Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1912 — Firing an Aero Bomb [ARTICLE]

Firing an Aero Bomb

Highly satisfactory results have just been obtained in the series of experiments carried out to test several methods of dropping bombs from aeroplanes on a given spot. Though they are far from having reached perfection, two appliances Invented by the Farman brothers, have already given great satisfaction to “army .experts. Details of their mechanism are, of course, kept secret, but as regards one of them, it Is known that the method employed is that of, first of all, locating the target by dropping a dummy bomb, which on exploding spreads out

a white powder easily' visible to the pilot. This bomb once dropped, the machine is turned back, and the pilot, knowing his height by his barograph and the speed at- which he is flying, can by means of an aiming apparatus and the ordinary principles of gunnery locate his next shot to a nicety. The other apparatus, much more, complicated, requires to be handled by. an experienced officer, and therefore, can only be employed in two-seated aero-‘ planes, carrying besides a pilot, a bomb-dropping specialist.—Leslie’s.