Omaha daily bee., 1917-04-22
AERIAL GUNNERY IS
NOW PART OF ARMY
Schools for Drilling Recruits
Who Expect to Join Air Corps
of English and French.
MEN SPECIALIZE IN WORK

Correspondence OF The Associated Press.)
London, March 20.-The superior
ity of the English and French air.
craft, which was frequently asserted
in offitial statements from the entente
side last year, is less pronounced this
year, according TO the British CORE
spondents at the front. This is due to
the appearance OF several new types
of German machines, chiefly modelled,
il is said, on French and British de-
signs, and known as the Albatros,
Halberstadt, Ago, Roland and the
new Fokker.
The majority OF them have fixed
cylinder engines, giving about 100 to
200 horsepower. A few retain the
rotary engines with which the Ger
mans achieved some success in the
Fokker two years ago, but these
rotary engines are seldom Of more
than sl30 horsepower.
Speed Of Machines.
The new German machines have a
speed of about l20 miles an hour, but
their chief feature is their ability for
climbing. Ordinarily they frequent
the l4,000-foot levels, and they have
been observed on picket duty as high
as 10000 feet. The latest German
order for airplane engines is said to
have specifications designed TO give
their machines radius OF action up
to at least $4,000 feet.
Meanwhile the British air service
is putting forth strenuous exertions
to keep ahead OF its rival. Only in
part is this question of planes and
engines. 1t also involves the prob
lens OF more, skillful pilots, and in
this direction of training the British
service has expanded extraordinarily,
After a class OF military aviators
have passed through their course OF
training ON the slower types of'school'
machines, those who show special
aptitude are passed on to the scout
schools" where they are given a spe-
cial course in what is commonly
called "aerobatics," which involves
the use OF the highest speed machines
and handling them acrobatically in
the air, as is necessary in air fighting.
The instructors carry on sham fights
in the. air with their pupils, armed
with cameras instead of guns,
Aerial Gunnery Schools. f.a
Then there are the postgraduate
aerial gunnery schools. The most ex-
pert pilot in the world is useless as
fighting man If he does not thor
oughly understand his machine gun,
for perfect flyer with a jammed gun
is OF little use against merely mod
crate pilot who Is a crack shot and
real gun master, A combination OF
the two is the desideratum, as, for
example, in the case OF young pilot
recently mentioned in dispatches
whose engine stopped dead at a
height of $4,000 feet when he was
being attacked by two German aero
planes. Despite this loss Of motive
power, forcing him to descend con-
stantly, he shot down one enemy ma
chine. drove the other away, and
glided into his own lines undamaged.
The work of the aviator has become
highly specialized in the course of the
last twelve months. AT the British
aviation camps along the front in
France, there are separate squadrons
Of machines for reconnaissance, in
fantry contact, photography, artillery
spotting and bomb dropping and, in
almost every instance, squads OF these
machines may only accomplish their
duties successfully when they are pro-
tected from enemy attack by ma
chimes of type comparable to the
torpedo boat destroyers Of q naval
feet.
For these destroyer machines high
speed, high climbing ability and high
flying and maneuvering power are
essential. Some of the newer British
machines of this type are said to
show a speed of over $50 miles an
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