The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1918-03-10
Powerful Guns and Planes
Guard London Against
German Raids.
PERFORM MANY FEATS
Ahplane Built for Speed
q 200 Miles an Hour
Circles City.

London.-Flying at n speed Of 80 to
40 miles an hour and at a height OF
1000 to 5000 feet in one of the latest
and fastest British battleplanes. cor
respondent OF the Associated Press in
spected the outer air defenses OF Lon
don on a crisp morning recently.
Few Americans have any adequate
idea Of the magnitude of these de-
lenses and their present high state of
efficiency. Millions of pounds have
been spent on them and an army is
constantly employed in manning and
maintaining them.
A motor car took the correspondent
to somewhere in the outskirts of Lon
don's where 1t passed through roads
camouflaged by shrubbery to a great
aerodrOme, one Of the finest in Eng
land. This aerodrome beasts several
Americans among its most efficient
flyers but 1t is not permissible to give
their names.
Upon the party's arrival England's
crack daredevil flyer put on a show
This man. who looks more like a meek,
mild hammered dry goods clerk than a
wizard of the air. put the machine
through series of performances that
made even some of the veteran FLYERS
who watched from below hold their
breath.
Looping the loop. nose diving, bank
ing, volplaning to within few feet OF
the earth and then pointing the nose
OK the machine skyward for rise at
express train speed were but few
OF the stunts this pilot went through
with his observer. When he came
down the correspondent was taken uI
In the same machine. but with an
other pilot. for ride through the
clouds and a birds eye view of the
outer defenses of this particular par,
of London.
This type of machine mounting a
synchronized machine gun has earned
the reputation of being perhaps tn,
most reliable of the fighting plane,
turned out by the British manufac
turers. The pilot on this trip was q
young member of the royal flyine
corps who was to go to France tn,
next week. The night before thi,
lhsht he had been up fighting witt
herman Gothas at height Of betwee,
ii."VO ana 1900 feet.
Some Speed.
The machine rose to 5000 feet in ter
minutes. 1t started of the ground will
tremendous rush the instant it wa
released. AS it rose smoothly, highe
and higher. the sensation was rathe
Of the earth moving away from tn,
machine than the machine moyin,
from tho earth. There was a brisl
wind-the pilot said it was blowing be
tween 25 and 30 miles an hour-ant
the sky was full of fast moving clouds
The best view of things below wa.
mad at 1000 feet. Aerodromes will
battleplanes ever ready for the Ger
man raiders could be seen dottinr IN,
landscape. Batteries of anti-aircraf
guns could be discerned here an,
there.
The flight around the outer CITY wa,
made at an average speed of 81 mile
an hour. over factories and suburbs. !:
great arsenal. 4 famous school and
town best known for its American col
ony. Up aloft the weather was tvn,
cal OF the New York autum,al day
After completing the circles OF IN,
metropolis the fighting plane slante,
BACK to earth at $40 miles an Nor,
mats not really fast" remarked IN,
p''ot. In actual fighting we ore,
nave TO make 200 miles an hour on,
the plane Is built to stand that snee,
without the slightest danger"