New Britain herald., 1918-10-16

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 and at the same tinse we developed
 ring mounting ip the observers cockpA
 1t thus became, Ga race not only in n,A
 chimes but also in gunnery as to wM
 could bring the most effective fire
 bear on the sdshcrsaryL In the autunA of 1915, experiments were made w;#
 the Vickers Gun firing through the pr pealer. The blades wcTe protected #
 steel plates called deAectors. which weH
 so placed that wihen a bullet struck t#
 blade it glanced oR No form A syrcmouizer gear had then been evoI8 cd, but it was the beginning of a systdf| which IS now uxnvesai Late in lo@ the Fok9Ser made Its appearance. TlM machine had not a. great speed. but |8 d.d have synchrcmixing gear, S e.. gear which enabled the machine gun M flre through the blades of the propefIz
 without hitting the blades and withoM any loss of efficiency. It had quite N success for time until the French R out the Spad gear and the British t#
 V1ckcrs gear. The latter was used M Us quite extensively over the Is,es b|S owing to the difhcnlty of training rnA| charics m its use, and tfse small anno,,M that was known of it in those days. # @eft quite lot to be desired. This wM followed by the Constantinesco gez which proved very satisfactory. Her then, was a definite progress in aeriI gunnery, and to-day we have on evet3 machine two or three or four nachi1& guns, two firing through the propelle and two being used by the observer b@ hind. In the case of a tpxo-aeatey # you consider the amount of rownd which can be fired on the enemy fro& machine, you will understand what M menace 1t IS. You can fire 600 rouneM per minute from each gun; hence tiS piiot can fire 1yd0 rounds Der n,inutM ana the observer can reach the samM hgure with his two guns. M
 MANY DIFFERENT MACHINES
 ,,, Machines, of course, are specialize l Here are snngle-scater machines, whiea ehtIreIy on their power of u1ar#
 Ca fyRT4& scatter fighters where the pilot and oSM server have to work together the uybo tune. There are machines desionsd fnM cooperation with Artillery which c,rr an observer and wireless, There a- larSe machines for day bombing an n# stlli larger machines designed for n;oi oomoing. Owing to the pace at xvhSc nachlnes naanoeuvre the siphticg laCn1ne guns becomes a very ir1Dortan Eactor: 10 hit an object in a vital snos golng l&0 miles an hour. wh~r, -,sS.' own machine is travelling at the :sm ,dCe' requires a vast amount of trainir s# or p1lots and observers. who nrac+ie5 ,unnery continuously from the tiroX ney go on the ground school untI fhsl 70 overseas. In the matter of s;0hSa 'ernaps the most noteworthy devejool nGN lk: was compensated fore-sioh % siaicn allowed automatically for fhl pesu @ oI your own machine, but thd 7as the Tracer bullet, a bullet rs;tS. # explosive nor flaming. bur which Jss1sJ
 phosphorescent trail. You can th.s & ee II your bullets are going fine ~ars inaed at. b.
 CLouD FORMATION Fxxrwu
 An extremely interesting form of A~. ormation flying. >'O'''A k In the !olden days, and untf1 most se-. H 'nuy' pilots have been chary aboux efense. Actual cloud flying has beerrl garded with a certain amorrns oSA ;epdcisn. But cloud flying today iS& necessity. With the fighting stiIi fra# ogress over French and Belgian iandS M
 IS obvious that we must make thag # oche realize what 1t will mean whes1 # ? get on his land.
 The old maxim of cutting the enenvpm " mnunications is only possible af fh1 esent moment by the air. and we csT ach him in the air now with om9 -ge machines. We can give him 1 NJ retaste of what war will be wheu vv% 2 In German territory. We can make exceedingly hard for him to feed hiS # oops in the field. By the best metho6 N the world we can make it still hardeTl E. him to maintain the output ot his # 2tories-by destroying them. Every day is not fine day, and cfor,& # ing has become the fashion. It is W possible for machines to 20 in for~ # ltion through the clouds and meeSs N ove them and continue that forrnatior. l r
 a compass bearing to their objective. # ne down through the clouds, bomb a .ir objective, go up again and come M me. That sounds simple, but it ist # lple only. if pilots are properlyl NJ ined for it. and have the right ins N #
 RADING GERMANY Now x air raids into Germany #
 now quite common. An indepensI @ It Force of the R. A. F. has been med for this purpose alone. It is ependent of the army, and carries M bomb raids only from its headquar- M s in France. The following figures y be of interest:
 lind lines Load 1bs~ M reached (bombs)
 20 ...-~....~~~.-~~-s.. About SO M
 70 ....-..~~..~~--.~~. About 100 # POO ...........----...A About 1900