T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 20

TOWING. Towing proved unexpectedly easy. It was all done with 600 y.rds of 5 cwt drogue-target wire, weighting 16 lbs in all. This is payed out and recovered without difficulty and has a 6 to 1 factor of safety, the normal towing strain being about 80 lbs. In fourteen tows the wire only only once broke. At speeds in excess of 10 miles an hour almost all the wire rises to the surface of the water. It can be towed and turned anyhow, without attention or regard, turns-about as narrow as 90 yards being made without accident. The target"follows"beautifully, and can be steered exactly. It has been manoeuvred round and round Plymouth Sound, in and out of buoys and shipping. During one test in the open channel with a wind of 30 miles per hour and a 7 ft. swell running, it was towed for thirty miles at an average of 16 miles per hour, without difficulty maintaining its spray curtain up and down the waves. The long wire acts as a "... spring" and entirely prevents snatch. The wire will rust after use, if not wiped with oil or paraffin. BOMBING. For experimental purposes the target was bombed from 900 feet by a Southampton Flying Boat, 16 practice bombs being dropped; the worst shot was only about 100 yards wide of the target, and four bombs fell very close. The Pilot reported that it was a good but