GERMAN AEROPLANES

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 126, 30 May 1935, Page 11

GERMAN AEROPLANES

CATAPULT LAUNCHING

Evidence is available that Germany is developing the catapult, method of launching bombing aeroplanes, writes Major C. C. Turner, in the "Daily Telegraph." This method enables the machines to carry a heavier,load than they could take off with in the ordinary way. ■ Germany already has a superior bomber to any possessed by Britain. This is the big new four-engined type with a long range and high speed. The catapulting method has been exploited by Germany for launching mail aeroplanes from ships in the Atlantic. This has provided the opportunity lor training a large number of pilots in this method. The launching apparatus on the s.s. Westfalen is capable of sending a machine weighing fourteen tons into the air. Used on land, the catapult obviates the take-off from conspicuous aerodromes. ' Some years ago the Air Ministry showed at the RJV.F. display a big bomber weighing about eight tons being launched from a catapult. Designs were prepared for the road transportation of the complete apparatus. "COMPOSITE MACHINE." A remarkable method of obtaining immense range, combined with great speed and big load capacity, is the "composite aeroplane," invented by Major R. H. Mayo, and now being -built by Short Bros, at Rochester. Mail-carrying is the primary object. It consists of a big four-engined flying boat supporting another fourengined machine on its wings. The two machines are locked together by a patented device which permits of the use of the full engine power of both for the take-off run. When the required height is reached, and the combined craft are travelling at sufficient forward speed for the upper machine to fly alone—probably at more than 100 miles per hour—the upper machine parts company from its carrier and continues on its mission carrying a load with which it could not, unaided, have taken off. Germany enjoys the further immense advantage of being able to operate from bases near her western frontier, all within range of the Port of London, the Midlands, and even Liverpool and Belfast. Britain, on the other hand, has the Intervening sea and the Low Countries to span before her air forces could reach German territory. Berlin itself lies at a much greater distance. Germany also offers more widely scattered military objectives. During the war of 1914-18 British air bases were established in Belgium and France, and even with the short-range aeroplanes of those days it was- possible to inflict heavy damage upon enemy bases and war factories.