Like a Wasp on the Wing 



Is the New Albatross Destroyer in which the Germans have em- 

 bodied all that the war has taught about fast fighting airplanes 



By Carl Dienstbacli 



_» Underwood 

 and Underwood 



THE war will be won by 

 that power which 

 launches into the air 

 the greatest number 

 of the fastest fighting 

 airplanes. This seems 

 to have been realized 

 from the day when it 

 dawned on the general 

 staffs of Europe that 

 artillery must be aim- 

 ed by a man several 

 thousand feet in the 

 air, that the enemy 

 must be prevented 

 from similarly direct- 

 ing his own fire, and 

 that as a result, fight- 

 ing machines must be 

 resorted to in order 

 to gain supremacy in 

 the air. As a result, 

 the warring nations 

 have been tr>dng to 

 outstrip one another 

 in producing the fast- 

 est and most formida- 

 ble fighters. British, 

 French, Germans 

 have all commanded the air at different 

 times, and the times usually coincided 

 with the appearance of faster and more 

 improved machines. 



Whenever the newest type of hostile 

 machine is captured, it is examined with 

 microscopic minuteness. The curve of 

 its u'ings, the spacing of its struts, the 

 shape of its fins and tail, the material of 

 which it is made, the proportioning of its 

 different parts— everything is measured, 

 tested and noted. It is not only studied; 

 it is copied. This is no time for riding 

 pet hobbies. The best that the enemy has 

 must be not only imitated, but bettered. 



It seems to be conceded in the British 

 and French despatches that the new 

 German Albatross destroyer known as 

 "type D-III" is for the time being the 

 fastest and most formidable fighting 

 airplane on the Western front. In this re- 



Upside Down in Mid-Air 



We used to marvel at the men who 

 looped-the-loop in flying machines or 

 slid down sideways or tail first, wonder- 

 ing what was the good of it all. The 

 wildest acrobatic feats performed at 

 flying-machine meetings before the war 

 are now part and parcel of every 

 fighter's tactical equipment. He must 

 put himself in a favorable position and 

 if necessary must loop-the-loop to do so. 



markable piece of mechan- 

 ism we see embodied in 

 steel, wood and linen, all the 

 lessons so bloodily 

 driven home by two 

 years of fighting in the 

 air. The new Alba- 

 tross is an amalgama- 

 tion of the best fea- 

 tures to be found in 

 the original small Al- 

 batross and the latest 

 fast French Nieuport. 

 Above all things, a 

 fighting machine must 

 be fast. A speed of 

 one hundred and thir- 

 ty miles an hour is 

 about the minimum 

 now. In addition to 

 speed, the machine 

 must have the maneu- 

 vering power of a 

 wasp; it must be 

 able to dart up and 

 down and in and out 

 with the rapidity of 

 an insect. 



In the French Nieu- 

 K w cr essential qualities 

 of speed and maneuvering ability were 

 more highly developed than in any other. 

 The Nieuport is a biplane in which the 

 lower wing is but half as wide as the 

 upper. We look at the Albatross. Sure 

 enough, its lower wang is one-half the 

 width of the upper. In the fast Nieuport, 

 the wings are "staggered"^ — that is, the 

 lower wing lies not directly below the 

 upper, but slightly to the rear, so that the 

 front edge of the lower wing is just be- 

 neath the rear edge of the upper one. 

 Why is this done? Because the struts 

 that tie the two wings together can be 

 shortened. Shortened struts, in turn, 

 mean less wind resistance. Look at the 

 detail drawing of the Albatross that ac- 

 companies this article. You see at once 

 that the Albatross, too, has "staggered" 

 wings and short struts. 



port machine theoo 



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