The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-01-17
CANNONBAIL AIRPLANES
MAKE FOkkER OBSOLETE

New York. Jan. 1s.-The swift Ger
man Fokker, less than a year ago
king Of the air on the western front,
is now obsolete.
This was the news brought here
today by Flight Lieutenant Lloyd
Faulkner. Of the British army. re-
Gently injured In an airplane when
shot down near Ypres.
In the desperate competition to
build tho most efficient work Of the
air, the Germans themselves have I'M
doubtedly improved over the Fokker
type, but q new allied airplane has
just arrived on the front which ex-
ceeds by far anything the world has
ever seen. according to the lieuten-
ants story.
The new machine, the name Of
which may not be mentioned, makes
1873 milas an hour" he said. IT Is a
great surprise and is only arriving
The most wonderful feature Is its
ability to climb 1t can ascend
straight up. without banking. and has
reached 1900 feet in seven and a
half minutes
This makes It the ideal machine
for Zeppelin work. as 1t can get
height quickly enough to catch the
dirigible.
Our new machine is the greatest
lighting machine in the world ana
will guarantee that we maintain the
supremacy in the air"
Lieutenant Faulkner received his
preliminary. training as an aviator In
the Wright School at Dayton, Ohio.
He said the machines used In the
United States were way behind those
possessed by the belligerent nations
Our battleplanes weigh two and
half TONS" he said, land are driven
by two Roils-Royce motors Of $50
horsepower each. They have twin
pl opellers and can make more than
100 miles an hour. Other big planes
have 300-horsepower motors driving
one propeller.
The smaller machines, which car
ry only a pilot are much faster. The
Sopwtth pup makes 1913 miles an
hour; the Nieuport bullet 1875 miles;
the Spat lao miles. but all these are
surpassed by the new wonder
AT the front our work is divided
into four classes. The first is the
reconnaissance, during which we
sometimes fly from 100 to $50 miles
back of the German trenches. This
work Is done by regularly organized
squadrons. in which the most impor-
tant machine Is the one carrying the
camera. The reconnaissance unit is
composed of FIVE battleplanes and ten
or twelve Newport scouts or Sopwith
pups little fast machines, carrying
only one pilot and machine gun.
These little machines are the de-
stl oyers or guards for the big bat
tleplanes. The big machines each
carry at least two men and two guns.
When in flying and working for
nation, the Reconnaissance squadron
Is arranged in this way: The camera
battleplane flies at about $500 feet.
side. flying at about 5000. To the
rear. directly behind each OF the
fighting battleplanes, are two more
battieplanes. flying at 1000 feet.
These Ave machines fly 100 to llo
miles an hour The little destroyers
with their faster speed fly all about
them. always ready TO attack an en-
envy squadron ....4
III the little fellows happen TO be
off on a bit OF their own and the
hattleplane squadron sees enemy ma
chimes the pilots fire their alarm pis-
tolls and cali the destroyers, who
drive off the enemy. unless he Is In
much superior force. and then there
Is a fiSht.
Flying at six or seven thousand
feet, the observation machines are al
ways being 'archied." which means
they are being shot at by every sort
OF gun. even those firing fve-pound
shells. Hits oy anti-aircraft guns are
one OF the natural risks and we used
to bank back and forth. or zig-zag
through the air. so as to throw the