Committee on Public Information 



ARTICULATING THE SKELETON OE AN AIRPLANE'S EUSEEAGE, OR BODY 



Various parts of the framework of our flying machines and the metal fittings are made 

 in widely separated factories. They are then shipped to assembling factories, where the parts 

 are put together and wired by highly specialized workmen. 



yet developed ; but its surface is still 

 rough and not yet drum-tight. To effect 

 this, three coats of "dope" must be ap- 

 plied. This is a cellulose chemical prepa- 

 ration which was produced here only in 

 small quantities before the war and of 

 which 59 gallons are necessary for every 

 plane. It contracts the linen appreciably, 

 making it very taut and slippery, so as 

 to decrease wind resistance. A final ap- 

 plication of varnish to make the wing 

 water-tight renders this part of the plane 

 ready to be brought together with the 

 other parts — engine, fuselage, propeller, 

 controls, etc. 



And so throughout the whole plane 

 there is not an item which has not been 

 built with infinite care and skill, balanced 

 to the finest mechanical nicety, reduced in 

 weight to the smallest margin of safety, 

 always in the continued struggle to har- 

 monize the antagonistic elements of light- 

 ness and strength. When, for instance, 

 we look at the gently sloping curve on 

 the fuselage behind the pilot, we are not 



apt to realize that some expert engineer 

 has made this in place of a right angle in 

 order to prevent air currents from eddy- 

 ing back and decreasing the speed of the 

 plane several miles an hour. 



Every sharp line, every superfluous 

 wire, every unnecessary bit of material, 

 adds to the weight and the wind resist- 

 ance of the plane and holds up its speed 

 through the air. Hence a continual strug- 

 gle is ever going on between the experts 

 of each army. With every enemy ma- 

 chine captured betterments are noted 

 which further tax our industrial re- 

 sources here and call for a higher degree 

 both of skill in labor and of perfection 

 in materials. 



A DAY-AND-NIGHT RACE 



I shall not repeat the story of the Lib- 

 erty Motor, for that is well known ; but I 

 do want to place one question : Where has 

 it been possible to secure sets of the ac- 

 cessories needed for every one of our 

 thousands of machines, sets including a 



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