The evening herald., 1918-04-06
MAKING AN A|RPLANE
FULLY DESCRIBED BY
SIGNAL CORPS MEMBER
Lieut.. Col. Bingham Gives Rough
Picture Of Machine in Process
of Construction, Showing Time,
Labor and Material.
.,sse,sl eosssssoaos~es 70 rrs rs"..e

set Iorth ny Lieutenant Colonel hiram
lAnghanI, signal Corps. e.. S. 40 n I
communication 10 tho Nationnl Geo
graphic Society. a part of which iS
made public AS th" following war
geography bulletin:
Let me try To depict by a rough
picture plane in the mnking sup
post for instance you weI1 set to driv.
ing 422G nails and 3311 screws. Tn
dOuhtedly that would Toe quite a task
IA total of 71O3 separate operations.
Well when YOU had reached the 5000
mark you could truthftlly he told
that you had done less than two-thirds
Of the work of this sort required for
a single airrlane, CThese figures are
for p training plane; FOR a French
battle plane "a. 900 screws are said to
be neeced.D Somehow plane looks
so simple and floats SO gracefully
through the air ;hat we lose ali
thought Of the skill that goes into its
making.
One o. Nmcrica's Mir Triumphs.
just recently We shaVe received
some figures of the material which
Is required for one Of the simpler
training planes. For instance. g21
steel stampings must be cut of, iJN
forgings cast, and 91G turn buckles
all for single machine.
Think, then. of the hundi eds OF
thousands of such pieces needed Tor
the thousn uds Of planes in the Amer
lean program and of how utterly
hopeless the situation would he if
those parts We're not standardized
turned out bys machinery in tens of
I.t.. La. .
ferent factories In any kind of plane.
The reduction Of aircraft manufac-
ture to the simples standardized.
quantity production basis has been
| one of Americas great triumphs ia
the air = ana an achievement which
very soon will he making Itself felt
1 But metal must be used iu an air
| plane as little as possible. lt is alto
| gether too heavy. especially when a
few extra pounds make all tho margin
! In speed between victory ana defeat.
| An engine Of 800 horsepower Is ia
| itself enormously heavy to rive into
! che air; so that the rest OF the ma
/ chine must attain the very acme of
| lghtness.
THAT very lightncss. however, en-
! tails enormous strength ana perfect
/ adjustment. Think Of the strain
i which Is eXerted on every wire ANA
nut. every inch of linen. ana cvc"y
bit of wood as this 300 horse power
, machine rushes through the air at
laO miles an hour. Cyclones often "o
no. go ~ fast, and we cun easily pie
tuYc what happens 10 strongly butt
house when the air strikes Il At That
speed.
Tremendous I'rs~sucs.
nut II the strain is great simply
because Of high speed what mus3
IL be when plane suddenly oar"ens
downward. taking a tremendous pres
sure off one part and hurting ~ upon
another. u ~ that Kind OF "A sharp,
sudden. uneVcnly distributed shock
which allows the slightest tap OF a
knife 10 crack AN egg or the explosion
| Of depth bomb ~ crush in the uu.
prepared eide ot "a submarine, OBJ
viously a plane must be huilt So Skin
fully and Of such perfect material as
to Withstand no, only the pressure OF
the cyclone specd. but also the added
shocks of is sudden evolutions.
"The une material which gives this
double characteristic ~ strength with
| IlEitifNh " iiAifH lWA wv hANlNtfiA ?
spruce, hut u unprecedented spruce
, from the giant trees Of the Pacific
cost Few would believe that this
would present much Of - problem
with Americas vast resources, but
, when one considers that only "a small
I ! fraction at the very best spruce is
. usablc al AN, and that the war has
= vastly increased the demand for that
the difficulty win begin to appear
2 Let me explain this In detail.
: "rhe ideal trees Tor airplano spruc,
10 are the fine old pRtriarchs. scarce
= enough at best which have a grtl
7 OF about ~ feet aud run up 100 feet
!. without "a branch. Now when thi'
+ splendid wood is cut 90 per cent is
\ ! thrown out ut uuce-the part In the
% heart where the grain h too circular
- and the part Jt the circumference
j. where the grain is too coarse. An
other 10 per cent h CulloH ""' '''
= various reasons ana another 'ig PEI
q cent lost 10 Kiln shrinkUgo Thn
! leaves uH less than one -third ot "ul
g original wood for further selection
n "Of this third however only a smNl
> proportion is fit for the more delicate
q work l.css than per cent OF II hh'
9 the necessary length aud strength f"l
'' airlerons, 2.3 per cent IL fit foi th'
: | wing beams; 40 per cent for The l"ni
= struts. and the same for the landinl
gear. The balance can only he nSe'
y for ribs and the smaller fittings
Stpaiulng Lumber Resources.
These figurcs show why America
! | vast lumber resources are beinl
', | ...,t.,.J o.. IA. limit IN bttild uSir ull
fleet. They explain also why 1t ha
been necessary for the United state
y to take over the whole spruce outpu
= as agent for the combined allies pro
y gram and eliminate the ruinouH com
petition which had prevailed hetwe"'
= the English French ana Italian gov
ernmcnts."