The Dickson County herald. (Dickson, Tenn.) 1907-1979, 1915-12-10


fiom the U-hoat. thay fnllow sictx
untii the foe starts TO tho surface 20
tAks q peep aruunG Then they swoop
down and. swishing along the saFtscs
OF the sea at terrific speed. pass right
over the u-host. breaking Oh lie pars
scope and leaving II heipieaA
One OF the marked features Of the
seaplanes nox 10 the great strength
with which they are built. We no
longer use the enc silk that was pat
on the America. ind while am not
tavoring metal for the snrfAss Of the
planes. much of the framework 10 Of
metal am not at liberty to give d.
mensiGas Of the biggest machine yet
turned cut. but can say n Ia eonaid.
erably larger than the America and
more than eight times the weight Of
the machine with which I Few dovn
the Hudson Eve years ago and won
the Worlds tio.oec prize for the flight
from Albany.
More important than the increase
In sire In this increase in reserve en-
CINE power, On the America We had
two motors OF % horse power each.
bat they developed cnly 80 horse pow
or. or together $50. On O similar ma.
chine today re pu, two Ice horse pcw.
er motors
Asreelans That's safe.
Were we now building for peace
purposes we could build enormously
larger machines than we are turning
out, But In war machines very high
speed 10 essential rather than siEe.
II IL absolutely necessary. OF course,
that aircraft In war shall he able TO
rise very speedily, The periis OF war
are evolving an aeroplAne that 10 az
safe. apart from war perila. IA coach
on . paved read.
Among the war ayers OF the allies
the mishaps essentially Aeronautical--
that IL, not due to var conditions
have been fewer. | understand. than
accidents among q similar number Of
automobiles. Taken altogether, the
losses In the dying corps have been
remarkably light compared with the
amount Of flying done and the risks
run.
Records OF their work show that
some OF the men we trained have been
In the air more than one thousand
hours In less than q year. and one OF
them has recorded 100 hours aloit,
which means more than four hours a
day In the air over the foe without
being hit or having a rnishap to his
machine. Some OF the escapes have
been miraculous. From one flight
man returned with more than hun
bred bullet holes In his planes, but be
had not been hit.
Two other developments illustrate
the inherent reliability OF the aero
plane today The frat is that flight
Is now made with safety no matter
how rough a wind is blowing. Weather
no longer counts The other 10 that.
though In peace flight over q city was
forbidden because OF its danger
cities are new being protected by
aeroplanes and we have not heard OF
any disaster through machine fall
Ing.
Expecting Too Much.
Il am often asked why the british
flyers cannot protect London from the
2eppelins My answer Is that that 10
expecting too much. II Is impossible.
The truth is tina, they are so far pro,
tecting London that the Zeppelins dare
not venture near In the daylight and
can make their raids only under cover
OF q dark night Even at night tho
raiders have to turn back II the sky
Is cloudless.
But even II the aeroplanes were
already hovering high over the city
when the Zeppelius came the chances
would be In favor OF the raiders. II
would be possible TO NY quite close 10
Zeppelin and no, know Il. II you
did happen TO see 1t. the next moment
1, would be lost In cloud II. ms mus,
be the usual case. the defenders have
10 wait on the ground until the Yep.
pelin Ia picked up by s-archligh'
the raiders viii. have done their work
and be fleeing at top speed before an
aeropane can reach their height
The Germans say they make their
raids at an elevation Of 5000 feet. but
| believe 5000 feet is nearer the mark
That Is why they escape the guns