Evening Star Newspaper, May 1, 1921, Page 73

FICTION ] MAGAZINE SECTION he Swunday Star. . FEATURES | Part 4—8 Pages Direct Hits From the Ai BY DONALD M'GREGOR. 1 TANGLEY FIELD, HAMPTON, Va. April 30 HE giant Martin bomber is fly- ing a mile high over Che: peake bay. speeding at ninety | miles an hour in the direction of a tiny speck of a battleship below. At the forward end of the airplane sits an Army captain, the bombardier, hand on the bhomb rele nd his the batt Just behind the airplane pilot. ignals the other of two propellers make too talk that the be h . o eship to whom he he whirl far powerful hand— with it the ne aireraft may the battleship. ahout are other Vattle formation. some smaller types. flying low the heavy bombers. Th noise is muffled by the heavy helme rapped tightly over the ears of | those who fly. { The airplane is nearing the battie- €hip. In two minutes more it will be directly over it. The bombardier. hing in the pit. pulls the releas from below. from the carrier swings the heavy bomb. to death. It inted 1o assist in its ohser nd ns ut tai its the leship tly in line driven di with Al airplanes, in of them, the r to protect deafening [ nee zuide below. white, there course | ba mb scems to follow the air- | K with it on its| is due to the| A with the great fight-| ag machine. and While a certain lag develops, due to the laws of gravity ds to the earth, this is hard- HE pl eping pace yurse. This downward momentum it | perceptible Down goas the bomb, seemingly con- oting into a gmaller and smaller ¢ < it nears the battleship. Every- aboard the airplane watches in- | tently, the bombardier through & <mall open space im his pit, the pilot ugh a tiny glass in the floor. the rest of the crew of five get their vision over th.: side. The bomb is going straight toward the object below. as if drawn the by a magnet Bv this time it is | tiny speck of white, but easily seen uzainst the hazy bluc-gray of the water. There is a splash at last! has hit® The bombardier looks back toward ! the pitot and grins. The pilot smiles | hack a compliment. . Had it been a battleship below in- stead of a floating tarzet and had the | ammunition been live and of suf- ficient weight the navy craft would have been blown out of the water. All this i have just observed from the Martin bomber itself in a seat beside the pilot. It occurred thirteen miles out over Chesapeake hay, as a part| of the Army Air Service preparation | to prove its assertion at the formal tests in June that land aircraft might easily destroy battleships and other naval vessels even if operating at a ongigprable distance from shore. Thituriin bomber in which 1 rods dropped four bombs under similar cir- cumstances during the maneuvers. which lasted an_hour. The bombs weighed 100 pounds apiece. All four of them were hits, three diract and one indirect—that is, within the danger zone of fifty feet from the supposed battleship. And. what is more, the indirect hit might easily lave been the most effective of all the shots. since its detonation would have come £ix or eight feet under the water be- low the armor line of the battleship. A total of twenty-threes airplan operating as a squadron in battle for- mation. participated in the maneu- vers. Altogether they dropped 112 hombs on the target from this dizzy altitude—virtually a mile—and ot them 13 per cent were hit The target below, a raft riding the waves f Chesapeake bay in tow of a tug. measured twenty by six- 1y feet, but it was sufficiently’ large to permit the careful aiming of bombs. The ordinary battleship presents a The bomb ch larger_surface, at least 100 by €00 feet, xo That this was used in reg-| istering the hit Any shot which fell within the area was & hit direct, and any shot within fifty feet. com- | monly accepted »s the danger z..m,l also was a hit indirect The pquadron of airplancs we=e off| the ground for an hour and tventy| minutes under what might be sup-| posed to be typical battle cond‘tions. | During the hour they were over the ! water—itself a commendab feat! for land craft—they circled and re-| circled over the target, attacking and reattacking. * %k ok ok —rm»:l: were three distinct attacke the same tactices being employ- | «d in each instance with satisfactory | results. In that period of time, un- #s some unknown counter attack had been launched by the navy. an en- tire fleet might easily have been de- stroyed The plan of attagk in this maneuver —-unquestionably that which would b primary in time of hostilities—pro- vided for three waves of airplanes, of graded sizes and with specific duties to perform. The first wave, made up of the small or pursuit planes, had to sweep the decks clear of personnel; the second, made up of light bomb had to put out of com-; mission such armored anti-aircraft ilery might be operating, and| third to sink the battleship. In theory this was accomplished In the first wave arrived the seater planes known as the S which there were five these neuvers thes battleship ¥y dinp within 200 teet of the deck. dr. wenty-five- pound bombs. those intended to clear way the persoanel This accom- piished, they made « cain in a wide 1o avoid what might have been « counter fire of aireraft guns th <ingie- | . of | ma- the approached a | Thes | the bombers, the DE4B type of airplane so common in the Army Air Service. have a single motor and carry two men, the pilot and the bombardicr i bombs froin In actual opi dropping 100-pound altitude of 5,000 feet. ations these bombers might easily arry bombs weighing from 250 to 00 pounds, capable of sweeping the decks of battleships clear of all sup ructure and armored anti-air- craft guns, virtually putting the bat- tleships out of commission. Thirteen of these light hombers participated | in_the maneu The third wave I)rnu:hk the Martin hombers, with crews of four or five men, an extra pilot, a bom- bardier, mechanic and radio op- or. i rule. In the 4 witnessed the Martins each carried ir 1€0-pound bombs, but in actual they probably would carry 100-pound bombs, loaded with the type which are at a pilot, a as fe warfar, two TNT. I the of thi charac Still another, and even heavier bomber. known as the owl L.W.F. the largest airplane in the Army Se 2 prepared to participate in the which are to be held in June. er. Th present; st word in ordance construction | I se. is at this flying field and being | tests ! giant aircraft, operating with three motors, whereas the Martin nnorax»' with two, is capable of carrying two | 1.100-pound bombs and two 600-pound bombs—possibly two 1,700 or 1.800 pound bombs if they should be devel- oped. Such an array as this—except that bombardment wing. which is the term for the Air Service unit correspondihg with the regiment of infantr; to consist of 100 airplanes instead of twenty-three—is to be sent out for the demonstration against the naval forces in June, on a day and at a place yet to be fixed, so that it will be possible to determine the ef- fect of land aircraft on warships with- a4 reasonable distance from the coast, at present one of the upperm que! ’llnn\ of debate in army and navy circles, * %k k k THESE bombing tests by the Army have been going on over a period of about three months and, as the records show, have brought about re- arkable results. They have been conducted entirely at Langley Field, the location of which, at the mouth of Black river, between Old Point Comfort and Newport News, is ideal for such experiments. As the prac- tice has progressed there has been a cofresponding improvement in the bombing. Live as well as dummy bombs are used%in the practice. The dummy bombs. made of clay, are far less true than the live bombs, so that the rec- ords made with the dummy bombs are not to be accepted as a real indica- tion of the possible resuits. Most of the live bombs which are used weigh 100 pounds. The people in the vicinity of Lang- | ley Feld have complained against the use of this heavy ammunition to such | Week. an extent that of late where bombs are used the safety pin has not been removed, so that there will be/ no detonation when they hit. The bomb merely sinks to the bottom olmpru the bay. The tests have been in progress|April 10. with several targets, among them the battleship Indiana sunk in the bay for use as a nav arget, and the cruiser San Marcos. The Navy objected recently to the use of these vessels as targets. so that lately the Army flyers have been using the raft, which is located mid~ ngley Field and Cape Charies. It L twenty-six miles across the bay at this point. There nother target range, no langer used, owing to the desire of the officers to become accustomed 1o flving for a long period over water In the s d wave came the | This target is in a great marsh a mile oN way across the bay on a line between | PARADE AT LANGLEY WASHINGTON D. C, SUN NDAY MORNING, MAY 1; 1921. T HE Sunday Star’s Representatlve Baes Upina Msstiss Bomherss Langley Ficld | and Describes Work of the Air Service in Droppmg Exploswes on Targets Five Thousand Feet Below—Three Direct Hits Within a Fifty-Foot Danger Zone. . E Ta.rgets Located Thirteen Miles Out in Chesapeake Bay—Following the Bomb on Its Downward Course—Three Waves of Airplanes in Scheme of Attack—Work of the Bombardier. or two beyond the aviation field, where, with sticks, the fiyers drew the outline of a battieship. Great holes are in the ground—shell holes, like those in France—grim evidence of the accuracy with which the Army fiyers | have been dropping the charges. Here is a tabulation of the of the bombing in recent weeks: Hits P.C.in . Bombs. Kind of on Within danger drmped. bomi. target. 50 L. sone, ive March 19274 Dummy 54 3 arch 26 Dummy 20 Aprit Live April 2. Tummy April Live 2 Tummy | Aprit Live 341! Dummy 8 14 643 The altitude from which these bombs result | NAVY the studying the possible to obtain a truer aim an airplane than it is with a re | tion Army rifle sight, which cons: of course, | is @ matter of mechanies. * % Xk X [ such operations the pilot an bombardier competitjon with other teams. of the teams, after a period of tice, become highly proficient, at making 100 per cent. Brig. Gen. liam Mitchell, assistant chief o air service, who started the di |sion as to the ability of the wind. The officers who have l|lll A || o 0 O SCALE 100 FEET TO EACH HOW THE TEST SHOTS HIT THE TARGET. which has becn|were dropped ranged at from 3,000 to | flvers lo operate suc 4.000 feet. The dropping of bombs | from an altitude of 5,000 feet was at- which is used for the same purpose.|tempted for the first time in the ma- | neuvers in which I participated as an observer With the sig hting apparatus carricd aboard the airplane, which takes into consideration the elevation, the wind- age and the velocity, the altitude at which the flight is being made is not a bothersome factor. The bomb upon its release is carried forward with the velocity of the airplane, except | for the “lag.” which is the casily com- puted straightening of dircetion caused by the laws of gravitation and FIELD, SQUARE essfull windage and elevation. constitute a team, been bombinz insist that it is from gula- iders, 1t d the in Some prac- times Wil- f the scus- Army against naval vessels within a reasonable dis- tance from shore, tried bombing not long ago and succ in making a score of 75 per ce It is with grim remarkable spirit that the Army at Langley Field, under the com of Maj. Wiiliam M. Hensley, jr.. determination his hand at eeded nt and flyers man-| have entered into the contest, which is now |attracting so much attention in both the military and naval service. Th [fiyers are under the dircetion of Maj T. D. Milling and Maj. Davenport | Johnson, who map out the operations and keep the score. Equipped with a flying suit., head- PLANES AT BOLLI 1 | just ahead | required. | position, FIELD, |gear and goggles, I joined the group | |before the start in the operations | l)uildm:. where Maj. Mllling, before large blackboard, was outlining the maneuvers. He assigned the | leader of the group, explained to the pilots what would be expected of them. gave the time for taking off and for the assembly in the air. Maj Johnson supplemented these instruc- tions all with chalk on the blackboard, giving flying details along military lines. The zot into jockeying for single seaters. one at a time. the air and. after some place, took positien over the marshlands beyond the fly- ing field. The light bombers. thirteen | the prescribed danger zone. of them, followed the single seaters| Capt. Easterbrook and Capt. Law- into the air and the atmosphere was|son were the only team which made charged with the continuous hum of [a perfect score of 100 per cent in this ithe motors. demonstration. One of the teams Meantime the Martin bombers were being tuned. Capt. W. R. Lawson, as the pilot. and Capt. A. E. Easterbrook. as the bombardier, were in charge of the ship to which I was assigned, and 1 took my place besid in the pilot's cockpit Capt. brook entered the bomber's cockpit Into the observer's cock it at the rear got two enlisted men, | one to operate a radio telephone—in- { ! tership as weil as ground communis tion is maintained—and the other to do such mechanical work as might be | This airplane led the group of five Martins off the ground. circling over the marshes behind the single seat- ers and the light bombers that had gone ahead. There was a little ma- neuvering until the ships all were in some swinging back and forth, and then. at a signal. a dash out over Chesapeake bay toward the target. As the airplanes kept on, the alti-|porp 2,00 / | tude increased until the 5.000-foot | ‘;;‘é’;l’",..'\".n;",:nfi":; field again the level. that preseribed for the day's 5 hetE Biocik bombing wan renetay L atne day's|oficers obtuined charts, blocked off time the ship went to 7.000 and then £.000 feet, but dropped back again to the 5,000-foot level for firing. * % * (CAPT. Easterbrook. who was to do the bombing. located the target, | signaling—nobody could talk against the hum of the two great liberty mo- tors—to Capt. Lawson when a change in the direction seemed desirable to There is a small open space in the bomber's cockpit to aid in the sighting and the drop- ping of the bombs. The beautiful scenery at an clevation of 5,000 feet has many of the character- istics of a gray-green desk blotter. one perhaps that has been in use for a couple of weeks, touched up here and there with o few ink spots. The target, a_mile below. looked like such a spot. Therc was the customary haze that hangs over Chesapeake bay and Hampton road The sun was bright enough, but the rush of air when the speed was ninety miles an hour was severely cold. The fur- ined flying suits were comfertable, al- though on the flying field half an hour| before they had bren too hot It was a full minute, maybe two, be- sed over the target the first Capt. Easterbrook, prering through the hole in the cockpit, released the bomb. We had barely passed over the target when the bomb, after its long slide through the air, hit the water near the_raft. The Martin swung into a wide circle to the left, a circle with a diameter of fifteen miles We were follow get over the target. ing the other s, which were s ting the pace. this time the circle was almost directly over Cape Charles, which more than twenty-six miles | from the airplane base, all the way over water. It was a good fifteen minutes before the airplane swung around to the target for its second attack. The signals be- tween Capt. Easterbrook, who was close- Iy observing the course, and Capt. Law- son at the wheel put the machine direct- Iy in line with the target again. This time, without a pause, Capt. Jasterbrook swung forward _another bomb, and then another. The two seemed to chase themselves on a definite | track toward the target, gaining mo- mentum as they went. Splash! Splash They hit in quick within the area that would the deck of the battleship. The airplane kept on in the circle to the left as before, following the twenty- two others and leading them at the same time. It was a remarkable demonstra- tion of aircraft. The machines seemed almost within touching distance of one another, yet they were separated by a mile or more. ] The heavy bombers maintained a higher altitude than the lighter bombers, while the single seaters kept on a track still lower, but doing more climbing and dipping, as it was part of their work to Ro to within 200 feet of the target in order to place their twenty-five-pound bombs. Around and around went the circle, shifting from one direction to an- other, now describing the figure “8" and then getting into line again, as they all might be forced to do under battle conditions. In time the sig- nal cam; succession—again yl\'e been hombardiers made their preparations'the coast and Signals from the bombing short distance from shore, say twen- as before. pit put the Martin into line with the target starting like the | ward course. T started. though. the fraction of a istering a direct hit as had the other three mately fifty feet the supposed battleship. the rules, it had to be set down as a hit, made but 50 per cent, for the group for the 112 bombs drop- ped was 73 per cent. from the supposed battle line the Mar- tin in which I rode withdrew with the others, but the officers in charge, fore the the field, been done with the land target there. The Martin was flying low, so that it was possible to see the destruction that had been wrought pound area, the sticks. showing, great holes caused bombs, aim of the bombers. There were a few of very few from a lower elevation, in the neigh- in marked the spots at which the bombs the Navy just now is silent on the had fallen. submit to the commanding officer for the permanent records. The honor sys- tem is employed. Each bomber, with his pilot, observes the bombs dropped from the airplane in which he oper- ates. In the June tests it is the purpose ofl the air service to enter 100 airplanes, composing which pursuit light bombers of the DH-4 type and twenty-five Martin bombers, Owl type this fleet will be manned by 1,700 en- listed men and 200 officers, all of them trained in bombing. The personnel at the ficld is far from complete at this time. but officers and men are being shifted from other stations in preparation for the work. The details of the problem are and n]ly is understood that the tests will be in three parts: will be assigned to the duty of locat- {ng the fleet at sea, at some point per- for a fresh attack and the |haps within a hundred miles along i | the bomb was released, others on its down- and * ok k% second too late and instead of reg- it fell into the water approxi- | beyond the line of ! Still, under for certainly it was well within but the average When the signal came to withdraw be- bomber finally returned to traveled over the marsh nds to obtain a view of what had by the 100- the ~Dbattleship had been described by Perhaps 100 holes were in the earth by the detonation of the specified evidence of the sure bombs within which holes outside These had the the lines, but been dropped 100-foot squares, on which they These they intended to bombardment wing, of twenty-five planes, fAty a is to_consist or single-seater with the In all, now on the field. here as rapidly as possible cet to be received from the War Navy departments, but it gener- First, the airplanes within comparatively v | United {in | that then is to be conditions, ty-five miles. There an atiack. under battle such as has been described P’art two of the problem. then, as it is understood, will consist of firing live ammunition at a battieship in actual operation—probably the lowa. radio controlled—and it is expected that two hits will be allowed. The third part of the problem, when the heavy ammunition is to be used, will be when some of the German ships which have been assigned to the States government are to be turned loose for the bombing by the American air forces. Heavy ammu- nition will be used in these experi- ments, and the ships will be sunk— if the air service theory is carried out A RMY T s are will tests their air service officel ing to through these prove their assertion that airplanes will effective against fleets operating in coastal waters They say that in actual wagfare they would not be compelled to includ the problem that of locating the enemy fleet, since its location nat- urally would be known, with the im- 3 to be proved use of radio, before an at- tack were undertaken Yet they are willing that they should be called upon to find the fle first before at- tempting the attack Among all the officers at Langley Field there is the utmost confidence that the assertion of Brig. Gen Mitchell that aircraft is able to de- stroy battleships under the condi- tions prescribed will be demonstrated clearly to the board assigned to ob- serve the tests. They take the view that' a navy would have virtually no defense against such an attack { for reasons they are willing to set forth in detail. So far as they can figure, the chief defense of a fleet would be with aircraft in’ superior. numbers, ' but the set down as a grave question whether a fleet of battleships would be able to transport with the fleet a tufficient number of airplanes to be really effective. They believe it would be a simple matter for land forces to overpower the air forces of any fleet. Anti-aircraft guns figure but slight- 1y in the consideration. The Army tests indicate that guns of this char- acter are not effective beyond 3,000 ir While Traveling at Speed of Ninety Miles an Hour and for the Necessary manenvering in the vicinity of the hostile floet For a land airplane 1o ko beyond that distance would be hazardous in the extreme, so long as the present tyjus of bombing machines exist { Future development, on the {hand. is expected to take « | the situation to an extent th craft with one “hop” would t |to go out and attack a fleet . ! much greater distance than 100 miles | 1t is impossible to find any i sponsible officer connected with 1 | srvice who believes that it “\un be possible to do away with the | Navy. replacing it with aireraft even fof the most remarkable cruising radius. They believe that the value of land aireraft will be contined to lan area within a reasor distan.e {of the coast line. but see the possi | bitities of so rdinating the Navy land the air service as to bring the | maximum results | The real underlyving purpose of | the desire to demonstrate the possi- | bilities of aircraft operating against | battleships is to further the consid- eration of the air service. The hose hearts and whose souls are in | the military fiying hranch of the na tional defense briieve they are the right track in the future d | velopment of warfare. | The dream of the flyers is that some day the governm will authorize the creation of a separate air serv- |ice. on & par with the Army and the Navy-—a service for land, a servies | for water and a service for the air | Such might come about, those who | advocate the idea declare. throuxh | the institution. in the new schems for reorganizing the government de partments. of a single department of defense. with three independent but | clogely ‘co-operating bureaus, one for each of the mbat arms. The New Flowers. THE list of varieties of flowers grows longer every year, and generally speaking. many of the new varieties are more beautiful than the old. New roses, new carnations, new dahlias come into being every spring and fall Grandma, as she walked through her beloved garden. could very liks Iy name all varietics of ithe rose that bloomed in her day. She had the 8. Air Service photo.) feet, so that the attacking airci would be reasonably safe at 4,000 or 5,000 feet. The Army aviators say that the use of anti-aircraft guns would .bother them but little. There i8 a possibility, of course, in | the use of poison gas against such an attacking party, but gas, the Army service recognizes, has its lim- itations. for the flyers to get above or below any dangerous layer of gas, accord- ing to this theory. It is a well known rule of warfare, however, of destruction is developed a way to combat it also is found, so that there is no doubt that the Navy, soon- er or later, will hit upon a way—per- haps it already is the case, although w%vti.:x e o roly e "x Yiwq (International Film Service.) subject—to remove the peril of hos- tile” land aircraft. Yet the Army service in striking high is convinced even a partial accomplishment of the theory advanced will be an important development in modern warfare. The limitations of the effectiveness of land aircraft in operations against a fleet are recognized, but faith in the future is maintained for the extension of the present possibilities. For in- stance, it would now be virtually im- possible for a fleet of airplanes to attack an enemy fleet. The limit is established by the length of time it is -possible for the airplanes-to re. main in the air. * x ¥ ¥ HE Martin bombers, which are at present the standard heavy bomb- ers in the service, have a gasoline capacity of about five hours. They travel, as a rule, at ninety miles an hour. ' For this calculation it is suffi- cient to say that they would be able | to travel a total of 500 miles provided the motors functioned properly. This would place a natural limit of safe travel at about 100 miles from shore. since sufficient mileage would have 1o be conserved for the return Lrip It would be an easy matter that whenever some means { B hundred-leaf pink rose,! the brid: rose, the tea rose, the €abbage rose, the English wax rose, the moss rose, the yellow rose, the Marechal Neil, the Jacqueminot and afew others. The rose list has lengtlened almost beyond belief. Perhaps po man who devotes himself to roses—=a rosarian— could name. much less identify, all the varieties of the rose that bloom now. He has to keep the names and de- scriptions in a catalog@e, and new [roses come® out faster. than cata- |loguers and printers can deal with |them. Not only have new varieties of old roses been evolved, but now races of the rose, like the pink and red | ramblers. and the rugosas have been introduced from distant parts of the world or produced by breeding. Grandma knew all her dahlias. They W, 2 OF THE MESSENGER, OR “HANDY,” PLANES OF THE NAVY ABOARD A BATTLESHIP. were stiff, formal flowers, but of radi- ant color. They are still growing, hut |dablias have been brought into be- ing with soft and waving petals and | wonderful coloring, Some are al- |most as graceful as a rose and s | eccentric in their appearance as the mammoth long-haired chrysanthe- mums. Sven the list of varieties of tne lilac has been extended by hundreds. In grandma’s garden there were fwo kinds of lilacs, one purple, the otmer white, and it is a fair bet that she called them not “ly-laks.” but “lay locks.” That was_the pronunciation of ‘the name of {hese old and fra- grant and beautiful flowers in the | day of Elizabeth of England. and that was the pronunciation which was brought to the colonies in America. Grandma had one species of gladiolu which grew in the flower border b the side of the gravel walk. It wa a_ stiff stalk with Iittle pink flower: Now the gladiolus, or the *“gladioli ™ may not be 80 numerous as swords were in ancient Rome—this flower was given the Latin name for “sword” ~—but their numbers and their spc- cies are legion—-that Is, if *“leglon™ means a great many. A L .