Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-30

handle in the cramped space. OF car
in any event.
The difficulty with the use of ma
chine gun is that, unless placed in line
to aim. and if It is placed in that po-
sit;on its fire will go through the
blades of the propeller and end the
career of the machine and it's pilot The
armament of single scatter Is to place
the gun In front of the aviator, pointed
at an angle that will make it's fire
clear the tips of the propeller blades.
The method of attack Is to rush to-
ward the enemy plane at full speed I'M
til perhaps two hundred yards away
from it, then swing suddenly to the
right or left. depending upon how the
gun is placed, and as 1t bears upon the
hostile plane a touch of the pilot
opens its automatic fire in the enemy's
direction.
The pilot by maneuvering his machine
directs II until the fire bears upon its
target. and If he Is successful the stream
one hits vital spot In the enemy pilot
or plane. the successful ACE" scores
another victory and the newspapers say
! yesterday one of our aviators brought
But il the pilot Is unsuccessful he must
maneuver his unsteady craft out OF his
enemy's return fire, which he may do by
climbing II his machine is good enough,
some other course that appears open to
him to escape the fire that his enemy will
be pouring into him.
The two-seaters carry two guns, usually
OH uprfghts on either side of the body of
the machine. These uprights may be ex-
tended until they are higher than the
top of the propeller so that the gun
pointer may direct his fire head on against
the enemy's machine. and with this ar
rangement the attacking plane can go in
fleadlong until the enemy gets out of
fire With this arrangement the guns
are not rigidly fixed. but the gunner may
hold them on the target II he can.
Many have attempted to place a
single gun rigidly in the direct front
fire. but the devices for this end have
not proven wholly successful One
highly extolled is that of synchroniz-
ing the fire of the gun with the move
ment of the propeller, SO that the bull
lets of the gun will pass between the
blades as they revolve. The French
have demonstrated in practice that this
can be done, and 1t can be done sue
cessfully. IL ammunition can be found
that is absolutely uniform, but 1t can
not be made. The delay of one one
hundredth part of u second in the de-
tonation of the primer or the ignition
of the charge means an injury to the
plane.
Another device to give the dead
ahead fire is to make the propeller
shaft hollow and let the muzzle of the
machine gun into It, This promises to
give some degree of success, but neces-
states the rigid fxation of the gun in
a line parallel with the shaft and en-
tails some other minor objections. In
addition to the fixed guns most air
planes are armed with light machine
guns, which are detached and used by
the fighters as opportunity permits. All
these guns may be lightened by strip
ping them of radiators or other cool
ing devices. for they cannot discharge
many shots in a single combat. and
the fierce speed of the airplanes in the
high altitude keeps the barrels sufii-
GENTLY cool for all practical purposes.
The oarsman familiar with the art
Of balancing his racing shell will know
what it means to drop control of &
hfgh-speed airplane to handle the
armament. and he better than most
will feel the nerve II takes to do that
kind of fighting when the earth has
dropped from underneath to a dim
| reality.