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if France does not continue her development Germany will soon be the leading nation in airships again, if she is allowed to begin construction.
We visited the naval experimental and advanced naval air school at Saint-Raphael. They had various classes of seaplanes and ship planes. They do not believe much in amphibians on account of their weight, lack of maneuverability, and poor flying characteristics. They use ordinary land planes with special hooks and equipment on them for launching from and landing on vessels. They had one little vessel equipped with a launching deck, and were working on this constantly, taking off at various speeds. We went on board, and an Henriot airplane with 180 h.p. LeRhone engine was launched, its run on deck being seven meters. There was no trouble whatever about taking off from the deck. The speed of the vessel when the airplane was launched was about twelve knots an hour; there was about a ten-knot breeze blowing.
They have done considerable bombardment at various altitudes, and have gotten great accuracy. They are thorough believers in the bomb as distinguished from the torpedo. They have had the best effect with the Goerts telescopic bomb sight. They have done considerable work with torpedoes and claim to have one which is practical,
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