The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1919-05-09
HUNS PLANNING AERIAL
DRIVE WHEN END CAME
Nearly Ready to Launch New Fleet
OF Airplanes When the Armis-
tice Was Signed.

months of experiments and tests.
These machines-which today
stand. nearly ready for service. inI
the former Zeppelin works at
Staaken. near Berlin-would prob
ably have caused a revolution infy-
ing, for they are constructed from
nose to tail and wing tip. almost en-
tirely OF aluminium and therefore are
immune to that greatest of aerial
dangers, burning.
They are two-seated planes of
the observation rather than the
''chasing" type. The only part of
their construction not aluminium is
a small bit of the wing, the part that
tilts and tips to give the machineI
upward or downward direction. And
the armistice came just in time to-
halt experiments that should have
eliminated even this bit of infam-I
mable material, and made the MAJ
chine every bit aluminium. It's speed
is 125 miles an hour.
The aluminium airplanes, howev-
er, are but fraction of the aerial
forces which Germany was care
fully perfecting and storing up for
the time when she should have to
try to regain mastery of the air. An
exhaustive trop through the former
Zeppelin works. such as the Asso-
ciated Press correspondent has just
had an opportunity to make, illus
trates what enormous advances Ger
many had made in aviation
The most notable airplanes which
Germany was accumulating-sh |
had used them a little ard even had
lost one through defective orienta-
tion-s the five-motor, 1850 horse
power machine, capable of carrying
a score of passengers. or a ton and
a half of bombs and a crew of eight,
and which, German experts claim.
far surpasses in size. strength, fly
ing ability and general effectiveness
the largest and best of the new |
British or Italian airplanes. They
are imposing aerial monsters.
Some idea of their size may be
gained from the fact that they
measure some 14O feet in width
from wing tip to wing tip Each
has five huge motors Of $50 horse
power capacity. two on the left be-
tween the wings, two on the right in /
the same position, and one in the,
rear between the body and the tail. |
Though now they are all being
rebuilt so as to be available for /
peace time transportation purposes. !
they have when in shape for their
warlike work. cabin forward and /
just behind the cooling fan where "A /
mechanician sits. a cabin for the |
commanding officer equipped with
an amazing complicated yet for him
simple, signal system by which he
can control the actions Of his entire
crew and they can communicate
with him at any moment. and an
open floor through which he can
sight at intended marks before re-
leasing his bombs.
Before the commanders seat are
registers and gauges showing the
altitude and speed and an ingenious
contrivance for night flying indi-I
eating exactly at what angle. to one i
side of the other, or up or down, the
airplane is flying. A register with
rows of little plugs enables him to
talk with any of his crew. If for
example the man in charge of the af-i
ter machine gun signals that the.
enemy is directly behind so that the
tail prevents hitting him, the COM
mander can, by pressing a switch,
give the order to veer the airplaneI
TO right or left, up or down
A delicately constructed compass!
is one of the compliments OF the
tiny cabin, not only showing direc-.
tion and other details but also the
tip or slant of the airplane There
are signals to fhe man who feeds
and tends the gasoline, and, behind
the commander, special safety de-
vices for emptying Immediately all
OF the gas tanks to avoid fire or ex-
plosion in the case OF an emer-
gency.
Behind the commander on either
lower wing, are two machine guns.
facing for and aft, and manned by
four men. Farther to the rear is
still another machine gun in the
hollow OF the body of the huge air
bird, which can shoot through a hole
jn the floor at objects under the
plane.