Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-07-24

Can't. de la Grange, who has fougnt
the beginning OF the war, Is repute
knowledge of the actual capaoiilie
of the technical difficulties In their
"An observer who had been at the
French front in 1915" said Capt de Ia
Grange, would have been extremely
surprised when he returned at the ena
of 1915 to see the extraordinary deve'
opment of French and English ava
ton. Instead of few hundred ma
chimes. there were now several tnou-
sands. and they were OF new type al
together.
CHOSE in 1915 were of the type OF
the actual American machines. anu
they are now used only for training
purposes. They have been replaced oS
machines with motors of $50 and low
horsepower. instead of 80 and luo
horsenower. and their speed, instead
Of being from 50 to 10 miles an nour,
now attains 100, and even 100 miles
an hour for fast fighting machlnes' All
Of them are armed with one or two ma
chine guns, and some with guns COM
parable to the light navy guns.
Models Rapidly Change.
Aviation progresses so rapidly on
the battle fronts. Capt. de ia orange
explained, and the competition pc
tween the two sides to get the pest ma,
chimes there is soon made the atella,
used in 1915 out OF date. he pointed
out that inadequate machines are a.
most as bad as no machines, anu
from the point OF view OF many ava wa
tors. worse. Since 1919, ne saiu'
|, "the allies have made great prosress
vat now
their planes are hardly sufflclent LOT
all that is required OF them.
There Is something very awkward
shout the industry that makes aero
Names" he went on. "All the material
must be built in series and each time
new series is decided upon 1t takes
several months to begin construction.
Very often when certain type OF ma
chine has been used for a short time
a better type is found and it is nee.
essary to construct this new type. II
there is any hesitation about doing this
and the old model is chung to, in Few
months the aviators may lose their su-
periorty over the enemy which 1t nad
previously acquired. 1t is this PROB
lem which the French aviators had 10
meet at the end Of 1916. In order 10
have In 1856 1900 machines on the
front and 5000 in the schools. the
French factories had to make ire
mendous effort They were hindered
by the lack Of raw material and by the
difficulty in procuring labor, therefore
the machines which they turned out
were not Of the newest design and the
result was that at the end OF 1915 the
French aviation was not homogeneous.
"The spotting machines and the re-
connaisance machines were not OF the
newest type; they did no. climb fast
enoufH Nor did they have enough
speed horizontally, and they were IN
sufficieptly armed On the other hand,
very luck ly, the fighting machines
were very superior to the enemy ma
chimes. Therefore, in 1857. the al
lied fighting machines were every
where the strongest and were able 10
keep the command Of the air. but their
task is overwhelming because they are
too few. The Germans managed TO
slip through the meshes OF the net OF
protection which had been formed ana
they attacked the spotting machines,
who could with difficulty defend them
selves. This resulted In losses on ooth
sides. The Germans lost their nght
ing machines because they were less
GOOD than ours: the allies their help.
less sporting machines 1t is difficult
10 protect these last because OF the
conditions under which fighting IN the
air takes place. Attacks may come
from all sides. above, below, and from
the side. There is double remedy TO
this, either to have very large num-
her of fighting machines of the best
model or to improve the spotting ma.
chimes. making them faster, arming
them better, so that they may defend
themselves. The allies are trying both
these remedies, but 1t is difficult for
them to make great industrial effort,
"a their factories have been working
Al top speed for the last three years. i
"The United States. with their great
Industrial production. will be able IL
nallv to overcome these difficulties.
Air Forces PerceptlbIy Equal.
"If we keep in mind what has been
said above, we realize that forces act
ually now taking part in the gigantic |
struggle are preceptibly equal There
are about 1000 allied airplanes against
the same number of Germans. Imagine |
what would happen II America sudden !
" threw in the balance 1000 or 5000
moro airplanes in 1918. This would
mean that there would be against each