Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/565

 Destroyers of the Air

By Eustace L. Adams

{Continued from the March Isstie)

���The first real aeroplane squadron of the United States Army, consisting of eight one hundred- horsepower Curtiss tractor biplanes. These machines are good American designs, showing European influence in the streamline fusilages, disk wheels and other details

��EVEN before the advent of Fritz, the great German biplane, which for a brief time drove its ad^ersa- ries from the skies, the Allies were work- ing upon the plans for aerial battleships. One of the results is a French biplane with a wing spread of about seventy feet. Her wings tower thirty feet from the ground; her crew numbers twelve; her guns are two, and they throw three-inch high-explosive shells. By reducing the crew a great number of heavy bombs may be carried. The new machine is a welcome addition to a bombing foray over German territory. This battle-plane has held its own with Fritz, and is ac- credited with having done much damage during the recent French raids on Frei- burg and German towns of military im- portance.

Twin-engined machines are now com- mon on both battle lines. Machines with two guns no longer arouse interest. Aeroplanes mounting a single gun and one motor are scouts, for the most part, which need great speed and slight armament. A speed of well over one hundred miles an hour is not at all unus- ual for these machines, which correspond with the swift "destroyers" of the navy.

To fight off these heavy scouts, battle- planes are required, the best known of which is the German Fokkcr monoplane, which at first created consternation among the British axiators. This ma- chine is a very high-powered monoplane, resembling the French Morane. The

��wing spread is very small and the planes are flattened, yet a two hundred horse- power motor is mounted on the fusilage. Speeds of one hundred and thirty miles an hour are said to be attained by this wasp-like machine. A single machine- gun is mounted in the bow, and is operated by the pilot. Owing to the need for lightness of weight, small fuel tanks are carried and the machine does not stray far from its hangar. When an enemy flyer is sighted, a Fokker rises, and because of its superior speed, can maneuver to any position it likes. It usualh- climbs far above its foe, and then, with engine at full speed, dives straight at its opponent, with its ma- chine-gun blazing fire. The only hope of the Allied aeroplane, taken at a dis- advantage from above, lies in a quick, twisting dive, followed by rapid flight for the protection of friendly anti- aircraft guns. The Fokker is essentially a machine for fast, decisixe fighting, and because of its almost total lack of inherent stability, requires an expert aviator to operate it. The British, since the disastrous debut of the Fokker as a fighting machine, are said to have evolved a monoplane which will success- fully compete with it.

One of the most important of all these new machines has been built in this (M)untry, at Boston, Mass. The Sturte- vant battle-plane is entirely of steel, and is a biplane of tractor type built with a remarkable simplicity. The steel con-

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