The 1914 German Albatross Biplane
Meanwhile the Germans were busy developing machines, so that another development of 1914 was the Albatross tractor biplane, with a six-cylinder vertical water-cooled Mercedes engine of 100 horse-power. This engine was the ancestor of the Liberty engine and of all the big German tractor biplanes. The plane resembled the French Breguets and British Avros of 1910.
The 1915 Twin Caudron
The first aeroplane to fly with consistent success equipped with more than one engine was the twin-motored Caudron, with two 110 horse-power Le Rhone engines. Various other similar experiments had been made and some machines were designed which afterward made good. The French twin Caudron, however, may claim to be the first twin-engined aeroplane. The engines were placed one on each side of the fuselage but inaccessible to the pilot.
The huge four-motored Handley Page bomber.
This machine carried 40 passengers at one time over London and has flown from London, via Cairo and Bagdad, to India. It has a wing spread of 126 feet.
The 1916 Twin Handley Page
In 1916 the British Handley Page machine with 100-foot wing spread, driven by two Rolls-Royce motors of 250 horse-power, performed many remarkable bomb-carrying feats for long distance. A later machine, with 127-foot wing spread and four engines, flew via Cairo and Bagdad to Delhi, India, and still another carried a piano over the Channel. A large fleet of these bombers were ready to attack Berlin when the armistice was signed.
The 1917 Spad