Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/381

 Popular Science Monthly

353

The Sikorsky biplane, the first of the aeronautical giants of to-day. Before the outbreak of war, this machine startled the world by making successful flights with seventeen passengers

tables, luxuries replaced by explosives.

With the exception of the Sikorsky biplane, the first reports that filtered into the press of both continents concerning aerial dreadnoughts was the appearance over the English lines of a huge German machine, which hovered at a great height over points of vantage, refusing to be driven away by anti-aircraft guns. The engines turned over slowly, driving the biplane at a lazy speed of sixty miles an hour, British aviators who rose to fight off this stranger were received with a hearty welcome. Powerful motors were switched on, and the machine flew to the combat at a tremendous speed. From the fusilage two guns blazed forth, and the hardy British were quickly driven to cover. For some time this machine held the supremacy of the air, and not until France and England built their aerial dreadnoughts did the odds again become even. As nearly as can be ascertained, Fritz, as this new machine was soon christened by the English, has a wing spread of between eighty and one hundred feet. In the central fusilage are mounted two heavy guns, and there are accommodations for two gunners and a pilot, with usually an observer to watch the enemy's lines. In two fusilages on the wings are two heavy motors, with the necessary room for mechanicians and engineers. The great power of the motors gives the battle-plane wonderful flexibility of speed.

Unsubstantiated reports from Europe credit the Germans with a new triplane which carries a crew of twenty men, eight motors, and five guns, including an anti-aircraft gun throwing high explosive shells of heavy caliber. This super-dreadnought is said to be sheathed with armor.

Scene in the Curtiss factory at Buffalo. Mechanics are seen working on one of the many aeroplanes of the "America" type, which are being turned out at this factory at the rate of one finished machine a day

(Continued in the April issue.)