20 officers of the navy have been assigned to transatlantic flight duty, and from these ten will be chosen for the actual flight.

The purpose in using two planes is that if one should fail, the other might succeed. Also through the use of two planes, it would be possible if one met with a mishap for the other to go to its assistance. The four NC planes in use are designated officially as the N C-1, the N C-2, the N C-3 and the N C-4. Two of these will be chosen for the flight.

The NC-1 was first put in commission and some weeks ago made a successful trip from Rockaway to Bolling Field and return. Recently it was damaged in a storm and put temporarily out of commission. It is hoped to get the N C-1 ready again before the official naval voyage across the Atlantic is undertaken. The N C-2 is now in commission at Rockaway. The other two planes are being put into shape rapidly.

The purpose in flying the planes from Rockaway to Newfoundland, it was explained, was not only to transport them to the officially selected starting point, but to test their endurance and speed qualities. The distance from Rockaway Point to the selected point on the Newfoundland Coast is 1050 miles. The flight from Rockaway to Newfoundland will be made in two leaps, with an intermediate stop at Halifax, which is about half way between Long Island and Newfoundland.

The length of the course over which the naval planes will fly has been officially plotted on hydrographic charts as measuring about 2141 nautical miles. The distance from the starting point on the Newfoundland coast to the Azores is set down as 1353 miles and from the Azores to Portugal is 788 miles. Naval vessels will be stationed between Newfoundland and the Azores, and between those islands and the Portuguese coast. The navy seaplanes will be equipped with wireless telegraph and wireless telephones to facilitate communication throughout the voyage with sea craft.

The crew of five on each navy seaplane will consist of a commanding officer, two pilots, one engine man, and one radio operator. The commanding officer will have charge of navigation and will handle all communications and give orders. He will be a pilot, but will not act as pilot except in emergency. Two pilots will be carried so one can relieve the other. In an emergency, or if both should become tired, the commanding officer would act as pilot.-N. Y. Times, 4/12.

WAR FLARES TO AID TRANSOCEAN FLIERS.-Flame and smoke flares developed during the war and improved recently by chemical experts of the army will be factors in the transatlantic flight to be undertaken next month by naval seaplanes. By dropping these flares at intervals, the aviators will be able to determine the drift of their planes in the cross winds and make the corrections necessary to keep them on their course.-N. Y. Times.

WIRELESS TO GUIDE TRANSOCEAN FLIERS.-The Daily Mail says that at least one of the airplanes that will compete for the transatlantic flight prize will be navigated from wireless information supplied every half hour or so by British Air Ministry officials. The pilot will send out an inquiry, and from the direction from which his message is received, wireless stations will calculate his exact position. This will be relayed by wireless to the pilot in a few minutes.

The British "Directional" wireless apparatus has been developed entirely by flying men during the war, and the Air Ministry claims it's instruments are far in advance of those of any other nation.

"Listening at their instruments in shore stations," said a wireless officer yesterday, "hundreds of miles from the spot where an airplane is battling its way across the ocean, our operators will hear a short, prearranged code from the navigator at every coast station.

"Possibly a number of battleships will record the messages and instruments now perfected, will point out in each instance the exact direction of the airplane.

"There will be a hasty conference between the stations, and within five minutes the navigator will be able to mark on his map exactly what his position was when he sent his enquiry.

"Fitted with directional' wireless and a good compass the airplane will be able to steer through fog or clouds without getting more than a trifling distance off its course."-N. Y. Times, 4/3.

British destroyers will cooperate with the American Navy in patrolling the course to be followed by American naval seaplanes in the projected flight across the Atlantic Ocean next month. It was learned to-day at the Navy Department that 40 to 50 British ships would be on duty from the Azores to the British Isles, where, under present plans, the flight will end. American destroyers will patrol the course from St. John's, N. F., to the Azores. Fifty to sixty craft will be used and they will be stationed at intervals of less than 200 miles.

Along most of the course there will be an almost continuous stream of army transports going to and returning from France, and these vessels will form additional safeguards for the crews of the the machines in event accidents force any of the craft to descend. With reasonably good weather, however, the planes could ride on the water while minor repairs were being made to the motors.

The course of the flight will be charted in advance by naval vessels. Careful study is being made of weather conditions and the winds prevailing. As the result of experiments with radio telephones some naval officers think it will be possible for the planes to be in communication with shore throughout the flight. Each boat will be equipped with wireless outfits so as to maintain contact with patrolling destroyers and passing transports or other vessels.-N. Y. Times, 4/3.

BUREAU OF MINES SEARCHING FOR SPECIAL AIRPLANE FUEL.-During the war the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, made strenuous efforts to find a special fuel for airplanes that would be superior to others already in use. Of the numerous products and mixtures obtained some were originated by the bureau engineers and chemists, others were suggested by outside interests. Through its own experiments or by cooperation with other organizations, notably the research division of the Dayton Metal Products Co., and the Bureau of Standards, it was possible to establish the fact that certain types of fuels had elements of superiority that had not before been noted or appreciated. Of the fuels proving most satisfields was distinctly superior to the type most extensively used. The blendfactory, gasoline refined from the crude petroleum of certain producing fields was distinctly superior to the type most extensively used. The blending of moderate proportions of benzol with gasoline was found to be distinctly advantageous, and motor fuel of this type would undoubtedly have been employed for military purposes if the war had continued much longer. It is believed that through the proper use of benzol and other distillates derived from coal, it may be possible to embody features in the design of internal combustion motors that will notably increase their efficiency. Benzol and other coal-derived fuels are already being sold for use in automobiles and are believed to be giving satisfactory results even with present types of motors.

The bureau was particularly interested in a special fuel tested in cooperation with the Dayton organization and named "hecter." This fuel was a mixture of cyclohexane and benzol, gave indications of marked superiority over any other product tested and should, unless unforeseen deficiencies appear, prove ideal for the military aviation service. In some experimental flights this fuel has given 10 miles an hour more speed. It is not certain that the cost of production will ever be low enough to permit its use in peace times, but it is planned to complete the work of obtaining comprehensive information regarding all of its possibilities and to

publish reports on the subject in cooperation with the engineers of the research division of the Dayton Metal Products Co.-Official Bulletin, 3/19.

TELLS OF AUTOMATIC PLANE.-Flew 100 Miles Without a Pilot Secretary Baker Reveals.-Under automatic control, an airplane capable of carrying a heavy load and operated without a human guide, has made a trip of 100 miles and landed close to the point it set out to reach, Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, disclosed in an address here to-day. Secretary Baker, with General Peyton C. March, Chief of Staff, came here to inspect Camp Bowie.

The device which made such a flight possible, and which has been kept secret, Mr. Baker said, is an automatic guide for airplanes, and was invented in America. It is designed as an instrument of war and the Secretary referred to it in describing to his audience the possible horrors of future wars if there is to be no League of Nations.

Secretary Baker did not explain the exact nature of the invention, but he made it clear that the War Department considered it one of the most wonderful pieces of mechanism for war's destructive purposes.-N. Y. Times, 3/25.

A remarkable long-distance flight over the North Sea, the longest nonstop oversea voyage of any British aircraft, has been performed by the nonrigid airship N S-11. The voyage, which took the form of a circuit embracing the coast of Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, Heligoland, North Germany, and Holland, was characterized by extremely unfavorable weather conditions. The total length of the round trip was 1285 air miles, the time taken being 401⁄2 hours.-London Army and Navy Gazette, 3/29.

BRITISH TRIPLANE CAN CARRY 100 PERSONS.-Built to Travel Loaded 1200 Miles at More Than 80 Miles an Hour.-The Daily News gives further particulars of the Tarrant super-triplane which Major Gen. Seely referred to in the House of Commons on March 13 and which is being assembled at the royal aircraft factory at Farnborough.

A striking feature is its long cigar-shaped fuselage, similar in appearance to the body of the Zeppelin machine. It was originally designed to bomb Berlin, carrying 10,000 pounds of bombs and a crew of eight over a distance of 1200 miles. It has a span of 141 feet, the fuselage is 85 feet and is fitted with six Napier Lion 506, engines.

When the aircraft industry began preparations for commercial flying the makers of the super-triplane followed suit, with the result that this type will be capable of carrying over 100 passengers, or cargo weighing nine tons, for a distance of 1200 miles. The speed of the converted machine will be anything from 80 to 100 miles per hour. It possesses enormous possibilities in continuous flying, and by extra tankage it would be possible to make a nonstop flight lasting 24 hours.

The fuselage is built of wood and strengthened by a patent system of girders not unlike the masts of an American warship, and this obviates the use of tracing wires and other fittings common to the ordinary airplane. There is freeway right down the center of the fuselage permitting anyone to walk to the tail. Three rows of glass windows, giving the appearance of portholes, will be fitted inside of the triplane, and tiers of seats will be provided for passengers.

In addition to the staff of pilots there will be on board two or three engineers and mechanics, a navigator, and a wireless operator.—N. Y. Times, 3/29.

WATERPROOFING AIRPLANE PROPELLERS WITH ALUMINUM LEAF-A waterproof coating for airplane propellers, which incorporates thin aluminum leaf in the finish, was developed by the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., and placed in production by the War Department. The

process is practically 100 per cent effective in preventing absorption of water, particularly in the storage stage. A French authority states that 80 per cent of the French propellers produced are rejected by the pilots mainly because they are out of balance. The difficulty is due largely to unequal absorption or distribution of moisture and can be greatly reduced by an effective waterproofing coating.-Scientific American, 3/15.

MISCELLANEOUS

INCREASE OF MOBILE ARTILLERY EQUIPMENT SINCE THE CIVIL WAR.-The following statement was prepared by the Statistics Branch, General Staff, War Department:

As a result of the Napoleonic wars the ratio of field guns to infantry armed with rifles became established at about 300 to 100,000. There were then no mobile guns other than those corresponding to the light field gun of the present, although heavy guns on fixed mounts were used to some extent in sieges.

Rifle strength is estimated in certain of the earlier cases as 85 per cent of combatant strength exclusive of cavalry. The heavy howitzers and railway artillery of the present war are excluded, on the ground that they are analogous to the old siege artillery, although to a certain extent mobile. Guns per 100,000 rifles 3-inch field Others to 6-inch

Civil War, 1861-1865:

Union (Bull Run)
Union (average)

Confederate (average)

Franco-Prussian War, 1870:

Japanese

356

25

Peace basis (spring, 1914):

French

German

War basis (October 1, 1918):

TURKEY'S WAR LOSSES.-A Turkish official return gives the total losses of the Ottoman Army from the beginning of the war to the end of 1918 as-Killed and died, 5550 officers and 431,424 men; wounded, 407.772 (officers and men); prisoners and missing, 3030 officers and 100,701 men.— Reuter.

The figures having reference to prisoners and missing appear to be underestimated, for it will be remembered that General Allenby during his last offensive, in conjunction with the Hedjaz Army's operations, took over 83,000 prisoners, while there is also to be taken into account the number of Turks captured in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Armenia and Gallipoli.—Army and Navy Gazette, 3/1.

2

1 Nine and twelve pounder as against 12- to 20-pounder, Union.

Muzzle loading as against German breech-loading. In addition, French had 53 mitralleuses per 100,000 men.

3

Used only shrapnel for field-gun ammunition.

ITALIAN NAVY.-On Monday the Corriere d'Italia published the first complete list of losses sustained by the Italian Navy during the war. Altogether Italy has lost 54 units: I dreadnought, 2 battleships, 5 auxiliary battle cruisers, 8 destroyers, 5 torpedo-boats, 7 submarines, 9 submarinechasers, and 17 miscellaneous ships, including minesweepers, tugboats, and supply ships. The Austrian Navy lost 45 units, including one dreadnought, 2 battleships, 2 torpedo-boats, 7 destroyers, 20 submarines, and 13 miscellaneous.-Army and Navy Gazette, 3/1.

The United States Government started condemnation proceedings in the federal court to determine the value of the Cape Cod Canal, which the government is to take over. The government bill which was filed by former Assistant United States District Attorney Francis H. Goodale. Condemnation proceedings were made necessary because the owners of the canal and the government representatives were unable to reach an agreement for purchase. An act of Congress authorizes the government to take over the property either by negotiation or condemnation. Papers filed by the government state that the title to the Canal is held by the Boston, Cape Cod and New York Canal Co., and that the Old Colony Trust Co. of Boston claims to be the owner and holder of the property under a mortgage. No date was set for the hearing.-Shipping, 4/5.

AMERICA'S RECORD SINCE ENTERING THE WAR Two YEARS AGO

A Few of the Statistics Relating to Our Armed Forces, Casualties, Shipping. and Estimated Cost of Operations, April 6, 1917, to April 6, 1919

American troops in action, November 11, 1918

Soldiers in camps in the United States, November 11, 1918.

Casualties, Army and Marine Corps, A. E. F..

Death rate per thousand, A. E. F...

German prisoners taken

Americans decorated by French, British, Belgian, and

Italian armies, about

Number of men registered and classified under selective

service law

Cost of thirty-two National Army cantonments and National
Guard camps

universities, etc..

Students enrolled in 500 S. A. T. C. camps

Officers commissioned from training camps (exclusive of

Women engaged in Government war industries

3,764,000

497.030 78,017

4,339.047

2,053,347

1,338,169

1,700,000

282.311

.057

44,000

10,000

23.700,000

$179,629.407

170,000

80,000 2,000,000