AERIAL DREADNOUGHT

Otago Witness, Issue 3325, 5 December 1917, Page 61

AERIAL DREADNOUGHT

A NEW LEVIATHAN. FLIES WITH TWENTY-FIVE MEN AS EASILY AS THREE. The following article describing the wonders of the latest product of British aeroplane manufacture appears in Land and Water. The author is Mr E. P. Noel:—The aeroplane Of the type most suitable for the purpose of carrying the war into the heart of Germany fo ready. To execute the programme that the British public demands and which military authorities in all allied countries have come to bebeve highly important, it is only necessary to intensify the production of this aeroplane leviathan. It is ready developed, tried, and proved. Of this I have had practical demonstration, thanks to the courtesy of the British Admiralty which authorised me to go as passenger on the trial voyag. of one of these mammoth craft. Although it carries a load of several tons, this machine travels faster than any aeroplane regularly employed by the Allies during the first year of the war. It is provided with two engines of the maximum power known to successful air engineering. The wind spread is so expansive . than 18 full-size men could Ho alonec the planes head to heel, and any one of them might walk on the ground underneath the lower plane without bumping his head. It has flown with 25 people aboard as easily as with three. I saw one of these aeroplanes leave the ground for its air baptism, circle high, and wing its way from the works to the naval station near by. just as it had left the assembling rooms; and an hour later, without any alterations or adjustments, felt it lift into space with me aboard, to climb above the clouds and fulfil to the letter the Admiralty's requirements. Even before we glided smoothly down to a perfect landing, I was convinced that the big 'plane was a success, realised that its employment in magnificent numbers as long distance artillery in Germany was now only a question of "months, while the beginning of its commercial use would date from the first days of victorious peace. , The other morning I receiveda telephone message: "The big machine will leave the works at 11 a.m." It was on the grass outside the great doors when I arrived, and Mr Clifford B. Prodger, an American, who was to pilot it, was pulling on a tightlyfitting cloth helmet. In front of us was this Brobdingnagian thing of the air, so heavy, solid, even massive, that it seemed incredible it ever would leave the ground. A mechanic in a fuselage 15ft above our heads asked : " Are you ready for the motors now?" and the pilot nodded aesent. No mechanics touched the screws to put the motors in action, bujt very slowly and noiselessly tho blades began to move by an unseen hand actuating hidden mechanism. After a complete revolution one motor after another began to fire, their blades whirring on either side of the fuselage. Then, as a final precaution, these great engines were speeded up until 'the indicators registered the desired number of revolutions. There was a double blast of. air of terrific forco accompanied by the continuous roars-of explosions and the rumble of gears that caused the screws to turn less rapidly than the motors. The test over, the mechanic emerged through a trapdoor in the floor of the fuselage and the pilot climbed in, followed by other men. They offered me the seat of honour, the gun ring at the very nose of the fuselage in front of the pilot and the Naval Air Service officer acting as official observer of tho tests. Or I could sit in the wireless and bomb-dropping room behind the pilot, where,-- entirely enclosed and comfortable, my vision would be limited to the ground below and horizontal glimpses through small windows. The after-gunner's position was highly recommended, and I took that. An officer climbed in after me through tho large gun opening, and wo mounted to what is called "the rack," a latticed floor above the main lattice, through which one has a direct down view of the earth's surface. -Standing on the rack with the top of the fuselage under my elbows, I saw, looking forward, the head and shoulders of the pilot and observer, and another head in the gun ring beyond. Looking back, was the tail, with the rudders and elevators seeming very far away. Prodger raised his hand, the motors roared, and we raced across the field with very little jarring. That ceased entirely as the wheels left the ground and we mounted skyward. Without knowing it wo pass through the moving rain clouds at 1800 ft, and at 1800 ft look down on them. They are so- light that they barely obstruct the view > of the country, which begins to appear Lilliputian. Above aro heavier clouds, still hiding tho sun.

Tired of standing, I go below and get out of the rush of air. After amusing myself with the inter-communicating telephone, checking up our altitude barometer with the bettor instrument forward, I look about. It is a comfortable interior—comfortable oxcept for theso slats of a floor with an inch of open space between them, through which earth recalls its distant presence, and filmy rain clouds slip by. In front of me is a magazine of "dummy" bombs, ready in their traps. What an array of power to wipe out the forces that mako it possible for the enemy to continue to carry out that plan of subjugation, which already has caused eo much misery in the world! I could crawl by these projectiles, into the stations forward, the wireless and bomb-dropping positions, to the pilot's and observer's seat and the gunner's round hole in the nose of the fuselage. But I content myself w.'th looking, watching the pilot's feet on the rudder bar, and his elbows as he actuates the wheel _ that controls the ailerons for lateral stability and the wheel post which keeps the elevator set at the best climbing angle our mighty engines permit. But to see movement 1 must watch closely, for there is very little, only fractions of inches. I walk about this 6paee, on the floor of slats, and inspect the various devices that Britain's skill has devised to compete with the ruthlessnes3 of the enemy. Finally, my companion conies down and we shout into each other's leather-sheathed ears, one observation or another, and finally seat ourselves on the rack, while the engines roar and the air rushes by overhead. " We could play cards here If we had any," ho shouts and signs to me. But as we have none I take out a note-book and demand the' altitude. " Seven thousand five hundred feet," he signals back. So I record as follows: — " On board his Majesty's Royal Naval Air Service plane No. X. Somewhere over England at 7500 ft, June 25, 1.15 p.m., both

engines turning nicely. Slight bump now and then as wo mount, but steady on the whole. We aro still on the way to 10,000 ft for altitude. Clouds above and below." Yes, looking down through Vthe photographic slots in front of me, I see only' tho white down of olouda; above through the aperture in the fuselage, the same. Then I climb back to tho rack, and, standing, peer over our sides.

In every direction clouds. Through those that are above tho run is just visible, a round white ball. But enough light filters through to illuminate the soap-suddy, cot-ton-liko billows below. The wind cuts like a winter hurricane.

Below again, this time on the rack, where I lie down on my side, and, resting In comfort, watch the view from the window opposite. After a while I lower the unbreakable glass, but the air is too cold, and it soon goes up again. Beforo I had looked down on gas tanks and factories as wo passed over them, thinking how simple it would be to release these bombs and now difficult to miss such enormous targets. But now the comfort of tho thing comes over me, and I imagine this samo type of aeroplane after the war on peaceful mission between Continental cities. Instead of those bombs there will be room for more passengers, and the rack instead of being open to show the ground will be solid to lend confidence to tho passenger. There will bo a sort of promenade deck from the control room forward to some point aft of the present after-gunner's position,, and below it scats or berths far passengers, who may enjoy the view, as I do now, through side windows all along the fuselage Then—bang!

Like a. small cannon firing- close at hand comes this unnerving round, followed by others; one side, then another, at unequal intervals. Quickly I notice that we are pointing' steeply down, that the motor.? are barely turning, over. It was exactly what Prodger said would happen in case we met an enemy in the air. • So I climb to my feet while the fusillade continues. But before there is time to look about in search of an attacking Han, I realise that the noise comes, from the motors, which continue to fire spasmodically even after the ignition has been cut off. We have attained 10,000 feet, and are on the way back to the aerodrome. The air rushes by with new speed as wo glide down from 10,000. to 6000 feet in a few minutes, and there is so Little noise that my companion and I converse without difficulty. There is only the grinding of the gears and the singing- of the wind in the wires.* At 6000 feet we are able to see much of the surrounding country again. Prodger gets his bearings and heads across country on a slight decline, now flying on one motor, now on the other, and then again on both, to show how easily it can be done.

Not very long; after I hear " There's the aerodrome." We go down steeply with the motors barely turning-, and bank up on a steep angle, like a small machine, to land at the right spot, slip over a moving railway train not 30 feet below, and touch the turf as lightly as any aeroplane can, about one hour after the start "How do you like it's" someone asked.

"Thai," I remarked, 'is the longestrange, highest calibre artillery p.'ece in existence, and I am vexy proud to have made its clo3e acquaintance; for surely it is going, to do much to win the war."