Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/659



��Using a Ford as an Airplane-Tender

It could be done if the tender were designed to offer the least possible resistance to the air

Bv Carl Dienstbach

��FROM afar comes the rolling thunder of the field guns, heavy blasts mark- ing the rhythm of the heavy artil- lery. The sharp staccato of the machine guns and the spiteful cracking of the rifles cannot be heard so far behind the battle line. Undisturbed by the distant din and turmoil the birds are singing, feed- ing and making love as if there were no such things as bloody war and de- struction.

Suddenly their singing, twittering and chirping cease. Their sharp ear has heard a strange sound to which it has not yet become accustomed as it has to the distant din of battle. It is a whirring sound, at first faint, yet sharp and per- sistent. As it approaches it becomes louder and more terrifying. The birds flutter around and seek shelter.

A few moments later an airplane of a strange type appears above the treetops, makes a sharp curve and, with a graceful glide, comes to rest upon the clearing which crowns the top of the hill. It is a huge monster. Wings of great expanse and a tail in proportion rest upon a strange big body, streamlined and pro\ided with wheels. The pilot and his ma- chinist descend and from somewhere four other men, wearing sol- diers' uniforms swarm out of the body of the big monster. There is some hurried activity and after a few minutes the big body is de-

��Covered driver's seat

��WirvJshield lowered dvjrir\g -flight

��Alumirxum covered bonnet

��Diagram showin< lining a Ford for

���tached from the airplane, which then, greatly lightened, is ready for its return journey. The pilot and the machinist clamber to their respective places, a hearty "Good luck!" a wave of the hand, and, with a short run the machine rises from the ground and quickly disappears behind the treetops flying in the direction from which it had come a short time before.

The body of the monster, relieved by the busy hands of the soldiers of its streamlining shell of canvas and alu- minum, proves to be a Ford, carrying two machine guns and a load of ammuni- tion and provisions, in addition to the gasoline required for a long trip. The shell is folded up and loaded on the car by three of the men, while the fourth is busy around the engine, putting it in shape for an immediate start. Five minutes later the Ford is mounted by the four soldiers and chug-chugs away in the direction of the battlefront.

The scene pictured in the preceding lines is merely imag-

Body With load inary, but it may

covered w,th canvas ^^^^^^ ^Ctual, if the

/5Kart\taiiof suggestion of L. R. Carroll, of Roundup, Montana, is adopted and carried through by the government.

The giant flyers of to- day have ample lifting power to carry a Ford together with its cargo. Aerial transportation does not balk at the weight to be carried, but at the indifferently

��X(:lothor> light framirx^

Motor

Covered wKeel

\ method of stream- easy transportation

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