Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-21
U. S. MUST COPY
ENEMY AIR TANK
Attempts at Improvements
Mean Costly Delay, Says
Aero Club Head
PRODUCTION BIG NEED
Horsepower of Liberty Motor
Must Be Increased to Com
bat New Menace

/ Increase in horse power in the Liberty
! motor, with an attendant increase In
! plane area. is absolutely necessary to
permit American airplaucs to sue
ccssfully combat the new German air
tank"
This IS the opinion Of Joseph A. stein
! metz. president of the Aero club Of
. IcurSI lvana.
II was one of these new air machines
/ that downcd Major Raoul Lufbery. the
/ American ace The new tank has an
armored protection for pilot and machine
EunncrS, made Of steel plates three
! cighths Of an inch thick. The gasoline
! tank is protected with the same material
! The protecting plates are curved, which
/ increases the DETECTION of missiles Strik-
irG tie sides.
With this to contend against. United
/ States Hviators fought in vain. Their
marhnC-gun bullets could do no more
than beat a tattoo against the side of
thn enemy machine.
"Thn first thing to he done. Mr.. St"in-
metz "aid today. 'is to CaWur" on" OF
these new German lighting machines.
Then it must ho studied.
Then our experts should he set to
work copying the machine without trying
to improve on It, And now let inc lay
stress ON thP laS part Of that statement.
The great trouble in this country is
that "" are always striving for improve
mrnts at the sacrifice Of production.
"That has been the trouble with our
whole airplane program. That Is why
we are now short Of the much needed
flying machines in France.
"Improyr II to Drnth"
We get hold of II type and then i'm
prove II to death before We get any
machines into the field What should
b" done is. first turn out a number of
machines needed on the best known prin-
CIplcS at the time.
Then is the time to improve. Note
the defects in these models. improve
them whore possible. but do not sacrifice
production and tn" needs of the army for
this. We need tn" airplane too badly for
that.
'"rho new German machine is not
super-airplane. It is simply an ordinary
Typ" with the horsepower greatly in
creased. This allows for increased load
capacity. which allows for the nstalla-
ton Of armor for the men in the planes.
ITO property protect the pilot and
gunncrs as the Germans haV" done 1000
pounds must he added to the carrying
capacity for this armOr alone. This
means increasing the horsepower to
! | 900. This is what the Germans have
, done with two horsepower motors.
TIE Liberty motor has attained only
about $50 horsepower 1t must be in
creased TO 500
. Then the plane area must be in
creased to meet the proportions ncces-
Sary for the increased horsepower. This
f will bring us up to the Germans We
can then go ahead with improvements
+ while these machines are being turned
$ out in sufficient quantities to meet the
70 German attack.
'bur attention must next turn to in
"reasing the caliber and driving force of
the machine guns. The Germans no
doubt are using SONG sort Of case ha rd =
- ened steel in their armOr. Besides that.
it is of unusual thickness. The aprons
4 on our field pieces. to protect the gun
- ners from rifle fire, are only quarter
( inch in thickness. This new armor Is
thrCc-cighths Of an inch thick.
"If this steel in the German armored
4 plane were only the soft variety Il
, . could be pierced WITH our rCgula ton
r rife bullet, if the projeCtile hit lead on.
Using Casp-Hardened steel
II But the Germans are using. no doubt
A case-hardened steel which is much
n tougher and harder to penetrate. Be
u sides that our gun aprons are fat and
II easier to penetrate than the curved
plates used by the Germans. The curv-
= ing. as ! have said. increases the de.
e lection of the bullets. SO that they are
J. harmless except for possibly nick or
II the outer crust of the steel armor.
= AN these things must be met and
II met Immediately. But let me tell YOU
that we will not only meet them but beat
them. We must first equal the Ger