Another interesting development was the target airplane used for the training of aërial gunners. This was a small seaplane with a span of only 18½ feet, driven by a 12-horse-power motor, the whole machine weighing but 175 pounds. This was sent up without a pilot and it would fly at the rate of forty to fifty miles per hour until its supply of gasolene gave out, when it would drop down into the sea. It afforded a real target for gunners in practice machines.
(C) Underwood & Underwood
An N-C (Navy-Curtiss) Seaplane of the type that made the first flight across the Atlantic
Early in the war an American inventor proposed that seaplanes be provided with torpedoes which they could launch at an enemy ship. The seaplane would swoop down out of the sky to within a short distance of the ship, drop its projectile, and fly off again, and the torpedo would continue on its course until it blew up the vessel. It was urged that a fleet of such seaplanes protected by a convoy of fast battle-planes could invade the enemy harbors and destroys its powerful fleet. It seemed like a rather wild idea, but the British actually built such torpedo-planes and tested them. However, the German fleet surrendered before it was necessary to blow it up in such fashion.
AIRPLANES AFTER THE WAR
With the war ended, all the Allied powers have large numbers of airplanes on their hands and also large numbers of trained aviators. Undoubtedly airplanes will continue to fill the skies in Europe and we shall see more and more of them in this country. Even during the war they were used for other purposes than fighting. There were ambulances on wings—machines with the top of the fuselage removable so that a patient on a stretcher could be placed inside. A French machine was furnished with a complete hospital equipment for emergency treatment and even for performing an operation in case of necessity. The flying hospital could carry the patient back to the field or base hospital after treatment.
Mail-carrying airplanes are already an old story. In Europe the big bombing-machines are being used for passenger service between cities. There is an air line between Paris and London. The airplanes carry from a dozen to as many as fifty passengers on a single trip. In some cities here, as well as abroad, the police are being trained to fly, so that they can police the heavens when the public takes to wings. Evidently the flying-era is here.