WAR INVERTIONS THAT WROUGHT MIRACLES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19968, 7 June 1920, Page 4

WAR INVERTIONS THAT WROUGHT MIRACLES.

— GERMANS OUTMATCHED IN BATTLE OR WITS. SCOTTISH BOY’S EPfC OF COOL COURAGE. (Sydney "Sun.”) "A’lien the great war ended, scientists were busily occupied on both sides in devising new and terrible methods of destruction. In the following article, Captain W. 11, 6. Geake, M.8.E., who \rns the Australian representative on too British AVar Board of Inventions, gives some idea- of what the Germans would have had to face had they continued the war:— The following notes will nice some idea of the outstanding inventions, both tor offo nsivc am) defensive purposes, with which (ho aeroplanes of 1919 were equipped. It is hard to over-estimate the value in aerial warfare of obviating the danger o! a ’plane taking fire. Even tbo most daredevil air fighter was always prepared to confess that- Ids one. great dread when mixing things at close quarters was; that an incendiary bullet might set lire to his 'bus. Every aeroplane sent, to France during the last six months of the war was equipped with a new self-sealing petrel tank, the invention of a young Canadian, Lieutenant Imber. Ths wasp looked upon as one of the biggest triumphs in warplane equipment; the difficulties that had to he overcome were particularly exacting owing to the limitations in weight and the wonderful incendiary nrouertiea of the enemy machine-gun bullet, also owng to a little known phenomenon in tanks containing liouid. called a water hammer, as a result of which an ar-mour-piercing bullet entering the tank gives off -its energy 'to the contents, with the result that the tank is split as well as pierced. AVith devilish ingenuity the Boehe always loaded Ids machine-gun belts up alternately with pair of incendiary bullets between each pair of incendiary bullets, i,te effect being that, the. armour-piercing bullet shattered the tank, and the incendiary bullet sot fire to the escaping gases. After over twelve mionths exnerimeuting and exhaustive tests, a, tank was produced which would not allow a single drop of petrol to escape, although perforated, as in one test-, in 8- places hv enemy ammunition; furthermore, this tank did not weigh move than 16 per cent above that of the standard metal tank "previously used. The. amazingly simple idea behind the invention was that of covering a thin soft metal tank with a three-eighths coating of pure rubber...the essential condition being that the. rubber was fitted to the outside of the tank in surh n manner as to be always in a state of compression. The bullet unom entering would quite destroy the inner metal casing; but the rubber, being in compression, instantly sealed the aperture. The effect of the petrol on the rubber only helped to make the sealing more effective by . softening the texture of the rubber. • ° This invention allowed our air fighters to take.unheard-of liberties in "attacking an enemy plane. As, unless the pilot was actually hit, nr one of the small controls of the engine severed. it wn* practically impossible to put a piano thus eonioped out of action. The chief joy of the invention was that the Boehe could not copy it, because he had not any rubber. FASCINATING PROBLEMS SOLVED Another small argument in favour of an immediate armistice, was the invention and equipment of our war-planes with a, revolutionary design of machinegun bullets. To. outward appearance it iyas exactly similar to the well-known ,30k machine-gun ammunition, but the bullet was divided into lour divisions, which separated immediately upon leaving 1 ho barrel, and two of-these, divisions carried an incendiary charge. The design did not trespass on the regulations laid down by the Hague Convention, and was absolutely distinct from an ordinary, shot gun. The secret was also remarkably simple: each bullet was divided into four segment's, which remained dovetailed together while in the barrel, but each segment was so arranged as to be directly exposed to the gas of the propelling charge, the result being that each segment accumulated its own high velocity before becoming separated. The great, advantage was no alterations were necessary to the machine-guns or belts. To appreciate what these two inventions in themselves had .contributed to the efficiency of our incomparable airmen, remember that (he machine-guns had already been speeded up until they were firing 1200 shots per, minute, consider that each -of these shots was really tour bullets,, again, remember that the safety protection afforded by the selfsealing tank, am] that in an emergency, two or, perahps, three machine-guns, could be brought to hear- Tt will ho scon that our pilots could dive cl-oso down upon an enemy plane, and that, a. regular .bail of load, practically ten thousand separate shots per minute, could he, hurled at the enemy plane, each (imp fie came within range. One of the "real weaknesses of the heavy bombing plane, until very roomily, was that it had one very vulnerable point. It was proved again and again that a, fast Hying scout could fly in directly under the tail of a big bombing piano, and remain in that position quite safely, as none of tho machineguns on tho bomber could he brought to hear. To find an answer to tho tail-sitter without'altering the design of our planes, was another fascinating problem sent to (be Research Section from Headquarters, France. And it was successfully solved. The great difficulty that had to lie met was that the fragile construction of the war plane would not withstand the recoil of any of the standard types of bomb-throwing apnaratu-;; the solution was found hv drawing upon the ingenuity of the ancient Tinmans. A modern adaptation of the original cataput was fitted to the fusijage. of the bombing plane, and a ten-pound Tomb operated by a. time-fuse, which functioned onlv after haring travelled fOft Hi rough the air, was thrown hv this catapult, straight astern. The machine, which hurled tlm homo would travel nearly a quarter of a, mb, a wav from the explosion, whilst (hclollowing machine in the position de<-cn!i-ed above, would he travelling Inwards tho bomb about to explode. If the plane were anywhere within a radius of a hundred feet of the bomb when it exploded, it, would lie bopelfsdv crashed, even if not aetuallv struck by the, shrapnel. UNORTHODOX AtTSTIIALIA N, ft has always been the ambition of those who specialised in the of war ’planes to find some method bv whieh a real gun as distinct from ma-chine-guns. could he fitted ;■ something in the shape of a =mall pompom was what w« were looking for. But the. aeroplane, designers and instructors, after endless tests, proved conclusivclv Hiat the. recoil on such a. fragile structure was almost sure to spell disaster, particularly because- of the varvim r strains to which the machines were continually suejected, and the varying angles at which the gun would uavs to be fired. Endless cushioning and shock absorbing devices were tried, but without success, An Australian inventor hit. upon the only possible solution, and it* simply doubled .the offensive strength of our heavier warplanes. Like each of tlm other solutions the idea was simplicity itself. The gun was made so as to lire simultaneously both clirectlr ahead and astern; that U, the recoil was neutralised by the if-coil from the s'>ofc

fired in the opposite direction. At each discharge one shot was wasted, but, in aerial gunnery, as in attacking a, Zeppelin, one shot was all that was needed, especially as this shell hurst in Uiree hundred fragments of shrapnel. This is rather a, happy instance of the method by which the Australian inventor scored over the more highly scientific designers from other parts of the world—he always tackled problems from the most gloriously unorthodox angle. One of the finest instances of calculated courage imaginable was provided in connection with experiments with screens suspended from balloons. Tm understand the story, R, must be. explained that for the six mouths prior to Christmas. 1917, very exhaustive experiments had been carried out. and countless tests made, in an endeavour to produce a very light screen, ’which, could be supported by a captive balloon, and which would entangle anv hostile aircraft, caught in its meshes. As 'an outcome of these tests the best type of screen was adopted and manufactured in large quantities, and certainly proved -of the very greatest value m preventing air raids. This was in 1997—six months later our aeroplanes weer nightly bonibin" tbe Rhine towns, and the'Boehe, hemg always a. good copyist, prompt! v put up screens of a similar type, to protect the cities on the Rhine. Following the usual practice tho problem wa.s sent, to us for any possible solution, that is, wo were asked to find some wav of getting through the very nets which°we had previously spent'six months in making impenetrable. Liery known principle of wireculUug was carefully examined; tests were made until the best possible high speed cutting device was arrived at and two of these were fitted to tho leading edge of the wings of the plane at their extreme tips. A steel guide wire Jwas carried out in front- of' the* pi opener, and from there it ran down into the jaws of these cutters, forming, a-> it were, a wedge-shaped entrance in fiont. of the plane, thus keeping the wire of Jhe. screen out. of the propeller, mid guiding the wire, into the jaws of the cutters. Naturally everv part was tested very carefully upon the ground; but although these ■were satisfactory •ye could not look noon anything as being accomplished until the device was tried in the. air. AVit-h very real trepidation the officers responsible, for this expei imeut talked the matter over with two of the experimental pilots on tho station; hut the trial was co fraught with peril to the pilot who would actually have to attempt to drive his niac 'mo through a net that we had spent six months in making absolutely certain, death to all aircraft—particularly as nothing of the same tvt>e had ever been attempted hefore-that we simply had to. wait for a volunteer to undertake the risk. magnificent courage. The .wronger of the two pilots, -a hxotsman. who was little more than a schoolboy, examined the machine pretty thoroughly and then very nonchalantly lemai keel that lie would like to lia.Te a. cut at it the following morning. AVhen !™. r° lowing morning arrived some, little difficulty occurred in getting the screen up, and it was late in the afternoon before all was in readiness. 'u * ', T °l ,mtee r pilot merely asked that the net. might he run up another thousand leet, mid' then just casually jumped into tho machine, ran the eiipno up. and three or four minutes later was circling round at four thousand feet, while wo on the ground were suffering the tensest agouv of suspense. AVithout more than a' moment s hesitation the pilot, haring -nt his altitude, turned her nose down? and coved straight for the net.. AVhen ho hit it we could see, from tho ground that there was something wrong; aiicl I am afraid all present lost several heart'beats, particularly those responsible for the design. AA hat had actually happened was that the cutter on the starboard wing hail cut through successfully, but the port wing had not been so successful. The momentum of, the machine had carried it throgh screen, and in spinning louud on the other side it. had unbooked tho port wing tip, which through not cutting, had become entangled. The maohino turned over like, nh autumn leaf, and lost height for over a thousand feet before the pilot again got control. Two or three minutes late. l ' he was gliding to earth and calmly walking up to the knot of still a.we-stricken officers, whom he greeted with the simple intimation that he was entitled to a "gasper” (cigarette), as “that cutter up there was a blinking dud.” Aii examination of the machine was made at onco. and was more than acceptable as a. relief from the strain of the. last two or three minutes- 'Tho chap who had actually taken the risk was by far the coolest man present Tho examination showed that there was a. slight difference in The tension of tho guide, wir l which formed the entering wedge, on tho side that had not. functioned. It is unnecessary to say how much care, was expended m making the port side exactly as the starboard, or to say that, the whole gear was examined again and again, both that night, and first thing in the morning. And while this examination was in progress before breakfast and befo-;e tho rest of the. station realised that there was anything under way. our pilot friend strolled carelessly nut to whore, wu were working, threw awa-v his cigavettq, and in a quarter of an hour was safely back in the drome again, having cut tho net. through. Tbe only record that, tho public knew of tin., piece of superbly quiet daring wis the. ‘'Gazette' notification of another mystery award for services' undefined. Tho only intimation the. Roschc had of it. was the seeming utter futility of several perfectly well-hung screens supposed to bo protecting the Rhine towns.