The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-12-25
SOME INTERESTING PICTURES


| In the photography roo mwere some
! Interesting pictures taken with the
Lewis automatic camera gun, showing
phases of attack and defense. These
Genera guns are being used in the prac :
tice of aerial gunnery at the advanced
flying camps. From one machlne the
FLYER aims and fires this camera gun at
another machine, supposedly that of the
enemy, and the accuracy or inaccuracy
of the shot is shown later by the po-
sition of the enemys machine on the
developed film. I was disappointed in
not seeing the powerful camera with
which the observation planes, the eyes
of the staff" get such wonderful pic
,, lures. AS there is only one of these
machines in Canada, it is taken around
from one camp to another and was
many miles away on the day of my
visit These cameras used by the
Royal Flyer corps are made in England
They are from three to four feet in
length; the case is of highly polished
mahogany; the lens, as large as the pic
ture it takes, is deeply inset for pro :
lection from light; the plates Slide in
and out automatically and can be man.
aged by one man flying. With this
camera a picture can be gotten from
almost any altitude, although between
5000 and 1000 feet is the preferred
height.
Having finished our inspection tour
of the university my officer es-
corted me across the campus where
groups of dozen or more students were
practicing wireless and other signalling
work Several men from skeleton
airplane perched up in tree were bust
ly sending wireless messages, buzz
ing" the boys call it, to group at
the far corner of the campus. They
~ vi slnt,uz y1trt a C n
dustriously as the proverbial bee.
The next day I advanced from
ground work. to flying and visited the
camps near Toronto at Armour
Heights and Leaside.. The Leaside es-
tablishment is admirably chosen and
splendidly equipped for training pur-
poses. The sleeping quarters, mess
| rooms, hospital, and all buildings are
equal in construction to those at Camp
Borden for this camp was also pre-
pared by Col Robert Low, Canada's re-
nowned builder of military camps.
There are nine hangers in addition to
buildings for repairing afrplanes and
training mechanics. TIE camp has
some 80 airplanes available for prac-
tical purposes and the aerodromes are
equal to any in Great Britain.
The airplane used for practice pur-
poses in Canada is the Curtiss ma
chine with the dual stick control. I'm
til recently these planes were imported
from the Curtiss establishment at Ham
mondsport, N. y, but now the Cana
dian Aeroplanes, Limited, is supplying
the entire needs of all Royal Flying
corps camps in this country The pro-
/, pellers, engines and flexible cable come
| from the United States and the linen,
which, when in the planes must stand
| a strain of 100 pounds to the square
| inch, is brought from Belfast, but all
the rest of the manufacturing work and
| the assembling is done at the Toronto
factory.
FLIGHT OF FIVE MACHINES
After visiting several of the hangers
we were just in time to see a flight
of five machines. A captain of the
Royal Flying corps was in command.
The ambulance stood attention at one