Divers' Eye

Even on a clear day the maximum periscopic range of a submarine's vision is only five nautical miles. Obvious solution is to equip the diver with detachable eyes --the airplane. Germany was first to recognize these facts and had at least one U-boat carrying an airplane at the end of the War. Great Britain now has many. The U. S. Navy tackled the problem in 1921, when a group of engineers headed by Professor Alexander Klemin, aerodynamics authority of New York University, built an experimental twin-float seaplane for submarine use. But the plane proved too small for efficiency. Last week at Glenn Curtiss Airport, N. Y., newshawks discovered a new and more promising effort--a sturdy single-seater flying boat which can be "folded up" and stowed in an eight-foot tube on the submarine's foredeck.

The craft was built under a Navy experimental contract by Grover Cleveland Loening, amphibian designer, onetime (1914-18) consulting aeronautical engineer for the Army. It has a single-pontoon fuselage only 3 ft. wide. The single wing is detachable. The engine--a 110 h.p . Warner Scarab--is a "pusher" mounted above the wing. Engine, mounting & all can be folded down into the fuselage. The tail surfaces too can be laid in a flat stack and folded forward upon the fuselage. It is claimed that a well drilled deck crew could assemble the ship for flight in three minutes. The plane is built to fly at 103 m. p. h., chiefly for reconnaissance.

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