The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-07
IMPROVES FLYERS
Germany Remedies Service
With Four Models.
q. s. Getting In Serves as I'M
petuS to Aero War Machines.
new TYPES. OF PLANES
AIbatrOsS Biplane Travels 100
to lis Miles an Hour.
Carry Machine Guns, 2OO-1b
Bombs, Huge Gas Supply.
new TYPES OF PLANES

Bombs, Huge Gas Supply.
(By the Associated Press.)
Paris. Sept. THE entrance of
America into the war and the proba-
: bility that it soon would be lending
| the allies tremendous aid in the aer-
ia1 department of the struggle has led
/ Germany to re-organize and strength
! en- its own aviation branches mater
| tally, according to The Temps. This
reorga nization does not date exclus-
! lively from the break with the United
| States. but rather from the battle of
J the Somme, but it has beer accelerat-
| ed and intensified by the reports that
| hundreds if not thousands of air
planes with the corresponding avia-
| tors to man them an soon to be sup
| piled to the entente forces
! The reorganization of the German
aerial forces has taken the form of
creating four principal divisions into.
which the filters are now placed,
roughly follows:
-Four Aero Divisions.
1. Army Squadrillas or army fiji
| ers' division" which are directly under
| the command of the army chief of
aviation and the work of which con-
sists mainly of expeditions far to the
ployed for commandments. night
| flights, Photographic work, and the
airplanes employed are of the most
varied type, according to he charac-
| ter of the work they are to do.
! Recently captured prisoners say that
recently constructed biplane of the
Albatross type is vastly superior to
anything heretofore used by these
| squadrillas. 1t is equipped with $50
| horsepower motor and attaIns a speed
| of from 100 to lis miles an hour. 1t
can rise to an altitude of more than
1000 yards in nine minutes. and car
ries two machine guns. The machines
| travel in groups of six o. eight, &C
cording to the position and needs of
| the army to which they are attached.
Squads of Troop Filters.
2. Corps squadrillas or troop fiji
ers'' which are attached to the staff
headquarters of the vario-s German
| armies and which are commanded by
captains. These generally remain
within the sector of the armies to
which they are attached and are used
in general for reconnaissance, pho
tographing trenches, batteries and
making patrol flights.
| 8. Hunting squadrillas, as they are
called both by the French and the
| Germans. are main attacking instru-
ments of the German air forces, and
| for chasing enemy machines which
venture over their tines They are
charged also with the destruction of
| the stationary balloons. -.
| there are about forty of these squad
rillas, with about a dozen machines to.
| each. Others in the same category
have as their duty the protection of
! the large German cities that lie with
| in airplane flight or the French and
| English, such as Strassbur?, Freiburg,
Mulhouse, Friedrichsnaren Stuttgart,
Essen. Cologne and Treves. The pilots.
| of these squadrillaS are carefully
| chosen from among the best of the
| q iaf PYn1nifS
are encouraged by frequent mention
! in the general staff reports
Garry Huge Bombs.
4. Battle squadrillas or ''flotillas'
are under the direction of general
headquarters. and shift from army to
army to carry out bombardments on
military esta blishments behind the
front, as well as ever and again upon
open towns.
| There are three of these squadrillas
now. Formerly there were more, but
| the others have been dismembered and
their units attached to other arms of
! the aerial service. Squadrillas one and
! two are generally transported by train
from place to place, wherever they are
most needed
There are from forty to fifty ma
chimes in each sQuadrilla, which when
complete and ready for action is di-
vided into four IT five sections. Each
airplane is armed with two machine
guns and each carries bombs weighing
from twenty to 100 pounds apiece:
Some are said to carry bombs that
weigh more than 200 pounds.
/ While perfecting their service in the
air, the Germans have also rapidly
bettered their anti-aircraft measures
and weapons. The 77-milimeter guns
| have given way to rapid-firing guns of
los milimeter calibre. and at certain
points along the front they use shrap-
mel guns of 240-milimeter size.
/ They possess special bullets for the
/ destruction of captive balloons but in
many instances have used them with
! great cruelty against pponents in
airplanes. At least one squadrilla cap
I tain, Lieutenant Eilers, finally for
babe his men to carry these bullets
with them unless they were definitely
charged with raiding balloons.
Plan Record Speeder.
! The Germans. it is said. are con-
into the field. The famous Taube
went out of style long ego, and it has
now been followed by the even more
famous Fokker, which less than a
year ago was considered the last and
final word in attacking airplanes. Its
inventor a Dutchman, is now said to
be devoting himself to the perfection
of a machine with a 260-horse power
motor which will break all records
for speed and efficiency.
Today the Rumpler seems to be the
flvorite machine, tho those with $50
horse power motors are not fast
enough to suit, and yet the machines
will hardly stand up under a heavier
motor. The raids on London were
all accomplished with Gotha ma
chimes, but these, tho 50 recent that
little is known about them in France,
are already giving way to faster air
planes, especially to powerful Rumpler
bi7lanes which have tremendous
speed and rising power. These ma
chimes. of which there are not fewer
than thirty in third battle flotilla,
can make great distances both because
of their powerful motors and because
of their huge gasoline tanks. two of