Norwich bulletin., 1917-01-24
STORIES OF THE WAR
With the British Airmen.

Its exciting at times, but generally speaking it's rather less sport than a n1otorcycle," says a wing subaltern of the British flying corps He chat ted while tinkering with his machine one of the latest types in war that is changing and developing the aeropIane almost from hour to hour. There were marvels of the air two years ago that have no more relation to the machines of today than the clumsy attempts of a barnyard fowl to the flight Of a swallow An aerial scout that cannot register in the neighborhood of 40 miles an hour This speed is called for in level 7aiR not in running down ,hiH' or in div ing out of a loop. You may attain 1S0 miles an hour doing that
 .Oh, yes, the 1ghting's fun," re- stunned the subaltern, ''but you can't always induce the Germans to come up and have to go. They prefer most of the time to stop on the ground and set 'Archies' on. you with their noisy shrapnel shells It's when you go padding through the air on patrol Cuty for four or five hours and T1oth- ing happens that flying becomes mo notonous. In spite of the almost un- be!ievable speed at which you go you have nc sense of speed whatever nothing like the thrill of forty or fifty miles an hour in a motor car with the trees whizzing by and bumpy road beneath you.
 sometimes the air is bumpy too, and that's good sport. To collide with an air bump is almost like hitting a big rock in the road. They generally turk near a cloud bank and give sou an awful jolt when you least expect it. On dull days when the air is smooth you can get a little practice and ex- citement by throwing her about bit. for when you get to close quarters in a fight you need all the stunts she'll do. In the air one doesn't even get the sensation of the wind that you get on the ground. When you are run ming ninety or a hundred miles an hour a little/wind more or less makes no impression upon you"
 Which latter fact may account for the absolute contempt in which the modern army f1iers look upon the mightiest blasts old Borcas can blow. It was not so long ago that ten mile breeze would upset all flying plans for 9 day; now nothing short of a hur- ricane can deter the intrepid aviators of the Allies. They laugh at gale and can almost take a nap while com fortably riding a thirty mile wind The real enemy elements are low clouds and ground mists. They have little relation to personal safety, but they interefer very seriously with a wide range of useful work.
 After few more earnest remarks on the monotony of patrol work in smooth air-which he likened to 'driv- ing a motor truck along a cement road to the cabin of his machine. It was @ wasp-like creature, with the i'm prisoned power of a hundred horses throbbing in it's wonderful engine.
 Its guns were attached unobtrusively to the frame work, and synchronized where necessary to shoot through the blades of the fast whirring propeller in front.
 The t'cabin" of a modern aeropIane suggests the pilot house of a palatial yacht in miniature Everything is finished in hardwood and there are polished nickel instruments to indicate speed, height, angle and everything an airman ought to know. There are in genious sights for the guns and range finders for bomb dropping, and a lit- tie device to tell that the bombs have been properly released in turn and are hurtling on their way to the objective
 When he is tucked away the pilots head is visible above the freeboard. Directly in front of him is a tiny little half moon of a windshield.
 You can lower that in summertime and get more air." 'grinned the sub altern.
 But what about freezing in the winter time?' was suggested.
 Oh. he replied, that all depends for instance, with the engine in front of you is as warm as toast even when you are f1ftee thousand feet up and the mercury has long dropped below zero. You get all the warmth of the exhaust and can stay up indefinitely. The plane with the propeller and en- zine in front is a. tractor. The 'pusher' has engine and propeller in the rear. Ins one of those you get the full ef- feet of the cold and you just naturally freeze, that's alI.''
 The control of the fighting aeroplane has been reduced to the simplicity of 3 single lever, known in the profes- sion as the 'joy stick" By moving