AIR SUPREMACY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17328, 17 November 1916, Page 8

AIR SUPREMACY.

BRITAIN'S PHENOMENAL PROGRESS.

Mr Edward Price Bell, special correspondent of tho " Chicago Daily News," writes as follows.: —

London miracles? Of course they never happen. But bo rapid and extensivo has been tho expansion of Britain's military nir service during the war that it suggests the miraculous. In tho matter, indeed, there j was a magician's wand; it was the wand of money and skill and labour. Men Imvo had not only money, not only skill, but the will to work te tho verge of exhaustion. At the outbreak of the war Britain's total fighting strength in tho air consisted of six squadrons,of active aeroplanes —eighty in number—manned proximately by '250 officers and 1000' men. To-day Britain counts her air squadrons bv" tens, her officers of tho Royal Flying Corps by hundreds, her machinos by thousands, and her air mechanics by tens of thousands. Beforo the war tho military wing of tho aerial fighting forces of Britain regarded itself as fortunate if it obtained for its purpose an appropriation of £ 1,000,Out). At tho present tho annual expenditure on the Flying Corps mounts into many millions of pounds. It is probable that tho country's total investment m militarv aircraft is not short of some 1 £38,000,000 or £40,000,000. It may bo very considerably more. In August, 1914, the Royal Flying Corps found an adequate homo in six or seven rooms in tho AVar Offico building in Whitehall The service was controlled by what was called tho Military Aeronautics Directorate. At tho head of this was the Director, a BrigadierGeneral, who had a small staff, tho rooms for officer occupancy were}, three or four, and those for the clerical staff two or three.' Now tho Royal Flying Corps occupies an immense building of its Own, formerly Do Keyser's Royal Hotel. Blackfriars. This structure contains 375 rooms, and tho corps continues rapidly to grow. 500 PER CENT EXPANSION. In the earliest days of the war British military authorities perceived that tho aeroplane was to play an extraordinary part in it—was a machine with a gigantic future. Instantly the British braced themselves for a great effort. They needed officers and men and many more machines. Without a day's loss of time tho authorities decided upon an immediate 500 per cent expansion. Aerodromes wero dotted all over England and Scotland, located in large flat expanses without high objects, such as trees, chimneys, and telegraph poles. Here the officers and men get their training. At these aerodromes tho British have developed the officer and mechanical talent now fmhting and maintaining British aeroplanes in Flanders, France, Egypt, Salonika, Mesopotamia, India and. East Africa. Among scouting and observing agencies the aeroplane has undisputed primacy. It ascertains not only the movements but tho intentions ot tho enemy. , _ . .-. __ At present the Royal Flying Corps, in it* magnificent building on tho Victoria Embankment, is organised under a director-general, with two directors. , One of its functions is described as ; that of "air organisation, and the other as that of "aircraft equipment. , The Air Organisation Department is tho super-brain—the creative brain—ot the corps. It decides upon matters <> policy, strategy,, tactics and the genera design of aeroplanes. The Aircraft Equipment Department has control ot the material supplied to it following policy decisions by tho Air Organisation. Tho corps has sub-departments-for example, a large contract department, a. works department, an inspection department. From top to bottom tho Royal Flying Corps is manned by Britons, homo or colonial. THE DEADLY " HAWKSWOOIV " At the start of the war we were in advance of tho Germans in the air, said en able officer of the corps to me. "About a year later the Germans, with their great organising and con- , structive power, got somewhat ahead j of us—at least, equalised the position. Almost immediately, however, we surpassed them once more: and ever since wo have been superior to jbhem m tho air on tho west front. All this talk about our inferiority to the enemy in the air is nonsense. "Of course, the Germans have thrown up a few genius pilots, such ns Immeluiaim (now dead) and Bolcko. "We have not produced the equals ot those men, if we measure by actual individual achievements. Immelmann, presumably, was tho creator of the ■hawkswoop,' which was very deadly. Operating a Fokker, ho fired his machine gun through tho propeller. His policy was to attain a great height and then dive straight for his adversary, shooting all the time. Whether he hit or not, he drove straight on for tho earth. , ~ " Even this remarkable flyer finally was vanquished by our boy M'Cubbm. Our policy is not to advertise particular men—not to 'star' anybody. Our belief is that, while we have not produced an Immelmann or a Bolcko, we have produced tuiijurpassably efficient fighting men uniformly. Many of our men have brought down live, six or seven opponents, and we have not turned the limelight upon them. "Man for man, wo undoubtedly are masters of the air on the west front. This fact 1 attribute to tho mental and physical training we give our boys in England. Our youngest pilots have dono wonderfully well. They ileum muoklv. aro intensely keen, have great alertness of mind, art instinctively. We havo found almost universally that men approaching forty, unless exceptions, have about reached the ago limit for this business." _ ; British aeroplanes aro now inherently stable. That is to say. the ictn;-. "inecrs have solved the problem of automatic stability. Tho machine may lose its equilibrium, but it speedily rights itself automatically. Thus the pilot is relieved of much arduous work that formerly ho was compelled to do. I