MOTORLESS AEROPLANE.

Otaki Mail, 25 August 1922, Page 3

MOTORLESS AEROPLANE.

i EXPERIMENTS IN GERMANY AND AMERICA. London, August 21. The Handley-Page Company has a representative watching the motorless aeroplane tests at Washerkuppe. This is a hill 3000 feet high near Fulda, where Hentzen flew for 7210 seconds. Mr Page, interviewed, said the object of motorless planes is to discover the secret of bird flight. Washer- j kuppe Hill is treeless, and when the wind blows against it there is a strong , upward current, making soaring possible. After the machine is thrown ', into the air by an elastic catapult it rises against the wind like a bird. As the Peace Treaty restricts Germany's construction in other aircraft they have turned their attention to these gliders with great success. The gliders fly so slowly that it is I possible for a pedestrian to keep up with a machine and converse with the pilot. j

Berlin, August 21. ilentzen's glider weighs 1501 b and has a wind surface of 200 square leet. Martens, a Hanovarian engineering smdent, has flown for 66 minutes, at a height of 300 feet, with a motorless aeroplane. He flew ten kilometres in a direct line in 23 minutes. Hentzen, a Fellow student, using the same aeioplane, broke Marten's record lor continuous flying by 130 seconds. Washington, August 21. Glenn H. Curtis has announced that he has completed a motorless airplane, which, if tests are successful, will be capable of rising from and alighting on the water.