The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1917-10-18

S from airdromes along
Englands east coast; a
flight commander for each
~ marShaling his raiders into the V
shaped formation in which wild geese
travel on the wing; and then II swift
flight across the 30 miles that sep
arate the nearest point of the English
coast from the famous Kiel canal, the
rush of dropping bombs, the crash Of
explosions on the earth beneath. the
crack Of antiaircraft guns, and the
flash of antiairCraft SearChlightS, and
then turn-abOut and Il dash for home,
with the Kiel canal and the German
fleet ruin and u wreckage In the
reart
This is the picture which Henry
M0OdhOuSe, one Of the governors of the
Aero Club of America has vislOned
from an inspection Of the photograph
and the engineering prints Of the new
G0O-hOrse power Caproni triplane. The
craft is the biggest yet employed by
Germany or the allies, and yet II Is
less than a fifth as big as the machine
which Italy has under construction,
and OF which all details are concealed,
except that it Is TO have motors gen
Grating between 1900 and $500 horse
power. One-half the size OF this mon
ster. an airplane driven by three mo-
tors, each OF COO horse power. is al
ready constructed. and news Of its Op-
Grafton against Italy'S Austrian foes
is expected daily.
Itmy is new at the business Of avia-
ton. Two years ago she had fewer
than 100 men employed in the indus
try. Today she has thOuSy ndS and. on
the authority of Howard Z. Coffin.
chairman OF the aircraft production
board, Italy has OutdiStanced her enc
mics and her allies in developing new
types of aircraft.
Maj Il. Perfetti, head Of the special
Italian commission for aeronautics I'm
the United States. is an ardent advO-
cate Of the huge warplane and ac-
counts which he has been able to sup
ply this government Of Italian success
i'm this kind of construction have done
much TO divorce aerial experts here
from their allegiance to the small.
light type of craft for the single fight
er. THE extra weight-carrying capacity
Of the great machines is the especial
argument in their favor and could
thousand such as the Caproni be con-
structed, manned, armed and loaded
with bombs, aviation experts cannot
see why the dream of destroying the
Kiel canal and the German fleet might
not be realized, were the entire thou
sand to combine in a single raid
The present 60O-hOrse power Caproni
Is triplane with two fuselages or
bodies and driven by three Fiat or
1sOtta-Fraschini motors, any one of
which has sufficient power to keep the
craft aflOat even were the others to be
disabled. The machine is Of both the
tractor and pusher type, for two pro-
pellers are mounted in front and one
in the rear. The plane carries q So
called useful load Of 4,4OS pounds
which assures fuel for six hours, TO-
gether with q crew of three men, three
guns, and 2,75O pounds Of bombs. 1t
has q speed Of close to So miles an
hour and is capable of climbing $3.50
feet in Is minutes, $500 feet in 81
minutes, and 10000 feet in 81 min
utes.
This seems slow in comparison TO
the Spads which climb 10000 feet in
five minutes or less, but q Spad is SIM
ply n flying motor with sustaining
strength barely sufficient TO support
the aviator and gun. The CaprOni is
as big as trolley car. It's wing span
is more than 100 feet. 1t stands q
feet in the air and it is nearly so feet
long.
The only aircraft which compares
with II in size is the British Handy
Page machine, which, with two $50
horse power Rolls-Royce motors, car
ried p passengers, and has a wing
spread Of 9S feet, and the Curtiss and
Galiaudet monsters made in this coun-
try. The huge Curtiss triplane air
cruiser, with which 1t was hoped to
cross the Atlantic ocean before the war
turned the thoughts Of aviators into
other channels, is possibility as q