The Mechanical Owl of the French Army 



A night-roaming airplane with rockets and search- 

 lights to throw light on a Zeppelin's intentions 



NIGHT flying has become a military 

 necessity for reconnoitering and 

 bombing as well as for attacking 

 Zeppelins, which always bomb at night. 

 Extraordinary demands are made on the 

 skill of the pilot. A landing at night can 

 be safely made only if the ground is il- 

 luminated or guiding beacons are em- 

 ployed. Were it not for the fact that the 

 average night sky is not pitch black and is 

 even slightly luminous, night flying would 

 be even more dangerous than it is. Yet 

 on those nights when overhanging clouds 

 cut off even this faint luminosity, when 

 everything is wrapped in inky blackness, 

 it may be necessary to send an aviator 

 aloft. 



Recently the French had to convert the 

 night plane into something like an owl, so 

 that it can fly even on pitch dark nights. 

 Like an owl, the machine, with which they 

 have experimented, is very slow — an old- 

 fashioned Farman "pusher" which would 

 fall a ready prey to a fast enemy machine 

 in daylight. But how does it find its 

 way? By illuminating devices, of course. 

 They may not be heavy because the ma- 

 chine cannot carry much additional 

 weight. There are three luminous eyes in 

 the form of searchlights mounted on the 

 lower plane, as our photograph shows. 

 As the owl swoops down on its prey, they 



flare up and enable the pilot to single out 

 the target. 



But sometimes the searchlights are in- 

 adequate. Greater efficiency is often de- 

 manded. And so we find that the ma- 

 chine carries as well eight illuminating 

 rockets, four to the side. They are 

 mounted nearly horizontally between the 

 wings and are no doubt discharged by 

 electrical devices. The mere pushing of 

 an electric button is enough. Rushing 

 out with a hiss, far out in front of the 

 machine, each emits a dazzling flare, 

 which, suspended from a small parachute, 

 lights up a large area through which a 

 machine may pass. The flare lasts long 

 enough to enable the aviator to make an 

 emergency landing if need be; for the 

 lights of an airdrome are difficult to 

 pick up. 



By means of rockets, it has become 

 possible to sight a Zeppelin in an inky sky. 

 At night a Zeppelin is detected only by its 

 propellers. It is practically invisible. 

 But, if the rockets be aimed in the direc- 

 tion of the betraying noise, by swinging the 

 entire machine, there seems no reason 

 why it should not throw real light on the 

 Zeppelin's intentions. 



These owl machines seem especially in- 

 tended to mother small avians de chasse, 

 which, because of their speed, climbing and 

 maneuvering ability, 

 can attack an illumi- 

 nated ZeppeHn. 



y 



The rockets on this night machine are electrically discharged. They arc for use when 

 darkness confuses the aviator. Each rocket carries a flare at the end of a parachute 



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