Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-21

| WHO LOT many centuries
~ held the worlds record for overseas
flight, would doubtless be greatly interested
in the improvements effected in wings since
his day. Imagine his circling about over
Nieuport last Monday, when huge Yep
pelin was attacked by a cloud of British
aeroplane-hornets and stung until she fled
for her life. Darling hither and thlther, her
tormentors dived in for a blow now here,
now there, avoiding the counter-strokes of
the numbering and clumsy ,leviathan of the
air, all mile or up from the earth
We have reached a point where the art of
flight is taken altogether too much for
granted. We have been satiated with tales
of aerial adventures from the war zone until
the sensation Of eager interest has perhaps,
passed by. For this reason we fail to real
ize the tremendous advance made in the
development of aircraft, particularly of the
dynamic type, The has equipped avia-
ton with seven-leagued boots. Thus, out
of the conflict, will stride one great benefit
to humanity-travel by air.
Chiefly responsible for this progress is
the number of men who are now flying. A
rough-though approXimate-estimate gives
us no fewer than 900 military pilots actively
engaged in hostile operations. This number
Is augmented daily Britain alone training
from ten to fifteen new operators each
week. Inc casualties nave been SurprlS-
ingly small less proportionately than in any
of the other branches of the active service.
If these men fly willingly and suffer com
paratively little in perfect hailstorms of
shot and shell, how lightly will they con-
slider air Journeys without such risk! Daily
the man-birds are proving that the aero
plane, in itself, Is as safe as any means of
rapid transit. So the fear of the heights of
the atmosphere, one of the greatest obsta-
cles in the path OF the widespread develop
ment of aviation, has already been dealt its
death blow.
Round Trips to the Moon
But the material of flight, as well as it's
human element, has also improved vastly
The heart of the aeroplane, It's motor now
beats with a regularity which indicates a
final conquest of cardiac troubles. In scout
ing alone. during the first eight months Of
the war; the French avions, or war ma
chimes, Travelled distance equal to As times
the earth's circumference, or two round
trips between the earth and the moon. Near
ly an equal distance has been covered in
offensive Notwithstanding the direction
of artillery fire-by French aeroplanes.
When we reflect that the British and Rus
sian totals. to say nothing of those of Aus
tria and Germany, must also be estimated
at large figures we begin to realize the re-
liability which aircraft engines have at
tanned.
Other members of the aeroplanes anatomy
have likewise greatly profited from the
wars hard-won experience Strength and
simplicity are, respectively. the chief de-
mands made of construction. There are, in
America today, a number OF flying officers
from belligerent nations seeking aeroplanes,
among them several Englishmen. 1t has
been the writer's fortune to see the methods
used by the British experts in acquiring
suitable designs They know. to the last
turnbuckle, just what they want and how
they want it. One OF them, an officer in
the royal naval service. has had wide ex-
perience of the vicissitudes of conflict in the
air. He went down on the aeroplane mother
ship Hermes, when that Inflated craft was
sunk by a German submarine last fall in |
the North Sea.
A recent experience of his in this country |
illustrates the disappearance OF fear Of the |
air. The Englishman was testing a new |
machine. and, with a passenger on board, |
was Just about to alight after an hours /
flight. While on the last turn, some dis
tance out over a considerable body of |
water. and with the craft steeply banked. the |
wire control leading to the aileron broke.
depriving the pilot of the customary means
OF maintaining latsfal paiahce. CoOly the |
aviator looked over the side OF the naeelle to
see what was wrong. and juggled his verti-
cal rudder till he had worked the craft back
to an even keel. Then he shut or his power
and descended. Neither pilot nor passenger
received scratch.
Backward Russia, however. mas furnished
the sensation in flying craft, for she has
brought out type which gives promise OF
Fsyolutionizins aerial tranie Eor several