New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-18
Four Foreign Machines to
Fly from Langley Field
to Capital
Will Come to NewYork
Caproni Craft Capable of Car.
rying rs Passengers at 80
Miles an Hour
star Corr.spondsneel


ian airplanes will Ay from Langley
Field near Newport News, TO Wash
ington and return this week, If weather
conditions are favorable. The same
machines will Ay from Langley Field
to New York and return next week.
Italian pilots visited Washington to-
day to select landing site. They VIII
90 to New York next 10 select land
ing site there.
The airplanes will represent four
different types, the Caproni. the STA or
Fiat. the Pomilio and the Aacchi. the
latter a seaplsne. The pilots will be
Leutenants Resnati, Baldioli, Bsllerini
and Adsmoti.
The Caproni, $50 horsepower, like the
other three planes. is q biplane. but 1t
carries three engines. The plan is to
make the flight to Washington with
ten passengers. The other machines
will carry one passenger each, except
the Macchi, which will carry only the
pilot.
The Csproni is a bombarding plane,
the Macchi a fighting seaplane and the
other two machine are used in recon
noissance work.
Nine Italian PLANES Here
Altogether there are nine Italian
fighting aircraft at Langley Field. One
is huge Caproni triplane, waiting for
the hangar TO be completed before 1t
is assembled. All the machines were
shipped in parts and assembled on this
side. The great Caproni will carry
three tons in addition to its own weight,
accommodating easily twenty-five pas
sengers. 1t has 700 horsepower and
travels ninety miles an hour.
Be- the end Of September another
shipment of Italian airplanes will have
arrived at Langley Field, among them
being a Pomi.o of 290 horsepower,
with speed of l57 miles an hour,
capable of ascending 10000 feet in six
minutes. There will be another speedy
machine with one engine of ZOO horse
power, flying l40 miles an hour, this
type being used for bombarding dur
ing DAYTIME on account of its great
velocity, the slower. heavier machines
being used for commandments at night.
Alessandro Pomilio, an Italian
engineer, head of the Italian Aviation
Material Purchasing Board in this
country, and brother Of the designer
and manufacturer Of the Pomllio air
planes, said to-day that when war was
declared Italy had only eighty ma
chimes. mostly of the French type.
To-day Italy has three thousand.
Owing 70 the enemy bombardments
along her coast and the northern from
tier. Italy saw the necessity, he said,
Of developing a powerful aero arm
Such firms as Fiat accomplished mar
vellous results in q short time. Fiat
turned out a wonderful 100-horsepower
aero engine and other firms developed
successful engine Of 100 and 200 horse
power, etc. In June, 1916, tia ~ had
erected eighteen airplsne factories.
Twenty-Five Factories Busy
The Pomlio plant was put up in
three months. To-day there are more
than twenty-five airplane factories.
Italy's airplane plants have been
kept in operation notwithstanding ad-
verse conditions, such as the lack OF
coal last February, when wood was
substituted for power generation and
the buildings in which the people !
worked were so cold that varnish did /
not dry. Another great obstacle was /,
the lack Of chemicals.
New designs Of airplanes are being
turned out constantly by the Italian
factories, Mr.. Pomilio said. One new
Il rta1x
has turned ort the speediest seaplanes,
which make liz miles an hour. She ,
also has developed the largest planes. |
Her machines carry the heaviest arma-
ment Of any yet developed. One Of the !
italian types carries nine auckfring |
guns.
The Italian designers, by synchro-
nizing the propeller revolutions with |
machine gun fire, have placed machine
guns on planes that fire 900 shots n |
minute through the propellers making .
200 revolutions a minute, the cslcu-
lation being such that no shot strikes |
the propeller. one shot passing between /
the blades to every two turns of the /
propeller.
All the fighting machines are .
equipped with machine guns, the Cap /
roni triplane carrying nine. In add ,
ton a multitude of bomb throwing,
position finding, and other devices OF
great utility in battle and in lombard |
ments have been perfected by Italian /
genius.
Praises Work of an Italian
Mr.. Pomlio praised the work Of .
Ottdvio Ricaldoni pioneer in flying, .
Hhom Mr.. Pomilio called the soul .
Of Italian aviation, and who. from the .
Of the war, had served .
as head Of the technical and supply de-
partments Of the Italian Air Service. |
In two years Mr.. Ricaldoni has in
creased the Italian aviation personnel !
from 500 70 1000
Mr.. Pomilio also paid tribute to
calling this country the
mother Of aviation, and said Il was a
itting tribute that Italy should bring