El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-11-03

EV TASHlNGTONs n c.. Nov. g.
w A very important feature OF
the training OF our military
( aviators-whose education, in great
numbers. has been undertaken by the
war departments accuracy in bomb
dropping.
J Already. in the progress OF the war,
[ three principal types of flying ma
chimes have been deveIoped-U) the
/ aerial scout, which not only keeps
watch on whatever the enemy NAV be
doing, but also directs and corrects
the fire Of artillery. 90 the battle
plane, which does the air fighting,
Z incidentally protecting observation
balloons; 90 the bomb drOpper. whose
function is destruction pure and sim
ple-in other words, attack upon enc
my military works and buildings. and
occasionally upon enemy personnel
The bombing airplaue commonly
carries ten 16-pOund bombs. which
are dropped by an electric mechanism.
the aviator liberatinE them one at a
time by touching a button.
The bomb troopers operating with
the European armies ordinarily carry
their bombs beneath the wings. strus-
along horizontally Our own machines
Of this type have them suspended one
above another inside the ''fusilage
the place wherein the aviator sits
and they fall (wlen released) through
an opening beneath him
Accuracy in bomb dropping. when
the machine is moving through the
air at rate OF so miles an hour or
faster. is attainable only by long prac-
tice- The bomb, after being dropped.
carries the momentum Of the airDlane
with IT, and so falls not straight
downward, but at a slant Allowance
has to be made for height, and also
for wind resistance.
Problem II Mathematical One.
These problems have been very
thoroughly worked out on a mathe-
maticaT basis They are. indeed. fun
damentally mathematicaI-th decree
Of slant, for instance, having a def
mite relation 10 both the height and
velocity Of the flying machine
The aerial bomb usually has the
shape Of an elongated pear, its lower
ana larger and terminating in a point
II Of IS pounds weight, Il carries five
ounces OF picric acid high explosive.
At its upper end is a short cylinder of
steel. inside OF which Is a small four
bladed contrivance resembling a
screw propeller, Of brass. and mount
ed horizontally on a screw thread
When the gravity prOjectile IS
dropped from aloft. the air resistance
C(acting like a strong wind) causes
the propeller 10 unwind itself rapidly
from the screw thread and fan off.
thus releasing the mechanism which.
when the bomb strikes, causes IL TO
explode.
bombs used in this way. Of IS
pounds weight. are technically called
light bombs Heavier ones. I'D 70 30
pounds, are known az medium
bombs. But others. sometimes weigh
ing hundreds OF pounds, 90 by the
name of high capacity" bombs. and
are meant for wholesale demolition
The high capacity bomb is in ef-
feet an aerial mine II smashes ev-
erything TO smithereens. Wholesale
OF such a kind are the bombs dropped
by big. powerful French flying ma
chimes upon German munitlon fac
tories and aerodomes-
Although the bomb as an instrI-
ment OF warfare is, In its modern de-
velopment. a thing so new. 70 has al
ready undergone extraordinary dir
teren Jlatiol- Alnons ~ various y -
are the fraEmeu tattcn bomb. the
''pyrotechnic bomb the submarine
bomb and the return action bomb
The .Return Action Bomb.
OF these. the last is perhaps the
most remarkable. Il is in effect
projectile within a projectile- OF
great size, cylindrical in shape, and
with a conical nose. Il falls from aloft
and buries itself deep in the ground
The impact causes a decorating cap
to fire a charge OF Eunpowder in the
nose end. and thereby a high explosive
shell IS thrown out OF the rear end
bursting and distributing far and
wide an um brella-lize shower OF mis-
siles.
The submarine bomb. unless reports
err. has recently been employed with
Increasing effectiveness against the
German U-boats- Ordinarily the sub
mersible, while under water. does not
travel at a depth much exceeding so
feet Its progress is always marked
by a disceruible wake" disturbance
OF the regularity OF the surface
waves). and often Il may be deserted
as a moving shadow-resemh billing
huge fish-from an airplane flying
overhead
once detected % can easily be fol-
lowed. though itself unaware % dam