Super-Hawks

When hawks fight, that one wins which can tower fastest and highest to strike from above. Having learned that the same is true of fighting airplanes, the War Department has ordered some "Super-Hawks," capable of towering and fighting as high as man ever flew.* The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co., commissioned to build five "Super-Hawks," last week issued some of their specifications:

A speed of 165 m. p. h. at 20,000 feet.

A supercharger (fuel evaporizer) to maintain this speed through the increasingly rarified atmosphere from 20,000 to 35,000 feet.

A streamlined, insulated "cape" over the pilot's cockpit to protect him from the terrific winds of high altitudes.

Within the cockpit, heaters and oxygen bottles to preserve life on levels where no life exists naturally.

*The world's airplane altitude record: 38,559 ft., held by Lieut. Carleton Cole Champion, U. S. N.