HOW TO READ AN AIR REPORT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 223, 8 June 1918, Page 7

HOW TO READ AN AIR REPORT

i ''DESTROYED" -AND "OUT OE 'CON-. ' . - •: -TIiOL.V. -■ ■■ ■ Every day so many German aeroplanes (and' lately it has been a very great many) are' reported': .is being destroyed or driven down* out of control. There is a distinction between those expressions, although almost invariably tliev both mean the same thiiig—that tho pilot was killed and the machine destroyed. ■ :• Briefly, it may be said that a machine' is considered Ins being destroyed when its destruction has actually been observed by the attacking pilot and by witnesses; that it lias been driven down out of control when it has been seen in such a condition or position that its ultimate destruction can be assumed, although it has not actually been observed. An air-' man can see a machine which he knows must have been riddled with bullets go spinning, down very erratically and per-; hans vanish in a-laver of mist near the ground, and can assume, its destruction and report that it was driven down "out of control." ' _ ... When a German machine has been reaorted as "destroyed" it generally means ouo of three things: The aeroplane has caught fire aud has been seen diving vertically to earth, enveloued in flames and leaving behind it a loug trail of smoke. There is then no hope for the unfortunate occupant; he will be burnt to death before he reaches, the zround, and the machine will be utterly destroyed.' . . ■ Suclwi fire is.generally caused by the penetration of a bullet into the 1 , petrol .tank of the machine, which at once jets it on fire. The speed of the machine blows the flames towards the occupant, and so he and the "fuselage" of the'machine are burnt. Occasionally a local fire in the engine can be put out by diving at a terrific speed, but if the petrol tank catches alight the prospect is almost boneless.

The second way in which machines are destroyed i 3 by t'ae folding up of the wings. Either tho essential "flyingwires" (which bear the weight of the machine) or perhaps' the main "spars" in tho wings or the wooden stmts between them are cut through by bullets, and at once the wings fold up and no longer support the machine, which falls to the ground in a vertical drop which is' terrible to contemplate. . Tho third cause of destruction is the death or severe wounding of the-pilot. The machine no longer is under control, but falls to the ground in fluttering circles, lika a wounded bird, or perhaps, if •tlie dead pilot has fallen forward on to his "control-stick," in a dive straight down to the earth, where it is crumpled into ■ a small heap. If that final crash into the ground is seen by the pilot who attacked. him,-the machine is reported as ■ lwing been destroyed. Sometimes a pilot follows, the machine down until he is quite near the ground to see its final destruction, and so to Mnake sure of his victory. This is done all the more now that fighting machines are so strongly built that it is possible for them to dive vertically from .20,000 feet to 2000 feet at an average speed of 200 miles au hour, or more, and yet come out of the dive safelv.

Modern machines, too, can spin down thousands upon thousands of feet, apparently out of control, and vet regain their normal position at a low altitude and return safely. to their aerodrome, though but a few moments before'tlicy wcro, perhaps, apparently at tho mercy of a dozen hostile machines—S.T., in the "Daily Mail."