Machine-History.Com

September 21,1918

It is only when the linen covering is re-moved from the airplane fuselage that one realizes how much equipment is carried by present-day fighting machines. In the third photograph, for instance, is one of the Salmson two-seater reconnaissance and artillery-spotting machines of the French which are now beginning to appear at the front in large numbers with the French and the American forces. This view shows the fuselage with its full equipment, prior to being covered. The radial 250-horse-power Salmson engine, control stick, belt tube for the forward machine gun, screen-protected fuel tanks, extensive wiring, wireless generator, and so on appear in this view. Attention is also I directed to the delicate framing of the fuselage, each member of which is in itself far from strong, yet when combined with the others it goes to make a rigid and remarkably strong structure.