^ 
LAND & WATER 
September 14, 1916 
cap of load is even more seriously against the raiders, 
bombing is done by squadrons and more ; they are given 
an escort of lighters, and they subscribe to the defence 
one of another. Under these new circumstances, the 
enemy's " defender " has not got "the odds in his favour 
as much as he had for a short spell some months ago 
when we, and the enemy for the matter of that, were 
learning the busmess. 
"Dropping" a Spy 
A point of interest in the use of two seaters is 
brought to mind by a recently published (early 
August) report by the German Headquarters that 
they had captured an aeroplane engaged in putting 
down a spy — or as we should say, an intelligence 
officer on their side of their lines. So long as an aeroplane 
is always to be Hown with the two persons on board, 
the disturbance of its equipose by depositing one of those 
persons and returning empty is not under consideration. 
But if any substantial weight, be it bombs, persons or 
petrol, is to be sometimes carried, and sometimes dis- 
pensed with or dropped or consumed en route, then it 
is universal practice to locate such removable load on 
the centre of gravity. In this way the minimum dis- 
turbance is made to the stability of the aeroplane and 
its balance. For such purposes as this our original two 
seater tractors were eminentlj' suited, since they were all 
with the passenger on the centre of gravity. Here we 
have an example of the gain arising from nmltiple-purpose 
aircraft, and when, later we speciaUzed, of our willingness 
to learn from the enemy. 
No one can doubt but that in the first year or so of 
war we were wise to employ the most versatile " multi- 
/l ikam krslun 
Sketch of ■ German twc-3eater aeroplane body wilh turret to the 
back seat 
purpose " craft ; but to-day the uses have begun to 
settle down. The Germans, in their Albatross two-seater 
aeroplanes (see sketch IV., where the body work only, 
seen from above, is shown), placed the observer (who is 
also a gunner of course), on a back seat which was 
specially designed to swivel round with him, and pro- 
vided him with a kind of gun turret — a rotable loop 
in the middle of which he sat, and which bore a telescopic 
gun mounting. The entire turret and mounting rotated 
with the gunner, who could then face quickly in any 
direction. 
There is, of course, an objection — namely, that the 
gunner in this position was practically debarred from 
firing forwards — experience shows that there is a more 
than adequate compensation therefor ; he could fire so 
much the better aft. We probably began by holding 
the view — indeed I have heard it expressed in military 
circles — that it was not well to foster by the very build of 
the aeroplane any disposition to turn tail, and still 
less to make it essential for an airman to turn tail 
in order to show fight. The situation must be admitted 
to be anomalous, it is one of the thousands of unex- 
pected incidents which a totally new kind of fighting 
craft introduces. Reluctantly the pundits have bowed 
to the laws of mechanics and admitted that the larger 
the load the less the mobility — the two-seater must 
be, in the long run, slower than the light one-seater 
which attacks it, since you cainnot prevent the enemy 
from using as large and Hght an engine in his one-seater 
as you are yourself using in your two-seater. Hence 
the two-seater will not be the pursuer. Hence it will 
have to fight by firing over its tail. 
It is to be remarked that very early in the war we 
possessed and used some aeroplanes which, by reason of 
the reduplication of the control mechanism in both 
cockpits, could carry the gunner at will in either. The 
maker, one of the earliest of British pioneers, Mr. A. V. 
Roe, who was making a triplane when the Frenchman, 
Breguet, was making his first tractor biplane, was unfortu- 
nate in being before his time. The dual control was dis- 
liked at the Front and often pulled out. These matters are 
more complex than they seem. It was perhaps a question 
as to whether the 15 lb. weight which the dual control 
might involve was better expended in armour plating 
the seat of the observer, or whether the space taken up 
by installing the dual control, might not be better em- 
ployed in making room for other sundries, or whether 
the saving of i5;lb. weight might not ow the whole give 
more of safety thari' by affording control' leverii to a man 
who had not learitt' to-fly— ^bt:Whether'(sihce an observer, 
untrained in flight, has^on several occasions when his pilot 
was wounded or killed, climbed from his cockpit into 
the pilot's and steered the aeroplane home, relying on 
its stability to look after the balancing) it was not better 
to omit the complication. For myself I give it up as 
hopelessly unsuited for public discussion. 
The merit of the " gunner behind " arrangement 
was most strongly appreciated when first it was adopted 
as a change from the prtvious practice, not only because 
it was good, but because it was less expected by the 
enemy. This element of surprise is so valuable, and 
adds so much to th(J success of any new design embodying 
altered- features which do not 'betray themselvps to-.the 
enemy from mere inspection, that much more' might- be 
done in the way of having variants of similar exterii4 
appearance, thiii is done at present • on any -aiSe. 
No adxantage is. gained without introducing some cotrfe^ 
sponding disability, but the enemy will not immedi?ttj6ly 
find out what that disability is, and will therefore' bfe 
unable to act upon it. . . . ; 
A Word of Warning 
One outcome of the temporary gain due to surprise at 
new disposition of parts, is that demands will be made 
for perpetual variations in structure, in gun supports, it^ 
arrangements of seats and sundries ; the latest new 
arrangement being hailed with a degree of positiyeness 
which conduces to the hurried displacement of previous 
desiderata, only to be again displaced at short notice "with- 
equal urgency and no greater permanency. If the rate 
of change is greater than the rate of production, one lot 
of " absolutely indispensable " urgent pieces will be 
" not required " before they are completed. But for 
the disturbing effect on the production of aircraft at 
home, no objection would exist to these high-speed changes 
of demand from abroad — for the airman must be like 
Odysseus, a man of many ways. If the number of 
alterations called for be any index, our British airmen 
have this great quality, and their chief in the field ex- 
presses it with a degree of positiveness of diction "which 
leaves nothing- to be desired. How far his and their 
wishes have been met and have been excellently wise, 
is proved by the success which has uninterruptedly 
attended our Flying Corps almost throughout the war. 
I say this witli intention, for there may be anxious 
folk at home who have believed in the " murder charges " 
and other completely futile verbiage of self-advertisement 
and trade jealousy to which we have been treated 
what the French who have also had it call with a smile 
our " crise de I'Aviation " : the charges against the 
Royal Flying Corps and against the singleness of purpose 
of the officers who have seen to its equipment. Let us 
take comfort, so hurried has been the decamping of the 
croakers that one speaker three months after he began 
his dirge, Unaware that not a single new squadron could 
be turned out even if ordered at the first sound of his 
basso profundo, has been rejoicing at the wondrous effects 
already wrought by his incursion into that which he 
does not understand. The fly is very busy at the wheel 
of the coach. 
Enemy of the two-seater " director" aeroplane 
In diagram V I have indicated a two-seater aeroplane 
T engaged on artillery direction, beiiig attacked from 
below aft by a German G, a " tractor " with fixed gun 
(a Fokker). The attackf#l pilot in aeroplane T is doing 
precisely the right thing. He has his gunner in thfe 
back seat leanine out and over, aimine at the German. 
