Omaha daily bee., 1916-02-13
OVERHEAD ARM OF ARMY
France Organizes a Fleet of Vessels
Designed to Do Deadly Work
Up Among Clouds.
MANY DEVICES ENTIRELY NEW

/ (Correspondepce Of the Associated Press)
PARIS, oct. 30--Now that France has
developed an aerial force with battle
planes. cruiser-planes. scouts and lesser
| aircraft, which the officers refer TO as
torpedoplanes. IL has been necessary 10
organize this overhead service with the
same exactness of details that armies
and fleets are organized. with tactics
and maneuvers OF advance and retreat
attack and defense. Unlike an army or
fleet, which can move only In one direc-
! ton parallel with the surface of the
earth or water, a fleet Of air warships
can move in any direction. upward.
downward. forward or backward and at
any obliaue.
All OF these tactics of the air are now
being worked out with precision AL
ready the official reports refer almost
daily TO the maneuvers of an squad
rifle, which is the French term for a
squadron of air-fighters, and soon there
will be mention OF the advance or recoil
of the right wing or left wing OF these
squadrons. as the tactics provide for
the assembling OF q number of esquad-
rifles into fleets which can be increased
in size almost indefinitely.
Wells. the English novelist. suggested
the deadly effect OF 1000 aeroplanes how
ering over Berlin and dropping bombs
The number and maneuver was at the
time regarded as fantastic. But the or
ganization OF sauadrons and fleets Of bat
tle-planes and cruisers brings this meas
urably within realization. and already one
attack has been made with slxty-five
aeroplanes, two with over sixty and five
with from thirty TO forty air-fighters.
III. .1-fNu ~. Il. H.. 81
the aerial organization. at first consisted
Of six aeroplanes. But the rapid develop
ment OF fighting types changed the or
ganization so that the esduadrille is now
made up practically as follows:
| She scout-aeros (avions d 'observation);
two armer cruiser-aeros with three-inch
gun (avions de chasse)s one battle-plane
with two three-inch guns and one nit
raleuse (avion de combat); nine lorries.
nuine trailers, nine portable cancas aero
sheds and three autos.
Plan of Command.
The esquadrille, thus made up. IL COM
manded by a commissioned officer of the
army, who acts as pilot Of the squadron
Commissioned officers also operate the
| fighting and cruising aeros, with ex-
pert non-commissioned officers and SOL
diers for the lesser craft. Including the
soldiers on the lorries. trailers, etc. an
esquadrille has a compliment of upward
OF seventy officers and men. Of which.
however. only a dozen or so are actual
flyers.
M. Rene Bernard. the newly designated
Secretary of State for Aviation, has re-
Gently given opportunity for the inspec-
ton OF the new types Of air-fighters. The
1 hnf
cruiserplane (avIon de chasse) are the
two main developments. Only partial de-
scriptions of these craft is permitted;
nothing can be stated as to the number
of planes of the monster battleplane. But
1t Is permitted to indicate it's power by
saying that it has carried twelve men
in it's flights. and that 1t mounts on its
huge outstretched wings two three-inch
cannon, one at either tip, with rapid
fire naitraleuse In the middle. Just above
the pilot. The recoil OF the cannon does
not Jar the craft owing TO an automatic
device, explanation of which Is not per-
nissible.
The other type, cruiser-aeros. or avions
de chase, mount one three-inch cannon
in the middle and just ahead of the
pilot. These cruisers can mount almost
straight up from the ground, at the rate
OF about 1000 meters in two minutes. so
that they can go straight up to an enemy
as soon as he is observed. instead Of
mounting slowly on long curves as of
old.
Chance TO Win Prize.
But France is not stopping with these
new devices, and its engineers and con-
lstructors are inspired with the thought
of a rich prize OF. 5000 francs for a still
further advance. which will realize 200
llxilometers an hour with four motors,
two pushing and two pulling.
The esquadrille. or squadron, is only
the unit Of organization. and It is in
assembling them that the real fighting
maneuvers are accomplished. The d.
recting head OF the organization Is here
in Paris, connected with the ministry Of
war. Here all the orders are given and
the services regulated. The machines
themselves are at aero parks scattered
all over France. the names of these
places being withheld from mention.
Here they are gathered in hundreds and
given their final tests before going to
the fighting line.
But lie is on the fighting line that the
real maneuvers begin. The aero parks
I lot aCludA 6cINiCc 0Ac n ShOAN
in the rear of the fighting forces. each
park at the front being made up OF four
esquadrilIes. So that as each esquadrille
has nine aeros of various form, the four
esquadriiles OF each park comprise
thirty-srx aeros, including battle-planes,
cruiser-planes and scout-planes. In turn.
these parks hack OF the line are con-
nected. so. that the equipment OF
twenty-six machines in each can be
rapidly brought together for a concerted
attack or defense. AS these parks
stretch from end to end OF the long battle
line, their number and aggregate cs ar
craft must be very large. As stated, the
concentrations OF sixty-five fighting
craft have already been carried out, and
much larger concentrations are in view.
The fighting tactics have developed a
number OF interesting phases. 1t is
a strange fact that one Of the most useful
devices has resulted from the capture OF
an enemy aero. This brought to light
fine instrument OF precision. made by a