AIR INCENUITY.

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 35207, 18 May 1918, Page 1

AIR INCENUITY.

AUTIKIf.UAL "KYKS ,, THAT AID SCOUTING. It is an old Roman lesson of war thiil. it is ii lsnvlul thing to learn from an enemy. Tin; (Jornians are employing nil thoir industry ami ingenuity in aircraft .'irimminnt and equipment in order to <oinjjd<v,\v'itli tho cp!i)bijut.'d output :uj(l toe l.nicjtl 'artof Great Hrltain, i'miico, Italy, and tho United States. TJic Huns at present are making their reconnoitring two-men typo of machine and tho bombing three-iiK-ii type comparatively small and fast.

In the case of their biggest and slowest machine, the Gotha bomber, speed and manoeuvring ability aro being backed up by an improvement in tho armament." In this bombing machine practically all "blind areas" and "dead angles" of fire have heen dono away with by mounting a third machine gun" under the fuselage, which is shaped like an inverted funnel, so that its fire can be brought to bear on all points heretofore in lino with what aro called the "tail members." There is now no "blind spot" on tho tail of a Gotha bomher which can be taken advantage of by an Entente battleship of the air.

Some German raiders carry bombs of over 6001 bs weight. Mr C. Dientsbach points out in the "Scientific American" that in the 'sighting of bomb hits the Germans have made continual progress, and to-day they aiM employing highly efficient sighting instruments made by such famous optical firms as Zeiss and Goerz, which have afforded all their skill in this direction, as well as in aerial photography.

One of the most ingenious articles of Hun optical equipment is the "photographic machine gun," at present mostly employed in sham battles, which takes a photograph of the attacked machine at every shot, showing by its position in the field of sight exactly how each shot, if real, would have hit or missed.

Another Hun device is the "artificial eye" of the air scout. This is a double stereoscopic camera of the utmost power, placed in the machine so that it commands an unobstructed view of the ground below. With its powerful lenses it discovers from an altitude of two miles whether the trenches it snaps are actual deep recesses or only "duds." It can also detect the camouflage of sham batteries. This excessively useful camera permits the Gorman air scout to photograph tho whole territory flown over in a continuous series of pictures. In the frequent practices of the Hun air fleets, firing from aeroplanes with machine guns and with small one-inch semi-automatic guns is demonstrated. The machine-guns use the "trace bullets, which leave a luminous path behind them. In these demonstrations incendiary bullets aro also employed with the object of setting fire to targets below.