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AMERICAN INGENUITY HELPED ALLIES American ingenuity apparently has overcome three more problems with which the allies have been struggling since the beginning of the Avar As a result of tlie perfection of three new airplane de ¬ vices the aviation forces will be far more effective than in tlie past The devices have been accepted by the War Department DepartmentThe The first and probably most Important of these devices is one for aiming bombs with a considerable ilegree of accuracy Tlie cry for sending swarms of bombing airplanes over the Gorman army and into Germany as a quick means of ending tlie war has been well nigh impossible of achievement be ¬ cause of the defenses against bombing planes and the fact that in order to carry out bombing opera ¬ tions the planes to protect themselves have had to fly at such a great height that accurate dropping of Ixmibs bis been impossible Flying at a height sufficient to protect a bombing plane out of range of antiaircraft guns the targets for flying bomb ¬ ers sire almost infinitesimal That has been tlie principal reason for lack of accuracy in dropping high explosives into and behind tlie German lines and on German cities citiesThe The problem of dropping a bomb from a speeding airplane accurately has been necessarily a question of individual judgment of the flier Tiie bombs of course do not drop in a straight line from the moment of their release but travel along for some time because of the impetus given them by tho speed of the planes from which they are released The fall of a dropped I ml is in a long arc for a considerable distance finally dropping perpendicu ¬ larly larlyThe The device which has been perfected and with which planes are to be equipped cannot be described in detail as that would furnish information of an invaluable nature to the enemy However it can IK stated that the speed of the machine from which the iKHiib is Implied and the elevation of the machine are taken into account by tlie device These two factors are the only cues necessary to establish accuracy in bomb dropping corresponding in range iml elevation in artillery fire The height nd HJKHI of the bombing plane are almost instantly indicated the device indicating the moment to re ¬ lease a bomb to bit the target desired desiredThe The other difficulties which have been overcome concern extensive night flying One is a light diffusion contrivance by wUich without blinding the flier the territory below him may be illu ¬ minated The other is a reflector arrangement by which an aviator at night will be able to determine accurately his distance from the ground in feet feetITntil ITntil now it has liceii impossible for fliers at night to determine accurately whether they are r0 200 or 300 feet from the ground In order to make safe landings at night the aviation fields have to l o illuminated giving a great advantage to the pursuing enemy fliers Washington Corres ¬ pondent New York Sun
