The flying machine will probably become the vehicle of the explorer.
If Stanley had been able to use a small high-powered dirigible in
the search for Livingstone, the journey would have been one of hours
as compared with months, the food and general comfort of the party
would have been equal in quality to those attainable at home, and the
expense in money and in human life would have been relatively trifling.
[Illustration: WELLMAN'S AMERICA
(From Wellman's _Aerial Age_)]
Most readers will remember the fate of Andrée, and the projected polar
expeditions of Wellman in 1907 and 1909. Misfortune accompanied both
attempts; but one has only to read Peary's story of the dogged tramp
over the Greenland ice blink to realize that danger and misfortune
in no less degree have accompanied other plans of Arctic pioneering.
With proper design and the right men, it does not seem unreasonable to
expect that a hundred flying machines may soar above Earth's invisible
axial points during the next dozen years.[C]
The report of Count Zeppelin's Spitzbergen expedition of last year
has just been made public. This was undertaken to ascertain the
adaptability of flying machines for Arctic navigation. Besides speed
and radius of action, the conclusive factors include that of freedom
from such breakdowns as cannot be made good on the road.
For exploration in other regions, the balloon or the aeroplane is
sure to be employed. Rapidity of progress without fatigue or danger
will replace the floundering through swamps, shivering with ague, and
bickering with hostile natives now associated with tropical and other
expeditions. The stereoscopic camera with its scientific adjuncts will
permit of almost automatic map-making, more comprehensive and accurate
than any now attempted in other than the most settled sections. It
is not too much to expect that arrangements will be perfected for
conducting complete topographical surveys without more than occasional
descents. If extremely high altitudes must be attained--over a
mile--the machines will be of special design; but as far as can now be
anticipated, there will be no insurmountable difficulties. The virgin
peaks of Ruwenzori and the Himalayas may become easily accessible--even
to women and children if they desire it. We may obtain direct evidence
as to the contested ascent of Mt. McKinley. A report has been current
that a Blériot monoplane has been purchased for use in the inspection
of construction work for an oil pipe line across the Persian desert;
the aeroplane being regarded as "more expeditious and effectual" than
an automobile.
The flying machine is the only land vehicle which requires no
"permanent way." Trains must have rails, bicycles and automobiles
must have good roads. Even the pedestrian gets along better on a
path. The ships of the air and the sea demand no improvement of the
fluids in which they float. To carry mails, parcels, persons, and even
light freight--these applications, if made commercially practicable
tomorrow,[D] would surprise no one; their possibility has already
been amply demonstrated. With the dirigible as the transatlantic
liner and the aeroplane as the naphtha launch of the air, the whole
range of applications is commanded. Hangars and landing stages--the
latter perhaps on the roofs of buildings, revolutionizing our domestic
architecture--may spring up as rapidly as garages have done. And the
aeroplane is potentially (with the exception of the motorcycle) the
cheapest of self-propelled vehicles.
Governments have already considered the possibilities of aerial
smuggling. Perhaps our custom-house officers will soon have to watch a
fence instead of a line: to barricade in two dimensions instead of one.
They will need to be provided with United States Revenue aeroplanes.
But how are aerial frontiers to be marked? And does a nation own the
air above it, or is this, like the high seas, "by natural right, common
to all"? Can a flying-machine blockade-runner above the three-mile
height claim extraterritoriality?
The flying machine is no longer the delusion of the "crank," because
it has developed a great industry. A now antiquated statement put
the capitalization of aeroplane manufactories in France at a million
dollars, and the development expenditure to date at six millions.
There are dozens of builders, in New York City alone, of monoplanes,
biplanes, gliders, and models. A permanent exhibition of air craft is
just being inaugurated. We have now even an aeronautic "trust," since
the million-dollar capitalization of the Maxim, Blériot, Grahame-White
firm.
According to the New York _Sun_, over $500,000 has been subscribed for
aviation prizes in 1911. The most valuable prizes are for new records
in cross-country flights. The Paris _Journal_ has offered $70,000 for
the best speed in a circling race from Paris to Berlin, Brussels,
London, and back to Paris--1500 miles. Supplementary prizes from other
sources have increased the total stake in this race to $100,000. A
purse of $50,000 is offered by the London _Daily Mail_ for the "Circuit
of Britain" race, from London up the east coast to Edinburgh, across
to Glasgow, and home by way of the west coast, Exeter, and the Isle of
Wight; a thousand miles, to be completed in two weeks, beginning July
22, with descents only at predetermined points. This contest will be
open (at an entrance fee of $500) to any licensee of the International
Federation. A German circuit, from Berlin to Bremen, Magdeburg,
Düsseldorf, Aix-la-Chapelle, Dresden, and back to the starting point,
is proposed by the _Zeitung am Mittag_ of Berlin, a prize of $25,000
having been offered. In this country, a comparatively small prize
has been established for a run from San Francisco to New York, _via_
Chicago. Besides a meet at Bridgeport, May 18-20, together with those
to be held by several of the colleges and the ones at Bennings and
Chicago, there will be, it is still hoped, a national tournament at
Belmont Park at the end of the same month. Here probably a dozen
aviators will contest in qualification for the international meet in
England, to which three American representatives should be sent as
competitors for the championship trophy now held by Mr. Grahame-White.
It is anticipated that the chances in the international races favor
the French aviators, some of whom--in particular, Leblanc--have been
making sensational records at Pau. Flights between aviation fields in
different cities are the leading feature in the American program for
the year. A trip is proposed from Washington to Belmont Park, _via_
Atlantic City, the New Jersey coast, and lower New York bay. The
distance is 250 miles and the time will probably be less than that of
the best passenger trains between Washington and New York. If held,
this race will probably take place late in May. It is wisely concluded
that the advancement of aviation depends upon cross-country runs under
good control and at reasonable speeds and heights rather than upon
exhibition flights in enclosures. It is to be hoped that commercial
interests will not be sufficiently powerful to hinder this development.
We shall of course have the usual international championship balloon
race, preceded by elimination contests. From present indications Omaha
is likely to be chosen as the point of departure.
The need for scientific study of aerial problems is recognized. The
sum of $350,000 has been offered the University of Paris to found an
aeronautic institute. In Germany, the university at Göttingen has for
years maintained an aerodynamic laboratory. Lord Rayleigh, in England,
is at the head of a committee of ten eminent scientists and engineers
which has, under the authority of Parliament, prepared a program of
necessary theoretical and experimental investigations in aerostatics
and aerodynamics. Our American colleges have organized student aviation
societies and in some of them systematic instruction is given in the
principles underlying the art. A permanent aeronautic laboratory, to be
located at Washington, D.C., is being promoted.
Aviation as a sport is under the control of the International
Aeronautic Federation, having its headquarters at Paris. Bodies
like the Royal Aero Club of England and the Aero Club of America
are subsidiaries to the Federation. In addition, we have in this
country other clubs, like the Aeronautic Society, the United States
Aeronautical Reserve, etc. The National Council of the Aero Clubs of
America is a sort of supreme court for all of these, having control of
meets and contests; but it has no affiliation with the International
body, which is represented here by the Aero Club of America. The
Canadian Auto and Aero Club supervises aviation in the Dominion.
Aviation has developed new legal problems: problems of liability for
accidents to others; the matter of supervision of airship operators.
Bills to license and regulate air craft have been introduced in at
least two state legislatures.
Schools for instruction in flying as an art or sport are being
promoted. It is understood that the Wright firm is prepared to organize
classes of about a dozen men, supplying an aeroplane for their
instruction. Each man pays a small fee, which is remitted should he
afterward purchase a machine. Mr. Grahame-White, at Pau, in the south
of France, conducts a school of aviation, and the arrangements are now
being duplicated in England. Instruction is given on Blériot monoplanes
and Farman biplanes, at a cost of a hundred guineas for either. The
pupil is coached until he can make a three-mile flight; meanwhile, he
is held partially responsible for damage and is required to take out a
"third-party" insurance policy.
There is no lack of aeronautic literature. Major Squier's paper in the
_Transactions_ of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1908,
gave an eighteen-page list of books and magazine articles of fair
completeness up to its date; Professor Chatley's book, _Aeroplanes_,
1911, discusses some recent publications; the Brooklyn Public Library
in New York issued in 1910 (misdated 1909) a manual of fourteen pages
critically referring to the then available literature, and itself
containing a list of some dozen bibliographies.