Mohave County miner., 1917-08-04
(By RAY SWAARl.

Many attempts have been made to solve the many and intricate problems that have been met with in this great est of wars. First the Zeppelins had to be dealt with. High angle guns were the remedy for them. Their ut ter failure has been demonstrated time and again as an agent of destruc- tion. In fact, Germany has given up the manufacture of these giant craft. The aeroplane spelt the deathnell of the mighty Zeppelin. England at once pinned her faith on the diminutive aeroplane. Her facilities at the out set for the manufacture of this im- portant arm of her service was almost nil, as compared to that of Germany or of France.
 When the possibility of the aero plane was seen England set about to outbuild Germany and her allies in the production of all classes of machines. How well she has succeeded is shown by the fact that in April and May Germany lost about eight hundred and twelve machines as against six hun dred and fifteen machines of England, France and Belgium.
 England to maintain control of the air must build about two to one. These machines range from the slow battle planes to the fast scout machines cap able of climbing fifteen to twenty thousand feet in ten to twelve minutes and with a speed of one hundred and ten to one hundred and fifty miles per hour fully loaded.
 Comparatively little has been said about the controls of the mighty ma chimes now in use and of what chance the pilot has should anything go wrong to make a safe landing, how he tells where he is and the proper direction of his course for he can not solely rely on the compass on account of the drifting currents of air. On the instrument board of a modern dread naught of the air, the huge battle plane with it's spread of wing of nine ty-two feet and its lifting capacity of two and one-half tons of useful weight there is an incidence indicator which warns the pilot against dangerous climbing and steep diving, chart board with a complete assortment of maps which travel over the board as the machine travels, thus helping the pilot to know his location with the least amount of trouble, the automatic pilot which serves to take control of the machine should anything happen to the pilot as in the case of sickness or of being disabled from gun fire. The minute the machine is out of his control it immediately takes control and will bring the machine to an even keel and make the landing, the bara- graph for telling the altitude and the temperature of the upper air, the drift indicator which registers the drift of the machine to the right or left and independent of the compass, but this used in conjunction with the compass makes it possible to maintain an exact course or direction.
 Reference to the following fight which is regarded as one of the great est of the present conflict gives one an idea of the capabilities of a com pletely equipped machine for it has been ascertained that many of the German machines were only partially equipped with the proper controls. This is evidenced by the fact that in order to produce as fast as required on account their enormous losses they have been forced to cut down strength and rigidity for high engine power and otherwise lower the factor of