The sun., 1918-12-01

ers are to-day looking for a Ave mile
a minute plane.
The difficulty Is not TO get the en-
CINE. 1t is to get a plane with parts
to Withstand such speed. When the
Sunbeam engine-the counterpart of
the Ilberty-was being tried out in
Canada 1t was changed 700 times
and the first engine had really cost
SO 900, 900 before il was pronounced
right Here is what happened and
how:
Changes by the Hundred.
From 400 horse power they got the
power up to, say, 40. Very well;
cams, shafts. gears, had to he changed
TO withstand the increased power.
Cloth in the plane, struts. wires, wire
buckles forging joints, seams, dope on
the seams, had 10 be changed AMI
strengthened for the more powcrr a.
en- line. Then back in the factories
r0IuFactUr NJ these parts gauges
and i!gs and standards had to be
changed to sui. these modified parts.
II didn't tako long to add up the 200
changes and total Of $4,000 900 cost.
1t is hardly necessary to tell the
public at this late date that mono
planes are one winged. hiplanes two
winged, triplancs three winged but
the style Of naming Is more pulling
To the layman. Wen suppose the de
signers are starting on a plane They
give it name, % Bristol. The angle
/ OF one wing is changed ever so slightly
IL relation 10 the other n order to in
ha ~ hN 1T
to the turn Of the propeller. The new
point is called Bristol !. or slightly
more camb-e Is given the up side of a
, wing 10 resist the suck of thinner air
This point will be Bristol ., and so OH
I Ia the famous Bristol 5.
mess | am mistaken in one fast
} iler 500 different models were tried
ont before the fastest was found. That
| explains why certain machines have
numbers up to ten and all the letters
; OF the alphabet behind their names,
like problem in algebra. To the en-
! gineers those numbers and letters sig
/ nifty trials down to y or : in the al
/ phabet ana up TO ten in numbers. In
/ on" Of the heavy bombing planes $50
/ different inventive types were emhod-
! led Fortunately for the poor layman
/ this machine was named fatty for its
! inventor, or we would all be doing
! problems in trigonometry and higher
/ mathematics every time VIC named it.
Enemy PIOtters Caught.
Were any of the accidents in trying
| cut machines due to enemy aliens
Yes, some We're! Men. for instance
were caught in the act of driving bolts
and rivets instead of screwing them
and hammer blows will spJ lnaly
laminated hard wood like m}'1Ealy
especially where there a.o twenty.
eight layers, as in the big flyius boat
though the split may not show under
canvas and glazed dope till l, ma.
chine is high up in the air under
terrific vibrations. These men were
duly caught and sentenced.
Another culprit putting a final coat.
ing on the oil tank was found to he
making small punctures through the
metal which were concealed under the
top coating. This man wa. A.,luS
lynched by workmen who cHueht him
and he too is under sontcu.'.
But as for tho faults Of III ;h.t
punched and ripped after bullet
purcturc or metal that w"ut 40 ,
under tremendous Nibrat!og rI pro
pellers that cracked and split under
sudden torquc do not think the air
plane folk regard these defects as the
work of enemies, The airplane gam,
was new, and we were learning it. anC
paying for the lessons In a toll o
costs and life. Just as we paid a simila