FLIGHT WITHOUT WINGS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16723, 5 January 1920, Page 8

FLIGHT WITHOUT WINGS.

# i PROMISING EXPERIMENTS. j Flight without wings is tlio prolHem which M. Louis Lacoin, tho Fn-ncli engineer, claims to havo solved with the aid of SI. Louis I>nmhlanc, writes a j correspondent from Paris. j "Thrco years ngo I submitted tho first plans of my invention," ho t ild nie, to tho Inventions C-ommittec of tho French War Offico. They laughed ;it the idea, nnd said that no holiccpter (a flying mnehino with horiaonlal propellers) could fly, and that it was useless to make the experiment. When 1 insisted they p,nve mc tho two aeroplane engines which I needed to continue my experiments. "Since then my friend and co-inven-tor, M. Louis IXimblanc, nnd I have shown them the progress ma do. and tho experts were so struck with tho plans and proofs brought forward that wo were at one© given a subsidy of £-!000 and promised further help if necessary. Wo had alroady spent £10,000 private money in experiments. "Tnc aeroplano or alerion, as we call it, is in reality a simplo machine-. Tho body is built exactly like that on an aeroplane with roar landing wheels, and rudder. The chief novelty is that the entiro foreo < of suspension is provided by the twin propellers, which aro situatod in a horizontal position on either side of tho body of tho machine in tho axis of tho centre of gravity. Tho propellers are fonrbladed, and rosemblo roughly a lucky clover with four leaves. Ench blado is like the wings of an ordinary aeroplano with longitudinal strut and metal membranes covered with aeroplano linen.

"So I havo calculated that our motors need never drivo these propellers at any very hiph speed (roughly erne-third the speed of tho ordinary flying machine propeller). Yet to ensure rigidity they are further consolidated by steel stays, rrhioh mako them capable of overcoming a strain of moro than 80001b. Each, hlado has a surface of 45 square feet, •which gives for tho mnchino a total suspension surfaco of 3GO square feet." "How do you start tho machine from the around?" I asked.

"That is ono improvement I contend the alcrion will mtroduco," he replied. "Onr machine does not need to start at any great speed, and, indeed, when we put tho full-size machine to its full test next spring, I intend to start at the lowest speed possible.

"It is only whsn with the 'joy stick 5 I put tho blades at the proper angle that gradually the machine will nso horizontally. "When I want to move forward I manoeuvre the tail and push tho 'joy stick' over a little farther. "Flying in a heltcoptrr has been delayed by tho absence of motors. Tho ordinary aeroplane lias exacted tho motors wo require." "If your motors fail in the air, what would you doP" « "If only one of them stopped, the apparatus linking them up, so tnat they both work the propellers at the same speod, would ensure a slow flight with tie remaining motor. If both failed at once, the pilot would put them out of gear, and the machine would piano down supported by tho 360 square feet propeller surfaco, and the propellers would revolvo independently by wind pressure. "I have had plenty of offers from pilots anxious to test it," M. Lacoin concluded, "but I think that the first time tho_ alerion leaves the ground I shall bo m charge."