New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1919-05-02
GERMANY PLANNEl
Big AIR PROGRAM
Tremendous Aerial Offensive to
Have Been Launched

| '"i
ments and tests.
These NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. today stand
nearly ready for service, in the former
Zeppelin works at Stalker, near Ber-
! In-would probably have caused a
revolution IN flying, for they are con-
| structed from nose to tail and wing
tip to wing tip, almost entirely of
! aluminium and therefore are immune
| to that greatest of aerial dangers,
| burning.
They are two-seated planes of the
observation rather than the "chaslng'
| type. The only part of their CONSTRUCT
| ton not aluminium is small bit Of
| the wing, the part that tits and tips
TO give the machine upward or down
ward direction. And the armistice
came Just in time to halt experiments
that should have eliminated even this
bit OF nfammable material, and made
the machine every bit aluminium. It's
speed is 125 miles an hour
Advances in Aviation.
The aluminium airplanes, however,
are but a fraction of the aerial forces
which Germany was carefully per-
fecting and storing up for the time
when she should have to try to regain
mastery Of the air. An exhaustive trip
through the former Zeppelin WORKS.
such as the Associated Press CORES
! pendent has just had an opportunity
! to make, illustrate what enormous ad-
! vances Germany had made in avia-
ton.
The most notable airplanes which
Germany was ng-She had
used them a little and even had lost
| one through defective orientation-is
! the tivc-motor, 1850 horse power ma
! chine 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, flying ability and
! general effectiveness the largest and
! best Of the new British or Italian air.
I planes They are imposing aerial
monsters.
! Some idea of their size may be
! gained from the fact that they meas
ure some 140 feet in width from wing
tip to wing tip. Each. has five huge
motors of $50 horse power capacity
two on the left between the wings,
two on the right in the same position
and one in the rear between the body
and the tail.
Signal System Developed.
| Though now they are all being re-
| built so as to be available for peace
! time transportation purposes, they
| have, when in shape for their warlike
work. a cabin forward and just be-
| hind the cooling fan where a mecha-
! nician sits, a cabin for the command
| ing officer equipped with an amazing
| ly complicated, yet for him simple,
| signal system by which he can con-
| troll 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 intend
| ed marks before releasing his bomb BIS.
| Before the commanders seat are
/ registers and gauges showing the al
| titude and speed and an ingenious
| contrivance for night flying indicating
| exactly at what angle, to one side of
| the other, or up or down, the airp1ane
| is flying. A register with rows of lit
| tie plugs enables him to talk with
any of his crew. If for example the
man in charge of the after machine
gun signals that the enemy is directly
| behind so that the tail prevents hit
ting him, the commander can by
pressing a switch give the order to
veer the airplane to right or left, up
| or down.
A delicate1y constructed compass is
one Of the compliments of the tiny
| cabin, not only showing direction and
other details but also the tip or slant
| of the airplane. There are signals to
the man who feeds and tends the gas
oline, and, behind the commander,
special safety devices for emptying
| Immediately all of the gas tanks to
avoid fire or explosion in the case of
, an emergency.
Behind the commander on either
| lower wing are two machine guns,
facing fore 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 in the floor
| at objects under the plane.
Travelled 80 Per Hour.
| The machine travels at speed OF
! about 80 miles an hour and can stay
, in the air ten full hours. The speed
! and horse-p power were being increased
to an eventual limit of 125 miles when
the war ended.
TO counterfeit the reduced atmos-
! pheric pressure at great heights which
| slows the speed, the German engi-
neers devised another airplane with
| four 250-horse- power motors, alike
! In size and nearly in speed to the five
motor ship but equipped with con-
| densed or compressed air producer
which automatically supplies air to
! the motors to enable the airplane to
| keep up it's high speed in rarified at
mosphere, and outstrip all other ma
! chimes not so equipped.
Each of the airplanes which the
correspondent saw cost, according to
| the experts. about 10000 marks a
| great share of which goes to the ac-
| count of the infinitely complicated
mechanism that is so striking a fea-
| ture Of each machine.
The Gotha type of airplane which
| sometimes was used in bonabarding
| Paris, though a big, powerful ma
! chine Is INSIGNIFICANT in size when