Newspaper Page Text
‘Straight into the
giant Zeppelin
{Ranged the
.aeroplane. ^
Down to horrible
death whirled
itl gnid*^ " 3n
but the Zeppelin
and ite crew
were destroyed.”
The Scrapheap of the Planes. A Painting by
Artists of the War-Destroyed Air Fleets.
How High Speed
Makes Bumpy
S’T’SHE carious and pusxllng transverse corrugations
I or wares that appear In many roads subjected
* to hears automf-bile traffic"are explained bf
Colonel R. EL B. prompton, the British highway expert.
Tlte high speed of the modern automobile changes the
ordinary rolling motion at the wheels into a pulsatory
sort of hammering. And as machine alter machine
pounds along, "closely resembling one another In their
harmonic action.” the hollows are gradually deepeaed
and the crests made higher until the road surface
gives way. . ,*
i It may he .that this pounding action is due to the
successive explosions in the cylinders. It is conceivable^
that the sadden push on a piston head caused by each
explosion may be transmitted through the lnterrenJag
mechanism to the reer wheel and appear there aa *
Hoar dealt the road by the tire.
. Coloeel Crompton believes that conditions favorabM
for this .cross ridging of the road are produced by the
ordinary road roller used In road making. When thd
rolling is lengthwise of the road, the roller alternately!
pushes the material forward into a crest and then roll*
trier .if. the result being that the new road before mm-
is slightly "wavy" ahd In just the condition to twooS’
rapidly "bumpy” under heavy traffic. In fact, any twos
axle vehicle hao the same tendency. It being obvtocaM' 1
* s£.*23|
roller by adopting "the tbreeoxle principle." J
IN THE
Death”
Airmen •„,
of the
Great
War in Europe Who Sign
Themselves to Heroic Suicide
I NJthe^flrat clash betwsen France
and ^ Germany, in the very first
hour of the war, a French -aviator
dashed his aeroplane Into a German
war dirigible, losing his own llfe and
killing twenty-five Germans.
He was a human bullet
Thousands of other daring and
brilliant young French aviators have
planned to ,serve as human bullets
and give their lives for their country
with the certainty of killing a large
number of the Germans.
The Germans have pinned their
faith In great dirigible war balloons,
the French In small swift aero
planes. The war In the air will,
therefore, be fought between these
two kinds of vessels and In the end
will show which la to bt used In
future. . . * . .'
It was at Tout, near the frontier
between France and Germany, that
the first duel In the air occurred.
Toul is an Important link In the
chain of F)cnch fortifications that
guards the flat exposed frontier be
tween the warring countries It lies
but a few miles south of Luxem
burg, that, bad already been Invaded
by the Germans and a few miles
more from Belgium, that was soon
to be Invaded.
The Germans refrained from mak
ing an attack in force on the stjffntg '
Line of French Atftlficatloiu, but
sent out dirigibles, cavalry and .
■couts of various kinds » Ob
serve the enemy's position and do
as much damage as possible. In
the meantime their mMn forces
were preparing to turn the French
line of ports by penetrating the neu
tral countries of Luxemburg and
Belgium.
In the aarlydawn of August 3 ths
people ot Tout skw a large' Zeppelin
dirigible approacblhg thttf city high
in the lair. . French yoldlsn at the
outposts fired at the Invader with
out striking' ;• Htthniy MMn' to fill
the town people, ‘ whb foared that
the dirigible would soop be dropping
dynamite upon them. ;
Suddenly a black speck- was seen
flitting through the air near the big
dirigible. It was a French acro-
Planiat sent up from the garrison.
Tho Germans poured rifle. (Ire at him
hut coulD not hit him. The riving
speck was in unattainable target.
The aviator wa: seen to he manoeu-
vertng to get above the dirigible.
The defenders understood his ma
noeuvre and deaperatoly strove to
rise with him by throwing out all
ballast- ,
In a few minutes the aviator was
well above the dirigible, where he
could not be (bred at because the
hulk of the haBdchi Via in the way.
Than wtth the speed of lightning be
shot his aeroplane' straight Into the
•eml-rlgld; envelope of the. dirigible.
Aeroplane and dirigible Immediately
tell to (he ground and the French
aviator and twenty-five Germane lay
dud totlir * 4'
At flrpMtwrs*-reported that, ths
herolo Breach aviator was Roland
Garros, who, some time ago, flew ,,
across the Mediterranean from
Hu rope to Africa. Later It wart
stated that Garros was at another:
polht with the French array. - Sr
In any case it was Garros who,!
' just before the war outlined tMi
flarlhg plans of the' French avtgtoK}
"We have five hundred aeroplane!'
in the French army apd fully a thou* £_
sand or two thousand skilled avia
tors who will gladly give their lives
to wreck the German dirigibles,"
said Garros, In a statement to the
Figaro, of Paris. "To any patriotic
Frenchman the sacrifice will be well
worth while, and It wilt be cheer
fully made; One French aviator will
be able to destroy from twenty dive
to two hundred Germans In dirigibles
and the Frenchman who gives his
life In such it enuse will not only do
- great Immediate injury to the enemy
but give enormous encouragement
to his country. French aviators will
give their lives as willingly as .those
Japanese who crawled up to the
Russitn entrenchments with bombs
In their bands and blew themselves
to pieces, because that was the only
way of carrying the Russian poll-
tion. The Japanese were only fight
ing for increased world-power.-while
we Frenchmen.- Shall be fighting for
the right to «*», f 5 A
.' . “Tho Germans have now two hun
dred dlrlglbUs, chiefly of the Zeppe
lin type, but also Including many
Parcevalc.; ThMfcarry from twenty-
five to two hundred men. The Ger
mans are Intelligent and painstaking
and determined, bat they have not
the quickness and resourcefulness ol
our French evlators. They are ad
mittedly Cot brilliant aeroplanlsts.
Therefore, they have put their trust
in dirigibles, la which they can pro
ceed slowly and without violent ex
ertion.
"The greet apparent military
value of the dirigible from the Ger
man point of view Is that it can
cam many hundreds of pounds ot
high explosives to be - dropped on
the enemy. This value disappears
when one French aviator la willing
to lose his life to wreck a dirigible.
“The dirigible we expect will be
terrible la attacking undefended
cities, hut of comparatively little
use In legitimate offensive warfare.
“We believe that the aeroplane
will be of limited use tt a means of
attscktng ths enemy’s soldiers, but
we believe It will be of enorinous
value In scouting and collecting in
telligence and in destroying the
enemy’s dirigibles.
"We have now, as I have said,
about five hundred aeroplanes in the
army. We can make a hundred a
day if necessary and, therefore, the
supply Is practically unlimited. The
nutnbdr of trained ablator* may
seemlimited, but In reglity the ma
jority of cur young- automobile
drivers can be converted Into fair
aviators with a week’s practice. The
dirigibles, oa the other band, cannot
be constructed so rapidly, and I when
we have destroyed '■ two hundred of
them that will be fjelr end for this
war. - 'j >1 f'
"Our aviators, wot fly hundred^ Of
■miles in the reap er the advanced
German lines. NO- important nwve-
ment they make‘chn be kept scene t.
This means an endrmous advantage
to the defense. With aviation works
the wireless p^jptpit. Npn-lm-
portant position can be kept Isolated
from Its friends 4 and countrymen.
The great increase In effectiveness
of firearms, artillery and stongth of
fortifications are other modern fac-
tots ihat help the defenders.
"We have almost, perhaps quite,
reached the point where a fortified
position Is absolutely unassailable.
The aeroplane has helped greatly to
bring about this condition.
"The aeroplane, among'Its many
duties, will signal the range of ad
vancing forces to the artillery ot Its
own aide. The Germans expect that
their dirigibles will perform this and
other functions, but we aviators will
turn ourselves into human bullets
and destroy them faster than tbay
can come agalnat us."
Which Gives a Graphic Idea of the Enormous
A the Tiny Aeroplanes
Are Fledged to Destroy.
Copyright, ISIS, by the stir Company. Great Britain Rights Reserves.
A Zeppelin Dirigible Wrecked
Size of