Page:Aircraft in Warfare (1916).djvu/210

§ 108 § 108. ''Present Position. British Superiority.'' The reports as to the performance of the air-craft, and more particularly the aeroplanes, of the different belligerent armies are at present very meagre and incomplete. However, it would appear from the observations of those best qualified to judge that the British machines are by no means backward, and in many important respects are superior both to those of the enemy and to those of our Allies. The features in which we at present possess the advantage are those in which the flying capacity of the machine, rather than its more essentially fighting quality, is concerned. Thus superiority may be claimed for the British aeroplanes: firstly, as being better aerodynamically — that is to say, for given horse-power and weight they possess a greater speed and climbing power; secondly, they are more stable — in fact, our present-day machines are definitely automatically or inherently stable; thirdly, they have a higher factor of safety than any of their Continental rivals and are far more robust as to alighting gear; and, fourthly, they are more weather-proof. In short, they are better fitted to service conditions. Beyond this, one of the latest models turned out by the Royal Aircraft Factory is by far the fastest machine in the world, being some ten or twenty miles per hour faster than anything the Continent can show. On the other hand, on the outbreak of hostilities we found ourselves without a thoroughly satisfactory fighting or gun-carrying type of machine — it is one matter to be able to mount a gun on an aeroplane, and quite another to design and construct machines expressly for that purpose. It is, indeed, doubtful whether at that date any really satisfactory gun-carrying aeroplane existed at all; it is in any case precisely in this direction that our own air service has found itself most lacking. In brief, it may fairly and undoubtedly