[Illustration: Monoplane flying boat, built for R. V. Morris.]
[Illustration: In a flying boat on pleasure bent.]
~GREATEST PRESENT VALUE OF AEROPLANE~
At present the greatest value of the aeroplane seems to be for
military reconnaissance and all the great powers are striving their
utmost to secure supremacy in the air. France, Germany, Russia and
England have to date spent millions in developing aeroplane fleets.
Only the government of the United States has failed as yet to
appreciate the military significance of the flying machine. If the
relative aeronautical strength of the world’s nations were represented
alphabetically the U. S. would naturally scarce have to change its
initial, U being slightly in advance of Z which would stand for
Zululand. But even with its modest equipment the navy fliers of the
United States proved the great worth of the aeroplane and the flying
boat, when during the recent trouble in Mexico the air scouts gathered
in a few minutes information that could only have been secured by days
of cavalry scouting before the advent of the flying machine. Indeed,
the name of Lieut. P. N. L. Bellinger, the most able of the naval
fliers at Vera Cruz, has figured more prominently in the despatches
from the front than that of any other officer connected with the
expedition.
Flying seems certain in the very near future to take its place as the
fastest, safest and most comfortable mode of conveyance. The flying
boat will render quickly accessible the vast country lying along the
great rivers of South America, Africa, and Australia; it will bridge
the great lakes and the oceans; bring near together the islands of the
Pacific and Indian oceans. It will make imperative, because of the
speed with which distances will be traversed, of a language common
to all peoples; and treble man’s life without extending his years by
making it possible to see and do three times as much in the same length
of time.
~TEN YEARS OF FLYING~
Ten years ago on that day, December 17, 1913, Wilbur and Orville Wright
made four flights on the coast of North Carolina near Roanoke Island,
a spot historic in America’s history as the site of the first English
settlement in the Western Hemisphere.
[Illustration: Flying over military post in Curtiss biplane.]
The first flight started from level ground against a 27-mile wind.
After a run of 40 feet on a monorail track, the machine lifted and
covered a distance of 120 feet over the ground in 12 seconds. It had
a speed through the air of a little over 45 feet per second, and the
flight, if made in calm air, would have covered a distance of over 540
feet.
Altogether four flights were made on the 17th. The first and third by
Orville Wright, the second and fourth by Wilbur Wright. The last flight
was the longest, covering a distance of 852 feet over the ground in 59
seconds. After the fourth flight, a gust of wind struck the machine
standing on the ground and rolled it over, injuring it to an extent
that made further flights with it impossible for that year.
[Illustration:
1900
1901
1902
1905
1904
1903]
The gliding experiments of Lilienthal in 1896 led the Wright Brothers
to become interested in flight. The next four years were spent in
reading and theorizing. In the Fall of 1900 practical experiments were
begun with a man-carrying glider. These experiments were carried on
from the sand hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The first glider
was without a tail, the lateral equilibrium and the right and left
steering were obtained by warping of the main surfaces. A flexible
forward elevator was used. This machine was flown as a kite with and
without operator, and several glides were made with it.
A second machine was designed of larger size, and many glides were
made with it in 1901. This machine was similar to the one of 1900 but
had slightly deeper curved surfaces. Experiments with this machine
demonstrated the inaccuracy of all the recognized tables of air
pressures, upon which its design had been based.
In 1902 a third glider was constructed, based upon tables of air
pressures made by the Wright Brothers themselves. The lateral control
was maintained by warping surfaces, and a vertical rear rudder operated
in conjunction with the surfaces. Nearly a thousand gliding flights
were made with this machine.
In 1903, the Wright Brothers designed a machine to be driven with a
motor. They also designed and built their own motor. This had four
horizontal cylinders, 4 in. by 4 in., and developed 12 h.p. Two
propellers, turning in opposite directions, were driven by chains from
the engine. After many delays the machine was finally ready and was
flown on the 17th of December, 1903, as related above.
In the Spring of 1904, power flights were continued near Dayton with a
machine similar to the one flown in 1903, but slightly heavier.
The first complete circle was accomplished on the 20th of September,
1904, in a flight covering a distance of about one mile. Altogether 105
flights were attempted during the year, the longest of which were two
of five minutes each, covering a distance of about three miles. All of
the flights were started from a monorail.
After September a derrick and a falling weight were used to assist in
launching the machine.
[Illustration:
1908-9
1910
1910