Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-08-08
EVERY ATRPLANE
TO CARRY BOMBS

With the American Army in Eng
land. CORES ondenCe Of the As
sOCiated E'Tess} ALMOST every
aiTplane used by the allies soon
VIII carry bombs. Experts in aer-
ial warfare are convinced that the
general efficiency Of the corps Will
be increased ii a bombing device
is added to every plane sent cut,
even though it be Of the type once
intended only for recUgnizance
work, and Americans now training
in England are being as carefully
drilled >in bombing as in handling
a machine gun.
Lessons learned during the re
sistance offered in the recent often
sive have served to increase the al
ready high regard Of both British
and American officers in the air
service 5Or the loWGyiug, bOmb-car-
ryiug craft, and, over the camps
and countryside where ayiators are
being trained, planes are in evil
dence almost every hour, dipping
down from high in the air and
shmming the nearby country
barely missing treGtOps and houses.
It IS the newer lesson they are
learning, and observers back from
the front where the allied planes
did such remarkable work not only
in scouting and distracting the en-
envy, but actually in breaking up
formations and at points checking
the onward movement have urged
concentration on that form of
training
British trainers, detailed to
American aviation camps, have
been liberal in their praise OF the
new fieTs from overseas, their only
criticism being that the Americans
are "a hit too keen" Their ten
dency has been to so in for flying
stunts rather too early in training,
but even this the trainers have ad-
Eiitted is a valuable fault, although
one not 10 be encouraged.
1t has been pointed out to the
Americans that teamwork as well
as individual efficiency is a prime
requisite and the Americans have
steadied themselves to the routine
their trainers have found makes
for general advancement if not for
individual. applause. Fancy flying,
the acrobatic work that once found
favor and drew heavy rate receipts
at aerial exhibitions in the United
States, still IS taught, but the learn
ing Of that form OF flying also has
come TO be regarded merely as rou-
tine and wholly incident to the
steady, low flying desirable tor at
lacking camps and troops in for
nation
Accidents have occurred in the
camps where the Americans are
being trained and a few men have
been killed, but the records show
that the percentage is far less in
England than IN the United States.
Those in training here are inclined
to attribute the difference more to
luck than TO anything else, although
there also is pointed out the prob
ability that the average airplane
used in England is a better made
machine than the average that has
been used III the United States.
The bombing. devices being at
tached TO virtually every plane is
not the contrivance that was used
in the earlier days of the war.
That used then was little more
than a mechanism that released
the prOjectiIe, allowing it to fall
at a point approximately near the
target. The devise now being used
is one with which the operator
may with muchs practice become
almost as proficient in marEsman-
ship as an artilIeryman is with his
gun. Almost every light plane viii
carry bombs Of at least 25 pounds
and from the heavier types there
Will be hurled the huge containers
Of high explosive not materially
different from those used by the
Germans IN some OF the more re-
rent r. ids