The
aeroplane motor is a hungry engine, while the fuel capacity of
the tank is restricted. The German military authorities speedily
realised the significance of this factor and its bearing upon
useful operations, and forth with carried out elaborate
endurance tests. In numerable flights were made with the
express purpose of determining how long a machine could remain in
the air upon a single fuel supply.
The results of these flights were collated and the achievements
of each machine in this direction carefully analysed, a mean
average drawn up, and then pigeon-holed. The results were kept
secret, only the more sensational records being published to the
world. As the policy of standardisation in the construction of
aeroplanes was adopted the radius of action of each type became
established. It is true that variations of this factor even
among vessels exactly similar in every respect are inevitable,
but it was possible to establish a reliable mean average for
general guidance.
The archives of the Berlin military department are crowded with
facts and figures relating to this particular essential, so that
the radius of action, that is the mileage upon a single fuel
charge, of any class and type of machine may be ascertained in a
moment.
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