The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-07-15

DIES MONIES, Ia July 15.-C. l..
Herring. the pesident OF the Des
Moines club, recently set forth the
facts about the Liberty motor and the
Liberty plane in a paper read peiore
the members of the club. Mr. Herring
obtained his information from De
troit investigator of unquestloned re-
liability. uu
The Capital publishes herewith Mr.
HEARINGS paper in the belief that
Capitai readers will be glad to learn
fhe true situation regarding the much
discussed airplane program OF tne
government which has been so Sc
yerely censured in some quarters; !.
There are three distinct types OF
airr,Ianes in use in the war-the SIN
gle-seater fighting plane; what Is
called the reconnaissance Plane
(which carries two men and gathers IN
formation, such as photographs, anu
also the extreme or mammoth pomo-
ing plane. which is the best repre-
scented by the Italian, Caproh.
This last named plane seems 10 De
very effective in bombing, but as 1t
flies low and slowly, makes an e&-
cellent target for anu-a1rcraft guns
Records show that the losses y,
these big planes are heaVy anu
the prize of course is correspondence
valuable to the Germans, ana WIT
It is a fact that a gun can reacu Oh
airplane at any altitude at Whic ii,.s.
man can breathe, speed and ablilty
to climb fast does not make the TAR
get much more difficult to hit
Liberty Plane Versatile.
y,1o iG cOmDlnaIlOu
hattIa plane. reconnaissance plane
and bombing plane. Colonel DEEDS,
Who was formerly general manager OF
the National Cash Register company
ut DAYTON. O., is given credit for the
decision to make this Liberty plane
40 fast as the average single-seater;
while many times efficient as pattle
nIane to give a greater speed ana
range and height even if less capacity
as a. bombing plane, and to make IL at
fhe same time an ideal reconnaissance
plane. ~
The Liberty motor has in excess OF
40o horse power, and the most severe
critics of the Liberty motor nave al
yocated the RoIls-Royce, which mas
100 horse power less. This comoina-
ton type of Liberty plane mas re-
cord of 1873 miles an hour, carrying
two men with heavy clothing, electric
foot warmers, gloves suitable for an
altitude of 10000 feet, three machine
guns. Photographic apparatus, WIRE
less outfit and ten bombs. do not
know the weight per bomb, but at
that speed the Liberty airplane Will
out71n and outclimb almost any SIN
gle-seater fighting plane, and does
not need a single-seater as police pro-
lection. as all the other bombing
planes do.
Critics SiIenced.
The man in the rear pit controls
everything above and below, and the
operator has two machine guns which
he can use. The second man does
photographing, bomb dropping and
gathers data.
There is a double set of controls 5
that in case either is. seriously wound
ed the other can bring him and the
machine safely back-certafnly
most humane consideration. 1t was
predicted by our critics that we
could not produce a two seated-plane
with the speed and range of the best
single-seaters in Europe, yet that Is
precisely what has been done, and
this fact is, being demonstrated daily
at the Wilbur Wright experimental
station.
This big plane will loop-the-loop
do the ImmeIman turn, nose dive,
spirals, tail spins and every other
stunt of which any plane is capable.
Ny correspondent advises me that
SO perfectly does the plane respond
and SO marvellous is the control that
he never once left his seat in doing
ali these stunts. nor did he feel any
apprehension at any time.
U. S. Plane a Climber.
I Engineers have criticised the an
giles of the cylinders in the Liberty
motor. They are set at As degrees ana
this, of course, does not seem reason
able because a twin motor with cy-
finders set at As degrees will not fire
at even intervals, yet this Liberty air
plane has climbed 10000 feet in-seven
,f