early aviation history (1910)

8/3/2019 Early Aviation History (1910)

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Sa n Francisco Sunday Call

nerr across the country from Toury to

Artenay and back, a distance of 17.4

miles.The year 1303, was to see all previ-

ous records utterly eclipsed. On July80 Orville Wright successfully com-pleted the governments test at Fort-Myerbymaking a cross country flight

-of 10 miles with a passenger aboardat an average of speed of 42.58 milesper hour. The machine was accepted

.he government and the Wrights

were paid $30,000 for it. The most.•sensational event of the year wa s

J B l e r i o t ' s crossing of the channel onJuly 25 inhis monoplane.-

The great aviation meet at Rhelmabegan on August 22," and Immediatelythe world wa s shown how great anadvance had been made inhuman flight.Thirty-eight aeroplanes were entered.and 35 of them made successful flights.Biplanes:and u 2 5 a 0 monoplanes were aboutequally^livided. Curtiss represented

America in his light, swift biplane.As many as five,aeroplanes were tn thaair at a time and the spectators were.treated to a night absolutely uniqueinthe history of the world. Gusty windaprevailed. b*ut the pilotsseldom stopped-

on that account, and exhibited remark-able skill incontrolling their machines.Inhe tests for high speed over shortcourses. the Bleriotmonoplane and Cur-tiss biplane ,were evenly matched, Ble-riot;winning the 6.21 mile race at aspeed of 47.75 miles per hour j>ndCur-tlsa /securing the international cup bycovering the 12.42 mile course at aspeed ;of . 4 7 . 0 4 miles per hour. Thatthe aeroplane had made .. wonderfulstrides in endurance was shown by

Farman'a winning the long distancerace,- with a record of 111.83 mile3in3 hours 4 minutes 55 2-3 seconds.Early inOctober Orville Wright. In

an exhibition",at Berlin, rose to tha.unprecedented .height

'

of over .1,600

feet. Atabout the same time hisbroth-er, duringIhe;Hudaon-Fulton festival.flew successfully, trom Governors islandup the /Hudson, river,around one ofthevisitingTwarships, moored off Grantstomb (and back to the island./.Unquestionably.- the .field of sportwllbe the first and most successfulsphere; of,exploitation "for the aero-plane. Its possible today to place anorder for ailyingmachine for delivery

/at anearly date Inautomobile row. SanFrancisco.:" as more than one of theauto manufacturing companies havegone into the .business of.making thamachines.' Before the end of the pres-ent, year flights by local enthusiastsowning:heir,machines- wllbe a .com-mon•. sight around

-San

-Francisco bay.

Its said that several ambitious sports-men 'are • eager ;for the

*honor

-of;,being

first -to\make- a~ start in Golden Gats

parkland -t!y. across the city and th»bay.toOakland.

-

y be said with mucti reason

to the United States is due the

for teaching men how they

fly through the air. The reali-of the dream of the centuries

traced to the efforts and dis-

of four Americans. That theof successful flighwas not

at lrast a decade earlier was

the fact that two of the Inves-

exhausted their funds and their

when they were upon the veVy»practical results, thoughbyrea-man's very inexperience therewayofknowing at the. timehow

they had come. Hiram Maxim,by several wealthymen, began

at his place near Lon-

ISS9. He was the first man toprincipleofsuperposed planes,

used in the successful flying

cfevery type today. The lateLangley, secretary 'of theinstitution, began his ex-.

en a small scale almost asas did Maxim, and In 1596 hisweighing only 27 pounds and

by a one horsepower engine,

three flights over the PotoinacCongress then appropriated $50,-

cnaole the inventor tobuild a

tuachinj. which did littlemorefrom its raft into the Polo-

In the light of present day

there is every.reason, to be-

Uoth the Maximand Langley

were, built upon practical

that a littlemore money and

would have seen worldflights. Orville and Wilbur

two bicycle makers of Day-

benefited bythe experiments ofand Langley inthe building,andot girders, and after three years'

in the sand dunes of North

they put a motor upon one of

and made the first success-

flighwith a heavier thanair

In the history of the world.

inventors, both in America andwere soon,inthe^air withma-

more or less resembling the

type, and though today the

are in sharp contest with

o came after them the laurels;

fixed for all 'time upon the

of the two modest bicycle build- -

Ohio.

students of aeronautics are

that there are but four meth-

while using the machines for scouting

purposes . Wilbur Wright,-;however,

says that there are positiveadvantages

In seeking the high levels of the air.The difficultyof findinga landingplace,

in;ase of the .motorlstopping," wll,elargely obviated by flyinghigh! < Thus,,

at one, mile elevation, incase of stop-

page of the motor, the;operator 'wouldbe -in a position to '^ glide for sevenmiles, on a slope of one ins even, beforereaching the ground.. Since this glide

InorUer to bring the wandering cen-

ter/of air pressure back Into coinci-dence with the center of gravity theWright brothers have devised amethodof warping or bending-the outer:nd

of the /planes./ 4 The same balancing

effect is obtained; by hinging flat sur-

faces or tips to the outer ends of-theplanes ;winging them, up .ordown as t J ^ e .^exigencies of the: mo-

ment may require.;/The French;allthese ,hinged tips ailerons.:n

;the v-

later Glenn Curtiss- machines the ail-erons "are removed entirely, from:theends of the main planes and hung,be-

tween them." •,;v '

The Wright '.biplanes - have :requently

carried a paseenger̂ in addition to thaaviator, and InFrance several of/ the

machines have made extended !and suc-cessful flights while;arrying threepersons. The weights, of machinesdiffer,.and the/. question of whichbuilder's.machine is actually, the faster

has hardly been settled.••In.contests

the Wright*machines have several

times ;been handicapped and placed at

great: disadvantages by the fact; thattheir -

drivers used 'none' of the skillwith;which the . inventors handle: them.

The Wright machine of;30 horsepower

were removed the Kngllshmight rea-sonably expect to see the greater part

of the Invading army drowned Inth»

channel.The first bigachievement of the

Wright brothers was' made over afield

at Dayton, Ohio, on October 6, 1905.Numerous short flights'bad been .mads

bythem^with amuch secrecy as pos-

sible, but on that dayone of the broth-ers drove the machine 24 miles in S3minutes, at a speed of 38miles an hour..Santos Dumont builta cellular machine

and made'some short flights-InFranca

i:in 1906. Bleriot*and J Esnault-Pelterishad considerable success with- themonoplane, and Farman and Dela-

grange with the biplane.

Real - P rogr es s Begins'

/.Flying progressed by leaps andbounds during 1908/;rville/Wright,inthe government'

tests at Fort Slyer.Washington, made flights of over an

hour's /duration, and u 2 5 a 0 : on various occa-sions carried an officer.as a passenger.

Wilbur;Wright / w e n t to France and, byfulfilling/certain conditions, .old the'French rights'; to his patents "for.;$100,-

000.;n"the successful / trials he >flew

. 4 2 , ; miles inone hour and 32 minutes onSeptember 21, and on October 10 madea*flighot > over an •hour,.carrying:on<fpassenger.// On;nother / o c c a s i o n herose,toVheight of 380 feet, and on .thelast day 'of the,year, he" broke -all rec-ords by\a.Tfl!ght of 2hours and 20 min-utes:duration^ inwhich he covered 77miles. InOctober, Farman in'his Voi-sin biplane / m a d e the first cross countrytrip,on;record,

- flyingffromChalons ' toR h e i m s / a * d i s t a n c e of;i7,.miles.

'Inhe

sameionthileriot,?In a fmonoclane,i---r. - \ u 2 5 a 0 - \ u 2 5 a 0 \ u 2 5 a 0 -. »r»ru 2 5 a 0 • - \ u 2 5 a 0 > - . * - • \ u 2 6 6 6 * \ u 2 5 a 0

' -. . ;--\u 25a0\u25a0• \u 25a0\u25a0\u25a0 . .

ca n be-made inany direction, a choice

of a/landing" place can be .made out

of the Y total \area \ u 2 5 a 0 - of. 150 square ;milesincluded^ In '^a circle ;of 14-miles ? in

diameter. .Hgh{flying,too, will takethe machine ;out of the belt of/air cur-rents-and 'eddies -that,followthescon-

tour of the 'earths; surface. .. /;lerlot's" flight'̂ of 21 miles across

the English channel r from 'France to

Englandj filled / t h e»;nglish /withV fearoft. a^;possible invasion ' . ' • from the

-.air.

which theirpeerless

-navy

"would/ \ u 2 5 a 0 he

quite to circumvent. 'London

had of -the Germans .dropping

down'• upon \ u 2 5 a 0 • them

'fom/the •sky. -The

fear s e e mW ' r i o t. well1groundedrh'en-It

is remembered /that/ira ? single/ flying

machine u 2 5 a has /neverIarried;ore'f thanthree*men ;- and;that;he' transportation

of/an/army-would'require'such a* flock

of:lyingiinachines t h a t / f h e l r ~ c o n s t r u c -tion -and -parking :COuld3never/be: kept

secret.*''In'fact,̂ unless fmany,of /the

present fattendant Jdangers -of.-flying,,:-s-f..7 i:/*—• . - . . r~~ x:. : \ u 2 5 a 0 \ u 2 5 a 0 ' • ' \ u 2 5 a 0 \ u 2 5 a 0 ' \ u 2 5 a 0 ' . \ u 2 5 a 0 \ u 2 5 a 0 ' , ' \ u 2 5 a 0 ' : ' ..\u25a0"..,

weighs 800 pounds and ordinarily-' canbe driven .at about miles '.an;hour.The Curtiss machine of 60' horsepower

weighs 600 pounds and has made 48

m i l e s ' * an hour. Santos-Dumont builta -little.;30. horsepower machine and at-

tained j speed\which was estimated at

55 "miles an hour. Ifhe rate of im-provement continues the mile a-minute

g^it .willi oo h 'be;ommon enough;How.much- or how soon- itwllbe exceeded'no informed prophet has

'to/say.

The immediate': revelations; in;storewil lVerhaps c o n c e r n " height ratherithan'speed; :'Now;lthatyanyihumber̂ of ex-

perienced me n a r e.willing"to trust theirlives'to(their.. f ly ingrmMhir ies , 'vtheyVarW

yielding!tothe / i n e v i t a b l e temptationito

see ; h oW / highthey' cango.r{The/pres in trecord-is -close -to;, O o o V f eet ' a b o v e ;. the;grbuni v

'

Several /a v i a t o r s ' - - have Vex-:\ u 2 5 a 0 c e e d e d '

rl,soo;feet..i rAt^flrst;it.was 'be-

Ileved• ; the >. ohlyj ,necessity for-soaring

toa great heightjould,be .f or. the pur-

pose of keeping lout(of)range /ofTguna,:u 2 5 a 0 \ u 2 5 a 0 ' • " \ u 2 5 a 0 \ u 2 5 a 0 ' " \ u 2 5 a 0 " \ u 2 5 a 0 '--p:-n:,

- - - - - -:;-•

ods bywhich roan mayhope to#

lifthim-

self above the earth as do the birds.

The first of these is by the use of a

bagor envelope filledwtha gas lighter

than air, equipped wth propellers for

sending it forward. Count Zeppelin's

great airships, composed of many com-

partments each containing a balloon,

represent the most sensational results

obtained bythe use of gas.

A second possible method is by theemployment of a machine which shallflapits wngs exactly as a duck does inflight. Athird method involves the^iseof revolving screws which liftstraight

into the air. No results worth seriousconsideration have been accomplished

by.either ofthese methods^"The fourth method is that en-

gages .the close attention of the worldtoday

—the use ofan aeroplane that lit-

erally skims the air. Inlying in an

aeroplane. is more hazardous than skat-ing upon the thinnest ice, for no ice is

as thin as air or less supporting.

An aeroplane must 'be kept going

so fast that It has no' tints tofall. Itmust be propelled through

to fall. Itmust be propelled through

the air at such speed that the result-

ing pressure of air beneath; wllsus-tain it. Thus the man flying is really

safest when he seems to be taking.thegreatest chances

—when he Is travel-

ingat the.highest speed.

Single arid D o u b l e P l a n e sAllaeroplanes may be divided into

two classes, ' biplanes and monoplanes.

The monoplanes have a single horizon-tal spread of canvas' wngs; the ,bi-.planes have one plane superposed above

the other at aheight of about fl \-e feet.TheWright brothers, Glenn Curtiss andHenri.,Farman machines are blplanqs;

the Hubert Latham, Bleriot and; SantosDumont .machines are monoplanes.. ItIs,claimed that each": type has certain

advantages over the other,, though thebiplane enjoys the greater populari tyamong aviators at the present. Thedouble decked machine,. havingalarger

supporting surface, has greater, carry-

ingcapacity; itis as easily \ u 2 5 a 0 , steered, as

the single decker, and on account offitsbracing can,, stand a „strain that? the

other can not. The claim is made for

the monoplane that itIs*,naturally the

faster~ of the- two because ithas; less

headon resistance to overcome. *Itisapparently nnto t as safe as the biplane.

.When man had R e v i s e d aw aeroplane

that could fly,he had yet tolearn howto flyit. He had togo. through many

bitter experiences ingaining a work-ingknowedge of that invisible thing,

the air. :- .Plyinghas already had many

martyrs. The wind is a factor, whichmust constantly be reckoned with. Buteven wth no perceptible wind the airis full of surprises. So far. man hasusually flown close to the ground,-and,only at a height is the air ever really

fitfed and stationary. The aircurrentsfollow the contours of the earths sur-

face. The aviator often rises upon an

ascending current of air, sails across ahilltopand comes to the ground ratherunexpectedly." irfs machine was reg-

ulated ina c c o r d a n c e with;the ascend-

ing current, and when he crossed- thehilltophe encountered a descending air

current and came down before he "couldreadjust.

~>'. V

Waldemar Kaempfert;thus descr ibesthe chief difficulties of controllings;aflyingmachine in the air:

"The fragile mechanism \pf. plaWes,'

rudders and propellers with"which"-the

aviator rushes through the air is sub-jected to, two. forces

—the: pressure of

the air and its own weight. \ u 2 5 a 0 T h e . airpressure acts upward, and, therefore,

sustains the aeroplane inflight;,'theweight of the different -parts naturally

actts downward.- Ifhe center of.airpressure or upwardly acting force hap-

pens to shift to one side. of the centerof gravity "the machine willcapsize and

crash to the ground. ';*Why?' Be-

cause the -upwardly.-acting 'pressure is

more powerful at high speed than thedownwardly acting weight of the ma-chine.- Inother words,. an,aeroplane(is

a kind .of:eesaw/subjected to;the 'ac-tion of two opposing -

and /unequalforces. . The onlyway-tomaintain* the

seesaw/ in equilibrium is;tobring the

two;,forces together

in the middle- sothat -they wll act, the /one* upwardand the other downward, through 'thesame point. /When the aviator ihas ac-complished this feat he has brought thecenter: of air |ressure f

and- the /center

of 'gravity into ' colnc idence . Since the"wind. '.despite its*apparent steadiness, isin- reality composed of \ u 2 5 a 0 i n n u m e r a b l e 1

piiffs and gusts, currents .andcurrents," the center "of<_ air/pressure -isconstantly shifting/^ which: renders] th«feat of/balancingJextremely^ difficult;^

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