The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-09-14

danger that the wings will double up
causing the machine to break apart.
Although spins are made with the
motor on, You are dropping ike pali
being dropped out of the sky ana ms
velocity increases with the power OK
the motor.
This spinning nose dive has been
frenuently used In stunt flying In
recent years. but is now put to prac-
teal use by pilots in getting away
from hostile machines, for when
man is spinning it is almost impoS-
sible TO hit him, and the man making
the attack invariably thinks his en-
/ emy is going down to certain death
in the spin.
This is all right when man Is
over his own territory, because he
can right his machine and come out
of 1t; but if it happens over German
territory, the Huns would only follow
him down, and when he came out OF
the spin they would be above him,
having all the advantage, and would
shoot him down with ease. 1t is
! SOOl way VI SCtLlli- No'A
cloud, and is used very often by both
sides, but it requires skill and cour-
age by the pilot making it If he ever
expects to come out alive. A spin
being made by pilot Intentionally
looks exactly like a spin that is made
by machine actually being shot
down. so one never knows whether 1t
is forced or intentional until the pilot
either rights his machine and comes
out of it, or crashes to the ground.
Another dive similar to this one Is
known as just the plain dive. AS
sumo, for instance, that pilot flying
at a height of several thousand feet
is shot, loses control of his machine,
and the nose of the plane starts down
with the motor full on. He is going
at q tremendous speed and in many
instances is going so straight ana
swiftly that the speed is too great for
the machine, because 1t was never
! constructed to withstand the enor-
nous pressure forced against the
wings, and they consequently crumpie
up.
= IL, 100, III dh dilCiHpt W
o the machine, the elevators should be-
come affected, as often happens In
, trying to bring a machine out of q
dive, the strain Is again too great ON
. the wings, and there is the same dis
astrous result. Oftentimes, when the
patrol tank is punctured by tracer
bullet from another machine in the
= -Ia hot 10 hif catches
:. fire and either gets into spin or
=" straight dive and heads for the earth,
hundreds of miles an hour, mass OF
flame. looking like brilliant comet
in the sky.
The spinning nose dive is used to
=. greater advantage by the Germans
=. than by our own pilots for the reason
% that when fight gets too hot for the
- German, he will put his machine II
a spin, and as the chances are nine
out of ten that we are fighting Ovel
80 German territory, he simply spin!
n down out of our range, straighten
- out before he reaches the ground, an,
80 gets on home to his airdrOme. 1t Il
~ useless to follow him down inside tn
"a | IlHtSs lOl Sou "ouiu Ia a
: probability be shot down before yO'
so can attain sufficient altitude to eros
~ the line again.
al It often happens that pilot vii
Nv be chasing another machine whe
n suddenly he sees it start to spin. Pei
he haps they are fifteen or eighteen thOr
". sand feet in the air, and the hostil
of machine spins down for thousands @
,r- feet. He thinks he has hit the Othe
nd machine and goes home happy tha
he has brought down another HUI
te He reports the occurrence to tn
lid squadron, telling how he shot dow
his enemy; but when the rest of tn
,s+ squadron come in with their repOr
,,v or some artillery observation balloo
.os sends in a report, it develops tn,
nc when a few hundred feet from IL
nd ground the supposed dead man in tt
~. spin has come out of the spin ar
mo gone merrily on his way for his al
,+s drOme.