Newspapers / The Asheville Times (Asheville, … / Dec. 2, 1917, edition 1 / Page 21
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THE ASHEVILLE TIMES. PACE FIVE.1 GERMANY PREPARING TO AMEmCAS AEIilAL OFFENSIVE OF 1918 UEJOt SUNDAY, DEC 2, 1917 The Allies Are Trusting in This Country to In sure Decisive Victory in Terrific Struggle for 'Aerial Mastery That Will Open in the Spring Enemy's Plans and Hopes Revealed by Cap tured. Ludendorff Order - Stories of Air Fighting Told by British Airmen By sons t. hatjDerston i (Copyright, 1917, McClur' Syndicate) London, Nov. 10. (By . mail) Nineteen Eighteen the Air Year! Only .the men behind the scenes on the air boards are able to forsee whjir tVinr vpar will be like, to plc- ture the daily and nightly scenes of terror and splendor all over Europe -r-the civilians cowering in cellars umid tumult of shattering explosions, the destruction of factories and bridges far behind the battle lines, the disorganization of communica tions and transport and perhaps the harrying to an unnearauie blub 01 the troops that must march along the roads to and from their billets in the war zone. And the men who are planning - these things, up to their ears in technical work, are too busy to talk or even think about what is The defection of Russia, the disas ters to Italy, havo made clear to at least one American in what high con lidence and respect his country Is held in England and France. "At the worst we will see it through togeth er," he is told on every hand. It makes him proud to be an American, but also a little afraid; afraid that the ITnited States, with the best will in the world, will bo unable to meas ure up to these tremendous expecta tions. In land warfare, the mass of people, here undoubtedly expect too much, more than is humanly possi ble, of ' our troops in 1918. Nineteen nineteen, if the war lasts so long, will be another story. . America's Important Part. : But it is in the air, next year, that American can and will play an enor mous part, a part so splendid, it is to be hoped, that nobody will think of grumbling while the tedious business of transport and training, of learning In quiet sectors the rudiments of war fare,- makes General Pershing's army ready for the great destiny which history reserves for it. Everything possible Is being done, here and in France, to prepare for the "air drive." That was made clear to me In a, long conversation re cently with General Sir David Hen derson, director of military aeronau tics, the head of Britain's air service. But these things cannot be discussed. What nil the authorities here are anxious to bring home to the Ameri can people is that Germany is work ing, too, and that therefore it is to America that the allies must look to furnish that great superiority, next year, that will make of the air service a deciding weapon in the grim strug gle against autocracy. To. make this clear, it is permissable to give here some facts concerning these German preparations. . Ucrmnns Preparing:. The Germans, masters of war as they are, were quick to realize the meaning of the great American air program. They were instant to take steps to meet It. During the winter, the German air authorities have been able to assure the All Highest Gen eral Staff, the number of battleplanes will be doubled, in addition to the normal production to meet the heavy wastage. During the later summer and early autumn, all German aero plane and automobile factories com menced enlarging their plants to per mit the carrying out of the new building orders. Twenty-nino factories of great size, hitherto engaged on other war work or on civilian manufacturing, were taken over for aeroplane construction during last spring and summer. Among these is the great Berzina pi ano factory In Schwerln, now occu pied by the t'okker Arm, where fight ing bi-planes are being turned out, In Special Price On Men's Suits. CEM CLOTHING STORE 6 Patton Ave. DIAMONDS and FINE WATCHES J. E. CARPENTER 18 N. PACK 81L'AKK Fine Watch Repairing A Specialty. INDESTRUCTO Trunks, Bags and Salt Canes II. L FINKELSTEIN 23-K5 BILTMORE AVE. BAGGAGE Checked from your home to destination. ASJIF.VIT.iTjE transfer & STORAGE CO, Phones 210-211. Falk's Music House THE BEST IN MUSIC Phone us to call tor your lawn mowers. We sharpen and repair, returning them In first class order. ASHEVILLE CYCLE A ELKCi'RIO CO. 28 W. College St. Pbone 2311. : . FOR Furniture and Stoves SEP ' Donald and Donald l 26 Broadway. Phone 441. V. MCKE GOOD EATS for less money In ft sack Three Riven Corn Meal .than any food you can bar. J. D. Earle Feed Co. Wholesale Distributors Go To The PALAIS ROYAL j SHOES of the latest styleajn black, tail and combinations of black and white and tan and whttg. GLOBE SAMPLE CO. 14 Blltmorc Ave. IIOMF, BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION: Series opened In January, April, July and October. Dues 25c per share per week. Call on us for Information. Office 48 Patton Ave., Phone 268. S. L. Forbes, Sec'y. and Treas. L OUR FALL WOOLENS Are rondy for your Inspection. LOGAN' AND MOORE "Tailor-, to Ladles and GTJhtlcmen" Next door to Southern Ticket Office ECONO MY in the home is furthered by the use of GAS AS A FUEL Ask your friends who are using ' it. . 1 -. ' . : -. . . Asheville Power & Light Co. Salesroom: 102 Patton Avenue TIMES ADS BUILD BUSINESS addition to a new trl-plane whose great speed and ability to climb quick ly render it a most formidable oppo nent The greatest concentration ap pears to be on long distance bombing machines, an interesting proof of the German view of the course that air warfare will take next year. The new Kumpler model, with 260 horse-power Meroedes motors, is the best of these. The machine carries . three men and between 1.700 and l,8f0 pounds of bombs, and, when fully loaded, can climb 12. ,000 feet in 33 minutes. The six-cylinder Maybach motor, lighter than the Mercedes and giving greater climbing power in less time, Is also a favorite in the new construction. ' Electrical Installations, driven by a small motor which de rives its power from the revolutions of the propeller, warm the airmen, who also carry oxygen respirators to enable them to breathe at enormous altitudes. An all-metal machine, diffi cult to set on fire, designed to fly low and co-operate with advancing, or it is to be hoped, retreating troops, will soon be ready to take the air in considerable numbers. i Nor are the Germans letting grass grow under their feet in providing pi lots for their new squadrons.' For merly, only cavalrymen were allotted to volunteer for the ir service; Now, applicants from all arms of the war machine are received. An order from General Ludendorff, captured during a recent offensive, probably addressed to all superior officers in the German army, shows how the man who is called "the brains of Hindenburg" plans to husband all his air forces to meet the allied drive in 1918.. The order says that the allies are employ ing their aeroplanes economically' with a view to the great. battles of the future, and adds: "Wo should be wrong to overwork and wear out our air formations which are inferior in numbers, by sending them out several times each day. Consequently, the infantry and artillery must be told that it is im possible to prevent the enemy planes from flying over our lines,, and they must not get nervous when they see them overhead. Airmen are to be used sparingly in calm times, in order that Germany may have as many of them as possible for great emergen cies." New German Program, The meaning of the new German program is that it is up to America to furnish, and in time, men and ma chines enough to make the "air drive" disastrous for Germany. If this were not done, the utmost efforts of the other allied powers in the air, great as those efforts are, might not succeed in overcoming the German air service sufficiently next year ap preciably to change the course of the war.- From the airmen themselves, I have gathered some narratives to in dicate phases of modern warfare in the sky the story of a typical bomb ing raid, a thrilling account of the capture and abduction of a German pilot, in a fight continued on the ground after having begun in the air. These are given below. But the principal and most Impor tant work of the aeroplanes is not fighting or bombing, but observation. As everybody knows, they are the "eyes of the guns." Major C. J. Ptreet, an artillery officer in the Brit ish army, who has also flown, has sup plied me with a vivid picture of what "spotting" is really like. "The hostile battery," he said, "may be hidden be hind a crest or a belt of trees, so as to be invisible from any point within our own lines. But its presence is soon detected, and in a very short time. The aeroplane maneuvres for a to sltlon from which the observer can get a clear view of the target, and which' is as secure as possible from the anti-aircraft guns that surround him with bursting shell whenever he comes within their range. Having found a favorable beat, ho warns the battery that he is ready, and the fun begins. There aro trees all around the target, which might hide the burst of the shell from him at first, but the battery commander knows all about this, he has a photograph of the place before him, and he sends his first shot wide, into the open country. A cloud of brown earth and a puff of black smoke reveals the bursting shell. . The observer signals to the battery the point where it fell, and turns to await the next round, which in n few seconds falls on the other side of the target. This too is signalled to the battery, and the process continues un til the battery commander is satisfied with the results. No gun in the world will drop every round in the same place, the art of ranging is to find the gun elevation that will ensure the greatest possible proportion of shells falling on the target. Having found this elevation to his own satisfaction, the battery commander informs the observer of the fact, and proceeds to carry on. WorV of tho Observer. The observer flies comfortably up and down his beat, signalling a sort of running commentary of the shoot ing. Guns once set on a target are not likely to get off it again, if con ditions remain the same, but some times these alter and the stream of I shell drifts slightly wide. Tho ob j server notifies this, and the battery corrects accordingly. The former can see everything so distinctly the 'country spread out beneath him !He a map, the belt of trees that hides the guns, now bo torn and shattered that one of the gun-pits lies plainly ! open to view. The shells fall regu- I Iarly around the unlucky battery, j sending up brown spurts of earth when they strike the open fields, sometimes hitting one of tho trees, I when a black wreath of smoke with 'r hpnrt nf flrA hursts nut. clnnrlncr in show a great gas in the green ver dure. Now and again a round falls right Into one of the pits, shapeless lumps of timber and concrete rise far above the pall of smoke, a Jagged edge may be seen where a few sec onds ago a straight line revealed the edge of the cover. . "A shell bursts beneath the trees, the observer misses It for an Instant until wispB of smoke, ascending through the branches, shows him where It fell, fifty yards or so from the guns. It was an abnormal round, such as sometimes occurs, worth worrying "the battery But ten seconds after It falls, a livid flash shoots up from the place, fol lowed by a rolling cloud of grey smoke that spreads until it hides the whole position. That stray round must have fallen into an ammunition store, setting lire to it and its con- tents. The cartridges are burning now; perhaps, with any luck, the lire will spread to tho shell stacked nearj by. The whoie countryside is obscur ed, making observation impossible for the time. The observer signals the battery to wait, and circles round to keep an eye on events. Suddenly the smoke Is rent by a gust of flame, the aeroplane rocks with a violent concus sion, needing all the observer's atten tion for a moment. When he has leis ure to look again, a patch of trees has disappeared, revealing a jagged crater from which black smoke still rises slowly. Tho enemy's shells have ex ploded, adding to tho chaos already produced in tys battery. The explosion has blown the smoke away, and all is clear again; the ob server signals the battery to go on. The shells fall regularly once more, continuing until the battery com mander consider that further firing will be waste of ammunition. Then the aeroplane, after one last circle round the shattered position to survey the amour of damage done, sets oft towards its distant aerodrome, while the battery cleans its guns and pre pares for the next shoot upon its pro gram." Feat of One Airman. The modesty of the air service pre vents the use of the name of the Brit ish airman who performed the feat of capturing a Boche airman on the ground and carrying him Into captiv ity. Lieutenant Roland Johnson is the narrator of the story. Here it is: "One of our little 'wasps,' (a partic ularly fast one at that) was riding high in the heavens. He was very high up, so high, indeed, as to have been undetected by the enemy as he swept over the lines at a speed exceed ing one hundred miles an hour. He was alono in the deep blue sky, while French and British and some German machines passed and repassed far be low h im. "He had flown over the lines, and down there on the earth ho could see country in which there were no signs of troops. The first symptom of his detection by the enemy was a tiny black aeroplane several thousand feet below; some scout making off to give news of him. It is the thought of a second, a swift movement of the con trol lever, and the young pilot swoops down and opens fire with his deadly little machine gun; "Rat, tat, tat, tat," goes the ma chine gun, and there is an answering " Pop, pop, pop, pop." The Boche fights like a devil possessed, turning, diving, climbing anything to escape his deadly attacker. "But the German was beaten. He could not compete with this wonderful little, machine und with its Inexorable occupant. He dived to ground follow ed by the English. In landing he crashed and his machine turned turtle. Shaken but unhurt, he climbed out. regained his machine gun and opened fire at his opponent who was circling round about. The latter dived, flat tened out and landed in the next field far from any house or visible sign of life.' , "Thereupon ensued a battle royal. Both plied their machine guns for all they were worth. The English gun was the first to jam; the pilot has per force to play 'possum,' revolver in hand. In such a situation some one has to make the first move. Unfortu nately for the Hun, ho, in his endeav or to ascertain the meaning of this sudden silence; advanced unwurily, and found himself pulled up at re volver point. ' . "Good morning." said his oppone... "Good morning," replied the Hun. "Just jump into my machine," mur mured the Englishman, "and mind, no tricks!" "An invitation like this cannot be re fused, especially when it !' givi'u three feet nway from behind a convincing looking "automatic".- of the very latest type. The Hun, without remon strance climbed Into the spare scat the self-starter was put into action, and enptor and capture rose from tho ground, leaving the wrecked plane to be puzzled over by the Germans. "Back in the English aerodrome once more. "Thank you," said the Hun. "That's all right! You may be better than some of your crowd!" "T j those who know only the Ger man army on the ground, some Huns sirmen seem surprisingly good fellows and such is the etuiuetto of war. Bombing ltnltl, "It is 5 o'clock in tho morning," ho begins. The engines are started, and warmed, und the pilots cover their eyes with goggles. They then have a few moments in which to smoke un til the C. O. appears. A buzz on the telephone is heard; the engines ore restarted, and, at a signal from the commundor, they "taxio" out on to. the aerodiomo preparatory to taking off, and the bombing raid has begun. "There are ten machines in nil, four of them acting as escort to ward off tho uttacks of hostile aircralt while the bombing is in progress. Tho aeroplanes leave tho ground in a long stream, the leader having a triangular flag attached to his tail planes or wings. Quickly getting into their required positions, they circle around the aerodrome until they ro ceive a signal from the ground, giving them permission to make for the lines. "Climbing steadily all tho time they follow their leaders Hunwards, and cross the lines- at varying heights, from ton thousand to eight thousand feet, spreading out to, avoid the chances 6f being hit by 'Archies' (anti aircraft guns). "They hope to avoid detection, but immediately they are within range they hear 'crump, crump, crump' and the 'Archie' is letting them have it hot. Threo greenish brown puffs of smoke aro to be seen above them; again 'crump, crump," and this time below. For the next few minutes shells burst nil around them, and then the fire suddenly stopr. No doubt the Germans are mounting their guns on lorries nnd taking them further back, In order to get another shot at them. "At Inst their objective heaves in sight; the bomb sights are set, and the hardly pilots get ready to drop the bombs, about As each machine passes over the tar- N 1 1 "K-llj A.h Engine That Digests Jbow-Grade Gas and Makes ih Power Out of It The thing about the great Chalmers engine that counts is the fact that it actually digests the gas fed to . it (and low-grade gas especially). Everyone knows now that the grade of gasoline is on the decline, and that probably high-grade gas, or even the gas of a year ago, will never come back.1 And like a man who has been on a high-grade diet and is suddenly given a low-grade diet, many engines in automobiles now have gasoline indigestion The Chalmers engine digests gas probably as no( engine ever before has done. It makes high power,! out of low-grade gas. It makes gasoline work harder than gasoline" ever, V worked before. . v Anyone who knows anything about an "engine knows that the everlasting riddle has been to get the gas in just exactly a 100 condition of vapor in the combustion chamber before ignition. The great Chalmers engine has accomplished this, so far as any engine probably ever will be able to do, by means of two clever devices. One is a "hot spot" feature which heats and "breaks ' up" the gas after it leaves the carburetor and before it gets to the intake manifold. The other is the "ram s horn" manifold that, by means of its "easy air, bends," sends the gas to the combustion chamber well-nigh perfect. Hence, more power out of less gas. On a cold day remarkably quick results in starting are obtained. No longer a 10-minute fight with your engine. And as soon as the Chalmers engine starts it runs smoothly and delivers power quickly. Often cars take ten minutes of running to "warm them up." But not so with the current Chalmers., And if you weren't a shrewd judge of anautomo-j bileyou might overlook some df the other notable, features of the current Chalmers, so great has become the achievements of its engine. Go down to our salesroom and let us show you the great Chalmers engine and the perfection of the current Chalmers. ; . -. TOURING CAR, 7-PASSENGER I53S ' TOURING SEDAN ... 1950 TOWN CAR LANDAULET f 1021 ; TOURING CAR, 5-PASSENGER fHiS CABRIOLET, J-PASSENGER 11775 LIMOUSINE, 7-PASSENGER 2925 STANDARD ROADSTER - - J1485 TOWN CAR, 7-PASSENGER $2925 LIMOUSINE LANDAULET 3025 ALL PRICES F. O. B. DETROIT SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE , get, the pilot releases Ms bombs, banks steeply round, and liinkes for home. His day's work sc ems finished. Ho is Just beginning to think what an eusy time he has had, when 'crump, crump, crump' nnd the 'Archlo' is let ting him have It again. Unhampered by his bombs, he swerves to the right and left, climbing and diving alter nately to lessen the chances of being hit. Suddonly the firing stops, and the lines nro In sight. "His troubles, however, are not over. 'Pop, pop, pop, pop' he hears. He looks around to see who is firing, and observes that a wire on his machit has been shot away. Screwing his head round, he sees three enemy bi planes diving almost vertically on top of him. lie dives also, then suddenly, 'zooms' up, turning steeply at the samo time. He is then facing his op ponents, and, with a steady pressure of his finger, his gun is brought Into action. His is making straight for his opponent, and if one or the other does not turn away, there will be a collision. ' His attackers rapidly grow bigger and bigger, and when he thinks that nothing can save an accident, they swerve away exposing at the fame time the whole of their ma chines to fire. "The bomber, firing hard, follows them as they dive to earth but gives up the chase after a few thousand feet. As he crosses the lines he is one more fitted with a hale of exploding shells, but he reaches his aerodrome In safety, and lands. "'Beastly cold? wasn't It' is hi only remark as he goes down to the miss for the meal he Is ready to en Joy. The airmen gets- his fighting In very concentrated doses."
The Asheville Times (Asheville, N.C.)
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Dec. 2, 1917, edition 1
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