Evening star., 1931-11-22

ordered by the Belgian government
from Great Britain. These ships, de-
| scribed as among the fastest of their
| type in the wcrld, are credited with
high speed Of 223 miles per hour at
1900 feet and a rate of climb of
1900 feet in 1112 minutes. The Bel
gian government also has ordered a
number of Fairey Fox observation and
day bombardment planes, which are
said to have a top speed Of 100 miles.
Considerable space is devoted to a
description Of the British Schneider
trophy planes, the worlds supreme
speed machines. The French Schneider
planes. which were not completed In
time for the race, are powered with
prestone-cooled engines. that in one
ship developing $500 horsepower and
in the other 2,400 horsepower.
An ill-fated Italian Schneider plane
is described on the basis of meager in
formation. This ship, which was
wrecked in landing, kirnng its pilot. was
described as having two propellers on
the nose, one directly behind the other,
each driven by a separate 1,500-horse-
power engine through gears and rotat-
ing in opposite directions to neutraliZe
torque reaction. The wrecked plane
was reported to have made 450 miles
per hour.
French progress is represented in a
multi-place fighting plane Of unique
design. 1t is a high-wing cantilever
moneplane with two 700-80O-ho horsepower
18-cylinder motors Streamlined into the
wing OF all-metal construction, the
plane possesses as one Of It's most novel
features a nacelle sung under the
body containing gunners' stations COW
ering both ahead and astern. The for
ward nacelle compartment also may be
used as bombing station. The plane
has a reported speed OF $50 miles per
hour.
Describes TeleScoplng Wing.
There is a short description Of the
Bernard plane with telescoping wings,
which has gained considerable public
attention. 1t is reported that speed is
increased from 155 to 1876 miles per
hour by retracting the wings from their
maximum length of CO feet to their
minimum Of AZ feet. The plane is
powered with 480-horsepower engine.
A brief paragraph y G ed to the
revolutionary Farman nigh d4itude air.
plane, which has been the basis for
many Stories-many OF which. unfortu-
nately. embodied little fact but much
fiction. The Farman Co., according to
the news letter report, is said to have
1ight-tested the plane, of which little
real fact is known. The plane is said
to have highly supercharged engine
driving a 17-foot variable pitch pro-
peller. The cabin is described as her.
metically sealed, being furnished with
air at atmospheric pressures by super
chargers. The plane, according to the
report, is expected to develop the very
high cruising speed of about 300 miles
per hour at an altitude Of $4,000 feet.
Which may or may not be fact.
The German successor to the famous
dirigible Graf Zeppelin, to be known as
LZ-129, Is to be inflated with helillm
and driven by heavy Oil engines. The
airship will be more than 800 feet long,
displacing more than 100000 cubic
feet, and will surpaSS IN size the United
States Nays new pride, the U. S. S.
Akron, now the largest aircraft in the
world. Lz-129 is rising en- the bones
of a 5,500,000- 0-cubic-foot airship, con-
struction of which was halted after the
loss of the British R-101. The aban-
doned ship was to have been filed with
hydrogen.
A sister to the DO-X, huge German
flying boat now at New York, has been
accepted by Italy, following a flight
made without difficulty across the Alps
The DO-X 2 has IL Fiat engines of
600 horsepower each and larger wings
than the DO-X /, according to .he re-
port.
The Army Air Corps, struggling with
the problem Of developing a parachute