CHANNEL CROSSED

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 570, 27 July 1909, Page 5

CHANNEL CROSSED

BY A MONOPLANE. NEW FACTOR IN BLUE WATER POLICY. THE DIMINISHING DITCH. BLERIOT COMES OVER IN 33 MINUTES (By Telceranh.— Press Association.—Copyright.) \(R«c. July 26, 9.40 p.m.) London, July 25. M.; Louis Bleriot, the well-known French acroplanist, flew in bis monoplane across tho English Channel, from "Calais to Dover. According to the "Morning Post," the dis-' tanco covered was 26 miles, and tho time was 33 minutes. . ; : ■ • . ■ Damage In Alighting. The monoplaaist ascended at Lea Baroque's/ four miles from Calais, at 4.35 in the afternoon." Brilliant sunshine prevailed, and a' 1 good wind was blowing, - ' .- The descent was made in a meadow behind Dover Castle. In alighting, the monoplane touched the ground heavily, breaking her propeller, and sustaining other slight damage.M. Blariot's machine is described as the , lightest and most'eompact in existence.■'.. It is driven by a 20 horse-power motor. ' [The. Wrights use a.25 or a SO-h.p. motor; • Mr: Parman, a 50-h.p., motor in his biplane, and a 35-h.p.*-motor in his new type of machine.]:.-:._ ..' . -. . -.-'• ' '■■■■•.-. Conqijeror of the Channel. A The monoplane flew., like an arrow. The weather was calm' at tHe outset, but a strong west wind was encountered in mid-Channel, requiring the utmost care in steering. M. Bleriot received an ovation at Dover. •He returned aboard-the destroyer Escopotte to Calais, where lie was accorded a : great ovation... ", ; , ~'■' - : •' ■-.;' ' .The. successful aviator received a telegram from M. Dcpasse (a deputy representing the .Parliamentary Group that' promotes : aerial locomotion),-! heartily congratulating him as the .first, Conqnereri of 'the Channel; also congratulating Mr. Hubert Latham ■ (the mo'noplanist■ whose' machine flew over ten milos of' the Channel and then floated) and other .conquerors of- the.air. ' ; . , \ M. Depasse added in his telegram: "Hozannah for tho peace of the world." ' ' ; '■■■■ f ; Forty MHos an Hour, The;, "Daily". Telegraph";. estimates. M. Bloriot's speed at' 40 miles an hour. .:.',[ : .. , .: When in mid-Channel, .the aviator -was unaware of his iwhereabouts/.. He,then found himeeilf near the Kent! seaport'of Deal, and. could have landed on the beacli thefe, but he turned to beat\up the coaet.towards his appointed objective. '..-.-'. ;■■ ■ : ' : \ ■' .' --.Nearing'-Dover,.he.'was: seriously, troubled '•by-,defective air 'currents, and-: was compelled to. .stand , out to sea again; Then, see : ing a; gap in tho, Cliffs of Dover, he steered for-.it,; but'.'."'again', encountered -'adverse.', air currents. ;//..•■..:. '■■'■:> 'V ; ; : : , .'. / ,!- : Made Circles In an Eddying Wind. .After,passing over-British battleships, and over the- cliffs,' aid reaching.a point behind Dover, Castle, an.'eddying wind turned the" moiioplalie'round.:in, two complete circles. . '■ *■ : M.; Eldriot, then; stopped the machinery, and V the monoplane descended rather •'■ precipitately, causing the damage , previously ',""; .;'.', ''.'('..'-.;.'■ ■.■■"■ ■',-/; ; "-'■■,'■. :. V The strength of; the "winds averaged 10 ,to. 20.knots cm hour from.the start* ~;, '-. ...', .'-' M. Bleriot.'wins the. "Daily Mail" prize of : £1000: for. tho t .first, aeroplane flight across ■ the Channel.'•',- ;.,"■' ■'-.;. .' .^[;.',■,..} .:'.. Z .HeariDgofM. Bleriot's success, Baron do Forest,'who'had made an , offer of £2000 for fliglit to ■Vβ. made by a Britisher in' a British-built aeroplaneV'in;crea'sod. the'aniount'to '£4000. 1 : ~; ■■ : ;- LONGER^'AN ISLAND," BLEEIOT,' HIS MACHINE, AND POSSIBLE v:. .'.■".:,-. -.DEVELOPMENTS, ' . : :','/v''-' .':.. In- time of war Wβ should no , , longer-' : -'be an--island, and' our. mighty - fleet : : :;..;-woiiid cease to be our first line of de- ; . . ■ ferice.-r-Major. Baden-Powell,' on- aerial ';. : ' ''developments. .';. r ■.';..'. '■'• ..' - ' : . first,'time in'the history , of the world —as far as our records show—the British Channol has been .crossed by : means of mechanical flight, i.e./by an aeroplane or heavier-than-air machina.; 'Aeroplanes -are. in at.. least-, three olasses—'the.-monoplane (single plane), the .biplane (two planes), and the machine, with more than two : 7pla.nes' (such 'as .Prince Bolotolrs triplane))' and to the monoplane belongs the. honour -'of -.being first to cross the , 'English Channel, winning the "Diiily Mail's" JBIOOO arid other prizes. '.• Until recently, biplaliists. like the" Wrights,'. Parman, and Delagrango have'filled the: stage: as ■ far as aeroplanes, are concerned, eclipshig the .earlier successes of the.-oldest'.nionoplanist, Santos Dumont. But some days ago a quite young.aeroplanist, Mr. 'Hubert-.'Latham,'- of British' extraction but French ■ citizenship, -flew in'.his monoplane across' ten miles of the- Channel, at which stage he subsided . to the.. water surface and calmly floated in his machine, smoking a cigarette uutil-rescued. What Mr. Latnam; nearly, succeeded in doing an older lnonoplanist, M. Louis Bleriot, has now accomplished. The Channel has been crossed by a heavier-than-air .machine. ' ■ -, ■ i ■.■;',■ ~ ■ Advance of the Monoplane. ••-,.' , ', ■Hitherto it has been generally admitted that monoplanes are far superior ■ in speed to the biplanes, and . nre considerably lighter in weight j instability, however, has always been ■ their weak point, and they require very expert handling. But great advances have been inado very recently. Jlr. Xathalil's success wa.s particularly notable, aiid ; he and his cigarette achieved a rapid famo at Chalons, the aeroplanist being tho ■'first of his dun to find time to smoko while cutting his nerial .capers. At the' beginning of March the Aeronautical correspondent of- "The Tinies" Wrote:— "A noteworthy feature of the, aviation trial during ;the past few Iveeks haa been the steady improvement iii the monoplane. This form of aeroplane'has long been! dogged by misfortune, and, as mishap after ( mishap was recorded, many people were losing confidence in it. But now. several strongly-built yet light monoplanes are in use, and a series of successful short runs have _ been made, and turning movements accomplished without accident. Santos Duniont has shown, that with a very email machine flight can be attained, and although his new aeroplane has revealed several defects*'-he may ultimately,be able -to-secure very satisfactory resulls.. s But it ciiuuot yet be said that the monoplaiie' is likely to, supplant tho'biplane: What the.latter lacks in speed nlay be more tliiiii counterbalanced by its increased stability. Nevertheless tll6 singleplane niatiliiiie may bo brollght to a very high pitch of efficiency, niid willHipil be specialised lor .inaiiy '..useful : purposes." ■ Possiuly in the light p| recent events-.the writer will pitch his praises in a still higbor ke 3"- '-.-.:■' . . ' .. Bleriot's Machine—A Somersault. A description of one of M. Bleriot's flights last year states:— . .. ■■.•.'•. "11. Louis Bleriot. mnde, a magnificent ilight at Issy-les-Moulineaux with his monoplaue, covering 600 metres (about a third of,a mile) in iTsec. and at the same time winning the third of a series of four prizes .offered by the Aero Club of Franco for aeroplane flights of 200 metres (220 yards). M. Bleriot's aeroplane is constructed on the single-plauo principle, hence the name of monoplane. To the onlooker if has tho appearance of a huge bird with outstretched wings. M. Bleriot, who is the head of the firm of motor headlight manufacturers, appeared on the parade ground at Issy in March, 1.907, with a machine similar to-the Due with which he has nuw gained tho prize. At his first attempt the machine rose to a height of COft., turned a soinefsiiult in the air'i'. dasTied-to the groun<l< rtnd was smashed to pieces. M. Bleriot, coveWil with bruisea, b*J - »wrow cecape. Six woolu ago ho ale-

covered the proper equilibrium of the machine, and since then ho has been moro successful." ■; -. .

So Bleriot has bought his experience. Last year his best flight was one of nine miles'in 14 minutes. His now machine embodies etill further improvements. . ~ ■'. ■ In addition to tho "Daily Mail" prize of ■£1000 for. the first hearier-than-air machine to cross the Channel, there is a sum of, .£SOO offered by Messrs. Ituinart Pere et Fils, and a .£SO gold cup by C'apt. Windham. M. Deutach has also offered .fiIOOO, but the aeroplanist must, to win his prize, carry a passenger. " . ■ . An Aeroplane Invasion. Not long ago Sir Hiram Maxim, the eminent inventor and aerial investigator, declared that the aeroplane would cause a resolution in warfare equal to that effected by gunpowder. He also declared that Germany,- at an outlay of -7J millions, could build aeroplanes capable of landing a hundred thousand men in : England in a single night. It may be added that the German military authorities, whose attention has hitherto' been concentrated on dirigible, balloons, were lately .reported to bo building aeroplanes. ' ■ .' - j . -. -' .' ' \-, An answer to Sir Hiram Maxim was promptly forthcoming from Prince Serge de Bolotoff, the eldest son of a Russian nobleman. As mentioned above, Prince do Bolotorf owns a remarkable aeroplane with three planes; he also aspires.to cross'tho Ch'annel. The Prince wrote to "The. Times":— "Sir Hiram Maxim has recently propounded the theory that Engaliid may bo.invaded in a night by the employment of aeroplanes, As his forecast has created some alarm, will you permit me briefly to point out that there is no reason to believe that an invasion wiir ever be practicable? ■.-■'■ . .-■•' '',':■' Arguments Against. ; ; ■ \ "That the aeroplane will profoundly modify the existing methods of, warfare, on eea and land is true. But if it rcvolutidnises war it will not bo by rendering invasion possible via the ,-air. Sir Hiram Maxim that an invading .army : of 100,000 men may be-trans-ported by a Kind of aerial ferry of : 5000 aeroplanes between eunset and sunrise. Each aeroplane is. to carry aix men and to make four trips in say 12 hours. Granting for the : sake of argument that aeroplanes will be'built capable 1 of carrying six, men, and as yet no, aeroplane has carried more than two," the personnel of an invading force is only a fractional part of the impedimenta of an army.. It isi calculated, that in war a man's weight in bullets is expended for every soldier of tho enemy placed hors do combat. ■ . . ; . : ' :■-.- "When to munition of war there :is added all the victuals demauued by. the commissariat, it is obvious that the invading laeroplane fleet would-have to be quadrupled at,the least if Sir Hiram's invaders are to be equipped for their work. But that is only the smallest obstacle in tho way of suoh an invasion by tho air. An aeroplane is not a compact projectile that can be shot through the. air like a cannon'ball. . It is, , on'the contrary, a delicately constructed machine covering, about 130 square yards (for example, the Wright Brothers' aeroplane). Supposing aeroplanes could'fly in-close order 20 yards ■ between each, a lino of 5000 aeroplanes would extend over 90 miles, j... "Then again,supposing that instead! of advancing in a single'long line they flew, as Sir , . Hiram seems to imagine, in a massed square, then they would cover over IJ'squaro miles, allowing 20 yards clear space between the aeroplanes. But every one who has watched the {light of aeroplanes knows that no sane aeronaut would dream of flying unless .he-had , at least 100 yards clear .air.''space in ' : which- he onuld manoeuvre without risk of fouling his neighbour. As every ship requires' sea room every,aeroplano requires ample' air room. Hence it would be absolutely impossible •: to make a massed attack. 'Ihe utmost 5000 aeroplanes could do would be to sprinkle-driblets of fivo or six men with rifles but without supplies at various intervals in the midst of a dense and liostilo. .population'. - r". ,■ . : . Landing '.Difficulties:, . ; .. ,i ."But all'other difficulties are as nothing compared with' tho impossibility of. landing. •' An aeroplane cannot alight Anywhere and everywhere. [N.B.—:Tho dalnage to, M. Bleriot's machine on landing in England .illustrates the writer's contention. | A machine weighing half a ton and carrying a,load of half a toni pro-pelledbyamotor-oifrom GO-horse power to =100horse..power, flying at.arate 'of- from; id to 60 iuiles ait hour, caiyiot hop dbwn'like' a spnrr row upon any convenient In a thickly peopled country like. England it will not be as easy as one is inclined ,to. think to find'.fields large eiiiith and flat enough to alight on with' safety, 'ospeojnlly. dffrillg .the night.. A telegraph, wire, a cnininey, a tree top, or a hedge mnyJwreck everything. -, ' ■:.-. .; •■; ■;■ ; "The aeroplane can be used- in" war-, with deadly effect, but not as. a means of transport for-an invading army.■• I fail to sets how,: a fleet of 5000: aeroplanes, could , bo mobilised in any country without codling to tho knowledge of the British authorities.'' The , role .of the aeroplane'in 'war will be mainly dropping exElosivos, scouting, and carrying dispatches, ending .in.'-an aeroplane at night is at ihe best a most difficult.and dangerous; manoeuvre, biit, in a fog, I can only.diken it to a blind man driving-a motor-car.' . : : ' \ '■•"