The sun., 1918-07-15
AIRCRAFT WORK
AT HIGH SPEED,
SENATORS FIND
Committee to Report That
Production Now Reaches
Quantity Work.
LIBERTY MOTOR PROVED
Superior in Lifting Power and
Unsuited Only to Single
Scatter Planes.
LIBERTY MOTOR PROVED
Special Despatch to The suS

cpct'Ut DcSp1tCt ~ Ann obs'
WARRINGTON, July 1.-THE produc-
tion Of aircraft-planes. engines and
eauipment-has reached a stage OF real
encouragement to tire nation, and whole
some optimism as to the future is at last
justified. according to the information
obtained by the special aircraf. sub
committee Of the Senate Committee on
Military Affairs. Tie improvement be-
came noticeable in the last month and Is
proceeding on an accelerated scale. This
will be the glad message which the sub
committee will convey to the American
people in its report within two or three
weeks.
The committees report will not be all
optimism. Sharp criticism will be made
Of the methods employed and tho mis-
takes Of varying degree that have heen
made. but the Importance which tran
scends all the other evidence 1dduced
through the weeks OF labor Of the COM
mittee will be that out Of tfo chaos
which existed In the airplane industry
elk months-even three montbs-ago
America at last has found herself.
Value of Liberty Motor.
The committee has discovered that the
Liberty motor. once the object OF suspi-
cion and at times derision because II
failed to be quite the universal airplane
driver it's designers predicted. is an en-
gine Of the highest value for many types
Of planes. particularly those for day and
night bombing and for observation pur-
poses. These are the planes counted
- Gs~A-
The aircraft producers. under the
direction of John d. Ryan. now have
turned their attention very largely to
| the development Of the Liberty engine
for heavy niers.
The Liberty motor as the driving
power OF the heavy planes in which the
highest speed and man9uvring Is not
essential Is a thorough success. 1t
would not adjust itself to the single
scatter fighting planes which scurry
through the air at speeds ranging from
lis to 1876 miles an hour, such as the
Spads. nor have the experts here yet
succeeded in fitting II to the Bristol
type Of plane. But on the big Handley-
Page and Caproni planes. designed for
n:sht bombing. In which capacity and
power are the essentials, and in the
two seated De Haviland bombing planes
II has shown its mettle and excited ad'
miration from all the experts.
ExceIs in Lifting Force.
AS lifting force the Liberty motor
is second to none of the engines used
| either In the allied armies or by the
! enemy 1t produces sufficient power tt
! drive the big night bombing planes a
speeds between seventy-two and eight,
miles an hour, which in view of th'
weight OF explosive and incendiar,
bombs which these air leviathans carr,
is ample. II has given the greatest sat
isfaction in the De Havilands, the da,
ovmbIng plane which in flight is pro
tected from the attacks of the enem,
scouts and battle planes by a swarm
Of i.sbt fliers OF highest speed and mo
bility OF flight. To-day the aircraf
factories Of the United States are forg
ing ahead with the manufacture Of thes'
classes of planes almost to the complete
| exclusion OF the light combat fliers.
| The production OF one type OF heav!
bombing planes. the committee has as
certained, has now reached the satisfac
tory total of seventy-fve week. BY
the first week of September 1t Is be
l!eved the production will have attained
| the total OF 100 a week. This Is guam
uty production. according to the Senat
| committee. 1t Is still far short of Wa
Department optimism OF a year ag'
concerning the production at this time
but It is accepted by the Senators as th
, racnrha a
the assurance that the American avia
ton programme despite its stumblinl
progress is really a programme of ad
vance, with promise OF supremacy in tn
air at the battle front and the powe
to cast terror into the souls of the enem!
populace as we'll as the military men o
Germany and her allies.
Light Planes Built Abroad.
The revised plans OF the Aircraft Pro
duction Board do not anticipate the pro
duction OF light planes in America
Those matters under the revised pro
gramme will be looked after by tn
British and French. The revised Amer
lean programme calls for the manu-
facture OF the heavier planes in tn
largest possible number. their shipmer
to Europe In increasing quantities b
every available ship that crosses tn
Atlantic and their participation by tn
thousands OF fiers composing the Amer
lean air service in the destruction c
the Germans back OF their lines and G
the people of the German Empire VIII
walk abroad by day or night.
In the meantime experiments will z
on with new motors, Should any prov
an advance over the Liberty in III
future plans will be made for its qua-
tity production but without halting tn
output Of motors and planes as at pres