come down by guesswork, unless his machine isequipped with wireless telephone, for the compass andother instruments cannot tell him exactly where he iswith regard to hangars or take-off on an aviation-field.Indeed, if the telephone operator on the ground cannotexactly locate the flier, it is exceedingly difficult todirect the airman to the exact corner of the field inwhich he should come down.

On a clear night, however, with flambeaux, search-lightflares, etc., a pilot has little trouble in landing, for[152]the straightaway can be as illuminated as it is in broaddaylight. Nevertheless, when the aircraft is high inthe sky, owing to the vast distances of infinite space,the speed at which an aeroplane moves, and the driftout of its regular course, due to the wind, it is oftendifficult for the flier to keep his bearings. For thatreason aviators try at night to locate the lights on arailroad-track, the reflection of light on a river or stream,and follow them to their destination. The Germansin their raids on London usually tried to locate theThames River, which they then followed until theyreached the metropolis, which they usually succeededin doing on moonlight nights despite the British long-rayedsearch-lights, swift-climbing Sopwith Camels,and the barrages formed by the thousands of anti-aircraftguns. As a matter of fact, no adequate meansof preventing aeroplane raids was developed by anyof the countries involved in the Great War, for thesimple reason that there is no way of screening off ametropolis so that those modern dragon-flies cannot flyaround, over, or through the screen. That is anotherreason why a huge commercial aerial fleet will alwaysbe a tremendous danger and perpetual threat to anycontiguous country or neighboring city, because theseaerial freighters can be loaded with inextinguishableincendiary bombs as easily as with passengers, and10,000 such aeroplanes could drop on a city within ahundred miles of its border enough chemical explosivesto raze it by fire.

Considering all the chances taken by the Hun and[153]the Allied fliers during the Great War, and the kinds ofmachines they flew, and the circ*mstances underwhich they flew, it is amazing how successful theyboth were in their night-raids on one another’s territory,and the amount of damage they wrought.Every night, rain or shine, the British and French andAmericans dumped from forty to fifty tons of highexplosives on German objectives, and it is truly amazinghow few machines were lost.

Night flying for commercial purposes, though, mighteasily be developed into a comparatively safe meansof aerial transportation. The machines, however,ought to be constructed like the Sopwith Camel, witha very fast climbing and a very low landing speed, inorder to get clear of obstacles quickly and to come toa stop as soon as it reached the earth. The wing-tipsshould be equipped with lights, and small red andgreen lights, called navigation lights, should be installedon port and starboard struts. Under thefuselage a signalling light could be used, and Verylights, rockets, parachute flares, or Borse flares couldbe employed, as in war, to illuminate the fields, givethe pilot a clew to his whereabouts, and at the sametime reveal to the wireless-telephone operator on theground the position of the ship in the air. This wouldalso prevent collisions. Care should be exercised soas not to blind the pilot when he makes his landing. Anelectrically lighted “T” with observation-towers wouldalso aid in the safe landing of an airship at night.

With the growth of flying, lighthouses and captive[154]balloons poised high above the fog or clouds will undoubtedlybe established all over the land, equippedwith different lights so as to indicate to the flier justwhere he is located. The French have already developedsuch a system.

Of course a forced landing at night is very dangerous,and this may happen at any moment. It was reportedthat a pilot was killed every night patrollingover the cities of Paris and London looking for Boches.It was also reported that every Hun plane broughtdown during a raid on Paris cost the French Government$3,000,000 in ammunition, aircraft, etc.

With the establishment of municipal aerodromes atregular intervals, equipped with proper lights, signallingdevices, wireless telephones, night flying can bemade as safe as night sailing along the coasts, andwith the increase in the size and number of aircraft,night flying will become as commonplace as day flying.

Stunting

There is no gainsaying that stunt flying, or aerialacrobatics, was absolutely essential to the flying ofscout and combat machines in the Great War, for inorder to survive in the war in the air it was necessary forthe pilot to be able to manœuvre and dodge about inthe sky as easily as a fish in the water; otherwise, theflier would be shot down by a more agile machine orclever aviator. Clouds offered such excellent coverfor aeroplanes to ambush unsuspecting novices, anddecoys were often placed to induce some adventurouscombat machine to dive down on the decoy, only tofind that a formation of five or more aeroplanes werediving down on him. To escape from such a predicamentrequired knowledge of all the manœuvres anaeroplane could possibly make.

Moreover, every pilot ought to know how to perform[155]these stunts even in peace-time flying, so that,if his engine stalls and he falls into a spinning nosedive, he will know just what to do in order to get outof it. The same is true of banking, side-slipping, etc.

Finally, since an aeroplane moves through the airas a submarine passes through water, it should bedesigned so as to be able to take stresses from everyquarter, so that if the machine loops or flies upsidedown a vital part will not break because the pressureis reversed.

Stunting should never be performed less than 2,000feet above the ground. It has been done by recklesspilots in exhibition flights countless times with impunity;nevertheless, many of the most daring andclever pilots have lost their lives just by taking suchfoolhardy chances. Altitude is absolutely essential torecover equipoise necessary to a safe landing, especiallywhen a forced landing must be made. Eventually alaw will be passed preventing, on pain of forfeiting of alicense, looping, spinning, etc., below a certain altitude.The result will be a decrease in the number offlying casualties and a proportionate increase in theconfidence of the public in the aeroplane as a safeand sane medium of aerial transportation.

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A Vertical Bank

This term is applied to all turns or banks made at45 degrees or over. With proper speed there is noparticular danger in this manœuvre, and is performedby putting the rudder and control lever farther overthan in an ordinary turn. To come out of a verticalbank is to give opposite rudder and to pull the controllever central again and slightly forward. When themachine continues around the circle it becomes aspiral.

Spiral

A spiral descent is made with the engine cut off,and the pilot should always keep his eyes on the centreof the circle. When the angle becomes too steep, heflattens her out a little so that he does not side-slip orskid, and if the descent is too rapid, he pulls the controllever back slightly. When the bank is too pronounced,the rudder and elevator change functions,and the pilot must bring them back to their properpositions at once.

Zooming

Zooming is really making an aeroplane suddenlyjump several hundred feet into the air after flying nearthe ground. This is essential sometimes in order toclear a hangar or telegraph-pole near the ground.Fliers in the Great War did it when attacking aerodromes.No zoom, however, can be made unless themachine has got up full speed, for it is only this momentumthat permits the aeroplane to climb so steeply[157]and suddenly. The stunt is done by jerking the controllever back suddenly, which causes the nose toclimb steeply. The control is then pushed forwardequally as suddenly, just as the machine has reachedthe stalling-point and is about to fall over on its side.To avoid that, the control lever must be pushed forward,forcing the nose down, and allowing the machineto gain its velocity, otherwise it will lose its flyingspeed and crash.

Looping

This stunt is nothing more or less than continuingthe zoom until the machine flies upside down andcompletes a complete circle perpendicular to theground. It is a very simple manœuvre, and was verynecessary in aerial duels. Some machines were builtso that they could loop easily. To loop, a machinemust always get momentum enough in its descent tocomplete the circle. To start the loop, the controllever must be pulled far back, so that the nose rearsvertically upward and over, and remains in an upside-downposition for a few seconds. In this position hemust cut off his engine, ease up the stick, slowly centringthe control. The engine can be switched onagain as soon as the steepness of the circle has decreased.

Before looping, a machine should be carefully inspectedbecause of the reversing of stresses, whichmay cause the breaking of a vital part. Anotherdanger in looping is the stalling or stopping of the engineanywhere before the first half of the loop has been[158]made, thus causing the aeroplane to fall over on itsside and into a tail spin or spinning nose dive.

Nose Dives

Owing to the fact that a pilot must have altitudein order to get out of a nose dive, it is well not to trythem near the ground. The pilot should be wellstrapped in so as not to be thrown forward on the controls.It is made by pulling the nose straight down.The engine should be shut off to minimize the strainon the machine. Many nose dives end in a zoom,and they were very common performances in air duels.A machine whose wings are not sufficiently strongmay fold up like a book when levelled out at the endof a dive and crash.

Immelman Turn

This stunt consists of completing the first half of aloop, then turning the machine completely about andfacing the other direction. This manœuvre wasnamed after the famous German ace. The enginecan be cut out when the machine turns about anddives.

The cart-wheel, boot-lacing, falling leaf, the rolland the barrel are all parts of this same stunt, andare often mistaken for one another. The cart-wheelis done by diving or getting up speed, then makingthe machine zoom. When the aeroplane is almoststanding on its tail, but before it has lost flying speedand controllability, the rudder forces the ship into abank in the same direction, forming a complete cart-wheel,coming out and facing the opposite direction.

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The falling leaf is done by a modification of thismanœuvre, causing the machine to fall over on onewing-tip, and then bringing it into control again, thuscausing the machine to turn over like a leaf in the air.This is a hazardous manœuvre, and requires pullingthe rudder violently from side to side.

Upside-down flying and tail spinning is difficult exceptto certain types of machines; of course it cannotbe done for any length, and usually terminates in atail spin, when the machine descends like the threadsof a screw.

Naturally, there are air disturbances about a machinewhen performing these stunts, and bumps are frequentowing to that phenomena. They ought never to betried by a novice close to the ground. They are, however,very spectacular, and for that reason often seenat aerodromes or flying exhibitions. Indeed, LieutenantB. C. Maynard has a record of 318 consecutiveloops.

Formation Flying

Flying like ducks in the form of a spear-head andin groups of from 3 to 300 or more was inauguratedby the German ace of aces, the Baron Von Richthofen,who was credited with shooting down eighty Alliedplanes in the Great War. Before this, however, it wasdiscovered that flying in pairs was more safe than flyingalone. With the development of the wireless telephonethe numbers in the formation were increased[160]until, in October, 1918, the Americans made a raid onWaville with 350 machines in formations.

These formations were called circuses, first becauseof the gaudy camouflage which covered the red baronand his German machines; often they placed decoysbeneath clouds, and when an unsuspecting scout descendedon the decoy, the circus dived on the scout.This was done by both sides, so that it became veryunsafe to fly alone, or even in pairs, on the West Front.

The flight commander’s machine was usually markedwith a trailing colored streamer, and he usually flewat the apex of the spear-head. The second in commandusually had his machine also specially marked,so that if anything happened to the leader he could takecommand. The commander often signalled by firingVery pistols. These same formations were also usedfor bombing and reconnaissance. Formation flyingwas also very useful for strafing the enemy on theground during the last four drives of the Germans in1918. Groups of six machines were used for thismanœuvre with great effect. Whether or not formationflying will become popular in peace-times remainsto be seen. In case of a crash of one machine theothers could bring aid quickly, or carry the occupants totheir original destination.

AERIAL NAVIGATION

ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS—WINDS AND THEIR WAYS—CLOUDFORMATIONS, NAMES, AND ALTITUDES

Just as the navigator must know the sea, so the aviatormust have a knowledge of the heavens and the basicprinciples of aerodynamics in order to become a successfulpilot. Although the air is volatile like the water,the aviator flies through it as a fish moves throughwater. Therefore the aerial navigator must knowenough about the medium through which he travelsto know what to do in an emergency. Through aknowledge with the fundamental principles of meteorologythe fliers may know what to expect in the formof disturbances to the atmosphere, and how to meetthose conditions.

For aeroplane flight a calm clear day is the best.Then eddies and storms are not encountered, althoughthe air is never absolutely free from the former in somedegree. Even a strong gale is not a hindrance toflying, as the United States aero-mail and hundredsof machines on the battle-fronts have repeatedly demonstrated.Mists, fogs, and low-hanging clouds arethe greatest impediments to flying where the machinesare not fitted up with wireless telephones or directional[162]wireless. For first flights the early morning and lateevening afford the calmest atmospheric conditions.

Air, like water, seeks the level where the lowest pressureexists. It is 1,600 times lighter than water, andit extends to some 50 miles above the earth. Onehalf of its weight is below the three-mile limit. Atmosphericpressure is variable, and the temperature of theair usually decreases with the altitude, so that it isoften very cold up in the air when it is comparativelycold on the ground. For that reason electricallyheated clothing or cabins, heated from the engine, areused to keep the pilot and passengers warm.

The change in the temperature of the earth sets theair in motion, so that portions that are heated by thesun’s rays faster than other portions affect the atmospheremore quickly in that locality than in others,for the heated air rushes up by expansion and thecooler air will rush into the vacated place. With therepetition of this the movement of the air increases.Thus high-pressure areas and low-pressure areas areformed. A glance at a United States Weather-Bureaumap will show the location and the atmospheric pressureat various places in the United States, and the intelligentreading of the same will be of infinite usefulnessto the aviator. The atmospheric pressure ismeasured by a barometer. It is measured by a columnof mercury necessary to balance it. This same atmosphericpressure is used to operate the altimeter, whichtells the aviator how high he has climbed.

A falling barometer indicates the approach of a[163]storm and a rising barometer fair weather. Windstrength is usually indicated by miles at which thestorm is raging. In the early days of aviation theaviator used to wet his finger to see if the wind wasstirring and what quarter it was from. If it wasblowing many miles an hour, he would not ventureforth.

In starting or landing a machine it is always desirableto head into the wind. It is true that in forcedlandings pilots have come down with the wind, but forevery foot they must make an allowance.

Atmospheric pressure also has much to do with theflying efficiency of the wings. The heat generated onthe surface of the planes used by the United Statesarmy in Mexico caused the dope to peal in some casesand rendered the planes unfit to fly.

The flier should, however, know something aboutthe kinds of winds which prevail and the times of theday when the most violent are to be encountered. Atthe earth’s surface the day winds are stronger thanthe night winds, and the average velocity of the daywind is about eleven miles an hour. Because of thesimilarity of the movements of the winds to those ofwater, many of the terms applied to air movementsare the same.

When an upward movement of wind rises frombarren land or conical hills, it is called an aerial fountain.Sometimes this air rises at a velocity of twenty-fivefeet per second. Sometimes an aeroplane whencaught in one of these fountains will rise like a cork[164]on the top of a water-spout, or the wing will be tiltedif it is hit by this column of hot air.

An aerial cataract is caused by descending cold air,and has the opposite effect on an aeroplane flyingthrough the air to that of the fountain. These areencountered in flying over very broken ground.

Aerial cascades are encountered often in flying overnarrow valleys or steep hills. The contours of theland cause the air to follow down into the valleys suddenly,thus often making it dangerous for fliers to attemptto land on rivers enclosed in steep banks, unlessof course they fly up or down the river.

With aerial torrents the same principle applies, exceptthat the area of disturbance is broader and morepowerful. Great velocity is attained near open valleys,due to the cold air rushing to replace the hot airmoving upward. A cross, choppy wind will causechoppy air surfaces and bad eddies, and can be discernedon a cloudy day by rips in the surface of clouds.

Over the crests of hills vertical eddies are encountered.They are usually called pockets by fliers.Often the machine drops straight down, and the pilotshould immediately head his machine into the current.Sometimes winds will be found blowing in differentdirections and passing in layers above one another.These have a tendency to turn the ship about, and isone of the reasons why the aviators prefer to get altitudebefore doing any stunt flying. Except close tothe ground these contrary winds are not dangerous.So just as a vessel is safest far from a coast in a storm,[165]so an aeroplane is safest at a reasonable altitude wherethe wind is not so bumpy.

Clouds and mist are two of the worst enemies of theaerial navigator; first because it shuts off the observer’svision of the terrain, preventing him fromknowing exactly where he is, and because it makes itdifficult for him to locate his landing-field. Directionalwireless and the wireless telephone do help agreat deal in giving information about the lay of theland beneath the clouds or mist, but of course it cannotvisualize the ground on which the aeroplane is to landfor the pilot to see exactly where he should set thewheels down. For that reason a knowledge of cloudsis essential to piloting aircraft.

There are many different kinds of clouds, but theyare all formed by condensation when an ascending volumeof moist air mingles with another mass of a differenttemperature, or when a mass of arising vapor condenses.With a knowledge of the direction cloudsare moving in it will reveal certain facts about theweather to the pilot. Clouds take almost every conceivableshape.

A general knowledge of the movement of the cloudsis a valuable asset to the flier, for they indicate the air-currentsand also the condition of the atmosphere intheir neighborhood. Unbroken clouds indicate smooth-flowingair, while the more a cloud is broken the morebumpy the air-currents are in that neighborhood.From the formation of clouds then the atmosphericconditions may be realized by the pilot before he flies[166]into them. In general the following types of cloudsindicate certain specific facts to airmen.

A mackerel sky, called technically Cirro-Cumulus,which is formed of small globular masses, or whiteflakes showing only light shadows, or at most onlyvery light ones, or arranged in groups or in lines,usually at a height of 10,000 to 25,000 feet, denote fineweather, and for commercial flying afford ample opportunityfor smooth flying below that altitude.

Very light, whitish wisps of clouds, fibrous in appearance,with no shadows which appear at 30,000feet altitude, or more, are the highest clouds in thefirmament, are called Cirrus or Mare’s Tails, becausethey are scattered like hair over the sky. They indicatewind and a cyclonic depression.

The next clouds in altitude are the Cirro-Stratus,which float 29,500 feet, and look like a thin sheet oftangled web structure. They are whitish, and sometimescompletely cover the heavens, giving it a milkyappearance. This cloud is one of the most beautiful,and often creates moon and sun halos. It indicatesbad weather.

The Alto-Stratus is a thick extensive sheet of bluishor gray cloud, sometimes composed of a thick fibrousstructure which is very dense and impossible to penetratewith the eye. They are at an average height offrom 10,000 to 23,000 feet, and cause a luminous crownor aureole around the sun or moon.

Woolpack Clouds, or Cumulus, as they are designated,are thick, and the upper surfaces are dome-shaped,[167]with many sharp protuberances, and withhorizontal bases. They are low-lying and indicateviolent disturbances of the air, and are dangerous forany kind of aircraft when passing above them orthrough them.

Thunder-Clouds, or Cumulo-Nimbus, are formed inheavy masses rising in the forms of turrets, mountains,or animals. They are usually surrounded by a screenor sheet of fibrous appearance, having its base in asimilar formation. The highest points of these cloudsreach an altitude of 10,000 to 26,000 feet, and theyare as low as 4,000 feet at the base. They indicatelightning and terrific gusts of wind, and are verydangerous to aerial navigators.

The whitish-gray globular masses partly shaded,piled up in groups and lines, and often so thickly packedthat their edges appear confused, are called Alto-Cumulus.They are arranged in groups at an elevationof from 10,000 to 23,000 feet. They do notlook unlike the mackerel sky. The cross-lines indicatestrong currents of air.

Strato-Cumulus are dark globular masses of largeclouds, often covering the whole heavens in the falland the winter. They hang as low as 6,000 feet, andalways predict changing weather.

The lowest-hanging cloud of all is the Stratus, whichis uniform at a height anywhere from 100 to 3,500 feet.It may be either drifting or stationary. It is a uniformlayer, and resembles a fog, but, unlike the latter,it does not rest on the ground.

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The Nimbus is a thick layer of dark clouds withragged edges but without shape. Rain or snow usuallyfalls from this formation. There are many rifts inthese clouds, and through them many higher cloudsare seen. The Nimbus usually occupy altitudes from300 to 6,500 feet.

COMMERCIAL FLYING

BUSINESS POSSIBILITIES OF THE AEROPLANE—SOMECELEBRATED AIR RECORDS—GERMANY’S INITIALADVANTAGE—A HUGE INVESTMENT—CAUSES OFACCIDENTS—DISCOMFORTS OVERCOME—INEXPENSIVEFLYABOUTS—THE SPORTS TYPE—ARCTICFLIGHT—NO EAST OR WEST

In the face of the extraordinary development of theaeroplane and what it has accomplished in the GreatWar, both for the Hun and the Ally, it seems almostincredible that it was only as recent as December 17,1903, that the Wright brothers made man’s first successfulsustained and steered flight in a heavier-than-airmachine driven by a gas-engine over the sand-dunesof Kitty Hawk, North Carolina! Upon that historicoccasion Wilbur Wright flew 852 feet in fifty-nine seconds,and his four-cylinder gas-engine could generateonly 12 horse-power!

Since then an aeroplane has carried an aviator fromParis via Constantinople to Cairo, Egypt; a biplanedriven by a 300 horse-power gas-engine has climbed toan altitude of 28,900 feet; another with a 450 horse-powerengine has ascended with two men to an altitudeof 30,500 feet; still another, with a wing spreadof 127 feet, propelled by four twelve-cylinder motors[170]developing 450 horse-power each, has lifted forty peopleto an altitude of 6,000 feet for an hour’s cruise overLondon. Still another machine of the same type, butwith only 100 feet of wing spread, and propelled byonly two 400 horse-power engines, has transportedfive men and a useful load of a ton all the way fromLondon to Constantinople and back to Saloniki, adistance of more than 2,000 miles, and has carried sixpeople from London via France, Italy, Egypt, Palestine,Arabia to Delhi, India, a distance of over 6,000miles. A two-seater, with a pilot and mechanic, hasflown from Turin to Naples and back, a distance of 920miles, without stopping! On April 25, 1919, an F-5U.S. Naval seaplane, carrying four aviators, flew 1,250miles in twenty-four hours and ten minutes withoutstopping. A late report from Italy says that a hugetriplane, measuring 150 feet, weighing many tons, anddriven by three 700 horse-power engines has takenseventy-eight people up for a ride at one time. Apiano has been freighted in another aeroplane fromLondon to Paris. The Alps, the Pyrenees, and theTaurus Mountains have been aerially transnavigatedby aeroplane. The Sahara Desert, the Pyramids, theEnglish Channel, the Mediterranean and the AdriaticSeas have been flown over in heavier-than-air machines.

In the war zone the aeroplane has been put to themost astonishing uses. It has spied out the most hiddensecrets of the enemy; it has dropped spies behindhis lines; it has photographed thousands of square milesof European and Asiatic terrain; it has directed the[171]fire of artillery and the march of hundreds of thousandsof troops; it has scattered cigarettes over advancingsoldiers; it has dropped cans of tomatoes to thirstyand hungry men in isolated stretches of the desert;it has carried food to besieged camps; it has bombedtrains, concentrations of soldiers, ammunition-dumpsand ammunition-factories, gas-plants, and innumerableother military and manufacturing objectives. It hasperformed more manœuvres in the air than the tumblerpigeon. It has fought the most extraordinarybattles. It has descended so low as to rake soldiers inthe trenches, transports on the highways, trains on therailroads, and even officers in their automobiles. Indeed,by bombing manufacturing cities over a belt of ahundred miles along the Rhine it has done more tobreak down the morale of the German people than anyother factor. Truly this new engine of man has developed,under the intense necessity of war, farther inthis short space of time than any other mechanicaldevice—not excepting the automobile—which man hasever invented or fostered.

But with all the wonderful things the aeroplanehas accomplished and with all the stupendous advanceit has made as a carrier of man and his chattels, eventhough it does travel the shortest distance betweenany two points on this planet with the greatest speed,nevertheless, much must yet be done to make theaeroplane a safe, comfortable, popular, and inexpensivemeans of aerial transportation. Therefore, beforewe attempt to demonstrate how this fastest engine of[172]flight can be made to do man’s will as easily and comfortablyas the powerful steam-engine, the mysteriouselectric dynamo, and the subtle gasoline motor, let usfirst examine in detail what has already been accomplishedin aeroplane transportation. Then, with ourfeet firmly planted on the ground but with our headsup in the clouds so that we may see over the highestmountains, let us look down the corridors of the agesand discern through the mists of time some of thetransportation feats which this new invention of manwill most certainly perform.

From the time of the first flight of the Wrightbrothers till the beginning of the Great War, owing tothe lack of commercial incentive, the development inaviation was similar to that of any other science thatinvolved some physical dangers. It is true that M.Bleriot had flown across the English Channel on July25, 1909; that Jules Vedrines had been carried in anaeroplane from Paris via Vienna, Sofia, and Constantinopleto Cairo, Egypt; and that Roland Garros hadflown 500 miles across the Mediterranean Sea fromSt. Raphael, France, to Tunis, Africa; but thesefacts were regarded as sporting events or stunts thatcould not be regularly performed by aeroplanes withoutgreat loss of life. For that reason practically nocommercial interest was taken in aviation, and verylittle military—except by Germany, which was readyto seize upon and develop anything that would helpher to realize Der Tag when she would be conqueror ofthe world.

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Indeed, few people outside of those connected withaeronautics know that one of the chief reasons whythe Potsdam gang made the Sarajevo murders a pretextfor hurling the whole world into war was the firmbelief that Germany had at that time the completesupremacy of the air. She had constructed a fleetof twoscore Zeppelins, some measuring 710 feet inlength and being buoyed up by over 2,000,000 cubicfeet of hydrogen gas, driven by six Maybach gas-engines,each developing 250 horse-power, and carryinga crew of forty-eight men and a useful load of fourtons.

What destruction those fleets of lighter-than-air machineswrought upon the open villages, towns, and citiesof England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Rumania, andRussia—not to mention the part they played in thenaval battle of Jutland—constitutes another chapterin the history of German aerial preparedness and sky-linetransportation that is told in the chapter on thecommercial Zeppelin. But just as Germany seized onthe submarine and developed it for polemic purposes,so she saw the possibilities of the aeroplane as a scout,fighter, and bombing subsidiary to the Zeppelin. Withthe object of developing the aeronautic branch of theservice beyond any other country the German Governmentgave every encouragement to aviation. In 1914the Huns offered the sum of $55,000 to be awarded forthe best water-cooled and air-cooled aeromotor of80 to 200 horse-power. Among the points to beavoided in its construction was the “use of material[174]from any other country than Germany.” Under theauspices of the Aerial League of Germany the Kaiseralso put up fifty thousand marks in prizes for the bestaltitude, cross-country, and non-stop records made bystandardized aeroplanes taken from stock. Subsidizedas the German aero manufacturers were by their government,it was not difficult for their flyers to carry offall the prizes at this meet, so that before the end ofJuly, 1914, they had made the following new world’srecords:

Otto Linnekogel on July 9 climbed to 21,654 feet,breaking Roland Garros’s record of 19,032; on July 14Heinrich Oelrich reached 26,246 feet; and ReinholdBoehm flew for twenty-four hours and two minuteswithout stopping his engine!

Those who realize how much time, money, and energyhave been expended by this country during thetime we were in the war in getting quantity productionof aeroplanes and aeromotors will appreciate what itmeant to Germany in July, 1914, when she declaredwar on the world, to have all her experimentation doneand her aeronautical factories tuned up and nearly athousand standardized planes equipped with standardizedBenz, Mercedes, and Maybach motors whileEngland had barely 250 planes of almost as manydifferent types, and France was in a similar conditionwith about 300 aeroplanes and engines!

With command of the land and the air Germany feltshe could neutralize or overcome Britain’s command ofthe sea by overrunning France, seizing the Channel[175]ports, and by flying over the British fleet land an armyin England and conquer the “tight little isle.” Indeed,for three years after the first battle of the Marnethe fear of just such a contingency compelled Englandto keep a large standing army at home while Germanywith her Zeppelins and aeroplanes, even from distantBelgium, terrorized Scotland and England with almostdaily bombing air raids.

But as soon as the war broke out the governmentsof the world began to appreciate what could be accomplishedby these little toys of sportsmen, and torealize that the side which built and equipped thelargest and fastest fleet of scouts and fighters could putout the eyes of his opponent and win the giganticstruggle; for an army or a navy cannot feel its wayforward like a worm without being destroyed! Thisprecipitated an enormous economic and manufacturingrace to make enough aircraft and to train enoughskilful aviators to drive the enemy from the air andget control of the third dimension. The fighting andbombing possibilities of the aeroplane were not thenfully appreciated; that came afterward. Consequentlythe two objectives first sought in the actual designingand building of the aeroplanes were manœuvring abilityand speed, and later bombing capacity. Inherentstability and sufficient factors of safety, the two chiefconsiderations in peace construction of aircraft, wereonly secondary or entirely neglected.

For nearly four years this war of tools and this warin the air went on with fluctuating vicissitudes for Hun[176]and Ally. First came the German scouting and fightingFokkers equipped with motors which owing to theirsuperior horse-power made them faster and more easyto manœuvre than anything the Allies had until thefamous French Baby Nieuports with 110 horse-powerLe Rhone engines appeared in 1916 and began toequal the Boche in those two prime requisites. Then,owing to the number of machines shot down or forcedto land through engine trouble, neither side could longkeep any secret of aeromotor construction or aeroplanedesign from an opponent. Therefore the strugglefor quantity production began. In the meantimethe huge bimotored Caudrons, Voisins, Breguets,Handley Pages, and Capronis began to be built inlarge numbers by the French, British, and Italians,and the Gothas by the Germans. Each year saw anincrease in the horse-power of the motors and in thesize of the aeroplanes; and still, owing to the infinitearea of the skies to manœuvre in and the lack of largeaerial fleets flying as a unit, neither side could preventthe scouting-machines or the bombing raiders fromspying out or bombing any objective within a flyingradius of two hundred miles of their aerodromes.

With the advent of the United States into the struggleit became more and more apparent to the Germanmilitary leaders that they must win the war beforethe tremendous manufacturing and aviator resourcesof this country could be felt on the West Front. That,of course, was one of the cardinal reasons for the seriesof great German drives beginning with March 21, 1918.

[177]

The Allies, too, now fully realized that the Great Warwould be won in the air, so they expended every effortand resource to build aeroplanes to clear the Germanmachines from the skies and to bomb Germany fromthe air. How much these raids behind the Bochelines had to do with the breaking down of the moraleof the German people and Teuton soldier cannot yetbe properly estimated. However, to give an idea ofthe severity of this war in the air and destructionwrought by bombing-machines in Germany we knowthat the British Independent Air Force sent out overthe enemy territory squadrons of five to one hundredaeroplanes, which dumped daily, rain or shine, sixtyto one hundred tons of high explosives on military objectivesand manufacturing plants scattered over abelt a hundred miles wide all along the Rhine Valley.These raids penetrated as far as Essen and Heidelberg.They destroyed ammunition-dumps, railroad-yards,chemical and gas works. By blowing up railroadcommunications with the rear they virtually cut thearteries of the German army. Moreover, by their repeatedexcursions into Holland they disrupted thesleep, the rest, and the working capacity of the peoplein the manufacturing towns and cities in southernGermany.

In the battles in the air, too, the Allies were rapidlybecoming supreme. On October 18, 1918, the Britishair force alone destroyed sixty-seven Hun machinesand brought down fifteen more out of control, losingonly fifteen machines themselves. Thus these fliers[178]blinded the German artillery, and in contact patrolswept the Teuton trenches, bombed their motor andrail transports, and dispersed concentrations of theirtroops. Indeed, the only place to escape these relentlessdragons of the air was actually under ground.

Meanwhile, after much delay and many mistakes,American-built aeroplanes were beginning to appearin quantity on the West Front. Here is the record ofwhat the Americans accomplished during the shorttime in which they had machines: 926 German aeroplanesand 73 balloons were destroyed. The Americanslost 265 aeroplanes and 38 balloons.

Finally, in October, 1918, 350 American-built aeroplanesin one single formation dropped thirty-two tonsof high explosives on Wavrille. When the armisticewas signed, there were actually engaged on the WestFront 740 American aeroplanes, 744 pilots, 457 observers,and 23 aerial gunners. Of these, 329 werepursuit machines, 296 observation machines, and 115were bombers.

How much damage the French and Italians did toGerman aerial supremacy and manufacturing efficiencyis difficult to summarize. It was very considerableand, taken in conjunction with the others, sufficient toconvince the German military leaders that the Alliedproduction of aircraft was so rapid that within lessthan a year at most the Allies would sweep the Hunsfrom the skies and not even Berlin would escape thefate the Huns had so often visited upon London,Paris, and Bucharest. Finally the plea issued by the[179]German Government to the Allies, about a monthbefore the end, to confine air raids to within a fifty-milezone of the fighting-line was a complete confessionthat the Allied supremacy of the air was one of themost deciding factors in causing Germany to surrender.

But though the primary uses of the aeroplanes duringthe last four years were polemic, nevertheless, severalof the startling new feats demonstrate clearlywhat may be expected when the same aircraft manufacturersdesign and construct machines for the avowedpurpose of commercial aerial transportation. Hereare only a few of the most startling world’s recordsthat suggest these possibilities:

On August 29, 1917, Captain Marquis Giulio Laureatiflew in an S. I. A. from Turin to Naples and return,a distance of 920 miles, establishing a new non-stopflight world’s record, and a month later he andhis mechanic flew from Turin to London, crossing theAlps at an altitude of 12,000 feet and negotiating adistance of 656 miles at an average speed of 89 milesan hour. The speed, however, was not remarkable,for 100 miles an hour is the average speed for big machines,and 150 miles was made by scouting-machineson the West Front during the war. On April 19 CaptainE. F. White, U. S. A., in a DH-4, flew from Chicagoto New York, 727 miles, without stopping, insix hours and fifty minutes.

On April 25, 1919, four naval aviators, in a seaplaneof the F-5 type, Serial No. 3589, made a new world’s[180]record for an endurance flight when they flew, officially,1,250 miles in twenty hours and ten minutes. Therecord was made during a continuous flight from 11.42A. M. April 25 until 7.52 A. M. April 26. Throughoutthe entire afternoon and night, and often bucking astrong breeze over the Chesapeake Bay and the VirginiaCapes, the F-5 described a great circle, extendingnorthward to the mouth of the Potomac River andthen eastward to the Atlantic Ocean, sweeping overthe Capes and then inland to the naval station.

The four men in the machine ate three meals duringthe flight.

The machine left the naval base with 850 gallons ofgasoline. When it landed there was scarcely two gallonsin its tanks.

The F-5 is an improved type of flying-boat that theNavy Department intended using in patrol duty forwar purposes. It has a wing spread of 105 feet. Themachine was built by Curtiss, and is known as a “kiteboat,” equipped with twin Liberty motors.

At Wright Field, near Dayton, Ohio, on September18, 1918, Major R. W. Schroeder, of the UnitedStates Air Service, in an American-built aeroplanedriven by an American-made Hispano-Suiza motor,climbed to a new world’s altitude record of 28,900 feet,only 102 feet short of the highest peak of the HimalayaMountains. In December, 1918, Captain Lang andLieutenant Willets claimed to have ascended to 30,500feet in a Bristol aeroplane, but the record has not beenhom*ologed. On November 19, 1918, an aeroplane flewfrom Combes la Villa to Paris and return, a distance of[181]eighty miles, carrying thirty-eight passengers. Twodays before a Handley Page, with a wing spread of 127feet and a fuselage measuring sixty-five feet, propelledby four motors and piloted by an American, carriednine women and thirty-one men to a height of 6,000feet during an hour’s cruise over London, England.A year ago another type of this same machine, butwith only a 100-foot wing spread and driven by onlytwo 275 horse-power motors and carrying five men,flew across country from London to Constantinople,dropped bombs on the German cruiser Goeben anchoredthere, and then flew back to Saloniki, covering a totaldistance of more than 2,000 miles and remaining in theair a total of thirty-one hours. The flight was viaParis, Lyons, and Marseilles—in order to avoid theAlps—and from there to Pisa, Rome, Naples, and thenacross 250 miles of mountainous country, often at aheight of 10,000 feet.

Near the close of the year a huge triplane Caproni,with its 150-foot wing spread, driven by three 700horse-power Fiat motors, developing a total of 2,100horse-power, has carried seventy-eight people in trialflights at the factory!

A Model F-5 flying-boat, with a wing spread of only102 feet, driven by two Liberty motors, and lifting a50-foot boat, has carried 12,900 pounds over manyhundreds of miles looking for German submarines,and another flying-boat, with 123 feet of wing spread,carried fifteen officers and a pilot from Washington,District of Columbia, to Newport News, Virginia.

On November 27, 1918, a Curtiss N C 1 carried fifty[182]people for a short flight at Rockaway Beach, New York.It was drawn by three Liberty motors. The flyingweight of the machine was 22,000 pounds, and themachine had a wing spread of 126 feet, and the NC-3and NC-4, which flew from Rockaway, New York, toHalifax, 520 miles for the first leg of the transatlantic,weighed 28,000 pounds, and were driven by four Libertymotors.

The War Department on December 23 also announcedthat a squadron of four army training-machinesflew from San Diego, California, to Mineola,Long Island, a distance of 4,000 miles, in the actual flyingtime of fifty hours.

The infamous German bimotored pusher Gothas,measuring 78 feet, driven by six-cylinder Mercedes260 horse-power engines, and carrying three men andfive hundred pounds of explosives, flying by night fromthe aerodromes near Ghent, Belgium, a distance ofnearly two hundred miles, have raided London morethan a hundred times despite the opposition of fleetsof British aeroplanes and seaplanes and thousands ofantiaircraft guns.

For some time aerial mail has been carried from Londonto Paris in two and a half hours. Mail is alsobeing transported by air route regularly betweenWashington, Philadelphia, and New York, and betweenRome and Turin. Mail was carried through the airfrom Chicago to New York in ten hours and five minutes;and Second Assistant Postmaster-General Praegersays the sky-line mail will be extended to the Pacific[183]coast, and in the year 1919 fully fifty aero mail routeswill be in operation.

How many aeroplanes that might be used for peacepurposes were completed by all the Allies and in serviceof some kind at the end of the war is problematic.Judging by the Allied demand that Germany surrender1,700 aeroplanes, the Allied military authoritiessurely estimated that Germany must have had farmore than that number in active service on the WestFront. Counting the training-machines necessary toteach enough aviators to fly and the planes discardedas unsafe for battle flying, Germany must have had8,000 or more heavier-than-air machines. The Britishsurely had close to 5,000 of all kinds on the differentfronts, with possibly 10,000 used for training andother purposes. Indeed, Britain was making over4,000 a month, or 50,000 a year, when the war ended,according to the statement made by General Seely inParliament in April, 1919. Perhaps the French andItalians combined did not have so many as the Germansbecause of the physical limitations on theirmanufacturing facilities. The Americans, we know,had nearly 2,000 on the front when the war ended.A thousand De Havilland 4’s had been delivered upto October 4, and more than 6,000 training-machineshad also been constructed. We were just getting intoa factory production of about 1,200 a month when thewar ended. Indeed, to be exact, on November 11,1918, a total of 33,384 planes had been ordered; subsequentto that date 19,628 ordered were cancelled, and[184]up to December 27, 1918, a total of 13,241 planes hadbeen shipped from United States factories.

With the exception of the training-machines and thetwo-seater fighters, like the De Havilland 4’s, most ofthese American machines could hardly be used foranything except aero mail service. The large Caproniand Handley Page bombers will do some passengercarrying. Indeed, the peace planes, unlike the warplanes, are constructed with stability, safety, capacitycarrying, and comfort as the chief factors.

At the close of the Great War, fortunately for theaeronautic industry, approximately ten billion dollarshas already been invested by European, American,and Asiatic countries in aeronautics. Part of this hasbeen expended in constructing aircraft factories, aeronauticengines, aeroplanes, dirigibles, hangars; in obtainingraw materials and landing-fields; in trainingaviators and mechanics, and in making aeronautic machinery,equipment, and accessories. Thousands offurniture and piano factories, boat-building shops, andsimilar establishments have been manufacturing propellers,struts, ribs, pontoons, flying-boats, and so on;and hundreds of automobile-makers and engine manufacturershave given over their plants, or a goodlyportion of them, to making motors, spars, and tools.

Varnish, linen, cotton, castor-oil, goggles, clothes, anda hundred and one other things have also been usedeither in the direct manufacture of aircraft or in theequipment of the aviators or mechanics, so that thereare to-day tens of thousands of skilled and unskilled[185]artisans, aviators, mechanics, who are wondering howfar the aeronautic engine, with its remarkable developmentfrom 16 horse-power, which the Wright brothersused, to the 700 horse-power of the Fiat, will be usedin commercial aeronautics and how far the frail littleWright glider, which has grown into a machine weighingsix tons, can be made a profitable means of aerialtransportation.

Moreover, all the scientific knowledge, trainedtechnic, all the enormous investments in fixed property,and the tens of thousands of aircraft built orbuilding is being turned to commercial purposes.They were not, and everything is being done to makethe aeroplane do man’s bidding as easily and as readilyas the steamboat, electric car, steam-engine, and automobile.

Even though the aeroplane does travel the shortestroute in the shortest time between any two givenpoints, before a sufficient number of passengers canbe induced to travel via the aerial line to make itfinancially profitable to the transportation companythe public must be assured that it is reasonably safe;that they can fly in comfort; and that the price isreasonable. So let us first see what has been done andwhat is being done to satisfy those three requisites.

The dangers of aeroplane flight have been grosslyexaggerated by newspapers, which record only theunusual. Moreover, flying in the war zone was doneunder the most adverse and dangerous circ*mstances.Also the machines were built for manœuvring ability[186]and speed, and not for stability and safety factors.Furthermore, all the scouts and most of the reconnaissanceand battle planes were driven by only onemotor, so that if engine trouble developed they had tovolplane to the ground at the mercy of the antiaircraftguns and the aerial fighters. Finally, they often had toland in shell-scarred terrain. Naturally the casualtieswere high. Indeed, the war in the air was meant to beas perilous and dangerous as it could be.

Nevertheless, in spite of these hazards it is remarkablehow many machines, even when shot down withsome vital part out of commission, in many cases fallingseveral thousand feet, have righted themselvesbefore reaching the ground and made a safe landing,due to the precision and accuracy of construction withregard to lateral and longitudinal balance. And allin all, judging from the wonderful records already madeby aeroplanes, even the single-motored machine is veryreliable.

With the bimotored plane, of course, casualties werenot so high, for even if one motor was put out of commissionthe other could bring the aviators back to theaerodrome. Major Salonone, the Italian ace, onFebruary 20, 1916, flew a hundred miles back to hisown lines with one of the motors on his Caproni shotout of commission!

On the aviation training-fields, owing to the noviceswho were learning to fly, the natural recklessness ofyouth, and sometimes the faulty construction of planes—hastilybuilt and often superficially inspected—thecasualties were higher. Stunting too near the ground[187]and in machines constructed primarily for straightflying so that the stresses should come from only oneflying angle, enemy treachery, and the absolute necessityof discovering the best manœuvres and newesttypes of aeroplanes also augmented the honor roll. Butstunting eliminated, with machines equipped with twoor more reliable aeronautic motors built according tostandardized specifications as to materials, methods,stability, and the required number of safety factors,steered by tried and true pilots, flying between regularlanding-fields and aerodromes and directed in the darkand in foggy weather from the ground by radiotelephones,such as flight commanders used in givinginstruction to the members of the flying squadron, thedangers of flying can be reduced to proportions commensuratewith the desire of the public to get fromplace to place in the quickest and safest vehicle.

Of course, the present high landing speed of an aeroplaneis the cause of many accidents. Thirty-fivemiles an hour, except where the head resistance isgreat, is the slowest speed now made in landing aheavier-than-air machine. The invention of a deviceor the discovery of a means of reducing the speed toten miles an hour when touching the ground, thoughstill only in the realms of the probable, is by no meansdiametrically opposed to the inherent laws of the aeroplane.This accomplished, the danger of flying in anaeroplane will be reduced to infinitesimal proportions—atleast to a degree no more precarious than ridingin an automobile.

Already the War Department has ordered flyers to[188]map the country, and large stretches of the UnitedStates have already been mapped. The Wilson AerialHighway, from New York to Chicago and San Francisco,has been laid out. Aerial transportation companieshave been formed to provide planes. Thousandsof skilled pilots have secured jobs; many chambersof commerce have built landing-places near theirtowns and cities. Needless to say, aerial laws will bepassed to prevent stunting with passengers and requiringmachines to fly at the altitude necessary toglide to the nearest aerodrome in case a motor stalls.Already a dozen different aeronautical motors havebeen developed which will run twenty-four to one hundredhours without stopping. Recently the Capronibiplane at Mineola, Long Island, climbed to 14,000 feetwith one of the three motors completely shut off allthe way.

On August 9 the Italian poet Gabriele d’Annunzioflew from Venice to Vienna via the Alps with his motorwide open all the way. Indeed, thousands of equallysensational flights have been made, in all kinds ofweather and under the most adverse circ*mstances ofa great war. Of the hundred-odd air raids on Londonby the Gothas some were conducted in broad daylight,when the Germans had to fly through squadrons ofBritish scouts and fighters, through or over three barragesin order to get to the metropolis; and yet seldommore than one or two Hun machines out of thethirty usually constituting the squadron were forcedto land or were shot down. The same thing was true[189]of the British Independent Air Force in the raids theymade over the German cities, citadels, factories, ammunition-dumps,and other military objectives, thoughthey often flew in fleets of fifty to a hundred.

Of the 350 machines constituting the American airraid on Wavrille in October, 1918, only one aeroplanefailed to return, though twelve Hun machines wereshot down. The German flying-tank which shot downMajor Lufbery, the most famous American ace, wasdriven by five engines, which were protected, as wellas the fuselage, with bullet-proof steel three-eighths ofan inch thick. Major Lufbery emptied his machine-gunagainst this aerial monster from close range andfrom many angles before his gas-tank was pierced andhis machine went down in flames. Therefore a bimotoredmachine, flying under peace conditions, shouldbe able to make its aerodrome safely nearly every time.

There were three discomforts of air travel—thecold, the noise of the motor, and the lack of room inmoving about. Electrically heated clothes eliminatethe cold; ariophones, which shut out the noise of themotor but permit the passengers or aviators to conversetogether, are in universal use on aeroplanes.With the increase in the size of the aeroplanes and thenumber of motors, the nacelles and the enclosed roomycabins can be constructed as they were on the famousSykorsky aerobus, which was built in Russia beforethe war. This aeroplane carried twenty-one people toan altitude of 7,000 feet. On this trip they had ampleroom to move about and to observe the sky and the[190]landscape. On Thanksgiving Day, 1917, a half-dozenguests of an American aircraft factory had their turkeydinner served in a huge aeroplane above the clouds.

The Handley Page and Farman aerial transportbusses now flying between London and Paris carry thepassengers entirely housed in.

It is true that owing to the cost of the aeroplanesand the aeromotors, their upkeep and the number ofskilled men required to fly and maintain them, allaerial travel is expensive. The two-seater training-machines,equipped with one motor, cost five to seventhousand dollars, and the huge bimotored bombing-machinesaveraged forty to sixty thousand dollars.This price was due to the necessity for hurried construction.For everything that went into the buildingof the aeromotor and the machine itself and also forthe labor the very highest price had to be paid. Tools,machinery, factories, fields, hangars, and a thousandother things had to be purchased, and a great body ofskilled workmen had to be trained before aircraft couldbe turned out in quantity.

Now all this skill and billions of money have beeninvested in the industry so that the plants in this countryhave the capacity to manufacture nearly two hundreda day. With this nucleus to start a peace-constructionprogramme the price of even the biggest machinesmust soon shrink to that of a high-priced automobileor private yacht. Plenty of sporting machineswith a small wing spread and a two-cylinder motorthat will sell for five hundred dollars are now being[191]made; and since these machines can average twenty-twomiles on a gallon of gasoline the expense of maintainingone of these will not be out of the means ofhundreds of the young flyers who have returned fromflying on the West Front. Moreover, since there willbe no maintenance of roads, rails, live wires, and so on,such as there is in the railroad and electric road industries,the cost of aero maintenance is infinitely smaller,so that aerial travel may become cheaper than anyother known to man.

Fundamentally, the hydroaeroplane is the same asthe aeroplane except that pontoons instead of wheelsare used to land upon. The cost of these airships overthe land machines is noticeable only where boats areused instead of pontoons. Consequently, their priceabove the aeroplane will depend on the size and thekind of furnishings used in the boat. Owing to thefact that no landing-field has to be bought and maintainedand that the flying-boat can come down on ariver or a lake with comparative ease, and also the factthat altitude does not have to be maintained in orderto glide to an aerodrome or a safe landing-field, thistype of aerial navigation bids fair to be fast, cheap,and absolutely safe. Moreover, the size and passenger-carryingcapacity of these flying-boats will be limitedonly by the construction of wings strong enough tomaintain them in the air, for the size of the hulls andthe number of motors can be increased indefinitely.

Perhaps the best indication of what we may expectof the aeroplane as a commercial carrier is embodied[192]in the present plans of the manufacturers of aircraft.Using the past history of the heavier-than-air machines’performance and their own experience and the experienceof tens of thousands of flyers under all imaginablecirc*mstances and conditions as a basis, they are buildingvarious types of aircraft. More than a score ofAmerican and British firms have already built andare putting upon the market large numbers of sportsmodels. These machines are single and double seatersafter the type of the famous Baby Nieuports, Spads,and British Sopwith Pups. They have a wing spreadof anywhere from seventeen to thirty feet. The fuselagemeasures between ten and twenty feet. Some areequipped with one small motor generating from twentyhorse-power up to ninety horse-power. Most of thesemotors are upright, like the ones used on motorcycles,and range from two to four cylinders. The whole machinewill not weigh more than five hundred poundsand these models are able to fly at eighty to one hundredmiles an hour and make an average of twenty miles ormore on a gallon of gas. The price of these will dependon the demand, but most manufacturers believe theywill sell for five hundred to a thousand dollars. Thesemachines are so small that they can be landed on anyroad or field. Besides, the small amount of space theyoccupy will make it possible to house them inexpensively,and they can be used for any kind of cross-countryflying or sporting purposes.

The second type of the sports model has a wingspread of twenty-six to thirty-eight feet. These wings[193]can be folded back so that the aeroplane can be housedin a hangar ten by thirty feet with ample room for theowner to work indoors on the machine. The fuselageis proportionately larger than that on the smaller machine.This aeroplane is equipped with a four-cylinderupright motor or an air-cooled rotary motor of theGnome style with nine or eleven cylinders, generatingup to ninety horse-power. Some also have two smalltwenty horse-power engines geared to the one propellerso they can be throttled down, or in case one stalls theother can take the flyers to their aerodrome withoutbeing forced to land. Some models have two motorson the smaller machines. These aircraft will sell forabout the price of a medium-cost automobile.

The two-passenger models are similar in design tothe army training-machines. They have more powerfulupright and V-type four or eight cylinder motorsand generate two to three hundred horse-power. Thefuselage is built so that the pilot sits in front of orbeside the passenger. The control is dual. The machinesare mostly tractors, but in a few cases the nacelleis built in front of the plane like a bomber, and thepropeller and engine are behind. These pusher typesobviate all the blind angles and afford an excellent unobstructedrange of vision. They are especially goodfor hunters, who desire no obstruction in gunning forbirds. In case of a crash, however, there is the addeddanger of having the motor crush the passengers underneath.The Canadian Government has sold overten thousand of their training-machines to an American[194]company, which is reselling them at a low price tomen who wish to own an aeroplane.

The aero-mail type is about the same as the two-passengermodel in wing spread and fuselage, but themotor is a twelve-cylinder V type and generates anywherefrom 250 to 450 horse-power. Cost is not somuch a consideration here as carrying capacity. Mostof the two-seated fighting-machines built for war purposescan be adapted by the Post-Office Departmentfor this purpose, and plans are afoot to extend theservice all over the United States.

The big bombing bus type is designed for carryinggreat numbers of people from one aerodrome to another.These machines are biplanes and triplanes witha wing spread of anywhere from 48 to 150 feet. Theyare driven by V-type, twelve-cylinder engines generating400 to 700 horse-power. They have one or twofuselages in the centre but the nacelles are usually forwardof the wings, so that nothing obstructs the visionof the passengers. These machines will be sold totransportation companies, which will make a businessof carrying people from aerodrome to aerodrome. Theyare so large and are equipped with so many motorsthat they are not intended to be landed anywhereexcept on properly prescribed flying-fields. Severaltransportation companies are already organized forthat purpose.

All the above types of aircraft are so designed thatpontoons or flying-boats can be substituted for wheelsand landing-gear, and so that most aircraft manufacturers[195]can make both. Of course, in most cases theboats and the motors are made by different manufacturers.Several companies, however, construct aeroplanescomplete with motors.

Naturally no manufacturing industry can existwithout a potential market. Aircraft manufacturersare sure the majority of the twenty thousand flyers andhundred thousand aero mechanics who have learnedtheir trade in the Great War will want to fly eithermachines of their own or of somebody else or ofsome transaerial company. The aeronautical engineershave, therefore, designed the sports type for the youngfellows who wish to race in the air, travel from countrytown to country town, from lake to river, or to commutefrom country to city. Since these machines fly fasterthan the fastest bird or the fleetest animal, they willafford great sport for gunners. Indeed, the machineshave already been used with such disastrous effectsupon the bird that many hunters say it is not goodsportsmanship to hunt from them. In that case, perhaps,the farmers will hire the daring young aviatorsto hunt down the crows and hawks with these dragonsof the air.

Be that as it may, this sports type is a great conveniencefor a person who works in a city located on alarge lake or on a river and who wishes to live far inthe country. Indeed, he may live a hundred miles upor down that body of water and in less than an hourhe can fly to or from his work. If it is cold he can puton his electrically heated clothing and keep as warm[196]as in a limousine. If he has engine trouble he can landanywhere and fix his machine and then fly on. Sinceair resistance is much less than road resistance he cantraverse the distance much cheaper than in an inexpensiveautomobile. If there is no body of water nearhis place of business he can land his cross-countryflier in the park or flying-field just as easily as on thewater. This same machine will lend itself to all kindsof pleasure flying, and no other sport gives so muchexhilaration, scenic view, and adventuresome excitementas the aeroplane; and the price will be within themeans of many young men.

The two-passenger models are being sold to personsof means who have flown or wish to fly and take upfriends. After a few years the manufacturers expectthere will be a considerable body of these enthusiasts.The greatest sale of these machines, however, will beto the government for the aero mail service. At firsttwo machines will be necessary for every flier inthat service, and one in every aerodrome for every onein the air, so with fifty established routes we shallrequire several hundred machines. Moreover, themanufacturers expect that these machines fitted witheither a fuselage or a boat will be employed very extensivelyby mining companies for carrying preciousmetals in South America and Alaska. At the presenttime llamas are used to carry copper down from theAndes. They are so slow and have to descend to thesmelters by such devious routes that valuable time islost in the transportation. By loading the ore into the[197]hold of a flying-boat, which can land on the lakes andponds in case of engine trouble, the time will be somaterially diminished as to reduce the cost of themetal very considerably. Besides, flying in a straightline as the bird flies, at a speed of not less than a hundredmiles an hour, will expedite the work of the engineerand the surveyor over the jungles and unexploredand inaccessible portions of South America andAfrica, as well as in other distant countries.

The conditions in Alaska are analogous, though theclimate is different. Dogs and sleds are now used, andthey, too, have to travel roundabout routes from mineto town. Of course, an aeroplane fitted with skids orrunners can be landed on snow or ice as easily as onland. It now takes two days to sled gold down fromone mine in the Yukon to Nome, which could bebrought out in three hours by aeroplanes flying overthe tops of the mountains.

At the time this goes to press Captain Robert Bartlettis so convinced of the feasibility of flying in thearctic regions that he plans to try to fly across thenorth pole in an aeroplane. During the summermonths there are plenty of open spaces on which seaplanescan land in the arctic regions, and flying at 100miles an hour, it would not take many hours to crossthe ice-bound region of the pole itself.

Already on the plains of the West and Southwestthis type of aeroplane has been found to be more serviceablethan the horse in discovering the whereaboutsof lost cattle or sheep, because of the range of vision it[198]gives to the shepherd or cowboy and because of itsspeed and the short distance it covers in reaching itsobjective.

The big bombing bus type is being built primarilyfor companies or clubs intending to carry passengersfrom city to city or for cruises from the club-houses.

General Menoher, director of military aeronautics,has announced that the army will co-operate with theaero mail department in developing municipal aerodromesin thirty-two different cities in the UnitedStates, extending from coast to coast and from Canadato Mexico.

Meantime the aircraft manufacturers are contemplatingestablishing a line of huge flying-boats betweenNew York and Boston, carrying fifty people each way.The distance of two hundred miles could be coveredin two hours, or less than half the time taken by train.Only four machines will be used at the beginning, oneleaving Boston early in the morning and the otherearly in the afternoon. Two will leave New York atthe same time. Four more will be kept in reserve, andas the traffic increases more will be added. The totalinvestment will not require a million dollars, and theaero mail between the two cities has already set thepace for this passenger line.

The manufacturers also expect that every life-savingstation along the entire coast of the United States andits possessions will be equipped with at least one seaplanewith which to carry out a life-line to a shipwrecked on the beach or to rescue any one in distress[199]within a hundred miles of the station, because theseflying-boats can be launched in any kind of weatherand can travel faster than anything that moves onthe water.

The keenest aeronautic interest at the present timeis centred in the aerial crossing of the Atlantic Oceanbetween America and Europe. Two possible routesare proposed for the flight. Both start from St. John’s,Newfoundland, but one stretches from there to Irelandand the other via the Azores to Portugal. The northernroute is 1,860 miles from land to land, and theother 1,195 miles to the Flores, which is the nearestone of the Azores. From there to Ponta Delgada toLisbon is 850 more. The southern route is preferablebecause the first leg is shortest from land to land. Also,less fog prevails in the south in all seasons of the year.Captain Laureati has already flown in a single-motoredmachine 920 miles without landing. The UnitedStates Naval F-5 flying-boat has flown 1,250 miles.Undoubtedly a flying-boat, equipped with four ormore motors, could carry enough gasoline to cover the1,200 miles on the Atlantic without stopping. Indeed,only half the number of motors need be running atone time if necessary, and since the large bimotoredmachines make a hundred miles an hour the flightcould be negotiated within the twelve hours of day-lightin the summer-time.

Just before the war broke out Mr. Glenn Curtiss,the inventor of the flying-boat, was building for Mr.Rodman Wanamaker the seaplane America with which[200]Captain Porte was to try to fly across the Atlantic.The beginnings of hostilities terminated the project.The America, however, did cross the Atlantic, but inthe hold of another boat, and it performed very goodservice in British waters chasing Hun submarines.

During the four years that have elapsed since thebreaking out of the Great War the construction of aeronauticmotors, aeroplanes, and the science of aviationhave advanced at least a quarter of a century,so that if the proposition was feasible before the warit ought certainly to be very practicable to-day, asmany authorities have testified. The Daily Mailprize of $50,000 is still beckoning to the adventurousspirit. The Martinsyde two-seater land-machineand the two-seater Sopwith have already establishedthemselves at St. John’s, Newfoundland, to begin theflight to Ireland. The United States Navy NC-1,NC-3, and NC-4 have flown from Rockaway by thesouthern route to the Azores. Once the first flight isnegotiated, the aircraft manufacturers are convincedthere will be a greater demand for flying seaplanesthan for ocean liners, for they feel sure that most ofthe people going to and coming from Europe wouldprefer to travel in that way, and in less than half thetime now taken by the fastest ocean greyhounds.

In conclusion, then, it may be safely laid down asan axiom that the conveyance which reduces man’stime in travelling from one place on this globe to anotherwill sooner or later be adopted by him. No matterwhat the discomforts or the dangers or the expensemay be in the beginning, he will eventually find a way[201]to change the inconvenience into the greatest luxuries,the expense will be reduced to within the means of all,and the dangers will be diminished to infinitesimalproportions. It was so in the beginning, it is so now,and it will be so till the end of recorded time. It wasso with the recalcitrant camel, the ponderous elephant,the wild horse. It was thus that man transformed thefloating log, which he propelled with his feet, into afloating palace, driven thousands of miles across thegreatest of oceans. Likewise he metamorphosed thepuny stationary steam-engine into a demon that ismore powerful than a thousand horses, and that rusheshim across the broad spaces of the earth faster thanthe fastest deer.

Indeed, with the aeroplane, man has already donewhat was considered for countless ages as the acmeof the impossible—he has learned to fly; and in theshort space of a decade and a half he has flown faster,farther, and he has performed more convolutions thanthe noblest birds of prey—yes, it may safely be saidthat he has made the once marvellous imaginary flightof the magic carpet of the Arabian Nights—whencompared with the aerial exploits of the fliers in theGreat War—fade into the most diminutive insignificanceand the tamest fiction.

Before long then we may reasonably expect that allthe capitals of the world will be connected by air lines.Already regular landing-places have been establishedfrom London via Paris, Rome, and Constantinople to[202]Bagdad and Cairo. Peking and Tokio will next beadded. The flight from London to New York will alsosoon be an accomplished fact. Then all the capitals ofCentral and South America will be joined up. Thedistance from South America to Africa is about thesame as that between America and Europe. By reducingthe time of travel between all those places to hoursthe aeroplane will make mountains dwindle into ant-hills,rivers to creeks, lakes to mud-holes, and oceansand seas to ponds. The globe will be aerially circumnavigated.Tokio and Peking will be as accessible toNew York as London now is, and vice versa. Thenthere will be no east or west and with the new aerialage will come a new internationalism founded on speedyintercommunication and good-will toward all man-kind.

THE COMMERCIAL ZEPPELIN

THE AMBITION OF THE AGES REALIZED—A GIANT GERMANDIRIGIBLE—ZEPPELIN ACCOMPLISHMENTS—HIGHCOST OF ZEPPELINS—SAFETY OF TRAVEL—SOMEBRITISH PREDICTIONS—THE FUTURE OF HELIUM—THELIFE-BLOOD OF COMMERCE

Almost daily during the winter of 1918-1919 reportswere coming out of Europe to the effect that Zeppelinswere being converted into aerial merchantmen to flyregularly between New York and Hamburg.

Because these gigantic lighter-than-air machines,measuring more than 700 feet in length, 70 feet indiameter, buoyed up by more than 2,000,000 cubicfeet of hydrogen gas, and driven by six Maybach-Mercedesengines, generating a total of 1,400 horse-power,had carried, in all kinds of weather and underadverse circ*mstances of war, a crew of forty-eightmen and a useful load of four tons from Germany overthe British fleet and the North Sea and the anti-aircraftguns and by hostile fleets of Allied aeroplanes,and had successfully raided England and Scotlandmore than a score of times, returning safely to theirhome ports, often having flown a total distance of approximately800 miles—the eyes of the aeronauticalworld, like search-lights in the night, were sweeping[204]the heavens over the Atlantic seaboard to discoverwhether these leviathans of the air or the little dragon-fliesof aeroplanes were to be the first to appear in thefirmament, aerially transnavigating the 1,195 miles ofwater that separates the Old World from the New.

Indeed, ever since man has learned to fly he hasbecome such an exalted creature that he has ceasedto regard any mechanical feat as impossible. This is,in a measure at least, pardonable when we stop toconsider that ever since man got up off his hands andlearned to walk upright he has longed to be able to flyas a bird through the heavens in any direction hechose, without let or hindrance, boundary or border.Though he expended every effort to accomplish thisfeat, and often lost his life in the attempt, for countlessages the privilege to soar aloft was denied him.

In point of time it was, as we have seen, September,1783, before the Montgolfier brothers succeeded insending up even a paper bag inflated with hot air,and it was November of the same year before twoFrenchmen, the Marquis d’Arlandes and Pilâtre deRoziers, made the world’s first trip in any kind of aerialvehicle—namely, a free balloon.

But these and most of the attempts to navigate theair in the next century were unsuccessful, primarilydue to the lack of power adaptable to propelling a gas-bagthrough the air. In 1852. Henri Gifford, anotherFrenchman, made the first successful directed flightin a dirigible 143 feet long and 39 feet in diameter.It was inflated with hydrogen and driven by a three-horse-power[205]steam-engine, an eleven-foot screw propeller,and it made six miles an hour relative to thewind. Owing to the fuel, fire, and weight problems thesteam-engine was then impractical as a means of propulsionfor lighter-than-air machines.

In 1884 Captain Charles Renard went a step fartherin the right direction by installing a 200-poundelectric motor, generating nine horse-power. The battery,composed of chlorochromic salts, delivered oneshaft horse-power for each eighty-eight pounds ofweight, but in spite of such a handicap he flew overParis at fourteen and a half miles an hour. Nevertheless,the electric motor was also impractical, even for arigid dirigible. As a matter of fact, every gas-bag wasat the mercy of the winds, and could not steer a directcourse, until the gasoline motor was invented and developedto generate more than a dozen horse-power.

The first man to build a rigid dirigible with analuminum framework and drive it with a gasolinemotor was an Austrian named Schwartz, but the firstman to build, equip, and perform the necessary evolutionswith a rigid dirigible was Santos-Dumont, thefamous Brazilian. He accomplished this feat in September,1898, when he set out from the ZoologicalGardens at Paris and in the face of a gentle windsteered his airship in nearly every point of the compass.In 1901 he circumnavigated the Eiffel Tower,thus demonstrating the feasibility of the lighter-than-airship as a practical means of locomotion through theair.

[206]

The world’s first successful flight in a man-carryingheavier-than-air machine, made by the Wright brotherstwo years later at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina,only went further to confirm man’s belief that the conquestof the air and the age of aerial navigation were athand.

Since then in a heavier-than-air machine man hasclimbed to 30,500 feet and has flown 920 miles withoutstopping. In a free balloon man has drifted 1,503miles through the air—from Paris to Kharkoff, Russia—andto an altitude of over 38,000 feet. In a rigiddirigible the Germans have transported machinery formaking munitions all the way from Austria-Hungaryover Bulgaria—while that country was still neutral—toConstantinople, a distance of 500 miles; within aradius of 350 miles of Germany, despite all militaryand naval opposition on land and sea, the Huns haveflown with tons of high explosives and dropped themon London, Paris, and Bucharest. In the last days ofthe war a super-Zeppelin flew from Jamboli, in Bulgaria,to Khartum, in Egypt, and back, a distance ofmore than 6,000 miles each way, carrying a crew oftwenty-two men and twenty-five tons of medicine andmunitions. It was intended to transport the suppliesto General Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa,but a wireless received when the Zeppelin was overKhartum notified its commander to return, for Lettow-Vorbeckhad been captured.

On March 22, 1919, the British Government officiallyannounced that the US-11, a non-rigid type of dirigible,[207]had flown 1,285 miles over the North Sea withoutstopping, the actual flying time being forty and a halfhours. The voyage took the form of a circuit, embracingthe coast of Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein,Heligoland, North Germany, and Holland.

The trip was characterized by extremely unfavorableweather, and therefore is regarded as ranking asperhaps the most notable flight of the kind ever undertaken.The airship started from the Firth of Forth,laying a straight course toward Denmark. There wasa northwest wind of fifteen to twenty miles an hour,and the night was dark, but the airship was only amile from her course when she passed the DoggerBank Lighthouse. After passing the lighthouse thevelocity of the wind increased, and calcium flares weredropped into the sea frequently to determine the location.

The airship’s troubles began on the return journey.The wind became stronger and more tempestuous.At midnight one engine became useless and the shipwas forced a considerable distance to leeward.

The captain contemplated landing in France, butfinally decided to hold on in the hope that the windwould abate. The wind abating somewhat, a “landfall” was made at North Forel. At this time the gasolinesupply was running low.

In two radically different types of flying-machinesman has in the last decade aerially transnavigatedgreat natural and geographic barriers in the form ofthe Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Taurus Mountains,[208]and the North, the Baltic, the Adriatic, and theMediterranean Seas. He has made these flights in allkinds of winds, weather, and atmospheric and polemicconditions.

At last he has ascended higher than the lark andflown faster than the eagle and farther than themightiest bird of prey. Small wonder then that heshould consider the flight across the Atlantic by eitherthe aeroplane or the Zeppelin as nothing but a questionof time.

As a matter of fact, man does not doubt that eventuallynot only the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the SevenSeas, but even the globe itself will be aerially transnavigated.His only concern is how soon these featswill be accomplished facts.

Several preparations—but only one real attempt—tofly across the Atlantic had been made up to January,1919. The first effort to cross the ocean fromAmerica to Europe by air was made by Walter Wellmanand a crew of five men in the dirigible Americaon October 15, 1910. The airship measured 228 feetin length and 52 feet in diameter, with a lifting capacityof twelve tons. The envelope carrying the gasweighed approximately two tons. Attached to thebag was a car 156 feet long. The nine thousand poundsof gasoline necessary for the trip were stored underthe floor of the car. The America carried three eightyhorse-power gasoline engines, one of which was adonkey, the two others being used to drive the propellers.Beneath the car hung a 27-foot lifeboat that[209]was to be used in case they had to abandon the airship.A 330-foot equilibrator, consisting of a long steel cableon which were strung thirty spool-like steel tanks eachcarrying 75 pounds of gasoline, and forty woodenblocks, trailed from the cabin. The blocks were abouttwenty inches long.

The object of the equilibrator was to eliminate ballast.It was intended that the balloon should sailalong at a height of about two hundred feet; if it settledclose to the water the wooden blocks and the tankswould float on the water and relieve it of some of itsweight. The America was also equipped with sextants,compasses, and other instruments for locating itsposition, the same as an ocean-liner.

Besides Walter Wellman, the explorer and writer,were Melvin Vaniman, chief engineer; F. MurrayVaniman, navigator of airships; J. K. Irwin, wirelessoperator; Albert L. Loud and John Aubert, assistantengineers.

They left Atlantic City in a dead calm and weretowed out to sea by a motor-boat. Three days later,on October 18, after many vicissitudes the enginesbroke down and the huge gas-bag was at the mercy ofthe winds. Wellman and his crew were picked up bythe steamer Trent 375 miles east of Cape Hatteras.The dirigible had been carried out of its course becauseof insufficient power to navigate against the winds andhad to be abandoned, a total loss.

A year later, financed by the Chamber of Commerceof Akron, Ohio, and one of the large rubber companies,[210]a balloon called the Akron, 268 feet long and 47 feet indiameter, with a gas capacity of 350,000 cubic feet,was built to be flown across the Atlantic by MelvinVaniman. It had two 105 horse-power engines.

Unfortunately, on July 2, 1912, while making a trialflight over Absecon Inlet, near Atlantic City, the balloontook fire and exploded, killing Melvin Vanimanand the four members of his crew. This disaster putan end to building dirigibles in this country for transatlanticflight.

The preparation for another attempt to cross theAtlantic was made by Glenn H. Curtiss through thegenerosity of Rodman Wanamaker, who financed thebuilding of the flying-boat America. Owing to thebreaking out of the war this project was abandoned.

Neither of these two American-built lighter-than-airships could be compared in size, engine power, liftingcapacity, or flying radius with the dirigibles constructedby the German Government and people underthe direction of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.Indeed, his first airship, constructed in 1900, measured410 feet and contained 400,000 cubic feet of hydrogen,whereas the super-Zeppelins were many times largerthan either Wellman’s or Vaniman’s airship.

A description of the giant dirigible brought down inthe summer of 1916 in Essex, England, will give anexcellent idea of the gigantic proportions, the buoyancy,the engine power, and the accommodations ofthese leviathans of the air.

The airship measured 650 feet to 680 feet in length[211]and 72 feet in diameter. The vessel was of cigar-shapedstream-line form, with a blunt rounded noseand a tail that tapered off to a sharp point. The frameworkwas made of longitudinal latticework girders,connected together at intervals by circumferential latticeworktires, all made of aluminum alloy resemblingduraluminum. The whole was braced and stiffenedby a system of wires. The weight of the frameworkwas about nine tons, or barely a fifth of the total offifty tons attributed to the airship complete with engines,fuel, guns, and crew. There were twenty-fourballoonets arranged within the framework, and thehydrogen capacity was 2,000,000 cubic feet.

A cat walk—an arched passage with a footway nineinches wide—running along the keel enabled the crew,which consisted of twenty-two men, to move aboutthe ship and get from one gondola to another. Thegondolas, made of aluminum alloy, were four in number:one was placed forward on the centre line; twowere amidships, one on each side, and the fourth wasaft, again on the centre line.

The vessel was propelled at 60 miles an hour in stillair—by means of six Maybach-Mercedes gasolineengines of 240 horse-power each, or 1,440 horse-powerin all. Each had six vertical cylinders with overheadvalves and water cooling, and weighed about a thousandpounds. They were connected each to a propellershaft and also to a dynamo used either in lighting orfor furnishing power to the wireless installation. Oneof these engines with its propeller was placed at the[212]back of the large forward gondola; two were in theamidships gondolas, and three were in the after gondola.In the last case one of the propellers was in thecentre line of the ship, and the shafts of the two otherswere stayed out, one on either side. The gasoline-tankshad a capacity of two thousand gallons, and the propellershafts were carried in ball bearings.

Forward of the engine-room of the front gondola,but separated from it by a small air space, was firstthe wireless-operator’s cabin and then the commander’sroom. The latter was the navigating platform, and init were concentrated the controls of the elevators andrudder at the stern, the arrangement for equalizingthe levels in the gasoline and water tanks, the engine-roomtelegraphs, and the switchboards of electricalgear for releasing the bombs. Nine machine-gunswere carried. Two of these, of half-inch bore, weremounted on the top of the vessel, and six of smallcaliber were placed in the gondolas—two in the forward,one each in the amidships ones, and two in theaft one. The ninth was carried in the tail.

The separate gas-bags were a decided advantage overthe free balloon and earlier airships, which carried allthe gas in one compartment; for if the latter sprung aleak for any reason it had to descend, whereas the Zeppelincould keep afloat with several of the separatecompartments in a complete state of collapse.

Since the Zeppelin, like all airships, is buoyed up byhydrogen gas—which weighs one and one-tenth poundsper two hundred cubic feet as compared with sixteen[213]pounds which the same amount of air weighs—thedirigible is sent up by the simple expedient of increasingthe volume of gas in the envelopes until the vesselrises. This was done by releasing the gas for storage-tanksinto the gas-bags. In order to head the noseup, air was kept in certain of the rear bags, thus makingthe tail heavier than the forward part, whichnaturally rose first. Steering was done by means ofrudder or the engines, or both, and the airship waskept on an even keel by use of lateral planes. The airshipcould be brought down by forcing the gas out ofthe bags into the gas-tanks, thus decreasing the volume,and by increasing the air in the various compartments.

This airship had a flying radius of 800 miles, couldclimb to 12,000 feet, could carry a useful load of 30tons, and could remain in the air for 50 hours.

Because so many Zeppelins were lost to Germanyand because so much time and money were necessaryto construct the enormous airships, many people havejumped to the conclusion that the rigid dirigible wasan absolute failure even as an offensive war weapon.Yet despite its bulk and the fact that it could not flyfaster than seventy miles an hour, and though morethan a hundred Zeppelins raided England at sometime or another during the war, only two were shotdown by aeroplanes and only a few by antiaircraftguns. Most of them were destroyed because theyran out of fuel and consequently became unmanageableand were blown out of their course and forced to[214]land or had to descend so low that they came withineasy range of aircraft guns of the land batteries or thenaval guns.

This record is truly surprising when we stop to considerthat the Zeppelin had to navigate entirely bycompass and mostly at night over hundreds of miles ofhostile sea and land, opposed by the guns of a hugeAllied fleet and thousands of antiaircraft guns, withoutlights or landmarks to aid them and often withuntrained and inexperienced pilots to guide them!No wonder that some of these airships met disaster—likethe L-49, which had to land in France; or the L-20,which was forced to land on the Norwegian coast nearStavanger; or others, which came down so low overthe North Sea that they became easy targets for theBritish torpedo-boat guns.

But this is judging the Zeppelins purely as offensiveweapons of war. Even as such they forced the BritishEmpire to maintain a large standing army and a hugearmament of guns and aeroplanes in England bythreatening to land a mammoth army of invasion therefrom Belgium. What they did to spread terror inBelgium and to keep the German army informed bywireless of the conditions behind the British andFrench and Belgian lines in the first advance to theMarne is a matter of history. Also what they performedin disorganizing the armies and in disconcertingthe people of Antwerp and Bucharest, not to mentionmany Russian cities and Paris itself, during theHun advance against those cities, is almost too horrible[215]to relate. Over the Rumanian capital alone theydescended so low—because there were no antiaircraftguns to defend the city—that they scarcely flew clear ofthe buildings as they rained down hundreds of tons ofhigh explosives on the frightened inhabitants, andeven bombed a part of the imperial palace, where theQueen was nursing the Crown Prince.

This unlawful use of these giant aircraft does notdetract from what they demonstrated could be donein the way of aerial navigation and transportation underthe frightful opposition of war, and it is only anaugury of what will be accomplished when the samevessels of the air will be put to carrying man up anddown the aerial highways of the heavens, which knowno barriers, obstructions, or hostile opposition.

Their greatest service to the Germans was as aerialscouts rather than as ethereal battleships or cruisers;and if these rigid dirigibles had performed no otherfeats for the Huns, from the Teutonic point of view atleast, their work in planning and directing every moveof the German high-seas fleet in the great naval battleoff Jutland amply repaid Germany for the timeand money and effort expended in building those aircruisers.

On May 30 in the first stage of that battle it will berecalled that Admiral Sir David Beatty was cruisingwith his scout fleet looking for the Germans severalhundred miles east of the British grand fleet, whichwas under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, somewhere off theOrkney Islands. Flying out under the protection of a[216]fog-bank that was moving down over the North Sea aGerman naval Zeppelin discovered the isolated positionof Admiral Beatty’s scout fleet and sent a wirelessmessage to the German high-seas fleet, which cameout under Admiral Von Scheer with the sole object ofcutting off and destroying Admiral Beatty’s fleetbefore it could unite with the British grand fleet.Undoubtedly, had it not been for a seaplane launchedfrom the mother ship Engadine and flown by FlightLieutenant Frederick J. Rutland, who discovered theentire German navy coming out, the British scoutfleet might have been cut off and completely destroyedbefore Admiral Jellicoe could come to the rescue.

In the meantime another Zeppelin was hoveringover the British grand fleet far to the north and waskeeping the German Admiral Von Scheer fully informedby wireless of every ship in the squadron. Itwas this Zeppelin which finally warned the Germanadmiral to return to the protection of secure fortressesand defenses of the great German naval base of Helgoland.By thus saving the Hun fleet from annihilationin this naval encounter it was possible for the Germansto hold a complete, continuous, and dangerousthreat that their navy might again come out to attackEngland or France and cut off English troops fromthe Continent. This possibility alone compelled theAllies to maintain, until the close of the war, an enormousfleet at all times in the North Sea.

There is no gainsaying that in time of war the aeroplanehas many advantages over the Zeppelin. The[217]heavier-than-air machine can be produced in quantitymuch more readily than the lighter-than-air craft.Exact figures on the cost of Zeppelins are not available.W. L. Marsh, in the British publication Aeronautics,gives half a million dollars as the estimatedcost of a superdirigible of sixty tons, having a lift ofthirty-eight tons. This high cost is due, amongother things, to the enormous building in which theairship must be constructed, for it must be borne inmind that one of these dinosaurs of the air extends itsbulk along the ground farther than the WoolworthBuilding towers in the air. Indeed, it could not descendin an ordinary city street because of its bulk, andif it did it would extend more than three city blocksof two hundred feet frontage! Moreover, the plantnecessary to generate the hydrogen gas sufficient toinflate a bag of two million cubic feet capacity wouldcost fifty thousand dollars alone. The amount ofaluminum in the L-49, forced to land in France in thespring of 1918, would make a foot-bridge over theEast River as long as the famous Brooklyn Bridge!

To land and house such an elusive and buoyantmonster requires many winches and some two hundredmen. Even then some have been known to runaway. This happened in the winter of 1907, when thePatrie, a French semirigid dirigible, which was only athird as large as the German super-Zeppelins, wascaught in a gale of wind near Verdun and in spite ofthe two hundred soldiers who held her in leash shebroke her moorings and, flying over France, England,[218]Wales, Ireland, shedding a few fragments on the way,finally disappeared into the sky above the NorthAtlantic.

On the other hand, a six-ton aeroplane can carry auseful load of two tons and does not cost more than$50,000. Also the wing spread of 150 feet of the largestaeroplane is small compared to a 700-foot Zeppelin.Consequently, aeroplanes can be more readily producedin quantity, can be housed, and require only ahalf-dozen men to take care of them.

Because of the small size of the scout machine—withonly a 26-foot wing spread—and its speed of morethan a hundred miles an hour—compared to the Zeppelinspeed of 60 or 70 miles—the aeroplane was invaluablefor scouting over short distances, for duelsin the air, for directing artillery-fire, for contact patrol;and the larger aeroplanes were useful for bombingin huge fleets.

In all other purposes of war the Zeppelin is farsuperior to the aeroplane. Even the contention thatthe aeroplanes stopped the Zeppelin raids on Englandis absurd. It is true that two Zeppelins were broughtdown over England by aeroplane, but it was September3, 1916, two years after the breaking out of thewar, when young Leefe Robinson brought down thefirst Hun dirigible over London. It was June 3, 1915,when a Canadian sublieutenant, R. A. J. Warneford,flying a Morane monoplane for the Royal Naval AirService, got above a dirigible returning to its aerodromein Belgium from a raid on England and dropped[219]a bomb upon the gigantic gas-bag, blowing it up andkilling the crew; but before that came to pass thirteenZeppelin raids had already been visited upon England,408 bombs had been dropped, twenty-one persons hadbeen killed and a thousand injured. In both this caseand in the case of Lieutenant Robinson, more than ayear later, the aeroplanes happened to be in the airabove the Zeppelins before they came along, and theaeroplanes in both instances were blown completelyupside down by the force of the explosion. Needlessto say, a moment later Lieutenant Robinson loopedthe loop for joy when he saw what destruction he hadwrought.

In other words, because the Zeppelins could put outtheir lights, shut off their motors, and drift throughclouds unheard in the night at two thousand feet altitude,and because the dropping of the bombs, like thethrowing out of ballast, allowed the dirigibles to jumpsuddenly up to much higher altitudes, they were as arule far too elusive for the aeroplanes to get near enougheven to shoot incendiary bullets into them.

In point of flying comforts and safety, time thatcan be spent in the air, flying distances and useful loadcarried, the Zeppelin is far in advance of any kind ofheavier-than-air machine ever built.

Before the war the passenger-carrying ZeppelinsSchwaben and Victoria Louise were equipped withcabins for the accommodation of twenty-four passengersand crew. Meals were served à la carte; tworows of easy-chairs were arranged before the windows,[220]with a passageway between; and there was awash-room with water-faucets; which will give an ideaof the completeness of the appointments for the comfortof passengers. In the super-Zeppelins constructedsince then, and now being fitted to fly the Atlantic,there is ample room for a promenade of four to fivehundred feet in the keel. Moreover, there is even agreater opportunity for the giant sky-liners to provideluxurious cabins and other comforts for the travellers,such as of course cannot possibly be supplied on aheavier-than-air machine, where even the chief engineercannot so much as leave his seat to examine theengine once the machine is in flight!

The ability of the airship to cruise at low heights isanother comfort the dirigible enjoys over the aeroplane,which, to insure a safe landing in event of enginetrouble, usually navigates across country at five thousandfeet altitude or more. The most pleasurableheight for air cruising is between five hundred and onethousand feet, for from there the perspective of thecountryside is not too diminutive.

As regards the safety of travel in lighter-than-airmachines, naturally there have been several disasterssuch as are inevitable in perfecting a new science. Thedisasters that occur in the air are closely analogous tothose of the sea. The greatest dangers to the airshipare the wind, storms, and fire. Of these the last is themost dangerous, because hydrogen gas is so highlyexplosive. That was what caused the destruction ofthe Akron, with Vaniman and his companions. What[221]caused the explosion that annihilated the crew oftwenty-five of the L-11 in September, 1913, is notknown. Perhaps the absorption of the rays of thesun caused the gas to expand, bursting the gas-bags.Glossed surfaces now deflect the rays and help to avoidthat danger.

The extraordinary point in the long experimentationwith Zeppelins was the immunity of the actualcrews of the airships from death, until the thirteenthyear of the Zeppelin’s existence. Despite the ever-recurringaccidents and the frequent loss of life andserious injury among landing parties and the workshophands, not a single fatality occurred to any ofthe navigators until September, 1913, when navalZeppelin L-1, which was actually the fourteenth Zeppelinto be constructed, was wrecked in the NorthSea by a squall, her crew of thirteen being drowned.

Most of the minor accidents to Zeppelins were dueto poor landings and high winds. At first this was notto be avoided, because of the huge bulk of these air-linersand their great buoyancy and the ease withwhich the wind could blow them against their moorings.With experience, though, this was eliminated.Indeed, the officers of the passenger-carrying Schwabennever bothered about the weather, and went out whenaeroplanes would not dare go up. The Parseval VImade 224 trips about Berlin within two years’ time,remained in the air a total of 342 hours, carried 2,286passengers, and travelled a distance of 15,000 miles.

To compare this record with the long list of those[222]who have lost their lives in aeroplane flying and experimentationis impossible and of no avail. Theradical differences of construction make it much easierfor the balloon to avoid disaster than the aeroplane.

Whenever a wing breaks on an aeroplane or wheneverthe engine on a single-motored machine stops,the aeroplane must fall down or glide to a landing.These defects will undoubtedly be greatly overcomewith standardized construction of aircraft and theestablishment of proper landing-fields. The hazard,nevertheless, will always be there in some degree.

Such an accident is not frequent with a lighter-than-airmachine, which does not depend on its motor butupon gas to keep it afloat. Indeed, an airship maydrift hundreds of miles with the wind with all itsmotors completely shut off—which, by the way, isanother reason why the transatlantic fight with theair-currents, which move from America to Europe,seems to be a very feasible possibility for the lighter-than-aircraft. The conservation of fuel under such acondition is tremendous.

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“It is unquestionably her long endurance and greatweight-carrying capacity which gives the airship herchief advantage over the aeroplane,” says W. L.Marsh, the eminent authority on dirigibles previouslyreferred to. “It will no doubt be conceded that inspite of the stimulus of war the airship is little furtheradvanced in development than the aeroplane was atthe beginning of 1915; and already airships have visitedthis country”—England—“which could with easefly from England to America, carrying a considerableload of merchandise. A present-day Zeppelin has agross lift of sixty-five tons, of which some 58 per centis available for crew, fuel, ballast, merchandise, andso on. If we take the distance across the Atlantic in adirect line as two thousand miles we get the followingdisposition of our load of thirty-eight tons:

“This leaves eighteen tons available for freight.These figures are based on the ship maintaining a constantspeed of fifty miles an hour, at which she woulddo the journey in forty hours, consuming 650 pounds ofgasoline an hour.

“This represents what a rigid airship of slightlyover capacity can do to-day, and is given as an indicationof what is possible in a comparatively earlystage of development.

“No one who has considered rigid airship designand studied rapid strides which aeroplanes have madein the last three and a half years can doubt for a momentthat an airship could be built in the course ofthe next two years which would have a disposal lift—or,[224]in aeroplane parlance, a ‘useful load’—of over twohundred tons, giving it an endurance of anything upto three weeks at a speed of forty to forty-five milesan hour.

“I am endeavoring to state the case as moderatelyas possible, and am therefore purposely putting thespeed at a low figure. I believe I am correct in estimatingthe full speed of a modern Zeppelin at seventy-fivemiles an hour. I shall not be too optimistic inclaiming eighty miles as a conservative figure for thefuture. There is little doubt that a ship of some 800,000cubic feet should be able to carry twenty or thirtypassengers, having a full speed of about seventy milesan hour, which it could maintain for two days or more,the endurance at forty-five miles an hour being probablyin the neighborhood of five or six days. Thisship would be able to cross the Atlantic. A present-dayZeppelin could carry some eighteen tons of freightacross to America, and the really big ship—it must beremembered that up to the present we have beentalking of lighter-than-air midgets—could transport atleast 150 tons the same distance.”

But Mr. Marsh is not the only British authority onaerodynamics who has gone on record as to the practicabilityof transnavigation of the Atlantic. TheBritish Aerial Transport Committee, consisting ofsome of the most representative men of Great Britain,such as G. Holt-Thomas, Tom Sopwith, H. G. Wells,Brigadier-General Brancker, Lord Montagu of Beaulieuand Lord Northcliffe—to mention only a few—in[225]its report of November, 1918, to the Air Council ofthe British Parliament, says:

“Airships now exist with a range of more than 4,000miles, and they can travel at a speed of 78 miles anhour. By running their engines slower a maximumrange of 8,000 miles can be obtained. On first speedCape Town, South Africa, is to-day aerially only alittle more than three days from Southampton. Thisship could fly across the Atlantic and return withoutstopping. The committee points out that the airshipwill soon develop a speed of 100 miles an hour, thatit will be fitted with ample saloons, staterooms, an elevatorto a roof-garden, and it will be able to remain inthe air for more than a week.”

Mr. Ed. M. Thierry, Berlin correspondent of theN. E. A., under date of December, 1918, says: “Irecently visited the immense works outside Berlin atStaaken. The new super-Zeppelin which is now buildinghas a gas capacity of 100,000 cubic metres. Itwill have nine engines and eight propellers. Thistransatlantic Zeppelin is 800 feet in length. It willcost nearly $1,000,000, and it will have a carryingcapacity of 100 passengers and forty-five tons of mailand baggage, and thirty tons of petrol, oil, and waterand provisions. The first machine for the transatlanticservice is to be completed in July, 1919. Formaintenance of the service planned, eight active machinesand four reserved will be required. As soon asthe international situation is clarified it is proposed toestablish the service with a hangar in New York.”

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Major Thomas S. Baldwin, U. S. A. C., consideredone of the best authorities in regard to balloons anddirigibles in the United States, said that the Germanshad constructed aircraft that could stay in the air fortwo weeks and could make upward of 75 miles anhour. Major Baldwin stated that the relatively smallAmerican Blimps were capable of 60 miles an hour.Only recently one of these flew from Akron, Ohio, toNew York without stopping, a distance of more than300 miles, and the Naval NC-1 flew from New Yorkto Pensacola, Florida, a distance of over 1,000 miles,stopping at Norfolk, Virginia, and Savannah, Georgia.

On December 12 an interesting experiment of launchinga plane from a dirigible was conducted at RockawayBeach, New York. The dirigible rose about onehundred feet above the sand-field near Fort Tilden.An aeroplane was attached to the roof. After dischargingballast and starting the motor the dirigibleascended to three thousand feet and released the aeroplane,which dived about one thousand feet and thenflew off to Mineola. Lieutenant George Crompton,Naval Flying Corps, piloted the dirigible, assisted byJ. L. Nichols and G. Cooper. The plane was pilotedby A. W. Redfield.

In the flight of the British naval dirigible R-23 overthe North Sea, in April, 1919, the aeroplane was hungsuspended from the keel amidships and launched whennear the British coast.

The above experiment is cited only as an indicationof what the possibilities are of combining the aeroplane[227]with the dirigible in landing mail or expressfrom dirigibles crossing the Atlantic. Undoubtedlyaeroplanes weighing only a thousand pounds, with aflying radius of 600 miles and making 150 miles anhour, will be launched from superdirigibles 500 milesfrom the journey’s end, especially when airships areto be constructed with 10,000,000 cubic feet of gas,with a 60 per cent gross lift for crew, fuel, freight, andso on, as Mr. Marsh says is quite possible in the immediatefuture.

Experiments for launching aeroplanes from ocean-linersfor a like purpose are already under way. Theobject is to fly the mail for London or New York fromthe ocean greyhounds as soon as they get within fivehundred miles of either coast. This will, of course,cut the flight time from New York to London considerably.As a matter of fact the dirigible might flyover only the great expanse of water from land’s endto land’s end, while the aeroplanes negotiated the remainderof the distance. It is granted that for shortflights over land the aeroplane is twice as fast as theZeppelin, whereas the latter, because it can stay inthe air for weeks, is the best adapted for long cruisesover large bodies of water. Moreover, the removal ofthe weight of an aeroplane from a dirigible six hundredmiles from its journey’s end would facilitate the remainingflight of the Zeppelin by just so much; itwould be equivalent to throwing out ballast to keepa balloon in the air.

Perhaps of all the revolutionary scientific developments[228]of the Great War—especially in the fieldof chemistry—the one that may perform the greatestservice to mankind is the steps taken by the Bureauof Mines to produce helium, the non-inflammable gaswhich has 92 per cent of the lifting power of hydrogen,in sufficient quantities to be used in floating airships!

A non-inflammable gas with such a lifting capacityas helium has been the dream of the aeronaut and thedirigible engineer ever since the Robert brothers firstconducted their experiments in France in 1784 andfound that hydrogen had greater buoyancy than anyother gas available in large quantities for balloons;for with it they could jump over the highest peaks ofthe Himalaya Mountains and the broadest expansesof the Pacific Ocean without danger of the gas ignitingfrom the sun or the engine.

It will be recalled that we pointed out that thegreatest danger to people riding in dirigibles was thepossibility of heat expanding and exploding the hydrogengas. One of the first airships to experience thisfate simply passed through a cloud into the hot sun,whose rays expanded and exploded the gas, blowingthe airship and its crew into smithereens before theycould open the gauges and release the pressure. Thesame thing may have caused the explosion of the Germandirigible L-2, which killed its crew of twenty-five;and the American airship Akron, which blew up, destroyingVaniman and his companions. The substitutionof helium entirely eliminates that dangerand makes it possible to carry heating devices for the[229]comfort of passengers in high altitudes where it is socold.

Of course, the lifting power of helium was known tostudents of aerostatics before the war, but the mechanicaldifficulties and cost involved in producingthis gas on an industrial basis were so great that itwould hardly pay to produce it for commercial purposes.Indeed, the largest amount of helium in anyone container up to the beginning of 1918 was fivecubic feet, and it cost between fifteen hundred and sixthousand dollars, whereas under the new system it isexpected that one thousand cubic feet can be producedfor one hundred dollars!

In war, however, cost is nothing—results are everything.As there was a possibility that helium mightbe one of the chief factors in winning the war, the jointArmy and Navy Board on Rigid Airships in August,1917, provided the Bureau of Mines with the requisitefunds to do the necessary experiment work.

This, however, is not the time or the place to gointo a detailed description of this wonderful gas orhow it was obtained, further than to state that apparatushad to be designed on entirely new lines forthe liquefaction of nitrogen into natural gases, attemperatures as low as -317 degrees Fahrenheit; thatthe natural gas of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Ontariocontains 1 per cent of helium; that a $900,000building was constructed for the Navy Departmentat Fort Worth, Texas, and a ten-inch pipe-line ninety-fourmiles long was laid, at a cost of more than a million[230]dollars, from the wells at Petrolia, Texas, for supplyingthe plant with natural gas; and that the firstproduction of it was in operation April 1, 1918.

Within a comparatively short time, then, we oughtto see many companies organized in this country foraerial transnavigation of the globe by helium airship!Before the year 1919 has come to a close we ought tosee aeroplanes and dirigibles jumping the Atlanticfrom shore to shore. Who knows, it may even cometo pass that man shall become as much a creature ofthe air as the birds! As a world of exploration andtravel the heavens offer him many adventures. Itpresents to him the shortest distance and the line ofleast resistance between any two given points on thisplanet. By the aircraft he has already designed hehas penetrated to a height of 38,000 feet and flown athousand miles in a straight line without stopping.

Is there any reason to doubt that in a very shorttime man will extend the capacity of these airships orthe distance they can travel? The monetary andlaudatory incentives are there. For affording to hisfellow man and his chattels faster transportation,man’s reward has been great and commensurate withhis success. In order to win that remuneration hehas enslaved and domesticated the beasts of thefields; he has harnessed the river and the streams; hehas sought out the secrets of nature and devised waysand means to make her hidden forces transport himup and down the highways and byways of the globe;for that reward he has invented machines and enginesto rush him over the land and across the seven seas at[231]an ever-increasing rate. When mountains have raisedtheir ponderous bulk between him and his objectivehe has climbed over them or tunnelled under them orcut them down; when rivers, lakes, or oceans haveintervened he has spanned them by bridges or boats;when isthmus or even continents have injected theirlengths between him and his markets he has cut themasunder that his ships might pass through.

In short, transportation is the life-blood of commerce,and by it and through it the perishable fruits of India,Africa, and America are carried from the tropics to theremotest corners of the frigid zone; likewise the foodsor minerals or other materials confined by nature tothe temperate zone are taken to the balmy tropics.In fact, every instrument and every force in nature isenslaved so that man may enjoy all the blessings of theearth at one time and in one place. Taken all in all,the speed of transportation has increased man’s pleasuresand years proportionately.

But how many people to-day realize that whenaerial transportation of passengers and freight hasbecome an actual accomplished fact in the sense thatwater and land transportation of man and his goodsnow is, a complete redistribution and reconcentrationof the cities, people, and nations and a new internationalismin the form of customs and language willhave become a historic fact! This statement mayseem like an absurd phantasy, but if history repeatsitself in the future as it has in the past this will takeplace as surely as the sun rises.

Ever since man transported his goods from one[232]place to another he has followed the lines of least resistanceand the greatest speed. For that reason riverswere his first natural highway. At the stopping-placesalong these routes and waterways he built for himselfvillages, towns, and cities. The biggest of these, however,have always been located at some favorable terminusor harbor. Nineveh, Babylon, Carthage, andTyre were ancient cities that grew and flourishedbecause they were either the termini or the harbors ofadvantageous trade routes or excellent stopping-placeson great waterways. With the change in the rivers ofcommerce those cities decayed and passed away.

The rise of such cities as Venice and Genoa in theMiddle Ages, when they afforded the best ports forthe sailing-vessels that connected the caravan routeswhich came across Asia from the East for their distributionof goods to Europe and the West, was dueto the same cause. With the changing of those routesthose cities lost their importance and prestige andbecame what they are to-day.

At the present time most of the largest cities of theworld are located near inviting harbors or in river-mouthswhere the great ships of commerce come andgo and find refuge. London, Liverpool, New York,Hamburg, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Calcutta,Bombay, Havana, Buenos Aires—to mention only avery few—depend primarily upon their strategicgeographic position for their business and their verylife.

If in time, then, the nearest points of land between[233]continents and countries become the great landing-placesfor the new passenger and freight ships of theair, it is quite conceivable that the great centres ofpopulation and commerce may grow up themselvesround those havens.

Moreover, if, as the British Civil Aerial TransportCommittee and most of the world’s aeronautical authoritiesare convinced, Cape Town, South Africa—to takebut one example—is only three days’ flight by aircraftfrom Southampton, England, and if all the remotestcapitals of the East are only hours or days instead ofweeks away from those of the West, there will be suchrapid and constant intercommunication that customspractices will become obsolete and one internationallanguage may have to be adopted for trade and convenience.Indeed, the only impediment originally putin the way of the Handley Page Company’s London-to-Parisair-line was the violation of customs practices,which is delaying the aeroplanes from making the roundtrip between breakfast and dinner.

Furthermore, with the coming of such rapid inter-communicationit is conceivable that foggy and dampcountries like the British Isles may be abandoned—saveby the workers of minerals—as living and manufacturingplaces for more beautiful and delightful climates,such as France or Spain. Indeed, the pleasantlylocated gardens and plateaus of the world—likethe one in Mexico, for instance—may be the favoritedwelling-places of the peoples of the world when allthe fruits and foods and goods of the earth can be[234]aerially transported to such places in a matter ofhours.

Needless to say that when each country possessesa fleet of commercial aircraft numbered by tens ofthousands, inherently convertible into bombers largeenough to annihilate whole cities entirely—as Frenchaeronautic military authorities have already statedthey feared Germany would be able to do with tenthousand aeroplanes and Zeppelins in the next tenyears unless she was limited in her construction programme—whenmany countries can be flown over in amatter of hours without anything to prevent them,then undoubtedly a league of nations will have beenorganized for self-preservation and war abolished astoo horrible to contemplate. Thus by levelling boundariesand borders of nations and countries the aircraftpromises to perform the greatest blessing of mankindby abolishing war, destroying nationalism, andestablishing internationalism and the brotherhood ofman throughout the world.

THE REGULATION OF AIR TRAFFIC

IMPORTANCE OF SAME—LAWS FORMED BY BRITISH AERIALTRANSPORT COMMISSION LIKELY TO BE BASES OFINTERNATIONAL AERIAL LAWS—COPY OF SAME

With aircraft flying over cities, towns, countries,continents, and the oceans, carrying passengers, it isbecoming absolutely essential that a code of laws foraerial navigation should be adopted by the UnitedStates, and an international code should also be adoptedby the nations of the earth.

In the United States laws should be adopted to regulatethe inspection of aircraft which carry passengers,just as sea and river navigation is now regulated, inorder to protect the lives of the passengers, and alsoto protect the lives of the people living in the citieswhere these machines are apt to descend, on accountof damages that could be collected, etc., in case amachine fell upon and destroyed private property.Unless this is done, with the tremendous increase ofthe number of aircraft in the United States, there isapt to be a considerable number of lives lost unnecessarily,and a great deal of damage done to privateproperty, for which no compensation can be awarded.

In the matter of international regulation of aircraftit is a great deal more important because of the ease[236]with which commodities could be smuggled in fromone country to another, even though mountains orrivers intervene at the borders. Flying at one hundredmiles per hour, carrying two or three tons, smugglingcould be carried on very extensively between differentcountries of the world.

The aerial police and aerial navigation laws couldrestrain and stop such unlawful flying, but an internationalcode is necessary to determine their rights.

It is more important, however, to determine andprescribe the places at which foreign aircraft couldcross the border or land for customs inspection. Inthese regulations should also be incorporated a codeof international law. The conditions under which thefleet should pass from one country to another shouldbe prescribed. Unless this was done it would be possiblefor any country in Europe, operating a fleet of10,000 or more commercial aircraft, to convert theminto bombers, each carrying tons of inextinguishableincendiary bombs, which could destroy a city likeParis, Brussels, or London within a few hours. Amenace of this last possibility is so great that the leadingaeronautical authorities in Paris and London haveasked for a specified written code of aerial navigationlaws, to be adopted by the League of Nations. Inconformity to that object of controlling all kinds ofaircraft, the British Aerial Transport Committee havedrawn up a draft of a bill for the regulation of aerialnavigation. The principles laid down in this bill areso universal in their application that they could be[237]very well adopted by the United States and othernations of the earth.

Prior to the war, as early as 1905, and forever afterward,the International Aeronautical Federation wasorganizing laws regulating aerial navigation, and makingit the chief topic of discussion.

In 1910 the International Convention held in Parisdrew up aerial acts restricting navigation over forbiddenzones. There was not at that time sufficientaircraft navigating to make these regulations as importantas they are at the present time.

Some of our own States passed some absurd laws torestrict aerial navigation to their own States. Thesewere absurd because of the fact that no limits should beplaced on the interstate flying to aircraft because mostStates in the Union could be flown over in a matter ofhours. Federal laws only are sufficient to deal with thissituation. The Department of Commerce, which hascharge of both registration and inspection, is the logicaldepartment to have charge of the regulation of aircraft.

In 1914 the Department of Commerce took chargeof regulating aircraft, and Dean R. Van Kirk, Washington,D. C., was fined $550 for disobeying its rules.These regulations should aim to do what the MotorBoat Act does in the case of vessels of not more thansixty-five feet in length. Since the preponderance ofaircraft shall be commercial, it is absurd to delegatethis power to the Division of Aeronautics.

Herewith follows the draft of the bill regulating[238]aerial navigation submitted to the British House ofParliament and later submitted to the Peace Conferencefor adoption by that body in Paris.

DRAFT OF A BILL

FOR THE REGULATIONS OF AERIAL NAVIGATION

THE TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT

THE NC’S—THE LOSS OF THE C-5—READ’S STORY—BELLINGER’SSTORY—THE GREAT NAVAL FLIGHT—HAWKER’SSTORY—ALco*ck’S STORY—THE R-34

Ever since the Wright brothers demonstrated thata heavier-than-air machine could rise from the groundwith its own power and carry a man aloft through theair, aeronautical engineers have been ambitious tobuild an aircraft that would fly across the AtlanticOcean from the Old World to the New, or from the NewWorld to the Old. Exactly one hundred years to thevery month after the first steam-driven vessel crossedthe Atlantic, from Savannah, Georgia, to England,NC-4, U. S. naval flying-boat, flew from Rockaway,Long Island, via Halifax, Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland,Azores, Lisbon, Portugal, Ferrol, Spain, to Plymouth,England; and on June 13 the “Vimy”-Bomber,built by the Vickers, Limited, England, made a non-stopflight from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Clifden,Galway, Ireland; and on July 2 the R-34, the Britishrigid dirigible, flew from East Fortune, near Edinburgh,Scotland, via Newfoundland to Mineola, Long Island,in 108 hours and 12 minutes; and it made the returntrip to Pulham, Norfolk, England, in 75 hours and 3minutes. The NC-4 flew from Trepassey Bay to Plymouth[252]in 59 hours and 56 minutes, and the VickersBomber made its flight in 16 hours and 12 minutes.The distance of the first flight from Trepassey Bay toPlymouth was about 2,700 miles; the distance of theone taken by the Vickers was 1,950 miles. The distancecovered by the R-34 was 3,200 miles each way.

On May 16, 1919, three U. S. naval seaplanes, theNC-1, NC-3, and NC-4, set out to fly from TrepasseyBay, Newfoundland, to the Azores. The NC-4 alightedat Horta the next day. The NC-1, under command ofLieutenant-Commander Bellinger, did not quite completethe flight owing to fog, and after the crew wasrescued by a destroyer, had to be towed into Horta,where it sank. The NC-3, with Commander Towers,was lost for 48 hours in the fog, but finally taxied toPonta Delgada on its own power. Owing to thedamaged condition of the boat, it could proceed nofarther. On May 16 Commander Read flew the NC-4to Ponta Delgada; on May 27 from there to Lisbon;on May 30 to Ferrol, Spain; and on May 31, to Plymouth,England, thus completing the transatlantic flightin 46 flying hours.

On May 18 Harry Hawker and Mackenzie Grieveflew from St. John’s in a single-motored Sopwith, andafter 15 hours in the air had to alight on the ocean,1,000 miles east of where they started and 900 milesfrom their goal.

On June 14 Captain John Alco*ck and LieutenantArthur W. Brown, in a bimotored Vickers aeroplane,flew from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Galway, Ireland,[253]without stopping, through fog and sleet and rain,in 16 hours and 12 minutes.

Previous Attempts to Fly Across the Atlantic

The first actual attempt to fly across the NorthAtlantic from America to England was made by WalterWellman, in 1910, when he set sail in the rigid dirigibleAmerica from Atlantic City. The engines werenot strong enough to force the huge gas-bag againstthe breeze, and it was blown out of its course and camedown in the sea, 1,000 miles off Cape Hatteras, wherethe balloon was abandoned and the crew was picked up.

During a test flight of a second dirigible called theAkron, on July 2, 1912, Mr. Melvin Vaniman and fourof his crew were killed by an explosion of the hydrogengas with which the gas-bag was inflated.

In 1894 Glenn L. Curtiss, through the generosity ofMr. Rodman Wanamaker, constructed a flying-boat,in which Captain Porte was to fly across the Atlantic.The seaplane was completed and tests were being madewhen the war broke out, and the enterprise had to beabandoned. Nevertheless, the seaplane did go toEngland, but in the hull of another boat. There itperformed excellent service for the British Governmenthunting Hun submarines.

As soon as the armistice was signed, France, England,and the United States began to lay plans to usesome of the airships designed for war for the purposeof flying across the Atlantic. Captain Coli, who flewfrom France across the Mediterranean, started from[254]Paris to fly to Dakar on the extreme point of CapeVerde, and from there across the South Atlantic toPernambuco, Brazil. Owing to engine trouble, hedid not reach Dakar.

The NC’s

The giant navy flying-boats built for the transatlanticflight were not only of extraordinary sizebut of unusual construction, and represent a whollyoriginal American development. The design was conceivedin the fall of 1917 by Rear-Admiral D. W.Taylor, Chief Constructor of the Navy, who had inmind the development of a seaplane of the maximumsize, radius of action, and weight-carrying ability, foruse in putting down the submarine menace. Had theGerman submarines gained the upper hand in 1918,the war would still be going on, and these great flying-boatswould be produced in quantity and flown acrossthe Atlantic to the centres of submarine activity.

The first of the type was completed and given hertrials in October, 1918, and since that time three morehave been completed.

The flying-boats were designated NC, the N fornavy, and C for Curtiss, indicating the joint productionof the navy and the Curtiss Engineering Corporation.Being designed for war service, the boatsare not at all freak machines put together to performthe single feat of a record-breaking flight, but are roomyand comfortable craft, designed and built in accordancewith standard navy practice. The NC-1 has[255]been in service seven months, and received roughhandling when new pilots for the other NC boats weretrained on her, but is still in good condition.

The term flying-boat is used for the NC type becauseit is actually a stout seaworthy boat, that ploughsthrough rough water up to a speed of 60 miles perhour, and then takes to the air and flies at a speed ofover 90 miles per hour.

The hull or boat proper is 45 feet long by 10 feetbeam. The bottom is a double plank Vee, with asingle step somewhat similar in form to the standardnavy pontoon for smaller seaplanes. Five bulkheadsdivide the hull into six water-tight compartments withwater-tight doors in a wing passage for access. Theforward compartment has a co*ckpit for the lookoutand navigator. In the next compartment are seatedside by side the principal pilot or aviator and hisassistant. Next comes a compartment for the membersof the crew off watch to rest or sleep. After thisthere are two compartments containing the gasoline-tanks(where a mechanician is in attendance) andfinally a space for the radio man and his apparatus.The minimum crew consists of five men, but normallya relief crew could be carried in addition. To guaranteewater-tightness and yet keep the planking thin,there is a layer of muslin set in marine glue betweenthe two plies of planking.

The wings have a total area of 2,380 square feet.The ribs of the wing are 12 feet long, but only weigh26 ounces each.

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The tail in this craft is unique and resembles noother flying machine or animal. The tail surface ismade up as a biplane, which is of the general appearanceand size of the usual aeroplane. Indeed, this tailof over 500 square feet area is twice as large as thesingle-seater fighting-aeroplanes used by the army.

Engines

The four Liberty engines which drive the boat aremounted between the wings. At 400 brake horse-powerper engine, the maximum power is 1,600horse-power, or with the full load of 28,000 pounds,17.5 pounds carried per horse-power. One engine ismounted with a tractor propeller on each side of thecentre line, and on the centre line the two remainingengines are mounted in tandem, or one behind theother. The front engine has a tractor propeller, andthe rear engine a pusher propeller. This arrangementof engines is novel, and has the advantage of concentratingweights near the centre of the boat so that itcan be manœuvred more easily in the air.

Controls

The steering and control in the air are arranged inprinciple exactly as in a small aeroplane, but it was notan easy problem to arrange that this 14-ton boat couldbe handled by one man of only normal strength. Toinsure easy operation, each control surface was carefullybalanced in accordance with experiments madein a wind-tunnel on a model of it. The operating[257]cables were run through ball-bearing pulleys, and allavoidable friction eliminated. Finally, the entirecraft was so balanced that the centre of gravity of allweights came at the resultant centre of lift of all liftingsurfaces, and the tail surfaces so adjusted thatthe machine would be inherently stable in flight. Asa result, the boat will fly herself and will continue onher course without the constant attention of the pilot.However, if he wishes to change course, a slight pressureof his controls is enough to swing the boatpromptly. There is provision, however, for an assistantto the pilot to relieve him in rough air if hebecomes fatigued, or wishes to leave his post to moveabout the boat.

In the design of the metal fittings to reduce theamount of metal needed a special alloy steel of 150,000pounds per square inch tensile strength was used.To increase bearing areas, bolts and pins are made oflarge diameter but hollow.

A feature that is new in this boat is the use of weldedaluminum tanks for gasoline. There are nine 200-gallontanks made of sheet aluminum with weldedseams. Each tank weighs but 70 pounds, or .35pounds per gallon of contents, about one-half the weightof the usual sheet-steel or copper tank.

Loaded, the machine weighs 28,000 pounds, andwhen empty, but including radiator, water, and fixedinstruments and equipment, 15,874 pounds. Theuseful load available for crew, supplies, and fuel is,therefore, 12,126 pounds. This useful load may be[258]put into fuel, freight, etc., in any proportion desired.For an endurance flight there would be a crew of5 men (850 pounds), radio and radiotelephone (220pounds), food and water, signal-lights, spare parts,and miscellaneous equipment (524 pounds), oil (750pounds), gasoline, 9,650 pounds. This should sufficefor a flight of 1,400 sea miles. The radio outfit is ofsufficient power to communicate with ships 200 milesaway. The radiotelephone would be used to talkto other planes in the formation or within 25 miles.

The principal dimensions and characteristics of theNC type may be summarized as follows:

First Aerial Stowaway

In connection with the trials of NC-1, the first ofthe type completed, two significant happenings arerecorded.

The first concerns the first aerial stowaway. AtRockaway Naval Air-Station arrangements were madeto take 50 men for a flight to establish a world’s record;[259]the 50 men were assembled, weighed, and carefullypacked in the boat. The flight was successfullymade, and upon return to the beach the officer-in-chargecounted the men again as they came ashore. He wasastonished to find there were 51. An investigationwas made at once, which revealed the fact that amechanic who had been working on the boat beforethe flight had hidden in the hull for over an hourbefore the actual departure in order to go on the flight.This man is, no doubt, the world’s first aerial stowaway.

Record of the Flight

The NC-1, 3, and 4 left Rockaway at 10 A. M. onMay 8 for Halifax. The NC-4, owing to enginetrouble, had to land at sea near Chatham, Mass.;the other two continued on their way, and reachedHalifax at 7.55 P. M. (6.55 New York time) on May 8;after waiting until the morning of May 10, the NC-1and 3 left Halifax at 8.44 A. M. After travelling 38miles, the NC-3 was forced to return to Halifax due tothe cracking of a propeller. The NC-1 arrived atTrepassey Bay on May 10 at 3.41 P. M. The NC-3arrived at 7.31 P. M.

After being refitted with a new engine the NC-4 leftChatham at 9.25 A. M., Wednesday, May 14, and arrivedat Halifax at 2.05 P. M. It left there on Thursday,May 15, at 9.52 A. M., and arrived at Trepassey Bay at6.37 P. M. (New York time 5.37 P. M.).

On the morning of Friday, May 16, the three flying-boatsleft Trepassey Bay at 6.05 P. M. It was a clear[260]moonlight night, and as 21 United States destroyerswere stationed along the route from North latitude46-17 to 39-40, the airships were in communicationwith the fleet all the way over.

Because of a thick fog which obtained near theAzores the NC-4 landed at Horta of the eastern groupat 9.20 A. M., just 13 hours and 18 minutes after starting.The NC-1 landed at sea and sank, and the NC-3,which flew out of its course, landed at Ponta Delgada.

Time of NC-4’s Flight to Lisbon

The NC-4 in its flight from Trepassey to Lisboncovered a distance of 2,150 nautical miles in 26.47hours’ actual flying time, or at an average speed of80.3 nautical miles. The three seaplanes left Trepasseyat sunset on May 16, and the NC-4 reachedLisbon soon after noon on May 27, the eleventh dayafter its “hop” from Newfoundland. Its record indetail is as follows:

The total flying time from Rockaway, N. Y., toLisbon, Spain, was 42.43.

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The fastest previous passage of the Atlantic wasmade by the giant Cunard liner Mauretania, whichmade the trip from Liverpool to New York in fourdays, 14 hours, and 27 minutes.

Here is the log of the last leg of the transatlanticflight, completed with the arrival of the NC-4 atPlymouth, based on wireless and cabled despatchesreceived at the Navy Department.

1.21 A. M., from Plymouth: “NC-4 left Lisbon 6.23(New York 2.23 A. M.), May 30, and landed MondegoRiver, getting underway and proceeding to Ferrol,where landed at 16.46 (12.46 New York time). Destroyersstanding by NC-4; will proceed to Plymouthto-morrow if weather permits.”

6.50 A. M.—From Admiral Knapp at London: “Fromthe Harding: ‘U. S. S. Gridley to U. S. S. Rochester,NC-4 expects to leave Ferrol for Plymouth at 6 A. M.to-morrow morning, signed Read.’”

7.22 A. M.—From Admiral Knapp at London: “NC-4left Ferrol at 06.27 (2.27 A. M. New York time).”

8.11 A. M.—From Admiral Knapp at London: “Followingreceived from U. S. S. George Washington:‘From U. S. S. Stockton, NC-4 passed station two at07.43 (3.43 A. M. New York time).’”

9.24 A. M.—From Admiral Knapp at London: “NC-4passed station four at 09.06 (5.06 New York time).”

9.50 A. M.—From Admiral Knapp: “NC-4 arrivedat Plymouth at 14.26.31, English civil time (9.26 A. M.New York time).”

11.56 A. M.—From Admiral Knapp: “NC-4 passedMengam at 12.13 local time.”

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3.17 P. M.—From Admiral Plunkett, commander ofdestroyer force at Plymouth: “NC-4 arrived atPlymouth 13.24 (9.24 A. M. New York time) in perfectcondition. Joint mission of seaplane division anddestroyer force accomplished. Regret loss of NC-1and damage to NC-3; nevertheless, information ofutmost value gained thereby. Has department anyfurther instructions?”

The members of the crews were:

NC-1—Commanding officer, Lieutenant-CommanderP. N. L. Bellinger; pilots, Lieutenant-Commander M.A. Mitscher and Lieutenant L. T. Barin; radio operator,Lieutenant Harry Sadenwater; engineer, ChiefMachinist’s Mate C. I. Kesler.

NC-3—Commanding officer, Commander John H.Towers; pilots, Commander H. C. Richardson andLieutenant David H. McCullough; radio operator,Lieutenant-Commander R. A. Lavender; engineer,Machinist L. R. Moore.

NC-4—Commanding officer, Lieutenant-CommanderA. C. Read; pilots, Lieutenants E. F. Stone and WalterHinton; radio operator, Ensign H. C. Rodd; engineer,Chief Machinist’s Mate E. S. Rhodes.

The Loss of C-5 Naval Blimp

The C-5 naval dirigible, called “Blimp,” was 192feet long, 43 feet wide, 46 feet high, and contained180,000 cubic feet of hydrogen. It was driven by two150 horse-power union aero engines.

It left Montauk Point early Wednesday morning,[263]May 14, and was in the air continuously for 25 hoursand 45 minutes.

It arrived at Halifax at 9.50 A. M., Thursday morning,New York time.

On Thursday afternoon the C-5 burst from hermoorings in a gale and was swept to sea. LieutenantLittle was hurt in an attempt to pull the rip cord ofthe dirigible in order to deflate her. The cord broke,and he received a sprain when he jumped from theC-5 as she began to rise.

The C-5 arrived at the Pleasantville base, near St.John’s, after being in the air continuously for 25hours and 40 minutes. A perfect landing was madewithin the narrow confines of the old cricket-field,which was chosen as the anchorage for the airship.Lieutenant J. V. Lawrence was at the wheel at the completionof the voyage, and the manner in which hehandled the ship while the landing was being performedevoked a cheer of admiration from the crowd whichhad gathered.

As soon as she had been secured at her anchorage,a big force, under Lieutenant Little, was set to workpreparing the ship for the transatlantic flight. Itwas not long before the treacherous wind began toplay upon the dirigible, and early in the afternoonshe was torn from her anchorage, but was recapturedand secured again.

Immediately after arrival, Lieutenant-CommanderCoil and his crew got out of the car and prepared totake twelve hours’ sleep before continuing their flight[264]across the Atlantic. Before turning in, however, hetold the story of the trip to Newfoundland.

In it he gave all the credit to Lieutenant Campbelland Lieutenant J. V. Lawrence, both of whom, hesaid, were weary “and almost seasick,” but stuck totheir posts. He also described the period of severalhours during which the airship was “lost” over Newfoundland.

“We made a ‘landfall’ at St. Pierre,” he said, “butfound ourselves on the west instead of the east shoreof Placentia Bay. From this point we attempted tofollow the Chicago’s radio directions, but they did notwork. For the moment we were lost.

“We started ‘cross lots’ and saw about all of Newfoundland,and I must say that this is the doggonedestisland to find anything on I ever struck. Eventuallywe hit the railroad track and followed it to Topsails,which we identified, and then continued on to St.John’s. There was considerable fog, but it did nottrouble us.

“Throughout the time we were trying to find ourselveswe had difficulty with our wireless set, and partof the time it was out of commission.

“Our troubles started just after midnight, when thesky became overcast. Before then we had been flyingunder a full moon at an altitude of 1,000 feet. Welost our bearings while approaching Little MiquelonIsland, off the south coast of Newfoundland, about170 miles from St. John’s.”

Commander Coil praised the work of the landing[265]crew which moored the dirigible. Rear-Admiral SpencerS. Wood, commander of the aviation base, greetedthe C-5’s commander.

The C-5 is 192 feet long, 43 feet wide, and 45 feethigh; it has a capacity of 180,000 cubic feet. Cruisingspeed, 42 M.P.H.; climb, 1,000 feet per minute.

The car is of stream-line form, 40 feet long, 5 feet inmaximum diameter, with steel tube outriggers carryingan engine at either side. Over-all width of riggers,15 feet. Complete weight of car, 4,000 pounds.

Seven passengers may be carried, but the usualcrew consists of four. At the front the coxswain isplaced; his duty is to steer the machine from right toleft. In the next compartment is the pilot, who operatesthe valves and controls the vertical movement ofthe ship, and aft of the pilot are the mechanicians controllingthe engines. At the rear co*ckpit is the wirelessoperator.

Lieutenant-Commander Read’s Story ofTransatlantic Flight

(Reprinted from “New York World”)

Horta, the Azores, May 18.—“The NC-3 left thewater at Trepassey Bay at 10.03, Greenwich civiltime, on the afternoon of May 16; the NC-4 at 10.05,and the NC-1 some time later. The Three and Fourtogether left Mistaken Point on the course for theAzores at 10.16, and ten minutes later sighted the One,several miles to the rear, and flying higher.

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“We were flying over icebergs, with the wind asternand the sea smooth. Our average altitude was 800feet. The NC-4 drew ahead at 10.50, but when overthe first destroyer made a circle to allow the NC-3 tocatch up. We then flew on together until 11.55, whenwe lost sight of the NC-3, her running lights being toodim to be discerned.

“From then on we proceeded as if alone. Our enginewas hitting finely, and the oil pressure and water temperaturewas right. It was very dark, but the starswere showing. At 12.19 on the morning of the 17ththe May moon started to appear, and the welcome sightmade us all feel more comfortable.

“As it grew lighter the air became bumpy, and weclimbed to 1,800 feet, but the air remained bumpymost of the night.

“Each destroyer was sighted in turn, first being locatedby star-shells, which, in some cases, we saw fortymiles away; then by the search-lights, and finally bythe ships’ light. All were brilliantly illuminated.Some were apparently in the exact position designated.Others were some miles off the line, necessitatingfrequent changes of our course so that wemight pass near.

“At 12.41, when we were passing No. 4 destroyer, wesaw the lights of another plane to port. We kept thelights in sight for ten minutes. After that we saw noother plane for the remainder of our trip.

“So far, our average speed had been 90 knots, indicatingthat we had a 12-knot favorable wind. At[267]1.24 the wind became less favorable and we came downto 1,000 feet.

“At 5.45 we saw the first of the dawn. As it grewlighter all our worries appeared to have passed. Thepower-plant and everything else was running perfectly.The radio was working marvellously well. Messageswere received from over 1,300 miles, and our radioofficer sent a message to his mother in the States viaCape Race.

“Cape Race, then 730 miles away, reported that theNC-3’s radio was working poorly. The NC-3 wasahead of the NC-1, and astern of us, we learned byintercepted messages. Each destroyer reported ourpassing by radio.

“Sandwiches and coffee from the thermos bottles andchocolate candy tasted fine. No emergency rationswere used. They require too great an emergency tobe appreciated. I made several inspection trips aftand held discussions with the radio man and the engineer.Everything was all right.

“At 6.55 we passed over a merchant ship, and at 8o’clock we saw our first indications of possible trouble,running through light lumps of fog. It cleared at8.12, but at 9.27 we ran into more fog for a few minutes.At 9.45 the fog became thicker and then dense. Thesun disappeared and we lost all sense of direction.The compass spinning indicated a steep bank, and Ihad visions of a possible nose dive.

“Then the sun appeared and the blue sky once more,and we regained an even keel and put the plane on a[268]course above the fog, flying between the fog and anupper layer of clouds. We caught occasional glimpsesof the water, so we climbed to 3,200 feet, occasionallychanging the course and the altitude to dodge theclouds and fog.

“We sent out a radio at 10.38 and at 10.55 to thenearest destroyer, thinking the fog might have lifted.We received replies to both messages that there wasthick fog near the water. At 11.10 we ran into lightrain for a few minutes.

“At 11.13 we sent a radio to the destroyer and couldhear Corvo reply that the visibility was ten miles.Encouraged by this promise of better conditionsfarther on, we kept going. Suddenly, at 11.27, wesaw through a rift what appeared to be a tide-rip onthe water. Two minutes later we saw the outline ofrocks.

“The tide-rip was a line of surf along the southernend of Flores Island. It was the most welcome sightwe had ever seen.

“We were 45 miles off our calculated position, indicatingthat the speed of the plane from the last destroyersighted had been 85 knots. The wind wasblowing us east and south.

“We glided near to the shore and rounded the point.Finding that the fog stopped 200 feet above the water,we shaped our course for the next destroyer, flying low,with a strong wind behind us. We sighted No. 22in its proper place at 12 o’clock. This was the firstdestroyer we had seen since we passed No. 16.

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“The visibility then was about 12 miles. We hadplenty of gasoline and oil, and decided to keep on toPonta Delgada. Then it got thick and we missed thenext destroyer, No. 23. The fog closed down.

“We decided to keep to our course until 1.18, and thenmade a 90-degree turn to the right to pick up Fayalor Pico. Before this time, at 1.04, we sighted thenorthern end of Fayal, and once more felt safe.

“We headed for the shore, the air clearing when weneared the beach. We rounded the island and landedin a bight we had mistaken for Horta.

“At 1.17 we left the water and rounded the next point.Then we sighted the Columbia through the fog andlanded near her at 1.23.

“Our elapsed time was 15 hours and 18 minutes. Ouraverage speed 81.7 knots. All personnel is in the bestof condition. The plane requires slight repairs.

“The NC-1 is being towed to port here. Its personnelis on board the Columbia, all in fine shape.

“The Three has not yet been located, but will be.We will proceed to Ponta Delgada when the weatherpermits.”

Ponta Delgada, May 20.—“Exceptionally badweather, which was totally unexpected, was the solereason for the failure of all three of the Americannavy’s seaplanes to fly from Trepassey, Newfoundland,to Ponta Delgada on schedule time,” said CommanderJohn H. Towers to the correspondent of the AssociatedPress to-night.

“Individually, the members of the crew of the NC-3[270]virtually gave up hope of being rescued Saturdaynight, but collectively they showed no signs of fear,and ‘carried on’ until they arrived in port here Mondayand heard the forts firing salvoes in welcome, and witnessedthe scenes of general jubilation over their escapefrom the sea.

“Having run short of fuel and encountered a heavyfog, the NC-3 came down at 1 o’clock Saturday afternoonin order that we might obtain our bearings. Theplane was damaged as it reached the water, and wasunable to again rise. While we were drifting the 205miles in the heavy storm the high seas washed over orpounded the plane, and the boat began to leak. Sofast did the water enter the boat that the membersof the crew took turns in bailing the hull with a smallhand-pump, while others stood on the wings in orderto keep the plane in balance. Meanwhile we weresteering landward.

“That our radio was out of commission was notknown to the crew until our arrival here. Communicationhad been cut off since 9 o’clock Monday owing toour having lost our ground-wire.

“We ate chocolate and drank water from our radiator.This was our only means of subsistence. Thecrew smoked heavily in order to keep awake while wewere drifting. No one of us obtained more than fourhours’ sleep after leaving Trepassey until Ponta Delgadawas reached.

“The hands of all the members of the crew of theNC-3 were badly swollen as a result of their heroicwork at the pump; otherwise they did not undergo[271]much suffering. The men have now fully recoveredfrom their trying experience.

“The NC-3 encountered heavy clouds at 1 o’clockSaturday morning. The light instruments on boardfailed, and we sailed the plane above the clouds inorder to get the benefit of a moonlight reading of theinstruments.

“We kept in sight of the NC-4 until nearly daylightSaturday, and with the NC-1 until shortly after daylight.All the planes were flying in formation, but theNC-1 and NC-4 were underneath the clouds part ofthe time because their light instruments were good.

“The NC-3 had no difficulty in being guided by star-shells,search-lights, and smoke from the station shipsuntil we reached Station 14, which was not seen.

“I assumed that we were off our course, but did notknow on which side, and began flying a parallel coursein what I thought was the direction of Corvo. Shortlyafter daylight we encountered a heavy fog, rain squalls,and high winds, all of which continued until the NC-3went down upon the water.

“Before alighting on the surface of the sea my calculationsshowed us to be in the vicinity of land, butwith only two hours’ fuel supply on hand and withthe weather clearing it was decided to land and ascertainour exact position.

“Our radio kept up sending messages, assumingthat the torpedo-boat destroyers were picking themup. We did not know the radio was useless and thatthe destroyers had not been receiving the messages.

“All the crew thought the sea would moderate, but[272]the plane was so badly damaged in the high billowsthat we were unable to rise again.

“We were 60 miles southwest of Pico when wealighted, the position being where we had figured wewere before coming down.

“The clearing of the weather proved only temporary,for later a storm came up and continued for 48 hours.With both lower wings wrecked, the pontoons lost,and the hull leaking, and the tail of the machine damaged,the plane was tossed about like a cork.

“In order to conserve the remaining 170 gallons offuel we decided to ‘sail’ landward, hoping to sight adestroyer on the way. But we did not pass a singleship until we reached Ponta Delgada. Off the portwe declined proffered aid by the destroyer Harding,which had been sent out to meet us, and ‘taxied’into port under our own power.

“During the two days’ vigil of seeking land or rescueships we fired all our distress signals, none of whichapparently were seen.

“Without informing the crew of the fear that I hadthat we would be lost, I packed our log in a water-proofcover, tied it to a life-belt, and was prepared tocast it adrift when the NC-3 sank.

“The nervous strain was terrible while we weredrifting, and the men smoked incessantly. This wasthe only thing that kept them awake.

“I believe a transatlantic flight is practicable withouta stop with planes a little larger than the NC type.The engines of all three of the planes worked perfectly,[273]and could have run 6,000 miles more if there hadbeen sufficient fuel on board.

“Wire trouble in the instrument board was themechanical defect experienced by the NC-3.”

Commander Bellinger’s Story

(From “New York World”)

Horta, Azores, May 22.—“At 22.10 Greenwich time(6.10 P. M. New York time) the NC-1 left the waterand took up her position in the formation astern ofthe NC-3 and NC-4, bound for the Azores, to land atHorta or Ponta Delgada, depending on the gasolineconsumption.

“The NC-1 got away with difficulty due to the heavyload she carried. Finally, after a long run on the surface,she reached planing speed and hopped off. TheThree and Four were far ahead. We could just makeout the number ‘4’ in the distance. When night camewe lost sight of the other plane entirely.

“No. 1 station ship we passed on the port hand. Itmade us feel good to see our solid friend below us, whilewe were passing over an array of icebergs which resembledgigantic tombstones. The course we followedtook us over one iceberg just at dusk. Ouraltitude then was 1,000 feet, which gave us room andto spare.

“The other station ships, placed 50 miles apart, wepassed in their regular order, some on one side andsome on the other. We found that star-shells fired[274]by the station ships at night were visible for a muchgreater distance than were the rays of the search-lights.On one occasion two ships were visible to us at the sametime.

“The night was well on before the moon rose, and wewondered whether the sky would prove to be clearor overcast. Luckily it was a partially clear moonthat rose bright and full, and though passing cloudssometimes obscured it, the sky could always be sufficientlydefined to be of inestimable aid to the pilotscontrolling the plane.

“We flew along at an altitude of 1,200 feet, and gotthe air drift during the night from the dropping flares,sighting on them with the drift indicator. The airwas slightly lumpy through the night. A station shipfull in the rays of the moon was almost passed withoutbeing seen by us. Then it focussed its search-lightupon us to attract our attention.

“Nobody on board the NC-1 slept during the entireflight. The time passed very quickly, and we foundthe work of watching for the station ships and checkingthe air drift very interesting. Hot coffee and sandwicheswere available for all hands throughout theflight.

“Finally, the glow of the dawn appeared in the eastand soon thereafter the sun arose. The motors werehitting beautifully, and we were making a good 70miles per hour. Everybody was feeling fine and confidentthat nothing could stop us making Ponta Delgada.

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Plane Runs into a Thick Fog

“But soon we began to encounter thick overcastpatches and the visibility became poor. As we wentthrough one thick stretch, station ship No. 16 loomeddead ahead of us. Some of the station ships radioedweather reports to us. We passed No. 17, on the porthand, at a distance of 12 miles at 10.04 (6.04 NewYork time), and shortly thereafter, while we wereflying at an altitude of 600 feet, we ran into a thick fog.

“The pilots climbed to get above the fog, for it wasvery dense and bedimmed their goggles and the glassover the instruments very quickly. It was almostimpossible to read the instruments. Pilots Barin andMitscher did excellent work and brought the plane toan altitude of 3,000 feet, well above the fog. For awhile there the sight was a beautiful one, but none ofus could appreciate it. We could not see the waterthrough the fog, and we could not determine how farwe were drifting.

“We dodged some fog, but soon encountered more.We continued on, side-slipping and turning in an effortto keep on our course, until 12.50 (8.50 A. M. NewYork time), when we decided to come down near thewater and get our bearings, intending then to fly underneaththe fog. We came down to an altitude of 75feet. The visibility there was about half a mile. Theair was bumpy and the wind shifted from 350 to 290magnetic.

“We changed our course to conform with the new[276]conditions, and sent out radio signals requesting compassbearings by wireless. We decided to land if thefog thickened. A few minutes thereafter we ran intoa low, thick fog. I turned the plane about and headedinto the wind, landing at 13.10 (9.10 A. M. New Yorktime), after flying a total of 15 hours.

“The water was very rough; much too rough to warrantan attempt to get away again. The outlook wasexceedingly gloomy. We realized that we could not goon, and must wait where we were to be picked up.The wind and the condition of the water preventedour taxiing over the sea to windward, and we soonfound that radio communication between the plane andthe ships was difficult and unsatisfactory.

“We put over a sea-anchor shortly after we alighted,but it was carried away almost immediately. Thenwe rigged a metal bucket as a sea-anchor, and that dida great deal of good. The wings and tail of the NC-1,however, got severe punishment from the rough sea,and the fabric on the outer and lower wings was slitto help preserve the structure. In an effort to reducethe punishment to the plane, too, I kept one of thecentre motors running, but nevertheless both thewings and the tail were badly damaged.

“It looked for some time as if the plane would capsize.All hands realized the danger we were in, butnone of them showed the slightest fear. At 17.40(1.40 P. M. New York time) we sighted a steamer, hulldown, and sent a radio message to her. Then wetaxied in her direction. The ship proved to be the[277]Ionia. She had no wireless. After a little she sightedus. Then the fog shut down again and the ship disappearedfrom view.

“Later, when the fog cleared, we saw that the shipwas heading for us. We got alongside at 19.20 (3.20P. M. New York time), and at 2.20 were on board theIonia. An effort was made to tow the plane, but theline parted. A destroyer came alongside at 00.35(8.35 P. M. New York time) and took charge of theNC-1. The Ionia landed us at Horta. The planewas left at latitude 29 degrees, 58 minutes, longitude30 degrees, 15 minutes.”

History of Navy’s Great Ocean Flight

November, 1917—Conference between navy andCurtiss engineers at Washington, D. C.

January, 1918—Working model tested in wind-tunnel.Found practical.

October, 1918—Trial flight of NC-1 at RockawayBeach, Long Island.

November, 1918—NC-1 makes long-distance tripfrom Rockaway to Anacostia, D. C., 358 miles, in 5hours 19 minutes.

February, 1919—-NC-2 climbs 2,000 feet in fiveminutes.

February 24, 1919—Secretary of Navy orders fourplanes to be prepared for transatlantic flight.

April 3, 1919—-NC-2 found to be impractical in designof hull, and is taken out of the flight. NC-3 andNC-4 assembled at Rockaway.

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May 7—NC-4 damaged by fire while in hangar.Wings replaced. Elevators repaired.

May 8—Three planes leave Rockaway for TrepasseyBay, Newfoundland.

May 8—NC-3 and NC-4 arrive at Halifax, N. S.(450 miles).

NC-4 forced down by motor trouble. Puts in atChatham Bay, Mass., for repairs after riding the wavesall night.

May 10—NC-1 and NC-3 proceed from Halifax toTrepassey in 6 hours 56 minutes (460 miles).

May 14—NC-4 flies from Chatham to Halifax in 4hours 10 minutes at 85 miles an hour.

May 16—Three planes leave Trepassey Bay forAzores, 1,250 miles.

NC-4 lands at Horta, Azores, in 15 hours 18 minutes.

NC-1 drops in ocean half hour from Flores. Crewrescued; seaplane a total wreck.

NC-3 lost in storm. Forced to descend 205 milesfrom destination.

May 19—NC-3 arrives at Ponta Delgada ridingwaves under own power. Wings and hull wrecked.Engine-struts broken. Out of race.

May 20—NC-4 flies from Horta to Ponta Delgada,Azores, 160 miles, in 1 hour 44 minutes.

May 27—NC-4 flies from Ponta Delgada to Lisbon,Portugal, 810 miles, in 9 hours 43 minutes. Flyingtime from Newfoundland to Portugal (2,150 miles),26 hours 45 minutes.

May 30—NC-4 flies from Lisbon to Ferrol, Spain,[279]300 miles, after a halt at Mondego, 100 miles northof Lisbon, owing to engine trouble.

May 31—NC-4 flies from Ferrol, Spain, to Plymouth,England, 400 miles, without a hitch, thus completingthe transatlantic flight as scheduled.

British Efforts to Fly the Atlantic

Captain Hawker, with his Sopwith, was the first toget to St. John’s on March 4. He was quickly followedby Captain Raynham and his Martinsyde.

Owing to the constant bad weather which has obtainedfor seven weeks, the British fliers had notdared to attempt the flight until Sunday, May 18,when Hawker and Raynham started. Everythingfrom snow to the 70-mile gale which blew on April 15has been experienced at St. John’s. The storm continuedthroughout that and the next morning. Themechanicians at the hangars of the two flying-campsspent the night watching and guarding the aeroplanes.The Martinsyde plane, which was housed in one of theportable canvas hangars used by the British army inthe war, was in danger of injury for a time, when thegale ripped up the pegs that anchored the canvas fliesof the hangar, and for a time threatened to snatch thewhole thing into the air. These storms have madethe grounds impossible for taking off, and as the fliershoped to take advantage of the full moon, which wasbeginning to gradually wane, the opportunities forflying by moonlight disappeared and a second moonwas on the wane before they started.

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On March 4 Captain Hawker landed at St. John’s,Newfoundland, with his Sopwith plane, and his fivemechanics began to assemble the machine, which followsthe general lines of construction adopted by theSopwith war-plane designers. It is 46 feet wide and 31feet long, with a flight duration of 25 hours at 100miles an hour. During a daylight-to-dusk durationtest Commander Grieve and Pilot Hawker coveredover 900 miles in 9 hours 5 minutes, exactly half thedistance between Newfoundland and Ireland. TheRolls-Royce engine develops 375 horse-power at 1,800revolutions of the crank-shaft. A four-bladed propelleris used geared down to 1,281 revolutions. TheSopwith machine weighs 6,000 pounds fully equippedfor the transatlantic flight. In the trial test the engineconsumed 146 gallons of petrol—slightly overone-third the capacity of the tanks, which are placedbehind the engine and in front of the co*ckpit in whichMajor Hawker and Commander Grieve sit.

At the end of the 900-mile tryout the engine developedexactly the same power as at the start, whichleads Major Hawker to believe the engine will continueto perform the same for the rest of the distance.

Major Hawker proposed leaving St. John’s, Newfoundland,about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and travellingthrough the night they hoped to pass the southcoast of Ireland shortly before noon the following day,English time, arriving at the Brooklands aerodrome,near London, at 4 o’clock, a total flying time of 19hours and 30 minutes.

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In case they were forced to descend into the sea,the “fairing” of the fuselage is so constructed that itforms a boat large enough to support the two men inthe water for some time. In addition they wear life-savingjackets. A medical officer in the British AirMinistry made up some scientific food sufficient forforty-eight hours. This includes sugar, cheese, coffee,sandwiches, and tabloids.

Major Harry Hawker

Major Harry Hawker is an Australian, just 31.He is the highest paid flier in the world. He was abicycle mechanic in Australia when he went to Englandin 1912 and became an aeroplane mechanic. In 1912he joined the T. O. M. Sopwith Company, and a yearlater he came to the United States and flew in “Tim”Woodruff’s Nassau Boulevard meet. Hawker returnedto England, and about a year later enteredthe famous “round England flight.”

On October 24, 1912, in a Sopwith biplane, designedafter the pattern of the American Wright, and drivenby a 40 horse-power A B C engine, he put up theBritish duration record to 8 hours and 23 minutes,thus winning the Michelin Cup for that year.

On May 31, 1913, in a Sopwith tractor biplane,with an 80 horse-power Gnome engine, he put up theBritish altitude record for a pilot alone to 11,450 feet,and on June 16 of the same year, in the same machine,he hung up a record, with one passenger, of 12,900feet.

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On the same day he took up two passengers to 10,600feet, and on July 27 took up three passengers to 8,400feet, all of which were British records.

In 1913 and 1914, in a Sopwith seaplane, Hawkermade two attempts to win the Daily Mail’s $25,000prize for a flight on a seaplane around Great Britain.The first time he was knocked out by illness at Yarmouth,and the second time he met with an accidentnear Dublin.

During the last three years Hawker has been testpilot for the Sopwiths, receiving $125 for each flight,and sometimes making a dozen in a single day. His annualearnings in this period are estimated at $100,000.

Commander Grieve

Commander Mackenzie Grieve is 39 years old. Hehas not been connected with aeronautics for any greatlength of time, but is an officer of the Royal navy, whohas specialized on navigation and wireless telegraphyand telephony. He has been strongly commended bythe Admiralty for his work in this direction, and hasbeen chosen as a navigator on the cross-sea trip becausehe has combined two branches of a naval officer’swork, which are not, as a rule, made the subjectof specialization by one man, but both of which areessential to such a feat as a transatlantic flight.

Test Flights of the Sopwith

On April 11 Major Harry Hawker made a successfultest flight at St. John’s.

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The wireless station there sent messages to theaviator which he was unable to pick up, but the stationat Mount Pearl kept in continual touch with themachine through all the flight. After his flight theflier said that his speed while in the air had been onan average of 100 miles an hour.

The Martinsyde Plane Arrives

On April 2 Captain Frederick Phillips Raynham,the pilot of the Martinsyde aeroplane, and CaptainCharles Willard Fairfax Morgan, navigator, arrivedat St. John’s and began to make preparations forsetting up their canvas hangar which was to housetheir aeroplane. The aerodrome selected was at theQuid Vivi. This site had been selected by MajorMorgan about three months ago, and the tent wasset up on that field as per the plans and specifications.

The biplane weighs, fully loaded, about 5,000pounds and carries 360 gallons of gas, while the Sopwithweighs about 6,100 pounds and carries only 350gallons. Raynham says he has a cruising radius of2,000 miles with a twenty-mile head wind against himall the way across. But as the prevailing winds arefrom west to east, he expects to fly with the windmost of the way. The machine was designed by G.H. Handasyde, who has had many years’ designingexperience in co-operation with H. P. Martin, chairmanof Martinsydes.

The reappearance in the transatlantic attempt of a[284]Martinsyde plane as a competitor for the Daily Mailprize recalls that the firm as early as 1914 entered fora transatlantic competition, having completed a monoplanewhich was to have started from St. John’s, thescene of the present venture. This machine was tohave been flown by Gustave Hamel, who, it will beremembered, while flying from London to Paris,came down at Calais, ascended again, and has neversince been heard of. He is believed to have beendrowned in the North Sea, for no trace of his machinewas ever found.

Captain Raynham

Captain Raynham is 25 years old. He began tofly at 17, being the possessor of half a dozen of theoldest flying licenses in England. Most of his experiencehas been in experimental and test flying.

Raynham went with Martinsydes in the early developmentdays of 1907, and was with them whenthey began monoplane production in 1908. This theycontinued until the war began, when they turned tobuilding biplanes, the present machine being only avery slight modification of their latest fighting scout.

The Martinsyde biplane was not especially designedfor the transatlantic flight, but was taken from stock.It still carries its original fighting equipment, similarto that used during the war. The machine is namedthe “Raymor,” a combination of the names Raynhamand Morgan.

The machine has a wing span of 41 feet and a lifting[285]area of 500 square feet; over-all length, 26 feet;height, from ground to top of propeller, 10 feet 10inches. The engine is a Rolls-Royce “Falcon,” whichis rated at 285 horse-power. It has a capacity ofdeveloping up to 300 horse-power at a speed of 100to 125 miles per hour. The cruising radius is 2,500miles.

The Martinsyde machine carries no life-saving apparatusof any kind. Tanks are provided for fuelcapacity of 375 gallons, sufficient for a flight of 25hours at 100 miles per hour. Raynham’s idea is tomake an ascent at an angle of 3 degrees until an altitudeof 1,500 feet is reached. This altitude would beattained in 24 hours, at which time land on the otherside would be within planing distance.

Captain Woods’s Attempted Flight to America

The aeroplane of the Shortt brothers, one of theentries for the $50,000 race across the Atlantic, was tostart from Ireland for Newfoundland. The machineis expected to make the journey in twenty hours, butowing to a defective carburetor the machine fell inthe Irish Sea while making the flight from England toIreland. Captain Woods was rescued, but no furthernews has been received of the preparations for theflight.

The Shortt brothers had chosen the Limerick sectionof Ireland for their starting-point. It is consideredlikely that the Shortt trial will be the onlyeast-to-west attempt, all of the other entries in the[286]Daily Mail’s contest having indicated their intentionof flying eastward because of the strong head windsfrom the west.

The machine entered by the Shortt brothers is theShortt “Shiel” aeroplane. It is fitted with a 375horse-power Rolls-Royce engine, developing a speedof ninety-five miles an hour. The machine carries apilot and a navigator. Of biplane type, the machine,its makers say, is capable of a 3,200 mile non-stop drive.

In their application to the British Air Ministry,the Shortts designated Major James C. P. Woods, ofthe Royal Flying Corps, as pilot, with Captain C. C.Wylie. In addition to his experience in the air, MajorWoods had considerable experience as a navigator ondestroyers guarding troop-ships through the Atlanticsubmarine zone. Major Woods, who has flown morethan 10,000 miles, gained fame as a bomber in France.

The latest contestant to arrive at St. John’s was theHandley Page Berlin Bomber which was landed onMay 10. The biplane is the only one to be comparedwith the United States navy flying-boats in size.The wing spread is 126 feet, the chord 12 feet. Thetotal weight of the machine is about 16,000 pounds.It carries 3 pilots, 3 mechanics, 2 wireless operators,and 2,000 gallons of gas. The wireless is long enoughto keep in touch with both shores all the way. Theroute is to Limerick, Ireland. The machine has fourRolls-Royce motors of 350 horse-power, and the aeroplaneis taken from stock. They expect to travel 90miles per hour.

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One of the pilots is Colonel T. Gran, the Norwegianwho first flew from Scotland to Norway in August,1914. He was a member of the British R. A. F. andalso with Captain Scott in the South Polar Expedition.

Major Brackley has had perhaps as much experiencein night flying as any living man, and AdmiralMark Kerr is one of the oldest pilots in England. Hewas the sixth to be granted a pilot’s license in England.

Hawker’s Story of Atlantic Flight

Thurso, Scotland, May 26.—Harry Hawker andMackenzie Grieve gave the London Daily Mail anoutline of their historic flight. Hawker told his storysimply as follows:

“We had very difficult ground to rise from on theother side. To get in the air at all we had to run diagonallyacross the course. Once we got away, weclimbed very well, but about ten minutes up we passedfrom firm, clear weather into fog.

“Off the Newfoundland banks we got well over thisfog, however, and, of course, at once lost sight of thesea. The sky was quite clear for the first four hours,when the visibility became very bad. Heavy cloud-bankswere encountered, and eventually we flew intoa heavy storm with rain squalls.

“At this time we were flying well above the cloudsat a height of about 15,000 feet.

“About five and one-half hours out, owing to thechoking of the filter, the temperature of the watercooling out the engines started to rise, but after coming[288]down several thousand feet we overcame thisdifficulty.

“Everything went well for a few hours, when onceagain the circulation system became choked and thetemperature of the water rose to the boiling-point.We of course realized until the pipe was cleared wecould not rise much higher without using a lot of motorpower.

“When we were about ten and one-half hours onour way the circulation system was still giving trouble,and we realized we could not go on using up our motorpower.

“Then it was we reached the fateful decision to playfor safety. We changed our course and began to flydiagonally across the main shipping route for about twoand a half hours, when, to our great relief, we sightedthe Danish steamer which proved to be the trampMary.

“We at once sent up our Very light distress signals.These were answered promptly, and then we flew onabout two miles and landed in the water ahead of thesteamer.

Impossible to Salve Machine

“The sea was exceedingly rough, and despite theutmost efforts of the Danish crew it was one and a halfhours before they succeeded in taking us off. It wasonly at a great risk to themselves, in fact, that theyeventually succeeded in launching a small boat, owingto the heavy gale from the northeast which was raging.

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“It was found impossible to salve the machine, which,however, is most probably still afloat somewhere inthe mid-Atlantic.

“Altogether, before being picked up, we had beenfourteen and a half hours out from Newfoundland.We were picked up at 8.30 (British summer time).

“From Captain Duhn of the Mary and his Danishcrew we received the greatest kindness on our journeyhome. The ship carried no wireless, and it was notuntil we arrived off the Butt of Lewis that we wereable to communicate with the authorities.

“Off Loch Eireball we were met by the destroyerWoolston and conveyed to Scapa Flow, where we hada splendid welcome home from Admiral Freemantleand the men of the Grand Fleet.”

Commander Mackenzie Grieve, the navigator of theSopwith, said:

“When but a few hundred miles out a strong northerlygale drove us steadily out of our course. It wasnot always possible, owing to the pressure of the densemasses of cloud, to take our bearings, and I calculatethat at the time we determined to cut across the shippingroute we were about 200 miles off our course.

“Up to this change of direction we had coveredabout 1,000 miles of our journey to the Irish coast.”

Vickers “Vimy” Bomber Makes First Non-StopFlight from America to Europe

Leaving St. John’s, Newfoundland, at 12.13 P. M.New York time on Saturday, June 14, the Vickers[290]“Vimy” bomber, bimotored Rolls-Royce aeroplane,with two four-bladed propellers, and piloted by CaptainJohn Alco*ck and navigated by Lieutenant ArthurW. Brown, landed at Clifden, Galway, Ireland, at4.40 A. M. New York time, aerially transnavigating1,960 miles of the Atlantic Ocean, from the New Worldto the Old, in 16 hours and 12 minutes, or at an averagerate of 120 miles an hour. Although the moonwas full, the fog and mist was so dense that the aviatorscould not see the moon, sun, or stars for fourteenout of the sixteen hours in the air. During the flightthey flew through atmosphere so cold that ice cakedon the instruments. Nevertheless, the engines functionedconsistently throughout the journey, whichwas, in many ways, as remarkable as the voyage of“The Ancient Mariner,” whom Coleridge’s poem ofthat name describes.

Unfortunately, the small propeller which drives thedynamo and generates the current for the wirelessradio instruments had jarred loose and blown awayshortly after the machine ascended into the air, andthe atmosphere was so surcharged with electricity thatLieutenant Brown could not get any radio messagesthrough, and the airship was lost to the world for oversixteen hours. During the flight the men experiencedmany thrills, primarily because they had no sense ofhorizon, due to the thick fog which prevailed most ofthe way over. Under those conditions the navigationwas remarkable, and when the aviators saw the aerialsat Clifden they were delighted. In landing they mistook[291]the bog for a field, and consequently made abad landing, for the machine sank into the bog andstuck there badly damaged in the wing.

Captain Alco*ck’s Story

Describing the experiences of himself and LieutenantBrown, Captain Alco*ck, in a message from Galway tothe London Daily Mail, which awarded them the$50,000 prize for making the first non-stop flight acrossthe Atlantic between Europe and America, said:

“We had a terrible journey. The wonder is thatwe are here at all. We scarcely saw the sun or moonor stars. For hours we saw none of them. The fogwas dense, and at times we had to descend within300 feet of the sea.

“For four hours our machine was covered with asheet of ice carried by frozen sleet. At another timethe fog was so dense that my speed indicator did notwork, and for a few minutes it was alarming.

“We looped the loop, I do believe, and did a steepspiral. We did some comic stunts, for I have had nosense of horizon.

“The winds were favorable all the way, northwest,and at times southwest. We said in Newfoundlandthat we could do the trip in sixteen hours, but we neverthought we should. An hour and a half before we sawland we had no certain idea where we were, but webelieved we were at Galway or thereabouts.

“Our delight in seeing Eastal Island and TarbotIsland, five miles west of Clifden, was great. The[292]people did not know who we were, and thought wewere scouts looking for Alco*ck.

“We encountered no unforeseen conditions. Wedid not suffer from cold or exhaustion, except whenlooking over the side; then the sleet chewed bits outof our faces. We drank coffee and ale, and ate sandwichesand chocolate.

“Our flight has shown that the Atlantic flight ispracticable, but I think it should be done, not withan aeroplane or seaplane, but with flying-boats.

“We had plenty of reserve fuel left, using only two-thirdsof our supply.

“The only thing that upset me was to see the machineat the end get damaged. From above the bog lookedlike a lovely field, but the machine sank into it to theaxle, and fell over on to her side.”

Alco*ck Has Spent 4,500 Hours in Air

There are few fliers, living or dead, who have passedas many hours in the air as Captain John Alco*ck,the twenty-seven-year-old pilot of the first aeroplaneto make a non-stop flight across the Atlantic. Thisofficer of the Royal Air Force has flown more than4,500 hours. The one man who is known to havepassed more time in the air is Captain Roy N. Francis,U. S. A.

Big, blond, and ruddy, Captain Alco*ck is typicallyEnglish in appearance, voice, and mannerisms. Hiseyes are blue, and his hair, brushed straight back, isalmost flaxen. He is more than six feet in height[293]and heavy of frame. Powerful wrists and forearmsattest to many hours of tinkering with heavy machinery.

Alco*ck, who was born in Manchester in 1892, wasapprenticed at seventeen to the Empress Motor Works,a firm interested at that time in the development ofan aeroplane engine. Alco*ck helped to build the firstaero engine made at that plant, and meanwhile developedthe flying fever.

Then he started experimenting with gliders, and in1911 began to fly. He earned his certificate the followingyear, and in 1913 won the first race in which heever had entered. Shortly afterward he took secondplace in the London to Manchester and return competition,at that time one of the most famous air-races.

In one of those early competitions Alco*ck beatFrederick Raynham, the pilot of the Martinsydewhich was injured in trying to get off for the transatlanticflight with Hawker, whose effort to cross theocean in a Sopwith ended in mid-ocean a few weeksago.

From the fall of 1914 to the fall of 1916 Alco*ck wasan instructor of flying at Eastchurch, where he trainedsome of the best-known fliers of England. One ofthese was Major H. G. Brackley, pilot of the HandleyPage bomber, which has been sent to Newfoundlandin the hope that it could get away first on the “hop”across the Atlantic.

From Eastchurch Alco*ck went to the Dardanelles.[294]There he won the Distinguished Service Cross as anace, and it is the gossip of the air force that if he hadnot fallen prisoner to the Turks his rank would havebeen much higher. He has seven enemy planes tohis credit.

It was his bombing work that attracted most attention,however, for he made a raid on Adrianople anddropped a ton of bombs, destroying 3,000 houses,blowing up an ammunition-train, and razed a fort.Out of the thirty-six bombs he dropped on that expeditiontwenty were incendiary and sixteen high-explosive.Accurate knowledge of the damage hehad inflicted on that September day in 1917 did notcome until after the armistice was signed, but Alco*ckdid not have to wait until the armistice to discoverthat his adventure had been a military success. Ninetymiles from Adrianople on his return flight he could stillsee the glare in the sky from the fires his bombs hadignited.

He was the first man to bomb Constantinople,and it was on his return from his second bombing expeditionover the Turkish capital that one of the enginesin his twin Handley Page failed him. He managedto fly seventy-six miles on the other engine beforehe was forced to descend on the island of Imbros,within twelve miles of the home station.

But that twelve miles meant all the difference betweenfriends and enemies, and the aviator was takenprisoner and confined in the civil jail. Later he wasremoved to Constantinople and then to Asia Minor,[295]where he was held until the armistice was signed.He returned to England December 16, 1918.

Immediately upon his return Alco*ck joined theVickers concern as a test pilot. It was due to his persuasionthat the conservative directors of the concern,which controls the British Westinghouse works, committedthemselves to the enterprise of entering anaeroplane in the transatlantic flight for the DailyMail prize of $50,000 for the first non-stop flight.

America Shares Alco*ck’s Triumph

There is hardly any comparison to be made betweenCaptain Alco*ck and his navigator, LieutenantArthur Whitten Brown. While Alco*ck is large offrame, Brown is a full head shorter and boyish inbuild. There are gray threads in Brown’s hair, mementoesof twenty-three months in a German prison-camp.His left foot is crippled, too, the result of acrash when he was brought down by German anti-aircraftguns behind the German lines at Bapaume.

Brown is an American born of American parents inGlasgow in 1886. His father was connected withGeorge Westinghouse in the development of an engine.It was that engine that took him to the BritishIsles, and he took part in the organization of theBritish Westinghouse Company, now controlled byVickers, Limited, the concern which built the plane inwhich the transocean flight was made.

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Lieutenant Brown

Lieutenant Brown’s mother was a member of theWhitten family of Pittsburgh, and his grandfatherfought with the famous Hampden’s Battery at Gettysburg.Brown himself has lived in Pittsburgh, wherehe went to continue the studies at the Westinghouseworks that had begun in the works in England.

He enlisted in the university and public school corpsin 1914, and in 1915 took his wings. Most of his servicewas as an observer and reconnaissance officer.One time the machine in which he flew as an observerwas shot down in flames. He says of that experiencethat he “was burned a bit,” but was glad enough toescape capture. The machine he was in crashed.He passed nine months in a German hospital and fourteenmore months in a German prison-camp, and thenwas repatriated by exchange. He spent the latterdays of the war period in productions work for theMinistry of Munitions.

Lieutenant Brown has never been a navigator in anybut an amateur way. Navigation with him is simplya hobby, and on his frequent crossings of the Atlantic,he says, he never failed to persuade the captain of hisship to allow him on the bridge to take a shot at thesun.

The flight across the Atlantic, Brown said, would behis last, for he is engaged to be married to Miss Kennedy,the daughter of a major of the Royal Air Force,and they are planning to pass their honeymoon (and his[297]share of the prize-money) on a trip around the world.After that they are coming to America, and LieutenantBrown plans to engage in the practice of electricalengineering.

“Vimy” Designed to Bomb Enemy Towns

The twin-engined Vickers-Vimy plane in which theEnglish pilot and his American navigator crossed toIreland has a 67-foot 2-inch wing spread. The lengthover all is 42 feet 8 inches; gap, 10 feet; chord, 10feet 6 inches. It is a bombing-type plane, and its conversionto a peace-time adventure was accomplishedby replacing the fighting equipment with tanks of atotal gasoline capacity of 870 gallons, weighing morethan 6,000 pounds.

The two Rolls-Royce Eagle 375 horse-power enginesare mounted between the upper and lower planes oneither side of the fuselage.

The outstanding feature of the Vimy is the strengthand elasticity of its construction, accomplished by theuse of hollow, seamless steel tubing. This type ofconstruction extends from the nose to well behind theplanes.

The Vimy has a sturdy double under-carriage, witha two-wheeled chassis placed directly under each engine.Fully loaded the craft weighs a trifle more than13,000 pounds. Even distribution of eight separatetanks and a cleverly arranged feeding system wherebythe fuel is consumed at the same rate from all eightnot only insured a well-balanced plane but promised[298]an “even keel” had the fliers been forced down on thesurface of the ocean.

A gravity-tank at the top of the fuselage was arrangedto be emptied first, so it could serve as a life-raft anytime after the first two hours of the flight, which periodwas necessary to exhaust the load of gasoline containedin that tank.

The Vimy’s radio apparatus is the standard typeused by the Royal Air Force, and was lent to Alco*ckby the British Air Ministry. It is similar to thatcarried by Hawker’s Sopwith. The transmitting radiusof this type of radio is placed at 250 miles. Messagescan be received from a much greater distance.

Vimy Flight Sets New World’s Distance Record

The 1,690-mile flight of the Vickers “Vimy” Bomber,carrying Alco*ck and Brown, establishes a new world’srecord, breaking the one made by Captain Boehm ina Mercedes-driven Albatross plane, which flew for 25hours and 1 minute and covered 1,350 miles.

The year 1914, just previous to the war, was themost prolific in long-distance flights. On June 23 theGerman aviator Basser covered 1,200 miles in a Rumplerbiplane in 16 hours and 28 minutes.

The same day Landsmann, another German, drovean Albatross machine 1,100 miles in 17 hours and 17minutes, and four days later 1,200 miles in 21 hoursand 49 minutes.

The nearest approach to Boehm’s record was madeon April 25 last, when Lieutenant-Commander H. B.[299]Grow, U. S. N., flew a twin-engine F-5-L flying-boata total distance of 1,250 miles in 20 hours and 20minutes.

Lieutenant-Commander A. C. Read, in his hop onthe NC-3 from Trepassey Bay to Horta in the Azores,broke no distance records in the 1,200 nautical mileshe flew, but shattered the record for speed, makingan average of 103.5 miles an hour.

The French pre-war record was on April 27, 1914,by Paulet, who flew 950 miles in 16 hours and 28minutes. Since the war the French aviators Coli andRoget flew from Villacoublay, near Paris, to Rabat,Morocco, a distance of 1,116 miles without stopping.The engine was a 300 horse-power Renault, and constitutesthe longest single-motor non-stop flight onrecord. Miss Ruth Law holds the record for long-distanceflight by a woman. On November 19, 1916,she covered the 590 miles from Chicago to Hornell,N. Y., in 5 hours and 45 minutes.

THE FIRST TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT OF THE R-34

After a flight of 108 hours, the British dirigiblewhich left Scotland at 2 A. M. July 2, arrived at RooseveltField, Mineola, Long Island, N. Y., at 9 A. M.,Sunday, July 6, after a flight via Newfoundland andHalifax. Owing to the strong head winds and fogwhich prevailed the most of the journey the huge airshipwas delayed two days in its flight, and there wasfor some time grave doubt that she would arrive on[300]her own gasoline, for the supply was running low,and the aid of destroyers was requested by wirelessfrom the R-34.

As soon as the airship arrived over Roosevelt Field,Major John Edward Maddock Pritchard landed uponAmerican soil, after a parachute drop of 2,000 feet.

This completed the longest flight in history, thedistance covered being 3,200 miles, not counting themileage forced upon the flyers by adverse winds. Thetime consumed was a few minutes more than 108hours. The big airship brought over thirty-one persons,one of whom was a stowaway, and a tortoise-shellcat.

A fortunate turn of the wind at about 2 o’clockSunday morning made the success of the flight possible.Four times on Friday night and early Saturday morningheavy squalls and thunder-storms had threatenedto cripple or smash the flying colossus.

During the worst of the storm on Friday night thebig airship was suddenly tossed aloft 500 feet andpitched about like a dory in a heavy sea. For a timethere was great danger that a vital part would besmashed and a landing forced on the rough water,but the workmanship and material in every part ofthe 630-foot air giant proved flawless, and CommanderScott got his craft safely through.

In response to calls for aid 200 men were sent fromMineola to Montauk Point, Long Island, where itwas at first hoped the R-34 might be towed by thetorpedo-boats sent out to aid the airship. The sudden[301]shift in the wind decided Major Scott to continue theflight to Mineola as originally planned.

At 8.35 A. M. the R-34 became visible from MineolaField, looking at first like a splinter split off from thebluish horizon in the northeast. A thin line of lightbeneath it made it distinguishable at first at a distanceof about twenty miles. Slowly it disengaged itselffrom the blurring lines where the earth and sky met,and gradually its bulk began to develop. As it approachedthe field it rose for better observation, andat about 9 o’clock stood out in the sky in its full super-dreadnoughtproportions, its painted skin respondingto the sun, which had become bright a few minutesbefore, and giving off a dull, metallic gleam betweenlead and aluminum in tint.

It glided through the air with such smoothness asto give the suggestion that it was motionless and thespectator moving. Like the buzz of a midsummernoontime, the hum of its motors produced no disturbingeffect on the quiet.

The ship approached the landing-place at a height ofabout 2,000 feet, coming from the east-northeast, andpassing first over Mitchel Field. It swung around theskirts of Roosevelt Field, while its commanders studiedthe details of the landing-place. The manœuvres forobservation took the dirigible three times around thefield before she came to a stop. After 9.11 it shut offits motors, and hovered, like a fixed object, 2,000 feetabove the ground.

The time of the R-34 for the transatlantic crossing[302]is slightly greater than the steamship record made bythe Mauretania, which, in September, 1909, made thetrip from Queenstown to New York in 4 days, 10hours, and 41 minutes. This is better by approximately2 hours than the time of the dirigible, whichtook 4 days, 12 hours, and some odd minutes. TheR-34, however, starting from Edinburgh, covered amuch greater distance. The rate of speed of the R-34in covering the 3,200 miles was 29⅖ knots per hour.

Airship Landed

The crew sent the cable on and it made a bull’s-eyein the drop, falling squarely over the main anchor.The workmen, who rushed to catch it on the bound,were flung to the ground and rolled about, as if by thelash of a gigantic whip, but they subdued it in a secondand rushed with it to the iron ring. An instantlater it was dragged through this opening and thegas-bag was secured. A few moments later the crewsof men were pinning it down like Gulliver, attachinganchors all along the hull to prepared anchorages ofconcrete and steel, sunk deeply into the earth.

The British officers, accompanied by their Americanguest, Lieutenant-Commander Zachary Lansdowne,climbed out of the gondola to receive the official greetingsof the government of the United States and thehearty congratulations of brother seamen and flyersin American and British uniforms. Those who expectedto find them worn and wan from their unparalleledexperience were astonished to see them all in[303]the finest fettle and spirits, ruddy and vigorous, wide-awake,and full of fun.

The crew followed them to land, on which none hadset foot for nearly five days, all the members beingin good health and spirits, except one man, who hadsuffered a smashed thumb, the only accident of thecruise.

THE OFFICIAL LOG OF R-34 TRANSATLANTICFLIGHT BY BRIGADIER-GENERAL E. M. MAITLAND,C. M. G., D. C. O., REPRESENTING THEBRITISH AIR MINISTRY

Atlantic flight by rigid airship R-34, from EastFortune, Scotland, to Long Island, New York, viaNewfoundland:

Distances covered were as follows: East Fortune toTrinity Bay, Newfoundland, 2,050 sea-miles. TrinityBay, Newfoundland, to New York, 1,080 sea-miles.

It was originally intended that this flight should havetaken place at the beginning of June, but owing tothe uncertainty of the Germans signing the peaceterms the British Admiralty decided to detain herfor an extended cruise up the Baltic and along theGerman coast-line. This flight occupied 56 hoursunder adverse weather conditions, during which timean air distance of roughly 2,400 miles was covered.

At the conclusion of this flight the ship was takenover from the Admiralty by the Air Ministry, and theairship was quickly overhauled for the journey to theUnited States of America.

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The date and time of sailing decided upon was2 A. M. on the morning of Wednesday, July 2, and thepress representatives were notified by the Air Ministryto be at East Fortune the day previously.

Started Ahead of Schedule

At 1.30 A. M. on the morning of Wednesday, July 2,the airship was taken from her shed and actually tookthe air 12 minutes later, thus starting on her longvoyage exactly 18 minutes in advance of scheduledtime.

1.42 A. M., Wednesday, July 2.

The R-34 slowly arose from the hands of the landingparty and was completely swallowed up in thelow-lying clouds at a height of 100 feet. When flyingat night, possibly on account of the darkness, there isalways a feeling of loneliness immediately after leavingthe ground. The loneliness on this occasion was accentuatedby the faint cheers of the landing partycoming upward through the mist long after all signsof the earth had disappeared.

The airship rose rapidly 1,500 feet, at which heightshe emerged from the low-lying clouds and headedstraight up the Firth of Forth toward Edinburgh.

A few minutes after 2 o’clock the lights of Rosythshowed up through a break in the clouds, thus provingbrilliantly that the correct allowance had been madefor the force and direction of the wind, which wastwenty miles per hour from the east.

It should be borne in mind that when an airship[305]gets out on a long-distance voyage carrying her maximumallowance of petrol, she can only rise to a limitedheight at the outset without throwing some of it overboardas ballast, and that as the airship proceeds onher voyage she can, if so desired, gradually increaseher height as the petrol is consumed by the engine.

An airship of this type, when most of her petrol isconsumed, can rise to a height of about 14,000 feet.

15.8 Tons of Petrol at Start

For this reason the next few hours were about themost anxious periods during the flight for MajorScott, the captain of the ship, who, owing to the largeamount of petrol carried (4,900 gallons, weighing 15.8tons), had to keep the ship as low as possible and atthe same time pass over northern Scotland, where thehills rise to a height of over 3,000 feet.

Owing to the stormy nature of the morning the airat 1,500 feet—the height at which the airship wastravelling—was most disturbed and bumpy, due tothe wind being broken up by the mountains to thenorth, causing violent wind-currents and air-pockets.

The most disturbed conditions were met in themouth of the Clyde, south of Loch Lomond, which,surrounded by high mountains, looked particularlybeautiful in the gray dawn light.

The islands at the mouth of the Firth of Clyde werequietly passed. The north coast of Ireland appearedfor a time, and shortly afterward faded away as weheaded out into the Atlantic.

[306]

The various incidents of the voyage are set downquite simply as they occurred, and more or less in theform of a diary. No attempt has been made to writethem as a connected story. It is felt that, by recordingeach incident in this way, most of them trivial, afew of vital importance, a true picture of the voyagewill be obtained.

Time, 6 A. M., July 2.

Early Speed, 38 Knots

Airship running on four engines with 1,000 revolutions.Forward engine being given a rest. Air speed,38 knots—land-miles per hour made good, 56.7. Coursesteered, 298 degrees north, 62 degrees west. Coursemade good, 39 degrees north, 71 west. Wind, north-east,15⅓ miles per hour. Height, 1,500 feet. Largebanks of fleecy clouds came rolling along from theAtlantic, gradually blotting out all view of the sea. Atfirst we were above these clouds, but gradually they rosehigher, and we ploughed our way into the middle ofthem.

7 A. M.—Nothing but dense fog, estimated by Harris,the meteorological officer, to go down to within 50feet of the water and up to a height of about 5,000feet.

Suddenly we catch a glimpse of the sea through ahole in the clouds, and it is now easy to see we havea slight drift to the south, which was estimated byboth Scott, the captain, and Cooke, the navigatingofficer.

[307]

A few minutes later we find ourselves above theclouds, our height still being 1,500 feet, and beneatha cloud sky with clouds at about 8,000 feet. We are,therefore, in between two layers of clouds, a conditionin which Alco*ck and Brown found themselves on morethan one occasion on their recent flight from west toeast.

An excellent cloud horizon now presents itself on allsides, of which Cooke at once takes advantage. Theseobservations, if the cloud horizon is quite flat, ought toprove a valuable rough guide, but cannot be regardedas accurate unless one can also obtain a check on thesun by day or the moon and stars by night.

Cooke reckons it is easy to make as much as a fifty-mileerror in locating one’s position when using acloud horizon as substitute for a sea horizon.

Breakfast at 1,500 Feet

7.30 A. M.—Breakfast in crew space up in the keelconsisted of cold ham, one hard-boiled egg each, breadand butter, and hot tea. We breakfast in two watches,generally about fifteen in each.

The first watch for breakfast was Scott, Cooke,Pritchard, Admiralty airship expert; Lansdowne,Lieutenant-Commander, United States Airship Service;Shotter, engineer officer; Harris, meteorological officer,myself, and half the crew.

Conversation during breakfast reverted to the recentflight up the Baltic, and in the adjoining compartmentthe graphophone was entertaining the crews[308]to the latest jazz tunes, such as “The Wild, WildWomen.”

It might be interesting at this stage to give a completelist of the crew, showing their various duties:

Officers

SHIP’S OFFICERS

• Major G. H. Scott, A. F. C., Captain.
• Captain G. S. Greenland, 1st Officer.
• Second Lieutenant H. F. Luck, 2d Officer.
• Second Lieutenant J. D. Shotter, Engineer Officer.
• Brigadier-General E. M. Maitland, C. M. G., D. C. O., representing Air Ministry.
• Major J. E. M. Pritchard (Air Ministry).
• Lieutenant-Commander Z. Lansdowne, O. B. E., U. S. Naval Airship Service.
• Major G. G. H. Cooke, D. S. C., Navigating Officer.
• Lieutenant Guy Harris, Meteorological Officer.
• Second Lieutenant R. D. Durant, Wireless Officer.
• W. O. W. R. Mayes, Coxswain.

Warrant Officers and Men

ENGINEERS

• Flight Sergeant Gent.
• Flight Sergeant Scull.
• Flight Sergeant Riplee.
• Sergeant Evenden.
• Sergeant Thirlwall.
• Corporal Cross.
• Lg. Air Craftsman Graham.
• [309] Corporal Gray.
• Air Craftsman Parker.
• Air Craftsman Northeast.
• L. A. C. Mort.

RIGGERS

• Flight Sergeant Robinson.
• Sergeant Watson.
• Corporal Burgess.
• Corporal Smith.
• L. A. C. Foreath.
• L. A. C. Browdie.

WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH OPERATORS

Corporal Powell.
A. C. Edwards.

Air Ministry Sends Greetings

11 A. M.—Still ploughing our way through the fogat 1,300 feet. Sea completely hidden by clouds andno visibility whatsoever. Stopped forward and twoaft engines, and now running on only two wing enginesat 1,600 revolutions. These are giving us an airspeed of 30 knots, or 33.6 miles per hour. This is theairship’s most efficient speed, as she only consumes onthe two engines twenty-five gallons of petrol per hour.

Wind is east, seven miles per hour, and so we aremaking good forty miles per hour and resting threeengines.

Cooke is now on top of the airship taking observationsof the sun, using the cloud horizon with a sextant.[310]The sun is visible to him but not to us, thetop of the ship being eighty-five feet above us downhere in the fore-central cabin.

Our position is reckoned to be latitude 55 degrees10 minutes north and longitude 14 degrees 40 minuteswest, which is equivalent to 400 miles from our starting-pointat East Fortune and 200 miles out in theAtlantic from the northwest coast of Ireland.

We are in wireless touch with East Fortune, Clifden,on the west coast of Ireland, and Ponta Delgada,Azores, and messages wishing us good luck are receivedfrom Air Ministry, H. M. S. Queen Elizabeth, and others.

11.45 A. M.—Lunch—Excellent beef stew and potatoes,chocolate, and cold water.

The talk, as usual, was mainly “shop,” dealing withsuch problems as the distribution of air-pressure on thewestern side of the Atlantic, what winds were likelyto be met with, what fog we should run into, the advantagesof directional wireless for navigational purposes,cloud horizons, and the like.

Scott, Cooke, and Harris, in comparing their experiencesand expounding their theories, were most interestingand illuminating.

12 NOON.—Watch off duty turned in for their routinefour hours’ sleep before coming on for their next periodof duty—only two hours in this case, as it is the firstof the two dog-watches.

The sleeping arrangements consist of a hammockfor each of the men off watch suspended from the main[311]ridge girder of the triangular internal keel which runsfrom end to end of the ship. In this keel are situatedthe eighty-one petrol-tanks, each of seventy-one gallons’capacity; also the living quarters for officers andmen, and storing arrangements for lubricating-oil forthe engines, water ballast, food, and drinking-waterfor the crew. The latter is quite a considerable item,as will be seen from the following table of weights:

Life in the keel of a large, rigid airship is by nomeans unpleasant. There is very little noise or vibrationexcept when one is directly over the powerunits—a total absence of wind and, except in the earlyhours of dawn, greater warmth than in the surroundingatmosphere.

Getting into one’s hammock is rather an acrobaticfeat, especially if it is slung high, but this becomeseasy with practice; preventing oneself from fallingout is a thing one must be careful about in a serviceairship like the R-34.

There is only a thin outer cover of fabric on the[312]under side of the keel on each side of the walking way,and the luckless individual who tips out of his hammockwould in all probability break right throughthis and soon find himself in the Atlantic.

It is surprising the amount of exercise one can geton board an airship of this size. The keel is about600 feet long, and one is constantly running aboutfrom one end to the other. There are also steps in avertical ladder at the top of the ship for those whofeel energetic or have duty up there. By the time itbecomes one’s turn to go to bed one generally finds oneis very sleepy, and the warmth of one’s sleeping-bagand hum of the engines soon send one to sleep.

3.15 P. M.—Sea now visible at intervals through theclouds—a deep blue in color with a big swell on.Our shadow on the water helps us to measure ourdrift angle, which both Scott and Cooke worked outto be 21 degrees. Running on the forward and twoaft engines, resting the two wing engines. Speed—makingforty-nine miles per hour.

Durant, the wireless officer, reports he has just beenspeaking to St. John’s, N. F.—Rather faint but quiteclear signals. As we are still in touch with EastFortune and Clifden, and have been exchanging signalswith the Azores since reaching the Irish coast,our communications seem to be quite satisfactory.

Remarkable rainbow effects on the clouds. Onecomplete rainbow encircled the airship itself and theother, a smaller one, encircled the shadow. Both arevery vivid in their coloring.

[313]

3.45 P. M.—Excellent tea consisting of bread andbutter and green-gage jam, also two cups of scaldinghot tea, which had been boiled over the exhaust-pipecooker fitted to the forward engine.

See Little of Ocean

Fruitarian cake was also tried for the first time—rathersickly to taste but very nourishing. The wholeassisted by Miss Lee White on the gramophone. Wewould one and all give anything for a smoke. Greenland,the first officer of the ship, is vainly trying todiscover the culprit who used his tooth-brush forstirring the mustard at lunch.

4.30 P. M.—Still in fog and low clouds and no seavisible. We have hardly seen any sign of the Atlanticsince leaving the Irish coast, and we are beginningto wonder if we shall see it at all the whole wayacross.

5 P. M.—Tramp steamer S. S. Ballygally Head, outwardbound from Belfast, destination Montreal, pickedup our wireless on their Marconi spark set, which hasa range of thirty miles only. She heard us but didn’tsee us, as we were well above and completely hiddenby the clouds. She gave her position as latitude 54degrees 30 minutes north, longitude 18 degrees 20minutes west, and reported as follows:

[314]

They were very surprised and most interested tohear we were R-34 bound for New York, and wishedus every possible luck.

5.30 P. M.—Messages were received from both H. M.S. battle-cruisers Tiger and Renown, which had beenpreviously sent by the Admiralty out into the Atlanticto assist us with weather-reports and general observation.They reported respectively as follows:

H. M. S. Tiger.—“Position 36 degrees 50 minutesnorth, 36 degrees 50 minutes west, 1,027 millibars,falling slowly, thick fog.”

H. M. S. Renown.—“Position 60 degrees north, 25west, 1,027 millibars, falling slowly, cloudy, visibilityfour miles.”

Harris’s deductions from these reports were to theeffect that there was no steep gradient, and that thereforethere was no likelihood of any strong wind in thatpart of the Atlantic.

Set Clock Back Half-Hour

6 P. M.—Scott increases height to 2,000 feet, and atthis height we find ourselves well over the clouds andwith a bright-blue sky above us. The view is an enchantingone—as far as one can see a vast ocean ofwhite fleecy clouds, ending in the most perfect cloudhorizons.

Two particularly fine specimens of windy cirrusclouds, of which Pritchard promptly obtained photographs,appear on our port beam, also some “cirrusventosus” clouds (little curly clouds like a blackco*ck’s[315]tail-feathers), all of which Harris interprets as a firstindication and infallible sign of a depression comingup from the south.

We hope that this depression, when it comes, mayhelp us, provided we have crossed its path before itreaches us. If we can do this we may be helped alongby the easterly wind on the northwesterly side of thedepression.

It is interesting to note that as yet we have receivedno notice of this depression coming up from thesouth in any weather-reports.

6.40 P. M.—Put back clock one-half an hour to correctGreenwich mean time. Time now 6.10 P. M.Position: Latitude 53 degrees 50 minutes north;longitude 20 degrees west.

We have covered 610 sea-miles, measured in a directline, in 17 hours, at an average speed of 36 knots, or40 miles per hour. Depth of Atlantic at this point,1,500 fathoms. At this rate, if all goes well and if thatdepression from the south doesn’t interfere, we shouldsee St. John’s—if visible and not covered in fog as itusually is—about midnight to-morrow, July 3.

6.55 P. M.—Wireless message from Air Ministry viaClifden states:

“Conditions unchanged in British Isles. Anti-cyclonepersistent in Eastern Atlantic—a new depressionentering Atlantic from south.”

This confirms Harris’s forecast and is an admirableproof of the value of cloud forecasting.

[316]

Sea and Sky Invisible

7 P. M.—The clouds have risen to our height and weare now driving away through them with no signs ofthe sky above or the sea underneath. Scott reckonsthe wind is northeast by east and helping us slightly.Airship now very heavy owing to change in temperatureand 12 degrees down by the stern. Running onall five engines at 1,600 revolutions, height 3,000 feet.

8 P. M.—We are just on top of the clouds, alternatelyin the sun and then plunging through thick banks ofclouds. The sun is very low down on the westernhorizon and we are steering straight for it, makingPritchard at the elevators curse himself for not havingbrought tinted glasses. Ship now on an even keel.

8.30 P. M.—Scott decided to go down underneaththe clouds and increases speed on all engines to 1,800revolutions to do so. Dark, cold, and wet in the clouds,and we shut all windows.

Sea 1,500 Feet Below

We see the sea at 1,500 feet between patches ofcloud. Rather bumpy.

We now find ourselves between two layers of clouds,the top layer 1,000 feet above us and the lower layer500 feet below, with occasional glimpses of sea.

The sun is now setting and gradually disappearsbelow the lower cloud horizon, throwing a wonderfulpink glow on the white clouds in every direction.Course steered, 320 degrees. Course made good, 299[317]degrees. Air speed, 44 knots; speed made good, 55miles per hour.

All through this first night in the Atlantic the ordinaryairship routine of navigating, steering, and elevating,also maintaining the engines in smooth-runningorder, goes, watch and watch, as in the daytime.

The night is very dark. The airship, however, islighted throughout, a much enlarged lighting systemhaving been fitted. All instruments can be individuallyilluminated as required, and in case of failureat the lighting system all figures and indicators areradiomized.

Lights Not Needed

The radium paint used is so luminous that in mostcases the lighting installation is unnecessary.

8.20 A. M., Thursday, July 3.—The clock has beenput back another hour to correct our time to Greenwichmean time. Position: Longitude 35 degrees 60minutes west; latitude 53 degrees north.

Cooke got position by observation on sun and agood cloud horizon, and considers it accurate to withinthirty and forty miles.

Our position is over the west-bound steamship routefrom Cape Race to the Clyde and momentarily crossingthe east-bound route from Belle Isle to Plymouth.

We are well over half-way between Ireland andNewfoundland and are back again on the great circleroute, having been slightly to the south of it, owing tothe drift effect of a northerly wind.

Good weather-report from St. John’s.

[318]

Speaks to Steamship

12.45 P. M.—Durant is speaking S. S. Canada onour spark wireless set, so there may be a chance ofour seeing her shortly, as the sea is temporarily visible.The second wireless operator obtains his direction onour directional wireless so that we may know in whatdirection to look for her. All we know at the momentis that she is somewhere within 120 miles.

Captain David, in command, wishes us a safe voyage.We gaze through our glasses in her direction,but she is just over the horizon.

2 P. M.—Slight trouble with starboard amidshipsengine—cracked cylinder’s water-jacket. Shotter, alwaysequal to the occasion, made a quick and saferepair with a piece of copper sheeting, and the entiresupply of the ship’s chewing-gum had to be chewedby himself and two engineers before being applied.

4.30 P. M.—We are now on the Canadian summerroute of steamers bound for the St. Lawrence viaBelle Isle Strait and over the well-known Labradorcurrent. There are already indications of these coldcurrents in the fog which hangs immediately abovethe surface of the water.

Harris Hurt; Not Seriously

Scott and Cooke spend much time at chart-tablewith protractors, dividers, stop-watches, and manynavigational text-books, measuring angles of drift andcalculating course made good.

[319]

Aerial navigation is more complicated than navigationon the surface of the sea, but there is no reasonwhy when we know more about the air and its peculiaritiesit should not be made just as accurate.

5.00 P. M.—Harris unwisely shuts his hand on doorof wireless cabin—painful but not serious. Flow oflanguage not audible to me, as the forward engine happenedto be running.

6 to 7 P. M.—We are gradually getting farther andfarther into the shallow depression which was reportedyesterday coming up from the South Atlantic. Forthe last four hours the sea has been rising and now thewind is south-southeast, forty-five miles an hour.Visibility only a half-mile. Very rough sea and torrentsof rain. In spite of this the ship is remarkablysteady.

Climbs Through Depression

At 8 P. M. Scott decides to climb right through it,and we evidently came out over the top of it at 3,400feet.

8.30 P. M.—We have now passed the centre of thedepression, exactly as Harris foretold. The rain hasceased and we are travelling quite smoothly again.

To the west the clouds have lifted and we see someextraordinarily interesting sky—black, angry cloudsgiving place to clouds of a gray-mouse color, then abright salmon-pink clear sky, changing lower downthe horizon to darker clouds with a rich golden liningas the sun sinks below the surface. The sea is not[320]visible, and is covered by a fluffy gray feather-bed ofclouds, slightly undulating and extending as far asthe eye can reach. The moon is just breaking throughthe black clouds immediately above it.

On the east we see the black, ominous depressionfrom which we have just emerged, while away moreto the south the cloud-bed over which we are passingseems to end suddenly and merge into the horizon.

Valuable Meteorological Data

We are getting some valuable meteorological dataon this flight without a doubt, and each fresh phenomenonas it appears is instantly explained by theever-alert Harris, who has a profound knowledge ofhis subject.

9 P. M.—One of the engineers has reported sick—complainsof feverishness.

A stowaway has just been discovered, a cat smuggledon board by one of the crew for luck. It is avery remarkable fact that nearly every member ofthe crew has a mascot of some description, from theengineer officer, who wears one of his wife’s silk stockingsas a muffler around his neck, to Major Scott, thecaptain, with a small gold charm called “Thumbsup.”

We have two carrier-pigeons on board, which it hasbeen decided not to use. Anyway, whether we releasethem or not, they can claim to be the first two pigeonsto fly the Atlantic.

[321]

Sunrise

4.30 A. M., Friday, July 4—Wonderful sunrise—thedifferent colors being the softest imaginable, just likea wash drawing.

7 A. M.—Height, 1,000 feet. Bright, blue sky above,thin fog partly obscuring the sea beneath us, seamoderate, big swell.

The fog-bank appears to end abruptly ten miles orso away toward the south, where the sea appears tobe clear of fog and a very deep blue.

Standing out conspicuously in this blue patch ofsea we see an enormous white iceberg. The sun isshining brightly on its steep sides, and we estimate itas roughly 300 yards square and 150 feet high. Asthese icebergs usually draw about six times as muchwater as their height, we wondered whether she wasaground, as the depth of water at that point is onlyabout 150 fathoms.

Another big iceberg can just be seen in the dimdistance. These are the only two objects of any kind,sort, or description we have as yet seen on this journey.

8.15 A. M.

Over Large Ice-Field

Fog still clinging to the surface of the water; waterevidently must be very cold. Extraordinary crimpy,wavelike appearance of clouds rolling up from thenorth underneath it. Harris has never seen this before.Pritchard took photograph.

On port beam there is a long stretch of clear-blue[322]sea sandwiched in between wide expanses of fog oneither side, looking just like a blue river flowing betweentwo wide snow-covered banks. Cause—a warmcurrent of water which prevents cloud from hangingover it. This well illustrated the rule that over coldcurrents of water the clouds will cling to the surface.

9 A. M.—We are now over a large ice-field and thesea is full of enormous pieces of ice—small bergs inthemselves. The ice is blue-green under water, withfrozen snow on top.

A message reaches us from the Governor of Newfoundland.

Replied to as follows:

12.50 P. M.

Land Sighted by Scott

Land in sight. First spotted by Scott on starboardbeam. A few small rocky islands visible for a minuteor two through the clouds and instantly swallowed upagain.[323]Altered course southwest to have a closer look atthem. Eventually made them out to be the north-westcoast-line of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland.

Our time from Rathlin Island—the last piece ofland we crossed above the north coast of Ireland—tonorth coast of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, is exactlyfifty-nine hours.

We are crossing Newfoundland at 1,500 feet in thickfog, which gradually clears as we get farther inland.A very rocky country with large forests and lakes, andfor the most part no traces of habitation anywhere.

Message from St. John’s to say that Raynham wasup in his machine to greet us. We replied, giving ourposition.

3 P. M.—Again enveloped in dense fog. Messagefrom H. M. S. Sentinel giving us our position. Weare making good thirty-eight or forty knots and headingfor Fortune Harbor.

French Flag Dipped

4.30 P. M.—We have passed out of Fortune Harbor,with its magnificent scenery and azure-blue sea dottedwith little white sailing ships, and are now over thetwo French islands, Miquelon and St. Pierre, and steeringa course for Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Frenchflag was flying at St. Pierre and was duly dipped aswe passed over.

7.15 P. M.—Passed over tramp S. S. Seal bound forSydney, Nova Scotia, from St. John’s, the first we haveseen.[324]8.15 P. M.—Clear weather. Sea moderate. Makinggood thirty miles per hour on three engines. Northernpoint of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Just cominginto sight. Lighthouse four flashes. We should makeHalifax 2.30 A. M. to-morrow.

Saturday, July 5, 2.30 A. M.—Very dark, clear night.Lights of Whitehaven show up brightly on our starboardbeam and we make out the lights of a steamerpassing us to the east. Strong head wind against us.Making no appreciable headway.

Lansdowne Asks for Destroyer

Lieutenant-Commander Lansdowne, United StatesNaval Airship Service, sends signal on behalf of R-34to United States authorities at Washington andBoston to send destroyer to take us in tow in case weshould run out of petrol during the night.

The idea is we would then be towed by the destroyerduring the hours of darkness, and at dawn castoff and fly to Long Island under our own power.Let us hope this won’t be necessary.

It is now raining and foggy, which is the kind ofweather that suits us now, as rain generally means nowind.

3 P. M.—Passed Haute Island in Fundy Bay.

3.30 P. M.—For some little while past there had beendistinct evidences of electrical disturbances. Atmosphericsbecame very bad and a severe thunder-stormwas seen over the Canadian coast, moving south downthe coast.[325]Scott turned east off his course to dodge the storm,putting on all engines. In this, fortunately for us,he was successful, and we passed through the outeredge of it. We had a very bad time, indeed, and it isquite the worst experience from a weather point ofview that any of us have yet experienced in the air.

Wonderful Clouds Photographed

During the storm some wonderful specimens ofcumulo-mammatus were seen and photographed.These clouds always indicate a very highly perturbedstate of atmosphere and look rather like a bunch ofgrapes. The clouds drooped into small festoons.

7.30 P. M.—We are now in clear weather again andhave left Nova Scotia well behind us and are headingstraight for New York.

Particularly fine electrical-disturbance type of sunset.

9.30 P. M.—Another thunder-storm. Again we haveto change our course to avoid it, and as every gallonof petrol is worth its weight in gold, it almost breaksour hearts to have to lengthen the distance to get clearof these storms.

July 6, Sunday, 4 A. M.—Sighted American soil atChatham.

4.25 A. M.—South end of Mahoney Island. Scottis wondering whether petrol will allow him to go toNew York or whether it would not be more prudentto land at Montauk.

5.30 A. M.—Passing over Martha’s Vineyard—a[326]lovely island and beautifully wooded. Scott decidedhe could just get through to our landing-field at HazelhurstField, but that there would not be enough petrolto fly over New York. Very sad, but no alternative.We will fly over New York on start of our returnjourney on Tuesday night, weather and circ*mstancespermitting.

Landed 1.54 P. M. Greenwich mean time, or 9.54A. M. U. S. A. summer time, at Hazelhurst Field,Long Island.

Total time on entire voyage—108 hours, 12 minutes.

UNITED STATES AIRCRAFT AND ENGINE PRODUCTIONFOR THE UNITED STATES AIRSERVICE

The best rapid survey of the organization of the UnitedStates Air Service and the part which it played in the GreatWar, as well as statistics touching upon the materials used inaircraft production, the number of planes and engines made,and also the number of machines used for training purposes,and actually put into service at the front, is contained in thefollowing extracts from the reports of Secretary Baker, JusticeCharles E. Hughes, General Pershing, and Major-GeneralWilliam L. Kenly.

SECRETARY BAKER’S AIR SERVICE REPORT

In his annual report for 1918, released December 5, the Secretaryof War reported on the Air Service as follows:

[332]

GENERAL PERSHING’S REPORT

Secretary Baker’s report included a communication receivedfrom General Pershing in which he commented on aircraft andthe Air Service as follows:

THE HUGHES REPORT

The committee appointed by the President to investigatethe charges of misappropriation of funds reported in November,1918, on the number of training planes and engines built.Justice Chas. E. Hughes was chairman of the committee:

NUMBER OF MACHINES AT THE FRONT

Report prepared by Statistics Branch, General Staff, WarDepartment, March 22, 1919, concerning the 628 De Haviland 4planes put in service at front before armistice.

The following table and diagram shows the status of production,shipments and use overseas of De Haviland 4 service planesat the date of the armistice:

[335]

Value of contracts cancelled and suspended exceed $480,000,000.

The following is a summary of the value of cancellations andsuspensions of contracts to March 19, 1919:

THE SIXTY-FOUR AMERICAN ACES

The following official list gives the status of the sixty-fourAmerican aces—that is, aviators who had each downed five ormore enemies by the time hostilities ceased:

Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker of Columbus, Ohio, famousas an automobile driver, was the premier “Ace” of the Americanair force in France, having twenty-six enemy planes to hiscredit.

First Lieutenant Frank Luke, Jr., of Phœnix, Ariz., who waskilled in action May 19, 1918, was second on the list of “Aces,”with eighteen victories to his credit, and Major Victor RaoulLufbery of Wallingford, Conn., also killed in action May 19,1918, was third, with seventeen victories. Before joining theAmerican Army, Major Lufbery was a member of the LafayetteEscadrille.

Captain Reed G. Landis of Chicago, son of Judge Landis,and First Lieutenant David E. Putnam, of Brookline, Mass.,who was killed in action, had twelve victories each. The other“Aces,” with the number of victories credited to each, follow:

• First Lieutenant Fields Kinley, Gravette, Ark., 10.
• First Lieutenant G. A. Vaughn, Jr., 341 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, 10.
• [336] First Lieutenant J. M. Swaab, Philadelphia, 10.
• First Lieutenant T. G. Cassady, 9.
• First Lieutenant C. E. Wright, Cambridge, Mass., 9.
• First Lieutenant W. P. Erwin, Chicago, 9.
• Captain E. W. Springs, Lancaster, Penn., 9.
• First Lieutenant H. R. Clay, Jr., Fort Worth, Texas, 8.
• Major J. A. Meissner, 45 Lenox Road, Brooklyn, N. Y., 8.
• Captain Hamilton Coolidge (deceased), Boston, Mass., 8.
• Captain G. De F. Larner, Washington, D. C., 8.
• First Lieutenant P. F. Baer, Fort Wayne, Ind., 8 (captured May 22, 1918).
• First Lieutenant F. O. D. Hunter, Savannah, Ga., 8.
• First Lieutenant W. W. White, 541 Lexington Avenue, New York City, 8.
• Second Lieutenant Clinton Jones, San Francisco, Cal., 8.
• Captain R. M. Chambers, Memphis, Tenn., 7.
• First Lieutenant Harvey Cook, Toledo, Ohio, 7.
• First Lieutenant L. C. Holden, 103 Park Avenue, New York City, 7.
• First Lieutenant K. H. Schoen (deceased), Indianapolis, Ind., 7.
• First Lieutenant W. A. Robertson, Fort Smith, Ark., 7.
• First Lieutenant L. J. Rummell, 798 South 11th Street, Newark, N. J., 7.
• First Lieutenant L. A. Hamilton (deceased), Burlington, Vt., or Pittsfield, Mass., 7.
• First Lieutenant J. O. Creech, Washington, D. C., 6.
• Second Lieutenant Howard Burdick, 175 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., 6.
• First Lieutenant C. L. Bissell, Kane, Penn., 6.
• Major H. E. Hartney, Saskatoon, Canada, 6.
• Captain Douglass Campbell, Mount Hamilton, Cal., 6.
• Captain J. C. Vasconcelles, Denver, Col., 6.
• Captain E. G. Tobin, San Antonio, Texas, 6.
• First Lieutenant E. P. Curtis, Rochester, N. Y., 6.
• First Lieutenant Sumner Sewell, no address, 6.
• First Lieutenant R. A. O’Neill, Nogales, Ariz., 6.
• First Lieutenant Donald Hudson, Kansas City, Mo., 6.
• First Lieutenant M. K. Guthrie, Mobile, Ala., 6.
• First Lieutenant W. H. Stovall, Stovall, Miss., 6.
• First Lieutenant J. D. Beane (missing in action), 6.
• First Lieutenant A. R. Brooks, Framingham, Mass., 6.
• First Lieutenant R. O. Lindsay, Madison, N. C., 6.
• First Lieutenant Martinus Stenseth, Twin City, Minn., 6.
• Second Lieutenant F. K. Hays, Chicago, Ill., 6.
• First Lieutenant H. C. Klotts, no address, 5.
• Lieutenant-Colonel William Thaw, Pittsburgh, Penn., 5.
• Major D. McK. Peterson, Honesdale, Penn., 5.
• Captain H. R. Buckley, Agawam, Mass., 5.
• [337] Major C. J. Biddle, Philadelphia, Penn., 5.
• First Lieutenant James Knowles, Cambridge, Mass., 5.
• First Lieutenant J. A. Healey, Jersey City, N. J., 5.
• First Lieutenant Innis Potter, no address, 5.
• First Lieutenant F. M. Symonds, 20 West 8th Street, New York City, 5.
• First Lieutenant J. F. Wehner (deceased), 124 East 28th Street, New York, 5.
• First Lieutenant J. J. Sereley, Chicago, 5.
• First Lieutenant E. M. Haight, Astoria, N. Y., 5.
• First Lieutenant H. H. George, Niagara Falls, N. Y., 5.
• First Lieutenant G. W. Furlow, Rochester, Minn., 5.
• First Lieutenant A. E. Esterbrook, Fort Flagler, Wash., 5.
• First Lieutenant B. V. Baucom, Milford, Texas, 5.
• Second Lieutenant Harold McArthur, no address, 5.
• Second Lieutenant J. S. Owens, Baltimore, 5.
• Second Lieutenant J. O. Donaldson, Washington, D. C., 5.

OTHER AMERICANS WHO ARE CREDITED WITH
BRINGING DOWN ONE OR MORE
PLANES

• Lieutenant Frank L. Baylies, New Bedford, Mass. (killed June 20, 1918, in the British Air Service), 12.
• Adjutant E. C. Parsons, Springfield, Mass., 4.
• Lieutenant H. Clay Ferguson, wounded March 12, 1918, 4.
• Captain J. Norman Hall, Lafayette Escadrille and A. E. F., Colfax, Ia., wounded and captured, May 7, 1918, 4.
• Lieutenant Joseph C. Stehlin, Lafayette Escadrille, Brooklyn, N. Y., 3.
• Lieutenant Norman Prince (organizer of Lafayette Escadrille), Beverly Farms, Mass., killed October 15, 1916, 3.
• Lieutenant Kiffin Yates Rockwell, Lafayette Escadrille, Asheville, N.C., killed September 23, 1916, 4.
• Lieutenant Walter Rheno, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., 3.
• Lieutenant Walter Lovell, Lafayette Escadrille, Concord, Mass., 3.
• Lieutenant Thomas Hitchco*ck, Jr., Lafayette Escadrille, Roslyn, N. Y., captured March 10, 1918. He escaped later. 3.
• Lieutenant Bert Hall, Lafayette Escadrille, Bowling Green, Ky., retired December, 1916, 3.
• George Turnure, Lenox, Mass., third on July 17, 1918, 3.
• Lieutenant Hugh Dugan, Chicago, Royal Flying Corps, captured April 6, 1918, 2.
• Lieutenant G. de Freest Larner, Washington, D. C., 2.
• Lieutenant Andrew C. Campbell, Chicago, missing, 2.
• [338] Captain Phelps Collins, Detroit, killed March 18, 1918, 2.
• Lieutenant Didier Masson, New York, Lafayette Escadrille, 2.
• Christopher Ford, New York, 2.
• Lieutenant W. A. Wellman, Cambridge, Mass., 2.
• Sergeant James E. Connelly, Philadelphia, Pa., 2.
• Sergeant Victor Chapman, Lafayette Escadrille, killed June 23, 1916, 2.
• Sergeant Vernon Booth, Chicago, 2.
• Sergeant Austin B. Crehore, Westfield, New York, 1.
• Lieutenant Willis Haviland, Minneapolis, Minn., 1.
• Lieutenant Harry Sweet Jones, Hartford, Pa., 1.
• Lieutenant Charles C. Johnson, St. Louis, Mo., 1.
• Captain Robert L. Rockwell, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1.
• Lieutenant Stuart Walcott, Washington, killed December 14, 1917, 1.
• Lieutenant Alan F. Winslow, Rive Forest, Ill., 1.
• Lieutenant Edgar Tobin, San Antonio, on July 11, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Charles T. Merrick, Eldora, Iowa, 1.
• Lieutenant Alexander O. Craig, New York, in Italy, on July 5, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Sumner Sewell, Bath, Me., above Toul, on June 3, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant William J. Hoover, Hartsville, S. C., on July 2, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Alfred A. Grant, Denton, Texas, on July 2, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant John McArthur, Buffalo, N. Y., on July 2, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Tyler Cook Bronson, New York, on July 1, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Charles W. Chapman on May 8, 1918. Both he and victim fell in flames, 1.
• Captain Kenneth Marr, on May 15, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Henry Grendelass, 1.
• Lieutenant Edward Buford, Jr., Nashville, Tenn., on May 22, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant William H. Taylor, New York, on May 21, 1918, 1.
• Ensign Stephen Potter, Boston, Mass., killed April 25, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Walter Avery, Columbus, Ohio, brought down and captured Captain Menckhoff, the German ace, who had 34 victories on July 25, 1918, 1.

CITATIONS AND DECORATIONS OF MEMBERS
OF THE U. S. ARMY AIR SERVICE

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS

• Gardner Philip Allen, First Lieutenant, C. A. C.
• Flynn L. A. Andrew, First Lieutenant.
• David H. Backus, First Lieutenant.
• Herbert B. Bartholf, First Lieutenant.
• Erwin R. Bleckley, Second Lieutenant.
• Samuel C. Bowman, Second Lieutenant.
• [339] Hugh D. G. Broomfield, First Lieutenant.
• John R. Castleman, First Lieutenant.
• Weir H. Cook, First Lieutenant.
• Hamilton Coolidge (deceased), Captain.
• Justin P. Follette, First Lieutenant.
• William F. Frank, First Lieutenant.
• Harold E. Goettler (deceased), Second Lieutenant.
• Andre Gundelach (deceased), First Lieutenant.
• D. C. Hunter, First Lieutenant.
• John N. Jeffers, First Lieutenant.
• Samuel Kaye, Jr., First Lieutenant.
• Willburt E. Kinsley, Second Lieutenant.
• James Knowles, First Lieutenant.
• G. DeFreest Larner, First Lieutenant.
• William O. Lowe, Second Lieutenant, U. S. M. C.
• Edward Russell Moore, First Lieutenant.
• Edward M. Morris, Second Lieutenant.
• Stephen H. Noyes, Captain.
• Alfred B. Patterson, Jr., First Lieutenant.
• Britton Polley, First Lieutenant.
• Charles P. Porter, Second Lieutenant.
• Clearton H. Reynolds, Captain.
• Leslie J. Rummell, First Lieutenant.
• Karl J. Schoen (deceased), First Lieutenant.
• Richard B. Shelby, First Lieutenant.
• John Y. Stokes, Jr., First Lieutenant.
• William H. Stovall, First Lieutenant.
• William H. Vail, First Lieutenant.
• Pennington H. Way (deceased), Second Lieutenant.
• Joseph F. Wehner, First Lieutenant.
• Chester E. Wright, First Lieutenant.

LEGION OF HONOR—FRENCH

(COMMANDER)

Charles T. Menoher, Major-General.
William Mitchell, Brigadier-General.

CROIX DE GUERRE—FRENCH

• Thomas J. Abernathy, Second Lieutenant.
• James A. Healy, First Lieutenant.
• Arthur H. Jones, First Lieutenant.
• Charles T. Menoher, Major-General.
• Ralph A. O’Neill, First Lieutenant.
• [340] Charles P. Porter, Second Lieutenant.
• Kenneth L. Porter, Second Lieutenant.
• Joseph C. Raible, Jr., First Lieutenant.
• Louis C. Simon, Jr., First Lieutenant.

ITALIAN CITATIONS

• James P. Hanley, Jr., First Lieutenant.
• George C. Hering, First Lieutenant.
• William P. Shelton, First Lieutenant.
• Norman Sweetser, First Lieutenant.
• Emory E. Watchorn, First Lieutenant.
• Frederick K. Weyerhaeuser, First Lieutenant.

FRENCH CITATIONS

• Valentine J. Burger, Second Lieutenant.
• Alexander T. Grier, Second Lieutenant.
• Horace A. Lake, Second Lieutenant.

CROCE AL MERITO DI GUERRA—ITALIAN

• James L. Bahl, First Lieutenant.
• Raymond P. Baldwin, First Lieutenant.
• Arthur M. Beach, First Lieutenant.
• Allen W. Bevin, First Lieutenant.
• Gilbert P. Bogart, First Lieutenant.
• Arthur F. Clement, First Lieutenant.
• William G. Cochran, First Lieutenant.
• De Witt Coleman, Jr., First Lieutenant.
• Kenneth G. Collins, First Lieutenant.
• Alexander M. Craig, First Lieutenant.
• Herbert C. Dobbs, Jr., First Lieutenant.
• Edmund A. Donnan, First Lieutenant.
• Norton Downs, Jr., First Lieutenant.
• Arthur D. Farquhar, First Lieutenant.
• Harry S. Kinkenstaedt, First Lieutenant.
• Willis S. Fitch, First Lieutenant.
• Donald G. Frost, First Lieutenant.
• William O. Frost, First Lieutenant.
• James P. Hanley, Jr., First Lieutenant.
• Spencer L. Hart, Second Lieutenant.
• George C. Hering, First Lieutenant.
• Wallace Hoggson, First Lieutenant.
• Gosta A. Johnson, First Lieutenant.
• James Kennedy, Second Lieutenant.
• [341] LeRoy D. Kiley, First Lieutenant.
• Herman F. Kreuger, First Lieutenant.
• Fiorello H. LaGuardia, Major.
• Paton MacGilvary, First Lieutenant.
• Oble Mitchell, First Lieutenant.
• William H. Potthoff, First Lieutenant.
• Aubrey G. Russel, First Lieutenant.
• William B. Shelton, First Lieutenant.
• Norman Sweetser, First Lieutenant.
• Norman Terry, Second Lieutenant.
• Emory E. Watchorn, First Lieutenant.
• Frederick K. Weyerhaeuser, First Lieutenant.
• Warren Wheeler, First Lieutenant.
• Alfred S. R. Wilson, First Lieutenant.
• Warren S. Wilson, First Lieutenant.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF MILITARY
AERONAUTICS

War Department,

Office of the Director of Military Aeronautics,

November 3, 1918.

Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith the annual report of theDivision of Military Aeronautics for the fiscal year ended June 30,1918. Though the Division of Military Aeronautics was created onlyon April 24, 1917, it was agreed that the duties intrusted to it andpreviously carried out by the Signal Corps should be covered in thisreport in order to present a continuous story of the development ofthe personnel, training, and organizing phases of the present Air Service.Also it should be pointed out that operations on the front inFrance have been left largely to whatever report the American ExpeditionaryForce may deem wise.

The fiscal year 1917-18 saw aviation develop from a wholly subsidiarybranch of the Army as the Aviation Section of the Signal Corpsto a position of extreme and decisive importance as the Air Service,directly under the Chief of Staff. From the most insignificant beginningsit came within the year to be one of America’s major efforts inthe war.

This is all the more surprising when America’s previous backwardnessin aviation is considered. This country has stood practically stillin aerial progress, while the war in Europe brought about an extraordinaryadvance. From all this the United States was entirely shutoff up to the time it abandoned neutrality. So little exact knowledge[342]was available that the first American planes to go with the expeditioninto Mexico in March, 1916, were all rendered useless in accidentswithin a short time of arrival. There was practically no aviationtechnique here comparable to Europe’s, almost negligible manufacturingfacilities, not a hundred trained flyers, and only the most rudimentaryfacilities for training. Moreover, no one had any adequate appreciationof the intricacy and skill required in the making of either an aeroplaneor the training of a pilot.

As against this stagnation Europe’s progress in two and one-halfyears of war had been tremendous. The first planes to go to the frontin 1914 had been few in number, unequipped with radio, machineguns, bombs, or photographic apparatus, and entirely unproved inmilitary value. Their extraordinary success, however, in disclosingthe size of the German concentration in Belgium at once brought theminto a position of great importance. Very shortly radio was installedto replace signaling by dropping tinsel or making curious evolutions;the pistols of the pilots gave way to machine guns; the easy-goingsystem of dropping bombs over the side was replaced by regular bombingplanes, and the occasional taking of photographs by an intricatesystem of picturing every mile of the front. Engine power increasedto 200, 300, 400, 500 horse power; huge planes with large carrying capacitywere being developed for night-bombing; and operations were takingplace by whole squadrons in various air strata—light, single-seaterscouts around 15,000 to 20,000 feet, two-seater day bombers around9,000 feet, and photographic and observation planes around 6,000 feet.

In contrast to all this development the United States at the time ofits entry into the war stood very little ahead of where it had beenbefore the world war broke out. Aviation, both in its personnel andits equipment, was included in that part of the Signal Corps knownas the Aviation Section, which had been established by Congress July18, 1914. Its chief was Maj. Gen. George O. Squier, who after fouryears as military attaché in London, had been put in charge of theAviation Section in May, 1916, and made Chief Signal Officer onFebruary 14, 1917, continuing to have charge of aviation throughnearly the whole of the fiscal year. On April 6, 1917, the total assetson hand consisted of 65 officers, 1,120 men, two small flying fields, lessthan 300 very second-rate training planes, practically no manufacturingfacilities, and only the most meagre technical information as to Europe’sstartling developments.

The original American war program, based on an army of a millionmen, made aviation but a relatively insignificant part of the generalmilitary forces. This program, which represented the view of theGeneral Staff before the arrival of the foreign missions, was met bytwo appropriations, $10,800,000 on May 12, 1917, and $43,450,000 onJune 15, many times larger than any appropriations ever before made.

The British and French missions, however, arriving the last part[343]of April, completely revolutionized this viewpoint. Supported by anurgent cable of May 24 from the premier of France, calling for 2,000planes a month and a total of 5,000 pilots and 50,000 mechanicians, the$640,000,000 appropriation, the largest ever made by Congress for onespecific purpose, was drawn up, put through the House of RepresentativesMilitary Affairs Committee in two meetings, the House itself inone, the Senate Military Affairs Committee in 45 minutes, and theSenate itself a week later, becoming law on July 24, 1917. On thisdate the present large program was really launched, two months anda half after the outbreak of war, and largely in response to alliedappeals.

The rest of the fiscal year was taken up in amplifying and executingthe lines of effort here laid down. Toward the end of the year, however,it became obvious that the system of organization of an AviationSection as a subsidiary branch of the Signal Corps was not functioningefficiently. The British and French, perceiving that we were encounteringthe same kind of obstacles as theirs, strongly recommended aseparate, independent air service similar to the air ministries they hadbeen obliged to establish and which have worked so successfully since.As a result, a first step was taken in a rearrangement of duties designedto effect a greater independence and a greater concentration of authoritywhen, on April 24, the War Department authorized the followingstatement:

“Mr. John D. Ryan has accepted the directorship of aircraft productionfor the Army.

“A reorganization of the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps hasbeen also effected, of which the principal elements are as follows:

“Gen. Squier, as Chief Signal Officer, will devote his attention tothe administration of signals; a Division of Military Aeronautics iscreated, under the direction of Brig. Gen. William L. Kenly. TheAircraft Board, created by act of Congress, remains as an advisorybody, as it has been in the past, with Mr. Ryan as its chairman. Thisarrangement is made with the entire concurrence of Mr. Howard Coffin,who remains a member of the Advisory Commission of the Council ofNational Defense and will render assistance and counsel to the AircraftBoard and Mr. Ryan.

“The Division of Military Aeronautics will have control of thetraining of aviators and military use of aircraft. The exact divisionof functions in the matter of designing and engineering will be workedout as experience determines between the Division of Military Aeronauticsand the Division of Production.

“This announcement involves no change of personnel in the presentEquipment Division of the Signal Corps, of which W. C. Potter ischief, and which will continue under his direction.”

This reorganization, however, was admittedly but the first step.The first action taken by the President under the broad powers of the[344]Overman Act was to effect a still further reorganization by takingaviation entirely out of the jurisdiction of the Signal Corps, where ithas been from its inception on July 18, 1914, and to set up two separatebureaus, one for securing and training the large flying and groundforces, and the other for providing planes, engines, and equipment.

The presidential order of May 21 covering this change follows:

“By virtue of the authority in me vested as Commander-in-Chiefof the Army and by virtue of further authority upon me specificallyconferred by ‘An act authorizing the President to coordinate or consolidateexecutive bureaus, agencies, and offices, and for other purposes,in the interest of economy and the more efficient concentration of theGovernment,’ approved May 20, 1918, I do hereby make and publishthe following order:

“The powers heretofore conferred by law or by Executive orderupon and the duties and functions heretofore performed by the ChiefSignal Officer of the Army are hereby redistributed as follows:

I

“(1) The Chief Signal Officer of the Army shall have charge, underthe direction of the Secretary of War, of all military signal duties,and of books, papers and devices connected therewith, including telegraphand telephone apparatus and the necessary meteorological instrumentsfor use on target ranges, and other military uses; the construction,repair, and operation of military telegraph lines, and the duty ofcollecting and transmitting information for the Army by telegraphor otherwise, and all other duties usually pertaining to military signaling;and shall perform such other duties as now or are or shall hereafterbe devolved by law or by Executive order upon said Chief SignalOfficer which are not connected with the Aviation Section of the SignalCorps or with the purchase, manufacture, maintenance, and productionof aircraft, and which are not hereinafter conferred, in special orgeneral terms, upon other officers or agencies.

“(2) A Director of Military Aeronautics, selected and designated bythe Commander in Chief of the Army, shall hereafter have charge,under the direction of the Secretary of War, of the Aviation Sectionof the Signal Corps of the Army, and as such shall be, and he herebyis, charged with the duty of operating and maintaining or supervisingthe operation and maintenance of all military aircraft, including balloonsand aeroplanes, all appliances pertaining to said aircraft andsignaling apparatus of any kind when installed on said aircraft, and oftraining officers, enlisted men, and candidates for aviation service inmatters pertaining to military aviation, and shall hereafter performeach and every function heretofore imposed upon and performed bythe Chief Signal Officer of the Army in, or in connection with, theAviation Section of the Signal Corps, except such as pertains to the[345]purchase, manufacture, and production of aircraft and aircraft equipmentand as is not hereinafter conferred, in special or general terms,upon the Bureau of Aircraft Production; and all aeroplanes now inuse or completed and on hand and all material and parts, and allmachinery, tools, appliances, and equipment held for use for the maintenancethereof; all lands, buildings, repair shops, warehouses, and allother property, real, personal, or mixed, heretofore used by the SignalCorps in, or in connection with, the operation and maintenance of aircraftand the training of officers, enlisted men, and candidates foraviation service, or procured and now held for such use by or underthe jurisdiction and control of the Signal Corps of the Army; all books,records, files and office equipment heretofore used by the Signal Corps,in, or in connection with, such operation, maintenance, and training;and the entire personnel of the Signal Corps as at present assigned to,or engaged upon work in, or in connection with, such operation, maintenance,and training, is hereby transferred from the jurisdiction of theChief Signal Office and placed under the jurisdiction of the Director ofMilitary Aeronautics; it being the intent hereof to transfer from thejurisdiction of the Chief Signal Officer to the jurisdiction of the saidDirector of Military Aeronautics every function, power, and duty conferredand imposed upon said Director of Military Aeronautics by subparagraph(2) of paragraph I hereof all property of every sort of natureused or procured for use in, or in connection with, the functions of theAviation Section of the Signal Corps placed in charge of the Directorof Military Aeronautics by subparagraph (2) of paragraph I hereof,and the entire personnel of the Signal Corps in charge of the Directorof Military Aeronautics by subparagraph (2) of paragraph I hereof.

“(3) An executive agency, known as the Bureau of Aircraft Production,is hereby established, and said agency shall exercise full, complete,and exclusive jurisdiction and control over the production ofaeroplanes, aeroplane engines, and aircraft equipment for the use ofthe Army, and to that end shall forthwith assume control and jurisdictionover all pending Government projects having to do or connectedwith the production of aeroplanes, aeroplane engines, and aircraftequipment for the Army and heretofore conducted by the Signal Corpsof the Army, under the jurisdiction of the Chief Signal Officer; and allmaterial on hand for such production, all unfinished aeroplanes andaeroplane engines, and all unfinished, unattached, or unassembled aircraftequipment; all lands, buildings, factories, warehouses, machinery,tools, and appliances, and all other property, real, personal, or mixed,heretofore used in or in connection with such production, or procuredand now held for such use, by or under the jurisdiction and controlof the Signal Corps of the Army; all books, records, files, and officeequipment used by the said Signal Corps in or in connection withsuch production; all rights under contracts made by the Signal Corpsin or in connection with such production; and the entire personnel of[346]the Signal Corps as at present assigned to or engaged upon work inor in connection with such production are hereby transferred from thejurisdiction of the Signal Corps and placed under the jurisdiction ofthe Bureau of Aircraft Production, it being the intent thereof to transferfrom the jurisdiction of the Signal Corps to the jurisdiction of thesaid Bureau of Aircraft Production every function, power, and dutyconnected with said production, all property of every sort or natureused or procured for use in or in connection with said production, andthe entire personnel of the Signal Corps, as at present assigned to orengaged upon work in or in connection with such production.

“Such person as shall at the time be chairman of the Aircraft Boardcreated by the act of Congress approved October 1, 1917, shall alsobe the executive officer of said Bureau of Aircraft Production, and heshall be, and he hereby is, designated as Director of Aircraft Production,and he shall, under the direction of the Secretary of War, have chargeof the activities, personnel, and properties of said bureau.

II

“All unexpended funds of appropriations heretofore made for theSignal Corps of the Army and already specifically allotted for use inconnection with the functions of the Signal Service as defined andlimited by subparagraph (1) of Paragraph I hereof shall be and remainunder the jurisdiction of the Chief Signal Officer; all such funds alreadyspecifically allotted for use in connection with the functions of theAviation Section of the Signal Corps as defined and limited by subparagraph(2) of Paragraph I hereof are hereby transferred to andplaced under the jurisdiction of the Director of Military Aeronauticsfor the purpose of meeting the obligations and expenditures authorizedby said section; all such funds already specifically allotted for use inconnection with the functions hereby bestowed upon the Bureau ofAircraft Production, as defined and limited by subparagraph (3) ofParagraph I hereof, are hereby transferred to and placed under thejurisdiction of said Director of Aircraft Production for the purpose ofmeeting the obligations and expenditures authorized by said bureauin carrying out the duties and functions hereby transferred to and bestowedupon said bureau; and in so far as such funds have not beenalready specifically allotted to the different fields of activity of theSignal Corps as heretofore existing, they shall now be allotted by theSecretary of War in such proportions as shall to him seem best intendedto meet the requirements of the respective fields of former activity ofthe Signal Corps and the intention of Congress when making saidappropriations, and the funds so allotted by the Secretary of War tomeet expenditures in the field of activity of the Aviation Section ofthe Signal Corps are hereby transferred to and placed under the jurisdictionof the Director of Military Aeronautics for the purpose of[347]meeting the obligations and expenditures authorized by said section;and the funds so allotted by the Secretary of War to meet the expendituresin that part of the field of activity of the Signal Corps, whichincludes the functions hereby transferred to the Bureau of AircraftProduction, are hereby transferred to and placed under the jurisdictionof the Director of Aircraft Production for the purpose of meeting theobligations and expenditures authorized by said bureau.

III

“This order shall be and remain in full force and effect during thecontinuance of the present war and for six months after the terminationthereof by the proclamation of the treaty of peace, or until theretoforeamended, modified, or rescinded.

“Under this order Mr. John D. Ryan continued as Director of AircraftProduction and Maj. Gen. William L. Kenly became Director ofMilitary Aeronautics.”

This division of responsibilities and functions gave a clearer conceptionof the unique duties of the Air Service in production of planesand training of pilots, and is significant, too, of the many tacticalreasons which made it imperative for England and France to establishseparate and independent air services.

The end of the fiscal year found this problem of higher organizationone of the most important to be faced. An early defect discovered inthe reorganization developed when there appeared to be inadequateliaison between the Bureau of Aircraft Production and the Division ofMilitary Aeronautics. One was responsible for the production ofplanes, the other for their operation and military efficiency. Themethod of selecting a type to put into production and the final decisionwhether any plane produced was suitable for its military purposes ornot, was undetermined. The situation of two sets of officials withequal authority in their respective fields of action, neither responsibleto the other, at once demonstrated that neither could be held for thefinal production of an acceptable plane for the front. This was partiallyobviated by an agreement between the Division of Military Aeronauticsand the Bureau of Aircraft Production that the types of planeto be put into production must first be mutually agreed upon, andthat before a plane could be sent to the front it should be given a militarytest and accepted by the Division of Military Aeronautics. Butconsiderable time was lost before this policy was definitely arranged,a policy which might easily have at once been established by a unifieddepartment.

The personnel side of the air service, including the selection, training,organization, and operation of the flying forces, developed withinthe fiscal year 1917-18 into an educational system on a scale infinitelylarger and more diverse than anyone had anticipated. Teaching men[348]to fly, to send messages by wireless, to operate machine guns in theair, to know artillery fire by its bursts, and to travel hundreds of milesby compass, teaching other men to read the enemy’s strategy fromaerial photographs, and still others to repair instruments, ignition systems,propellers, aeroplane wings, and motors, has required a networkof flying fields and schools, a large instructional force, and amaze of equipment and curricula.

None of this, practically speaking, was on hand at the outbreak ofthe war, neither fields, instructors, curricula, nor, more serious thanall, experience to show what was to be needed. This country hadnever trained an aviator sufficiently to meet the demands of overseasaerial warfare and had not the slightest knowledge of the instructionnecessary for radio, photography, or enlisted personnel. Consequently,the first men largely taught themselves before teaching others, andexperience led on from one course to the next.

First, in the point of need, was that of flying fields. Two were inlimited operation at the outbreak of war, San Diego and Mineola;three more were selected, cleared, equipped, and made ready for flyingin six weeks’ time, and by the end of the year over a score were inoperation all over the country. All were protected by a three-yearlease with option to buy, if desired, at a fixed price. During the yearalso five supply depots, three concentration depots, three balloon camps,two repair depots, one experimental field, one radio laboratory, and onequarantine camp were built.

The selection of men for training as flyers was a complicated task,as the requirements were necessarily rigid. Volunteer examining boardsof the highest medical skill were organized all over the country, 36urban and 30 divisional boards, and a total of 38,777 men were examinedto June 2, of whom nearly half, or 18,004, were disqualified. Thisnaturally led to a high grade of personnel, and made the later trainingboth more rapid and more efficient.

The first step in instruction was at one of the new “ground” schoolsopened on May 21 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornelland Ohio State Universities and the Universities of Illinois, Texas,and California, with Princeton and the Georgia School of Technologyadded on July 5. Here, in eight weeks, under military discipline, thecadets were grounded in all the elements of aviation at a cost to theGovernment at first of $65 per pupil, and later $10 each for the firstfour weeks, and $5 weekly thereafter. By June 30, 1918, a total of11,539 men were graduated to the flying fields and 3,129 were dischargedfor failure in studies, etc.

Next came the actual flying instruction, divided into two phases,primary and advanced. The former averaged about eight weeks, includedability to execute the simpler evolutions and cross-countryflights, and led to an officer’s commission and the right to wear theReserve Military Aviator’s wings. To June 30, 1918, 4,980 men had[349]been graduated as Reserve Military Aviators for final training, andabout 400 had been disqualified as incapable of becoming flyers.

The advanced training, however, presented infinitely more difficulties.It was not nearly so simple to teach the more complex stunts, formationflying, aerial machine gunnery, bombing, and night flying, while at thesame time the highly specialized equipment necessary required considerabletime for manufacture. Nevertheless, advanced schools of the threetypes necessary were openeEarly western travels 1748-1846, volume 7 of 10d toward the end of the year 1918, with whatequipment was available, and had graduated 110 bombers, 85 bombingpilots, 464 observers, 389 observer pilots, and 131 pursuit pilots byJune 30, 1918.

The ideal arrangement in mind at the end of the year was to traineach pilot completely on this side of the ocean, where facilities arevery good, supplies in abundance, and information and experiencedpilots from the front available in ever-increasing numbers. The flyerscan then be organized into provisional squadrons and wings and giventraining as large units with their own administrative officers and enlistedpersonnel so that they will be able to go immediately to thefront, after a month or so of transformation work in France, learninggeography and familiarizing themselves with new types of planes.Plans are under way looking to the establishment of such wings andbrigades in the United States with the end in view of furnishing completeand fully trained units to the American Expeditionary Force.

The whole training program was considerably held up by lack ofequipment. Obviously it required far less time to select men for trainingthan to build the fields, planes, and accessories necessary to trainthem. Primary training planes, the only type manufactured herebefore the war, soon became available in increasing numbers, till bythe end of the year more were on hand than needed. The advancedtraining planes, however, presented problems wholly new to this country,so that primary planes had to be fitted with more powerful enginesand equipment and made to serve the purpose. The first 16 single-seaterpursuit planes were not delivered till January, 1918, the firstbombers till March, and the first gunnery late in May.

During this fiscal year a grand total of 407,999 hours were flown byArmy aviators in the United States, as contrasted with 745.5 hours in1914 and 1,269 in 1915. In the single week ending June 30, 1918, atotal of 19,560 hours were flown, or 15 times, for that single week, thenumber of the whole year three years before. This, at 75 miles anhour, is equivalent to over 30,000,000 miles, or 1,223 times around theEquator.

During it there were 152 fatalities, or 2,684 flying hours and 201,000miles flown to each death. Of these, 86 were caused by stalls, whenthe plane, usually through some error by the pilot, lost its flying speedand dropped into a straight nose dive or turned into a tail spin, fromwhich the pilot did not have the time or the skill to extricate it. Collisions[350]were responsible for 30 other accidents, often due to failure tofly according to the rules. Side-slips, the only other large cause ofaccidents, resulted in 10 deaths.

Regrettable as these accidents are, it is felt that, considering thenewness of the science, the early state of development of the planes,the inexperience in instruction, and the necessity of teaching stunts inthemselves rather dangerous, this number is not large. As a matterof actual statistics, fatalities in American training are less than halfas large as those of the other allied countries.

Besides flyers, however, engineer officers to direct the upkeep of theequipment, supply officers to keep sufficient equipment on hand, andadjutants to keep the records and do other military work had to beespecially trained. These men, absolutely essential to the maintenanceof the Air Service organization, could be secured only after a detailedcourse of instruction. An engineers’ school, opened for a 12 weeks’course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on January 12,graduated 590 men and discharged 228 before June 30; a supply officers’school, opened at the Georgia School of Technology, graduated852 men and discharged 111 from an eight weeks’ course before it wasclosed on May 11; and an adjutants’ school, opened at Ohio StateUniversity on January 12, graduated 789 and discharged 97 men inan eight weeks’ course before it was closed June 22.

A six weeks’ course for armament officers and men to care for machineguns and bombs was opened at Fairfield, Ohio, on April 22,graduating 95 officers and 465 men by June 30, all of whom wentforthwith overseas. Just at the end of the year a series of specialschools in aerial gunnery were opened as the final step in the flyers’training in this country, graduating 102 pilots, 111 observers, and 101fighting observers by June 30. Also a special course for compass officerswas opened at Camp Dick, Texas, on April 10, with 53 graduates,and another course at the same time for a score of navigation officers.

Radio also required very special instruction, with courses and instructorsfor all flyers through the various stages of their progress, forthe receiving force on the ground, and for the men responsible for theupkeep of the radio equipment. At the outset, volunteer civilians, eachwith his own methods of instruction, stepped into the breach, but bythe end of the year two radio officers, and four enlisted men’s schoolswere in operation with 49 and 329 graduates, respectively; radio officersand equipment had been sent to every field and ground school; andthe courses for flyers had been standardized all the way through.

Aerial photography, which had developed during the war into anexact science, required similar triple instruction—that for observers tooperate the cameras in the air, intelligence officers on the ground tointerpret them, and enlisted men to aid in the developing, printing,and enlarging, and to keep the equipment in condition. Where theUnited States had not even a single aerial camera at the outbreak of[351]the war, by the end of the year there had been opened on March 25 alarge school for developers and printers at Rochester, N. Y., with 680graduates by June 30, an officers’ school on January 6 at Cornell teachingmap compilation and interpretation, and photographic “huts” withcomplete personnel and equipment for instruction at each of the flyingfields.

One of the most serious problems, and one of late development, wasthat of enlisted men, the ground force needed to keep the planes andengines always in prime condition, repair minor breaks, tighten up wires,strengthen struts, and make sure that no airman went up in a faultyplane. This was work wholly new to American mechanics, and of adelicacy and carefulness to which they were quite unaccustomed.Moreover, mechanics of the skill required had largely been drained offby the draft, by enlistment, or by other war industries.

Consequently, a whole series of schools was necessary. At first, inthe fall small detachments of mechanics were sent to various factories—ignition,magneto, propeller, welding, instruments, sail-making,cabinet work, copper work, machine guns, and motors to secure as muchexperience as possible. While about 2,000 men were being graduatedfrom 17 courses at 34 different schools of this type, more fully workedout courses were established at five northern flying fields closed forflying during the winter. With 2,500 graduated here, still more detailedcourses were opened at four large mechanics’ schools, whichadded another 5,000 men. By the end of the year two large and completeGovernment schools were in operation at Kelly Field, Texas, andSt. Paul, Minn., capable of graduating 5,000 men every three months.

A noteworthy event of the year was the opening on May 15 of thefirst regular aerial mail service in the United States between New York,Philadelphia, and Washington. The Army furnished six planes andpilots, shortly doubled, for a daily round trip, carrying about 350pounds of mail each way, and with a record of 50 minutes for the 90miles between Philadelphia and New York, and 1 hour and 50 minutesfor the 135 miles from Philadelphia to Washington. Ninety per centof the trips were made successfully.

Another vitally important phase of the Air Service is that of ballooning,which during the war has been developing into a system ofever-watchful sentries on guard all the way from the North Sea toSwitzerland. Less spectacular, perhaps, than the heavier-than-airwork, this branch of the service has a quite indispensable function.The observer, swinging in a captive balloon at an altitude of a mile,2 to 5 miles from the enemy’s lines, and with a range of vision of 8miles in all directions, can make a far more detailed, minute-by-minuteanalysis of the enemy’s movements than the wider visioned but transitoryaviator, and can maintain such a flow of minute information tothe staff below that no important movement can take place unobservedwithin his view.

[352]

Here, also, at the outbreak of the war the United States was practicallywithout facilities. The only school was at Fort Omaha, Nebr.,recovered from complete abandonment the previous November, withaccommodations for 15 officers and 400 men, and equipment of balloonshed, gas plant, two obsolete captive balloons, and some telephonematerial. The original program of August 13 necessitated a very largeexpansion, fully comparable to that in the heavier-than-air branch.

To meet the program the Fort Omaha school was enlarged in Septemberto accommodate 61 officers and 1,200 men; on December 28Camp John Wise was opened at San Antonio with a final capacity of150 officers and 2,200 men, and special companies were sent to FortSill, Okla., for cooperation with the Coast Artillery. By June 30,440 balloon officers had graduated, of whom 155 were fully qualifiedobservers, and 73 had been sent overseas. The enlisted strength stoodat 9,621 with 1,382 abroad.

Thus, by the end of the fiscal year, the Air Service had in operationan educational system complete in all the details necessary to man thisintricate service. Fields, curricula, instructors, and equipment wereon hand for the most diverse courses, and men were graduating inhundreds trained to all the difficulties of operating aeroplanes andtranslating their work into effective action. A total of 34,209 menhad been graduated from the various courses, with 20,976 men enrolledin 50 schools of 16 different types.

Many outside bodies were called upon to cooperate in this development.Great Britain, France, and Italy all early established largeaviation missions in Washington which brought their three years ofexperience to help solve problems confronted here for the first time.The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the Bureau ofStandards, and several joint Army and Navy Boards also added theirinformation on the subject.

Nevertheless the work was carried out under extreme difficulties.Operation and production were not properly coordinated. Much timewas lost in having to obtain the necessary authority to build a newfield or secure increases in personnel, instead of being able to carryout a main program with full independence and authority. Moreover,experienced and trained personnel was lacking; work had to be donewhile the actual organization to do it was being built up; much timewas lost in the expansion and moving about of offices in Washington,some half a dozen times; while officers were constantly being shiftedbetween Washington, the fields, and overseas.

Meanwhile overseas, work of organization was similarly going on.Hardly six weeks after the United States entered the war, namely,on May 27, the first cadets sailed for France for training in the highlydeveloped French flying schools, till by the end of the year nearly2,500 men were under instruction in France, England, Italy, andCanada. The collapse of Russia, Italy’s serious defeat, and the weight[353]thrown on the allied services made it impossible, unfortunately, forthe Allies to meet the schedule of training planes necessary, so thatmany of these cadets, the most promising of America’s material, werein idleness for months. Nevertheless, what facilities were availablegreatly advanced America’s aerial preparation and helped relieve theshortage of equipment here. It was early in May, 1918, however, overa year after America’s entry into the war, that the first German planefell victim to an aviator in the American service. About the sametime 468 fully trained American aviators organized into 13 completeAmerican squadrons or brigades with British and French squadronswere actually on the front, taking increasing toll of the enemy.

During the same time an enlisted force of 46,667 men had also beensent overseas. The first to go were sent to France to lay the foundationsfor the great organization soon to be built up, including trainingfields, assembly depots for American-built planes, and aerodromes nearthe front. Others were formed into service squadrons in England andFrance to be ready as soon as American pilots were trained into theirown organizations. Still others went to relieve French skilled laborof unskilled work so that they could go back into aeroplane factories,while others went to England for the construction work necessary tocarry out the night bombing program.

Consequently, by June 30, 1918, two large training organizationswere in operation, the source of supply in this country training andorganizing thousands of pilots and men in all sorts of tasks and theoperation end overseas giving the final training in France, England,and Italy the fast moving of fully trained squadrons to the front.

Where, at the outbreak of the war, there had been but 65 officersin the Air Service, there were now 14,230; the enlisted strength, similarly,had jumped from 1,120 to 124,767; the number of men in orawaiting training for flyers from less than 100 to over 18,000. Therewere 4,872 officers and 46,667 enlisted men overseas. Indeed, theAir Service alone was by June 30, 1918, larger than the American Armyat the outbreak of the war. While its development had been infinitelymore complicated and much less rapid than expected, there is reasonto believe that it is essentially sound.

William L. Kenly,
Major-General, U. S. A.,
Director of Military Aeronautics.

The Secretary of War.

RECORDS OF ALLIED AND ENEMY ACES WITH
NUMBER OF PLANES BROUGHT DOWN

K—Killed. D—Dead. C—Captured. W—Wounded.

BRITISH ACES

• Major E. Mannock (k) 73
• Colonel William A. Bishop 72
• Major Raymond Collishaw 70
• Captain James McCudden (k) 58
• Captain Philip F. Fullard 48
• Captain Donald E. McLaren (k) 48
• Captain G. E. H. McElroy 46
• Captain Albert Ball (k) 43
• Captain J. I. T. Jones 40
• Captain A. W. B. Proctor 39
• Major Roderic S. Dallas 39
• Captain W. G. Claxton (k) 37
• Captain F. R. McCall 34
• Captain Frank G. Quigley 34
• Major Albert D. Carter 31
• Captain Cedric E. Howell 30
• Captain A. E. McKeever 30
• Captain Henry W. Wollett 28
• Captain Brunwin-Hales 27
• Major William G. Barker 25
• Captain W. L. Jordan 25
• Captain John Andrews, (Lieutenant, 9) 24
• Captain Francis McCubbin 23
• Captain M. B. Frew, (Lieutenant, 8) 23
• Captain John Gilmour 23
• Captain E. Libby
• Captain Robert A. Little 22
• Captain A. H. Cobby 21
• Captain G. E. Thomson (k) 21
• Lieutenant John J. Malone 20
• Lieutenant Allen Wilkenson 19
• [355] Captain E. G. McClaughey 19
• Captain J. L. Trollope (c) 18
• Captain Stanley Rosever (d) 18
• Lieutenant Leonard M. Barlow 17
• Captain Walter A. Tyrrell 15
• Captain P. C. Carpenter 15
• Lieutenant Clive Warman 15
• Lieutenant Clive F. Collett (k) 15
• Lieutenant Fred Libby 14
• Lieutenant R. T. C. Hoidge 14
• Captain H. G. Reeves (accident) 13
• Captain Murray Galbraith 13
• Lieutenant Joseph S. Fall 13
• Captain Noel W. W. Webb (k) 12
• Lieutenant A. J. Cowper 12
• Lieutenant Alan Gerard 12
• Captain Whitaker (in Italy) 12
• Lieutenant M. D. G. Scott 11
• Captain Robert Dodds 11
• Captain Gilbert Ware Green 9
• Lieutenant K. R. Park 9
• Lieutenant Rhys-David 9
• Lieutenant John H. T. Letts 8
• Captain James A. Slater 8
• Sergeant Dean K. Lamb 8
• Lieutenant Boyd S. Breadner 8
• Captain Wagour (in Italy) 7
• Lieutenant Edward A. Clear 7
• Captain Henry G. Luchford (k) 7
• Captain C. A. Brewster-Joske 7
• Lieutenant A. S. Sheppard 7
• Lieutenant James Dennis Payne 7
• Lieutenant Lionel B. Jones 7
• Captain Lancelot L. Richardson 6
• Lieutenant Cecil Roy Richards 6
• Lieutenant Howard Saint 6
• Lieutenant Fred John Gibbs 6
• Lieutenant C. W. Cuddemore 6
• Captain H. T. Mellings (w) 5
• Commander R. F. Minifie (c) 5
• Lieutenant Langley F. W. Smith 5
• Lieutenant Ellis Vair Reed 5
• Captain R. W. Chappell 5
• Captain G. H. Boarman 5
• Lieutenant F. T. S. Menedex 5
• Captain Kennedy C. Patrick 5
• [356] Sergeant T. F. Stephenson 5
• Lieutenant William Lewis Wells 5
• Lieutenant E. D. Clarke 5
• Captain Fred Hope Lawrence 5
• Lieutenant Edward R. Grange 5
• Lieutenant W. G. Miggett 5
• Lieutenant Lawrence W. Allen 5
• Lieutenant William D. Matheson 5
• Lieutenant Stanley J. Coble 5
• Captain S. T. Edwards 4
• Captain A. R. Brown 4
• Captain A. T. Whealy 4
• Captain T. F. LeMesuries 4
• Commander F. C. Armstrong 4
• Commander E. L. N. Clarke 4
• Commander R. B. Munday 4
• Commander G. W. Price 4
• Commander R. J. O. Compston 4
• Lieutenant V. R. Stockes 4
• Lieutenant W. C. Canbray 4
• Lieutenant G. T. Beamish 3
• Lieutenant E. T. Hayne 3
• Lieutenant G. W. Hemming 3
• Lieutenant J. E. L. Hunter 3
• Lieutenant W. A. Curtiss 3
• Lieutenant G. R. Crole 3
• Lieutenant Robert N. Hall 3
• Lieutenant David S. Hall 3
• Lieutenant M. F. G. Day 3
• Lieutenant E. G. Johnson 3
• Lieutenant M. H. Findlay 3
• Lieutenant C. B. Ridley 3
• Lieutenant S. B. Horn 3
• Lieutenant K. K. Muspratt 3

FRENCH ACES

• Lieutenant Rene Fonck 75
• Captain Georges Guynemer (k) 53
• Lieutenant Charles Nungesser 43
• Lieutenant Georges Madon 41
• Lieutenant Maurice Boyau (k) 35
• Lieutenant Coeffard (k) 34
• Captain Pinsard 27
• Lieutenant Rene Dorme (m) 23
• Lieutenant Guerin (k) 23
• [357] Captain Heurteaux 21
• Sergeant Marinovitch 21
• Lieutenant Deullin 20
• Adjutant Ehrlich 19
• Lieutenant de Slade 19
• Lieutenant Jean Chaput (k) 16
• Lieutenant de Turrenne 15
• Lieutenant de Meuldre (k) 13
• Lieutenant Garaud 13
• Lieutenant Nogues 13
• Lieutenant Jailler 12
• Lieutenant Marcel Hughes 12
• Lieutenant Navarre (w) 12
• Lieutenant Tarascon 12
• Lieutenant de Sevin 12
• Adjutant Casale 12
• Lieutenant Leps 12
• Lieutenant de La Tour (k) 11
• Adjutant Maxime Lenoire (k) 11
• Lieutenant Sardier 11
• Lieutenant Ortoli 11
• Sergeant Montrion (k) 11
• Adjutant Herrison 11
• Sergeant Bouyer 11
• Lieutenant Bourgade 10
• Adjutant Herbelin 10
• Sergeant Quette (k) 10
• Captain Georges Matton 9
• Adjutant Chainat 9
• Adjutant Dauchy 9
• Lieutenant Viallet 9
• Sergeant Sauvage (k) 8
• Lieutenant de Rochefort (k) 7
• Captain Rene Doumer (k) 7
• Captain Alfred Auger (k) 7
• Lieutenant Henri Languedoc (k) 7
• Captain Derode 7
• Lieutenant Lachmann 7
• Lieutenant Flachaire 7
• Adjutant Vitallis 7
• Adjutant Sayaret 7
• Lieutenant L’Hoste 7
• Lieutenant Raymond 6
• Sergeant du Bois d’Aische 6
• Lieutenant Covin 6
• Lieutenant Bonnefoy 6
• [358] Lieutenant Gond 6
• Lieutenant Soulier 6
• Sergeant Boyau 6
• Adjutant Dhome 6
• Adjutant Peronneau6
• Sergeant Rousseau 6
• Private Louis Martin 6
• Lieutenant de Mortemart (k) 6
• Lieutenant Adolph Pegoud (k) 6
• Sergeant Marcel Hauss (k) 5
• Captain Lecour-Grandmaison (k) 5
• Lieutenant Georges Baillot (k) 5
• Adjutant Pierre Violet (k) 5
• Lieutenant Andre Delorme (k) 5
• Lieutenant Borzecky 5
• Lieutenant Paul Gastin 5
• Adjutant Bloch 5
• Lieutenant Regnier 5
• Commander Marancourt 5
• Adjutant Blanc 5
• Lieutenant Marty 5
• Adjutant de Pralines 5

HUN ACES

• Captain von Richthofen (k) 80
• Lieutenant Udet 60
• Lieutenant Werner Voss Crefeld (k) 49
• Captain Boelke (k) 40
• Lieutenant Gontermann (k) 39
• Lieutenant Max Muller (k) 38
• Lieutenant Bongartz 36
• Captain Brunowsky (Austrian) 34
• Lieutenant Max Buckler (k) 34
• Lieutenant Menckhoff 34
• Captain Berthold 33
• Lieutenant Loerzer 33
• Lieutenant Cort Wolff (k) 33
• Lieutenant Koenneke 32
• Lieutenant Balle 31
• Lieutenant Schleich 30
• Lieutenant Schaeffer (k) 30
• Lieutenant Almenroder (k) 30
• Lieutenant von Richthofen 29
• Lieutenant Kroll 28
• Lieutenant Prince von Bulow (k) 28
• [359] Lieutenant Wuesthoff (k) 28
• Lieutenant Laumen 28
• Lieutenant Boerr 28
• Lieutenant Huey 28
• Lieutenant Blume 28
• Lieutenant Lowenhardt (k) 27
• Captain von Tutscheck (k) 27
• Lieutenant Barnett (k) 27
• Lieutenant Dosler (k) 26
• Lieutenant Arigi (Austrian) 26
• Lieutenant Peutter (k) 25
• Lieutenant Veltgens (k) 24
• Lieutenant Erwin Boehm (k) 24
• Corporal Rumey 23
• Lieutenant Kirstein (k) 23
• Lieutenant Link Crawford (k) 23
• Lieutenant Fiala (Austrian) 23
• Captain Baumer 23
• Lieutenant Jakobs 22
• Lieutenant Klein 22
• Lieutenant Cluffort 22
• Lieutenant Friedrichs (k) 21
• Lieutenant Billik (k) 21
• Lieutenant Wimdische (k) 21
• Lieutenant Adam 21
• Lieutenant Grein 20
• Lieutenant Buechner 20
• Lieutenant Thuy 20
• Lieutenant von Tschwibon 20
• Captain Reinhardt 20
• Lieutenant von Eschwege (k) 20
• Lieutenant Bethge (k) 20
• Captain Behr 19
• Lieutenant Thulzer 19
• Lieutenant Baldamus 18
• Lieutenant Wintgens (k) 18
• Lieutenant Frankel (k) 17
• Lieutenant Kissenberth 17
• Lieutenant Schmidt 15
• Lieutenant Geigle (k) 15
• Lieutenant Schneider 15
• Lieutenant Immelmann 15
• Lieutenant Nathanall 14
• Lieutenant Dassenbach 14
• Lieutenant Festner 13
• Lieutenant Hess 13
• [360] Lieutenant Muller 13
• Lieutenant Goettsch 13
• Lieutenant Pfeiffer 12
• Lieutenant Manschatt (k) 12
• Lieutenant Hohnforf (k) 12
• Lieutenant Muttschaat 12
• Lieutenant Buddecke (k) 12
• Lieutenant von Kendall (k) 11
• Lieutenant Kirmaier 11
• Lieutenant Theiller 11
• Lieutenant Serfert 11
• Lieutenant Goering 10
• Lieutenant Mulzer 10
• Lieutenant Frickart 9
• Lieutenant Banfield 9
• Lieutenant Leffers (k) 9
• Lieutenant Schulte 9
• Lieutenant Parschau (k) 8
• Lieutenant Schilling 8
• Lieutenant von Althaus 8
• Lieutenant Esswein 6
• Lieutenant Walz 6
• Lieutenant Hehn 6
• Lieutenant Koenig 6
• Lieutenant Fahlbusch 5
• Lieutenant von Siedlitz 5
• Lieutenant Rosenkranz 5
• Lieutenant Habor 5
• Lieutenant Reimann 5
• Captain Zauder 5
• Lieutenant Brauneck 5
• Lieutenant Ullmer 5
• Lieutenant Roth 5

ITALIAN ACES

• Major Baracca (k)36
• Lieutenant Flavio Barachini 31
• Lieutenant Olivari (k) 21
• Lieutenant Anchilotti 19
• Colonel Piccio 17
• Captain, Duke Calabria 16
• Lieutenant Scaroni 13
• Lieutenant Hanza 11
• Sergeant Maisero 8
• Lieutenant Parnis 7
• [361] Sergeant Poli 6
• Lieutenant Luigi Olivi 6
• Lieutenant Stophanni 6
• Lieutenant Arrigoni 5

BELGIAN ACES

• Lieutenant Coppens 30
• Lieutenant de Meulemesster 10
• Lieutenant Thieffry (k) 10
• Lieutenant Jan Olieslagers 6
• Adjutant Beulemest 6
• Captain Jaquette 5
• Lieutenant Robin 5
• Lieutenant Medaets 5

RUSSIAN ACES

• Captain Kosakoff 17
• Captain Kroutenn (k) 6
• Lieutenant Pachtchenko 5

TURKISH ACE

• Captain Schetz 8

NOMENCLATURE FOR AERONAUTICS

BY THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS

Introduction

The following nomenclature was adopted by the NationalAdvisory Committee for Aeronautics at its annual meetingOctober 10, 1918.

The purpose of its adoption and publication is to help secureuniformity in the official documents of the government as wellas in the technical journals.

Aeronautical Nomenclature