The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-11
$4,000 BIPLANE
Captain Billiard to Give Kansas
Real Flying Corps.
Equipment for First N. G..
Squadron Under Construction.

Aerial military experts who have
been concentrating their attention to
the sky activities of the warning ma
lions of Europe for the last Is months
are becoming more and more con-
WINGED that future wars will be fought
almost entirely by armies of the air,
and that trench digging infantrymen.
if they are used at all, will employed
merely as auxiliary forces.
In fact, more than one noted expert
has predicted that the mole-like tao
! tics of the armies of the present war
are to mark the end of foot soldiers
and bayonets, and that earth works
and automobile guns are soon to be-
come as antiquated as arrows and
armor suits because of the improve
ments in aerial military tactics. Some
have even gone far as to say that
an army of German air craft may yet
destroy the greater part of London
before the close of the present war
and among these latter is Victor Muir
dock, a native Kansan, who has re-
Gently returned from the scene of the
great conflict.
TopelSa's Pioneer Airman.
And just as certain as aerial fight
| ing becomes the fashion of the future,
so certain is Captain l.. Phil Billiard,
! of Topeka, to go down in history as
one of the pioneer officers. of the
United States who shouldered the
burden of making his country the peer
of any bird nation upon the earth.
The fact that the war department of
the United States is taking every step
within its power to improve and add to
its flying corps is proof that great i'm
portance is attached to aerial men of
war and the fact that Billiard has been
appointed captain of the first aero
company of the Kansas National Guard
means that the authorities have
thought so much of his ability as a
flier that they have entrusted to him
the task of organizing and creating in
. be able to render valuable and eff
I ffcient service to the nation in case
any issue with another nation should
come to the fight.
Getting His Equipment.
When Billiard received his commits
sion as captain some time ago, it
might have seemed like an empty
honor to the average individual be-
cause congress has not yet made an
appropriation with which the work he
! is expected to do can be carried on.
But Billiard did not consider it as such.
and in accordance with his usual GUS
! tom of getting there in the quickest
possible time, he Immediately began
to make an appropriation of his own
and set to work getting together such
material as he thought an aero cap
tain should have
| And now Topeka's only army air
man announces that by the 25th of
June he expects to be equipped with
/ two flying machines, one of which
will be a new $4,000 military tractor
biplane of the latest type. The other
/ machine is one that has been in COM
mission before. but that is being over
! hauled and equipped for his special
| purposes
The new tractor, which differs from
/ Billiards. previous machines in that the
propellOrs are placed in front instead
of in the rear, is being constructed
here in Topeka by A. K. Longren OF
| 420 Jackson street, and when it is
completed it will undoubtedly be the
latest and most efficient thing in the
way of an aircraft in the middle west.
! A $4,000 Engine.
| As was stated above, the machine
| viii; cost approximately $4,000. The
motor alone in it will cost something
| like $4,000, and it will have carry
/ ing capacity of TOO pounds, which will
even friends like Charley Mitchell
and Sheriff Kiene for joy ride with
out any thought of overlooking his
/ engine.
! The top plane of the machine will
measure 40 feet from tip to tip; and
/ the lower plane 32. The wings will be
straight, following the stream line
idea as much as possible. and the
/ planes will be set sta6Eard. that is, the
/ lower plane will not be directly under
/ the upper one, but will project fif-
/ teen inches more towards the tail than
the upper. The machine will be
equipped with trachometer, a baro-
graph, an thermometer and all mod
ern equipment that a bipiane should
! carry. 1t also will be an easy matter
to equip it with wireless apparatus, if
desirable
In order to pay for the construction
of the machine Billiard will give pub
/ lie exhibitions throughout the summer
at state fairs and carnivals and ex-
poets to be away from Topeka until
/ late in the fall.
Open School Here.
However, he announces that any
work he can do towards putting the
First Aero company of the Kansas Ma
tional Guard on a working basis will
be given first consideration and that
as soon as it is practical he expects to