Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-08-07
j. S. URGED TOBU|[D
BOMBING A|RPLANES
Giant Flyers Declared Speedy
Means to Victory Over
Germans.
MACHINES PROVE WORTH

Prediction that Germany's recent air.
plane raid on London was experimental
and that it's success is likely to result
in more destructive raids by larger
fleets of machines, and asserting that
the manufacture Of the heavy bombing
airplanes in large quantity by the
United States Is the most effective road
to an allied victory. w. H. Workman.
special representative of the Handley
Page Company Of London. today out
lined, in an interview with Star re-
porter. reasons why all the allied ma
tons are coming to place such hope in
the efficacy of aircraft.
Mr.. Workman has been in Washing
ton comforting with high army officers
and with the aircraft production board
Of the National Council Of Defense. He
has laid before them the plans and de-
tails OF the Handley Page machines,
brought to this country for the first
time. and has informed them that ar
rangements now are completed to
manufacture machines of this type in
the United States il the government de-
sires.
Feats Of Machine.
Attention of airplane experts the
world over has been directed toward
the accomplishments of these crafts
recently because of the bombing raids
on Ostend. Zeebrugge and Bruges. as
well as by the flight of one of them
from London to Rome about six weeks
ago In less than seven hours. and by
trips to Paris in two hours and ten
minutes. distance in which the short
est time by railroad and boat is seven
hours and thirty-i minutes.
Incidentally. a transatlantic fight at
this time is perfectly practicable Mr..
Workman stated. though it has not
been attempted because England needs
her entire equipment of these heavy
machines for wartime uses. 1t is
| feasible. also. he said. to fly from Lon
| don to India in three days, instead of
the five weeks time it now takes by
rail and boat, and he predicted that
| hourly flights between Paris and Lon
don will be established when the war
| is over.
In connection with the military value
of the heavy bombing machines. stated
at length in memoranda submitted by
aero military experts of England to
this government, Mr.. Workman eX-
planned:
Most military experts now are
agreed that the German line is i'm
pregnable for the present: that. though
movements. it is virtually impos-
sible now to break through to allow
| the allied troops to pour in. That
leaves two other alternatives of vic
tory, to starve out the Germans or to
employ airplanes to destroy their bases
of supply.
'It will take four years. 1t is now esti-
mated. to conquer Germany by the starva-
| ton method But the time is ripe now for
vigorous and successful use of airplanes.
| to drop bombs on Germany's sources of
supply. to use these bomb-carrying air.
planes to go 200 or 800 miles back of her
lines and break the morale of her people,
and to use them instead Of artillery. be-
| cause more effective. In paving the way
| for the advance Of the infantry
Germany Turning to Airplanes.
Germany is turning to airplanes now.
| Mr.. Workman believes. to supplement her
submarine warfare in breaking up the
morale Of her opponents, and these ma
chimes. equipped with the powerful Mer-
cedes engines. are capable of doing great
damage. He argues that the allies should
! do to Germany what she plans to do to
them. and do 1t first.
| Recently the big bomb dropping air.
planes have been highly successful in
their night attacks on the fortified
canals, built over with protecting Gull
verts, which form the German sub
marine bases OF Holland and Belgium.
The machines used in these attacks,
\ described extensively in official COM
muniques Of the British government
Royce engines. developing $40 horse
power. and with these engines the ma
chimes. equipped with fuel. bombs. men
and guns, can go up to 10000 feet in
1 II
climb to 200 or 1000 feet. the high
est altitude to which the present de-
! velopment OF the heavy machines will
| permit them to go.
Description Of Machines.
! A machine of this type. fully loaded.
weighs II tons. 1t carries three guns.
two machine guns and Davis gun for
| a three-pound shell: four men. one ton
of bombs and fuel to fly ten hours.
| which is 500 gallons of gasoline. This
| makes the load about two tons and the
weight of the ma chine ~ tons.
Mr.. Page is now designing a machine
| to carry two tons of bombs, which can
fly four and one-half hours in a single
flight, at the rate of ninety-five miles
One of the planes already used has
carried twenty-five men at an altitude
Of 1880 feet. To cross the Atlantic. Mr..
Workman said. a machine could be
made with a multiple engine and a
speed of $50 miles an hour.
One of the remarkable records of the
! Handley Page machine. which holds
! world records for altitude. weight
| for machines of its size. is that since
it first was put into operation two
years ago. there has not been an acct
dent from one falling. nor have air.
craft guns succeeded in bringing one
down.
with $50 of these machines. each
equipped with a ton of bombs. Mr..
Workman believes there would be
good chance of wiping out the Krupp
munitions works.
I'VE are going to send men to France"
concluded Mr. Workman, land the point
is whether we are going to send them
with 1908 or 1918 equipment. II with
the latter it means with airplanes. / do
not believe the British and French can
make another big drive like that of the
Somme the one they are now prose-
cutting. without the aid of American
troops. 1t will be a year before we get
enough there for decisive action. In
the meantime we could make wonderful
nnoRress il we turned our reSources and