THE FUTURE STORY OF THE AIR
Since the days when the first man ascended into the clouds in a
Montgolfier fire balloon, and since the days when the Wright brothers
tried their first gliding experiments and proved that men might hope to
soar with wings into the sky, many glorious chapters have been written
in the story of the air.
Surely the most inspiring and significant achievement in aerial progress
is the great trans-Atlantic flight made in the latter part of May, 1919,
by a flying boat of the U.S. Navy. A force of fliers in three airships
under Commander Towers attempted the flight from New York to Lisbon by
way of Halifax and the Azores, in three "legs" or continuous flights,
but on account of disastrous weather conditions, only one of these
planes, the NC-4, under Lieutenant-Commander A. C. Read completed the
trip successfully. The enthusiasm of the entire world was fired by this
feat and it is difficult to estimate fully its epochal significance.
Simultaneous with this flight and even more daring in plan, was the
attempt by an Englishman, Harry Hawker, to fly direct from St. Johns,
Newfoundland, to England in a Sopwith biplane. Through an imperfect
action of the water pump of his machine Hawker was forced to descend and
was rescued twelve hundred miles at sea by a Danish vessel. However,
the highest honor is due to this man of the air who embarked on so brave
an adventure.
The next trans-Atlantic flight was made about a month after the NC-4 had
blazed the air route across the ocean. This was a non-stop,
record-breaking trip of Capt. John Alcock and Lieut. Arthur W. Brown--an
American--in the British Vickers-Vimy land plane from St John's,
Newfoundland, to Clifden on the Irish coast. These daring pilots made
the distance of 1900 miles in sixteen hours--an average speed of 119
miles an hour.
Although these achievements in heavier-than-air machines were of
far-reaching importance, they did not fully solve the problem of
trans-Atlantic air passage. It remained for the great dirigible
experiment in July to demonstrate that in all probability the
lighter-than-air craft will prove more effective for this hazardous game
with the elements.
On July 2 the British naval dirigible, R-34, left East Fortune,
Scotland, with thirty-one men on board under command of Major G. H.
Scott, and made the journey of 3200 sea miles, by way of Newfoundland
and Nova Scotia, to Mineola, Long Island, in 108 hours. The fact that
weather conditions during this trip were very unfavorable adds to the
value of the accomplishment. The return trip was made a few days later
in 75 hours.
The R-34 is indeed a mammoth of the air. At the time of its flight it
was the largest aircraft in the world, having a length of 650 feet and a
diameter of 78 feet. It has five cars connected by a deck below the
rigid bag and is propelled by five engines of 250 H.P. each. Its maximum
speed is about sixty miles an hour.
The year following the Great War will go down in history as a marvelous
period in aeronautic achievement. The Atlantic was for the first time
crossed by aircraft and within ten weeks of its first accomplishment two
trans-Atlantic flights were made, three widely differing types of
aircraft being represented.
As a matter of fact we have but begun to explore the possibilities of
aerial flight. During the last few years we have been thinking of the
airplane solely as an instrument of war, and for that purpose we have
bent our entire energies to developing it. When all the wealth of skill
we have acquired during strenuous war times is turned to solving the
problem of making the airplane useful in times of peace, there will be
new and fascinating chapters to relate.
The war has done a lot for the airplane. It has raised up a host of
aircraft factories in all the large countries, with thousands of skilled
workers. It has given us a splendid force of trained pilots and
mechanics. It has resulted in standardized airplane parts, instead of
the endless confusion of designs and makes that existed a few years ago.
And instead of the old haphazard methods of production it has made the
building of an airplane an exact science.
People used to be afraid of the airplane and it seemed a long road to
travel to the time when it would play any important rôle in everyday
commerce or travel. The war has resulted in making the airplane
_safe_,--so safe that it is apt to win the confidence of the most timid.
Yet the airplanes that we saw and read of so frequently in war time are
not likely to be those which will prove the most popular and useful in
the days to come. In war one of the great aims was for _speed_. Now we
can afford to sacrifice some speed to greater carrying capacity. The
swift tractor biplane may possibly give way to the slower biplane of the
pusher type, which has greater stability. The big triplanes, such as the
Russian Sikorsky and the Italian Caproni will come into their own, and
yet bigger triplanes will be built, able to carry passengers and freight
on long journeys over land and sea. The three surfaces of the triplane
give it great lifting powers, and on this account it will be a favorite
where long trips and heavy cargoes are to be reckoned with. We may
expect in the near future to see huge air-going liners of this type,
fitted out with promenade decks and staterooms, and with all the
conveniences of modern travel.
There is a strong probability that the airship, rather than the
airplane, may prove to be the great aerial liner of to-morrow. The large
airship of the Zeppelin type, traveling at greater speed than the
fastest express train, and carrying a large number of passengers and a
heavy cargo, is apt before long to become the deadly rival of the
steamship. A voyage across the Atlantic in such an airship would be far
shorter, safer and pleasanter than in the finest of the ocean vessels.
Gliding along smoothly far above the water, the passengers would suffer
no uncomfortable seasickness, nor would they be rocked and tumbled about
when a storm arose and the waves piled up and up into mountains of water
on the surface of the deep. Their craft would move forward undisturbed
by the turbulent seas beneath. We can imagine these fortunate
individuals of a few years hence, leaning over the railing of their
promenade deck as we ourselves might on a calm day at sea, and recalling
the great discomforts that used to attend a trans-Atlantic voyage. It is
amusing to think that our steamships of to-day will perhaps be recalled
by these people of the future about as we ourselves recall the old
sailing vessels that used to ply the deep a generation or so ago.
The airplane, if it is to hold its own beside the airship as a large
passenger vessel, will first have to overcome a number of natural
handicaps. In the first place, it is not possible to go on increasing
the size of the airplane indefinitely, as is practically the case with
the airship. For remember that the lighter-than-air machine _floats_ in
the air, and only requires its engine to drive it forward: whereas the
heavier-than-air machine depends upon the speed imparted to it by its
engine and propeller to keep it up in the air at all. Beyond a certain
size the airplane would require engines of such enormous size and power
to support it that it would be practically impossible to build and
operate them. Modern invention has taught us that nothing is beyond the
range of fancy, and we have seen many of the wildest dreams of
yesterday fulfiled, yet it is safe to say that the airplane which would
in any way approximate an ocean liner will not be built for many a year
to come. In the meantime, however, we will have huge machines like the
Caproni and the Sikorsky triplanes, driven by two or more motors and
able to make the trans-Atlantic voyage with a number of passengers,
freight and fuel for the journey.
Indeed, though for purposes of long distance travel and commerce the
airplane stands a chance of being superseded by the lighter-than-air
machine, there are many other important missions that it can perform in
the modern world. One for which it is particularly suited is that of
carrying the mail. In 1911 a Curtiss airplane flew from Nassau
Boulevard, Long Island to Mineola, bearing the Hon. Frank H. Hitchcock,
Postmaster General of the United States, "with a mail bag on his knees."
As the machine swooped gently down over the big white circle that had
been painted on the Mineola field, the Postmaster-General let fall his
bag. That machine was the pioneer of a system of aerial mail which will
soon reach every corner of the country. During the war a mail route was
inaugurated between New York and Washington. Now, with many fast
machines and trained pilots freed from war duties, a system of routes
which will traverse our vast territory has been laid out.
It is for work such as this that the small, fast airplanes developed
during the war may prove most successful. Traveling over 100 miles an
hour, in a straight line from their starting point to their
destination, they will be able to deliver the mail with a speed almost
equal to that of the telegraph, and far in excess of anything that can
be accomplished by the express train. For not only has the express train
much less actual speed, but it must thread its way through winding
valleys, go far out of its course in order to avoid some impassable
mountain district, climb steep slopes or follow river beds in order to
reach its destination. The airplane has no obstacles to overcome.
Mountains, rivers, impenetrable jungles present no difficulty to it. It
simply chooses its objective and flies to it, practically in a straight
line. It can jump the Rocky Mountains and deliver mail to the western
coast with the greatest ease. Regions like Alaska, where letters from
the States took weeks or even months to be delivered, and to which the
steamship routes were closed for a portion of the year, will be brought
closer home when mails are arriving and leaving every few days.
What use can be made of the large photographing planes that have been
developed during the war to such a degree of perfection? In peace times
they will have many interesting duties awaiting them. The motion picture
producers will no doubt employ them very widely. Flying over our country
from end to end they will bring back wonderful panoramic views. They
will explore the beauties of the Yukon and show us the peaks of the
Rockies in all their majestic grandeur. They will be taken to other
continents and sent on photographing flights into regions that have
scarcely been trod by human feet, and they will bring home to us
remarkable views of jungles where wild animals roam. Pictures which the
motion picture man of to-day with his camera has often risked his life
to secure, the nimble photographing plane will secure with the utmost
ease.
And that suggests another possible rôle of the airplane in times of
peace: that of exploration. As we think of Peary, pushing with his
valiant party across the ice fields of the far North, struggling month
after month to attain his goal, and returning to the same hard effort
each time his expedition failed, we cannot help wishing for his sake
that the airplane had reached its present state of development when his
difficult undertaking of finding the North Pole began. Who knows but
that Peary the pilot might have attained his objective many years before
he did, providing of course he had had a machine of the modern type to
fly in. Certainly one of the coming uses of the airplane will be that of
penetrating into unknown quarters of the earth. Acting on the
information which we can thus obtain we may be able to open up new
stores of wealth and new territories to man.
The enormous boom that has been given to aircraft production by the war
ought to have at least one happy result in peace times: it should reduce
the cost of the airplane. When that is brought within the means of the
average prosperous citizen, we may expect to see flying become a popular
sport. The man who now sets forth on a cross country pleasure trip in
his automobile, will find still greater enjoyment in a cross country
flight. High above the dusty country roads, he will be able to skim
happily through the blue, enjoying his isolation and able to gaze out
for many miles in all directions over the beautiful panorama of the
earth. The plane which he pilots will no doubt be so designed as to
possess unusual stability. It will to a large extent be "fool proof."
Its owner will enjoy the comfortable feeling which comes from a sense of
security, and at the same time will have all the delightful sensations
of an adventurer in the clouds. He will find the air at high altitudes
invigorating, and so he will gain in health as he never could have done
by motoring over the solid earth.
When men take to flying in large numbers no doubt we will have to have
some sort of traffic regulations of the sky, but these will never need
to be so strict as upon the ground, for the air is not a single track
but a wide, limitless expanse, in which airplanes can fly in many
directions and at many altitudes. There will never be any need of
passing to the left of the machine ahead of you or signaling behind that
you are slowing down; for ten chances to one you will never encounter
another plane directly in your line of flight, and if you do it will be
a simple matter to dive below or climb over him, continuing your journey
in a higher stratum of air. There will probably be laws controlling
flights over cities and communities, where an accident to the flier
might endanger the lives below. What is likely to happen is that certain
"highways" of the air will be established legally, extending in many
directions over the country. In these directions the private airman will
be permitted to fly for pleasure, while at certain intervals along the
routes public landing grounds will be maintained.
Landing is still one of the most serious problems the air pilot has to
face, and it is to be hoped that the aircraft builders of the near
future will help him to solve this difficulty. The reason for it, as we
have already seen, is that the airplane secures its buoyancy largely as
a result of its speed. Wings which are large enough to support it when
flying at 150 miles an hour are too small to hold it in the air when its
speed is slowed down. The machine has to be landed while still moving
forward at comparatively the rate of an express train, and this forward
motion can only be checked after the wheels are safely on the ground. If
the engine should be stopped while the airplane is still forty or fifty
feet above the ground, the wings would be unable to support it and it
would come crashing to the earth. But this situation of course makes
matters very difficult for the airman who has not had long experience in
landing his machine. He must come down on a small landing field and
bring his plane to a full stop before he has crashed into the other
machines which perhaps are standing about. His difficulty is added to by
the fact that his propeller only works efficiently at the full speed for
which it was designed. When he slows down in the air preparatory to
landing, it may "slip" backward through the air, instead of driving his
airplane forward at the rate necessary to support its weight. In that
case he is in danger of going into a spin, from which he may not have
time to recover.
For these reasons it is to be hoped that the airplane of the future will
have some form of telescoping wings and of variable pitch propeller.
While these improvements in construction have not been worked out
practically at the present moment, there is every reason to believe that
they may be before long.
But whatever structural difficulties have yet to be overcome in
connection with the airplane, certain it is that the big birds which we
saw so often in the sky during the war, are going to be yet numerous in
peace times. As for the purely military machines, let us hope that their
work is over, and that they may never be called on to fight another
battle in the air. Yet if other wars should come, it is certain that
they would play a still more tremendous rôle than they have in the
present struggle. We can imagine the war of the future being fought
almost entirely above the clouds. The one great contest would be for
victory in the air, since the nation which succeeded in driving its
enemy from the sky would have complete control of the situation on the
ground. All nations will continue to increase their aerial battalions
until they possess formidable fleets, and it will be these, rather than
armies or navies that will go forth to settle future disputes. It is
largely to the aerial supremacy of the Allies that we have to give the
credit for the winning of the present war against the Hun, and it will
be by maintaining their aerial supremacy that the great nations which
have taken their stand for justice and humanity will succeed in
enforcing the reign of Right in the world.
Thus we see man's dream of the conquest of the air become a noble thing,
while the frail-winged birds his imagination pictured to him throughout
so many centuries stand ready to bear him onward and upward to still
greater achievements in his struggle to make the world a better and
cleaner place in which to live.
READING LIST
For those who desire a wider knowledge of the history, theory,
construction and operation of aircraft than this book is intended to
supply, the following reading list may prove suggestive and helpful. The
older publications on this list have been found valuable from an
historical viewpoint; while the more recent ones treat from many angles
the rapidly advancing science of aviation.
ABBOT, W. J., Aircraft and Submarines (1918)
ALEXANDER, J. H., Model Balloons and Flying Machines (1910)
"AVION," Aeroplanes and Aero Engines (1918)
BARBER, HORATIO, The Aeroplane Speaks (1917)
BARNWELL, F. S., Aeroplane Design (1917)
BERGET, A., The Conquest of the Air (1911)
BERRY, W. H., Aircraft in War and Commerce (1918)
BRUCE, E. H. S., Aircraft in War (1914)
CAVANAGH, GEORGE A., Model Aeroplanes and Their Motors (1916)
CHATLEY, HERBERT, Principles and Design of Aeroplanes (1912)
CURTISS, G. H., and POST, A., Curtiss Aviation Book (1912)
CORBIN, T. W., Aircraft, Aeroplanes and Airships (1914)
COLLINS, A. FREDERICK, The Boy's Airplane Book (1919)
COLLINS, A. FREDERICK, How to Fly (1917)
COLVIN, F. H., Aircraft Mechanic's Handbook (1918)
DOMMETT, W. E., Aeroplanes and Airships (1916)
FALES, E. N., Learning to Fly in the U. S. Army (1917)
FERRIS, R., How it Flies (1910)
GRAHAME-WHITE, C., and HARPER, H., Heroes of the Air (1912)
GRAHAME-WHITE, C., and HARPER, H., Learning to Fly (1916)
GRAHAME-WHITE, C., The Story of the Aeroplane (1911)
GRAMONT, A. A. DE, Aviator's Elementary Handbook (1918)
HAYWARD, CHAS. B., Building and Flying an Aeroplane (1918)
HEARNE, R. P., Zeppelins and Super-Zeppelins (1916)
HEARNE, R. P., Airships in Peace and War (1910)
HILDEBRAND, A. L. H., Airships Past and Present (1908)
JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS, (An Annual)
JUDGE, A. W., Design of Aeroplanes (1916)
LANCHESTER, F. W., Aircraft in Warfare (1916)
LILIENTHAL, O., Bird Flights as the Basis of Aviation (1917)
LOENING, G. C., Military Aeroplanes (1916)
MCCONNELL, JAMES R., Flying for France (1917)
MCMINNIES, W. G., Practical Flying (1918)
MAXIM, H. S., Artificial and Natural Flight (1908)
MIDDLETON, E. C., The Way of the Air (1917)
MIDDLETON, E. C., Glorious Exploits of the Air (1918)
MIDDLETON, E. C., Airfare of Today and the Future (1918)
MUNDAY, ALBERT H., The Eyes of the Army and Navy (1917)
ORCY, L. D', Editor and Comp., Airship Manual (1917)
PAGE, CAPT. VICTOR WILFRED, The A-B-C of Aviation (1918)
PEARY, R. E., Command of the Air (Speech delivered before the
American Academy of Political and Social Science) (1917)
RATHBUN, JOHN B., Aeroplane Construction and Operation (1918)
ROBSON, W. A., Aircraft in War and Peace (1916)
ROTH, C. W., Short Course in the Theory and Operation of the Free
Balloon (1918)
ROUSTAM-BEK, B., Aerial Russia (1916)
SIMMONDS, R., All About Aircraft (1915)
STOUT, WM. B., Acquiring Wings (1917)
TALBOT, F. A., Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War (1915)
THURSTON, A. B., Elementary Aeronautics (1911)
TURNER, C. C., Aircraft of Today (1917)
TURNER, C. C., Marvels of Aviation (1916)
VERRILL, A. W., Harper's Aircraft Book (1913)
WALKER, S. F., Aviation, Its Principles, Its Present and Future (1912)
WALKER, F., All About Zeppelins and Other Enemy Aircraft (1915)
WIDMER, EMIL J., Military Observation Balloons (1917)
WOOD, WALTER, Thrilling Deeds of British Airmen (1918)
WINCHESTER, C., Flying Men and Their Machines (1916)
WOODHOUSE, HENRY, A Textbook of Military Aeronautics (1918)
INDEX
Accidents:
airplane, 115
balloon, 13, 32, 54
gliding, 84, 85
Aerial Experiment Association, 107
Aero Club of America, 241
A. E. G. airplane, 200, 203
A. G. O. airplane, 200, 203
Ailerons, 13, 94, 98, 111, 113
Airplane:
A. E. G., 200, 203
A. G. O., 200, 203
Albatros, 195, 203
Antoinette, 104, 105, 109, 110, 113, 119
Aviatik, 196, 203
Avro, 181, 182
battle planes, 128-140, 177, 178, 192-196
Blériot, 104, 105, 110, 113
bombing planes, 128-149, 180-188, 197-204
Breguet, 114, 181
Breguet-Michelin, 179
Bristol Scout, 175
Caproni, 183-185
Caudron, 178, 182
chassis, 111, 165-167
Curtiss, 108, 173, 174, 187, 249
De Havilland, 175, 194
_Demoiselle_, 114
Dorand, 181
drift, 97
early experiments, 77-90
engines (see _engine_)
Farman, 108, 110, 112, 116, 178, 181
first principles of, 91-98
first real, 89
flight records (see _records_)
Fokker, 172, 192-194, 203
Friedrichshafen, 199
Gotha, 197-199, 203
Halberstadt, 196, 203
Handley-Page, 181, 182
head resistance, 96, 151, 160
_June Bug_, 107
_Langley_, 182
Letord, 181
L. V. W., 203
making of, 223-231 (also see _fabrics_)
Moineau, 179, 181
Morane, 119, 192
_NC-4_, 244
Nieuport, 121, 171, 211
nomenclature, 94
Pfalz, 203
reconnaissance planes, 128-149, 177-180
_Red Wing_, 107
Roland, 203
Rumpler, 203
Santos-Dumont's, 100, 114
Sikorsky, 125-127, 187
Sopwith, 175, 181, 185, 186, 244
Spad, 173
starting and landing problems, 165-167, 240
Taube, 191
Vickers, Scout, 175
Vickers-Vimy, 245
Voisin, 102, 103, 110, 112, 178, 182
Voisin-Peugeot, 179, 181
_White Wing_, 107
wings (see _wings_)
Wright (see _Wright_)
Albatros airplane, 195, 203
Alcock, Capt. John, 245
Annonay, 3, 4
Antoinette airplane, 104, 105, 109, 110, 113, 119
Archimedes' law of gravity, 14
Argus engine, 126
Arlandes, Marquis d', 7, 8
Ascents, early balloon, 3, 7-12, 20-23, 26, 27, 49
Astra dirigible, 73-74
Astra-Torres dirigible, 73-74
Aviatik airplane, 196, 203
Aviator, training of an, 232-243
Avro airplane, 181, 182
Baker, Secretary of War, 201
Baldwin, Capt. Thomas S., 65, 106
Ball, Capt. Albert, 215, 219, 220
Balloon, dirigible:
Astra, 73, 74
Astra-Torres, 73, 74
Blimps, 70
car suspension, 72, 73
demi-semi-rigid, 67
development of, 47-74
first, 51
first military, 52
first U. S. Army, 65
_La France_, 53
_Nulli Secundus_, 64, 65, 68
_Patrie_, 63
_Pax_, 58
_R-34_, 245
rigid and non-rigid, 66, 67
semi-rigid, 67
_S. M. S. Zeppelin I_, 66
Speiss, 74
trans-Atlantic flight, 245
use in World War, 68-74
_Ville de Paris_, 63
Zeppelins, 55, 56, 62, 65-68, 123
Zodiacs, 72
Balloon, passive:
basket of, 19
captive, 36-44
car of, 19, 50
car lines of, 18
Channel flights, 12, 22-24
_Conqueror_, 27
drachen, 36-44
early ascents of, 3-27, 49
fabrics of (see _fabrics_)
first, 3
first use of, in war, 25, 26
gases used for (see _gases_)
grapnel of, 19
hoop of, 18
kite, 19, 36-44
neck of, 18
net of, 18
observation, 36-44
principles of, 14-19
ripping panel of, 18
races, 26
sausage, 19, 36-44
trail rope of, 18
use of, in Great War, 36-44
Ballonet, steering, 38
Ballooning:
early, 3-27
in Boer War, 26
in Civil War, 25
in Great War, 36-44
Basket, balloon, 19
Battle planes, 128-149, 177-178, 192-196
Baumgarten, 54
Bell, Alexander Graham, 106
Bennett, Gordon, 26, 108
Bishop, Major William A., 205, 214
Blanchard, 12, 13, 29
Blériot, 104, 105, 108, 115
Blimps, 70-72
Bliss, General Tasker H., 201
Boelke, Captain, 194, 219
Boer War, balloons in, 26
Bombing planes, 128-149, 180-188, 197-204
Bonnel, Captain, 220
Breguet airplane, 114, 121, 122, 123, 181
Breguet-Michelin airplane, 179
Bristol Scout airplane, 175
Brown, Lieut. Arthur W., 245
Cacquot, Captain, 43
Caproni airplane, 183, 184, 185
Car, balloon, 19, 50, 72
Car lines, balloon, 18
Carlstrom, Victor, 174
Caudron airplane, 178, 182
Cavallo, 9
Cayley, Sir George, 80
Certificate, aviator's, 241
"Chamber of Horrors," 234
Channel flights:
first airplane, 104
first balloon, 12, 22-24
Chanute, 86
Chapman, Victor, 216
Chaput, Lieut. Jean, 214
Charles, 9
Chartres, Duke de, 49
Chassis:
first, 111
problem of, 165-167
Circuit of Britain prize, 120
Civil War, balloons in, 25
Clement-Bayard, 74
Clerget engine, 187
Cocking, 31
Conneau, Lieutenant, 120
_Conqueror_, 27
Curtiss airplane, 108, 173, 174, 187, 249
Curtiss Baby Speed Scout, 174
Curtiss, Glenn H., 65, 106-108, 119
Curtiss triplane, 173
_Daily Mail_, London, prizes, 104, 115, 120
De Havilland airplane, 175, 194
_Demoiselle_, 114
Deutsch, 57, 63
"Dope," 164, 227
Dorand airplane, 181
Douglas, Archibald, 37
Drachen balloon, 36-44
Drift, airplane, 97
Dubonnet, Emile, 41
Eiffel Tower, flight around, 57, 115
Engine:
Argus, 126
Clerget, 187
Curtiss, 71
development and principles of airplane, 153-169
Fiat, 183
first balloon, 51
Gnome, 111, 121, 154, 159
Liberty, 168, 182
Rolls-Royce, 182
Wright's, 89, 153
Esnault-Pelterie, 114
Fabrics:
calico, 60, 61
cotton, 18, 164
linen, 9
oil silk, 11
rubber, 61, 63
Farman airplane, 108, 110, 112, 116, 178, 181
Farman, Henry, 102, 103, 110-112, 115, 123, 154
Fiat motor, 183
Field of Mars, 10
Fokker airplane, 172, 192-194, 203
Fonck, René, 212-214
Franklin, Benjamin, 11
Friedrichshafen airplane, 199
Fullard, Capt. Philip F., 215
Fuselage, development of, 122, 165-166
Garnerin, André, 30
Gases:
coal, 16
hydrogen, 9, 21
Genet, Edmond, 218
Giffard, 50
Gliders, 81-88, 100
Gnome engine, 111, 121, 154, 159
Goertz range finder, 147
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., 43
Gotha airplane, 197-199, 203
Grahame-White, Claude, 116
Grapnel, balloon, 19
_Great Nassau_, 22
Green, Charles, 22, 31
Gross, Major von, 66
Guffroy, 114
Gun-tunnel Gotha, 197-199
Guynemer, Georges, 137, 172, 205-214
Haenlein, Paul, 52
Halberstadt airplane, 196, 203
Handley-Page airplane, 181, 182
Hargrave, 85
Hat-in-the-Ring Squadron, 221
Hawker, Harry, 244
Head resistance, airplane, 96, 151, 160
Hitchcock, Hon. Frank H., 249
Hoop, balloon, 18
_Hopper_, 125
Immelmann, 176, 194, 215, 219
Jeffries, Dr., 12
Jouillot, 60
_June Bug_, 107
Juvisy meeting, 115
Kite balloon, 19, 36-44
Kites:
principles of, 79, 91
Lilienthal's, 81, 86
Krebs, 53
Kuparanto, R. Jordarki, 30
Lafayette Escadrille, 172, 216, 217
Lahm, Lieut. Frank P., 26
Lambert, Comte de, 108, 115
Landing problems, 165-167, 240
_Langley_, 182
Latham, Hubert, 104, 108, 109
Lebaudy Brothers, 60-67
Lefevre, 108
Letord airplane, 181
Liberty motor, 168, 182
Lilienthal, Otto, 81-85, 92
Little, Robert A., 215
Lôme, Dupuy de, 52
Loubet, President, 58
Lufbery, Major, 205, 216, 217
Lunardi, Vincent, 12, 20-22
L. V. W. airplane, 203
Malone, Lieut. John J., 215
Materials, airplane, problem of, 163, 164
McCudden, Capt. James, 205, 215
McCurdy, J. A. D., 106
Meusnier, General, 49
Michelin cup, 115
Moineau airplane, 179, 181
Monoplane, principles of, 150-151
Montgolfier Brothers, 3-11
Morane airplane, 119, 192
Moret, 21
Motor (see _engine_)
_NC-4_, 244
Neck, balloon, 18
Net balloon, 18
Nieuport airplane, 121, 171, 211
Nomenclature of airplane, 94
Normand, Le, 29
_Nulli Secundus_, 64, 65, 68
Parachute flares, 34
Parachutes, 28-35, 42
Paulhan, 108, 116
Paris, bombing raid on (1918), 201
Parseval, Major von, 37, 66
_Patrie_, 63
_Pax_, 58
Pelcher, Percy S., 85
Pershing, General John, 218
Pfalz airplane, 203
Pola, bombing raid on, 184
Pollock, C. F., 23
Pourpe, Marc, 216
Price, Norman, 216
Propeller, principle of, 161-163
Raids, famous bombing:
Paris, 201
Pola, 184
Read, Lieut.-Com. A. C., 244
Reconnaissance planes, 128-149, 177-180
Record airplane flights:
altitude, 116, 168
channel, 104
distance, 101, 115, 116, 119, 154
speed, 108, 119, 121
trans-Atlantic, 244
_Red Wing_, 107
Renard, 53
Rheims meetings, 107, 109, 119, 121, 154
Richthofen, Baron von, 194, 210, 212, 215, 220-222
Rickenbacker, Capt. Eddie, 218-220
Ripping panel, balloon, 18
Roberts Brothers, 9, 49
Rockwell, Kiffen, 216
Roland airplane, 203
Rolls-Royce engine, 182
Rosevear, Stanley, 215
Rozier, Pilat de, 6, 13
Rumpler airplane, 203
Salomone, Major, 185
Santos-Dumont, 55-59, 99-102, 114
Sausage balloon, 19, 36-44
Schaeck, Colonel, 27
Schwartz, David, 54
_Scientific American_ trophy, 107
Scott, Major G. H., 245
Selfridge, Lieut. Thomas, 106
Severo, 58
Sigsfeld, Captain von, 37
Sikorsky, I. I., 125, 126, 127, 187
Sopwith airplane, 175, 181, 185, 186, 244
Spad airplane, 173
Speiss dirigible, 74
Steering ballonet, 38
_Storks_, the, 172, 210
Taube airplane, 191
Templer, Colonel, 64, 65
Tissandier, Gaston and Albert, 53, 108
Towers, Commander, 244
Trail rope, balloon, 18
Training of an aviator, 232-243
Trans-Atlantic flights, 244
Triplane, development of, 148-151
Vickers Scout airplane, 175
Vickers-Vimy airplane, 245
_Ville de Paris_, 63
Vinci, Leonardi da, 79
Voisin airplane, 102, 103, 110, 112, 178, 182
Voisin Brothers, 102, 110
Voisin-Peugeot airplane, 179, 181
Wenham, 80
_White Wing_, 107
Wilcox, James, 11
Wilkinson, Allan, 215
Wings:
Lilienthal's, 81-84
principles of, 81, 95, 147, 148, 149, 166, 167
Wing-warping, 88, 97
Wissemann, 212
Wölfert, 54
Wollett, Capt. Henry W., 215
_World_, New York, prize, 118
Wright, Wilbur and Orville, 86-90, 99, 101, 103, 114, 150, 151, 153
Zambeccari, Count, 11
Zeppelin, Count von, 55, 62, 65
Zeppelins, 55-56, 62, 65, 66, 68, 123
Zodiacs, 72
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and
formatting have been maintained.
The table below lists all corrections applied to the original text.
p vii: Santos Dumont -> Santos-Dumont
p viii: A group of De Haviland -> Havilland
p 6: Frenchman, Pilatre de Rozier -> Pilâtre de Rozier
p 6: Pilatre de Rozier -> Pilâtre de Rozier
p 13: Pilatre de Rozier -> Pilâtre de Rozier
p 19: more buoyant -> buoyant.
p 28: the parachute -> Is small caps: THE PARACHUTE
p 31: aeronuat -> aeronaut
p 33: he may find himsell -> himself
p 54: took place in midair -> mid-air
p 55: SANTOS DUMONT -> SANTOS-DUMONT
p 64: air-bag of onefifth -> one-fifth
p 65: N. Y., who far -> for
p 66: with a large interval -> internal
p 74: The _Lebandy_ -> _Lebaudy_
p 98: the airplane body or "fusilage." -> "fuselage."
p 100: resembling a boxkite -> box-kite
p 111: The over-heating -> overheating
p 122: by means of it -> its
p 126: In the foreward -> forward
p 141: produce slightly over-lapping -> overlapping
p 145: that enemy reenforcements -> reinforcements
p 153: needs of air-craft -> aircraft
p 175: and the _De Haviland -> Havilland
p 176: downing the enemy. Immelman -> Immelmann
p 179: _Bréguet-Michelin_ -> _Breguet-Michelin_
p 181: the _Bréguet_ -> _Breguet_
p 194: British _DeHaviland_ -> _De Havilland_
p 206: in the town of Compiegne -> Compiègne
p 206: student in the École Polytechnic -> Polytechnique
p 206: 1914, came the the news -> the news
p 219: the early days Immelman -> Immelmann
p 219: and fighting. Immelman's -> Immelmann's
p 219: from that of Immelman -> Immelmann
p 236: and a dizzy "sea-sickness" -> "seasickness"
p 238: goes taxi-ing -> taxiing
p 244: A GROUP OF DE HAVILAND -> HAVILLAND
p 251: picture man of today -> to-day
p 257: Airships in Peace and War -> War (1910)
P 259: balloon, 13, 32, 54, 54 -> balloon, 13, 32, 54
p 259: A. G. O. -> A. G. O.,
p 259: De Haviland -> Havilland
p 259: engines (see _engines_) -> _engine_
p 261: De Haviland -> Havilland
p 261: Esnault-Pelteric -> Pelterie
p 261: Fullard, Capt. Phillip F. -> Fullard, Capt. Philip F.
p 262: Immelman -> Immelmann
p 263: Rozier, Pilat de -> Rozier, Pilâtre de
p 264: Wollet -> Wollett
End of Project Gutenberg's The Romance of Aircraft, by Lawrence Yard Smith