Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-24

~ FFTCERS of the Army Air
Corps are in quandary over
Henry Ford's bombardment
~ plane, the first military VEN
ture of the noted manufac-
STIrer and advocate Of international
peace.
The quandary has nothing to do with
The worth OF the plane. Most of the
OfKicers of the Air Corps Materiel Divi-
sion at Dayton, Ohio, testing ground Of
the Army flying service, think that the
mig plane Is good and that 1t represents
. distinct step forward.
They are very much afraid, however,
of the effect If the plane is adopted for
use by the Army and then international
agreement affecting air armament Is
reached. They fear that because the
big bomber resembles in appearance the
Ford trt-motored transport plane the
United States viii be severely handi-
capped In the international conference.
They fear that those in charge of the
conference viii consider every Ford tri-
motor potential bomber and limit this
country's air forces accordingly.
Actually, the officers OF the Materiel
Division pointed out, the Ford tri-motor
is useless for bombardment purposes
and cannot be rebuilt for bombardment
use. The Ford bomber is the result Of
months Of experimental work, and
though In appearance 1t resembles the
transport 1t actually contains important
differences at nearly every point
The fuselage is different throughout.
The control compartment is farther
forward and much higher, to give the
pilots the better visibility necessary for
military use. The radio compartment
is located beneath the pilots seats. Be-
hind the pilots, at the leading edge of
the wing, Is gJnner'S cockpit. Back
of the wing is another cockpit and in
the bottom is the bomb-hay opening
and another machine gun opening. Be-
cause Of the interference raised by the
bodies OF the gunner and their wea-
pons it has been necessary to enlarge
the tail surfaces and controls.
Planes Not interchangeable.
SupercIaarged Wasp motors are en-
ployed, which begin to deliver full
power only at attitudes of $4,000 feet
and over, far above the normal flying
range of any Of the transports. The
total result Is plane wholly unlike the
Ford transport, the divergence being so
great as to destroy any hope of con-
verting one into the other, according to
the test officers.
During the past week Ford and Army
engineers and mechanics have been
swarming over the big silver bomber
putting on final touches, and the serious
business Of flight testing, which will
determine the fate Of Fords entrance
into the field of military aviation, Is
expected to begin within few days.
Mr.. Ford's leading rivals in the pro-
duction of air transport planes are rep
resented by competitive types of mill
tary planes in the Wright Field test
depot. Anthony H. c.. Fokker has three
revolutionary types, one OF which is re-
garded as one Of the most startling
new military planes produced in years.
Boeing, producers of giant tri-mctored
transports on the West Coast, viii soon
submit to the Materiel Division a new
bcmbardment plane Of advanced design.
The startling new Fokker Is an at
tack plane, developed for ground STRAIT
ing. Tt is one of the most wicked-look-
ing military planes at the Army test
field. Some fighting planes are so sleek
and graceful that it is difficult to as
sociate them with death and destruc-
ton. They are like seagulls, things Of
grace and beauty. The new Fokker i'm
presses itself at the first glance as a
deadly thing. It is havoc incarnate. 1t
Is as savage-l0oking as striking hawk.
No one seeing it can mistake its pur-
pose for an instant.
Powered with geared Conqueror de-
veloping SOD horsepower and using pres
tone cooling for better ssreamlining, the
KAT, as the Army has designated the
Fokker attack, Is capable Of a speed
of 1870 miles per hour az its fighting al
titude Of so TO 100 feet, carrying pilot
and gunner, full fuel lead, ammunition
and bombs. It Is low-wing monoplane
and Is the first Fokiser mas built in this
country with metal wing
Fokker also is represented by two
flying wing" planes, one designed for