Otago Witness Illustrations.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 43

Otago Witness Illustrations.

THE FARMAN AEROPLANE. M. Henri Farman, who boat M SamosDuraont's aeroplane record recently won now laurels by flying 771 metier (exactly 843\d-- 2ft 3in) with the same machine on the military mancninrc groung at I-s\ , just outside Pans. This 1- considerably the longest continuous flight made with a he<ivier-than-air machine, ami it wins for

I M Farinan the pi ize of £60 offeie-d h\ the [ A\iation Club <1» Fi.uiee. for the fir=t I fliiiht of over 500 nietie--. In addition, I it dc( ides the wager made between M Santos-Dumont and M Archdeacon and the C'omte De Dion and M Charron \I. Stintos-Dumont and !M. Archdeacon | wagered £200 that a flight of 500 metres f b\ a hea\ier-than-air type of aeroplane I would be registered before January , 1908.

M F,uman'- experiment* hpip watt he! by hundicds of people who had come from Paris spccialh to see the attempt to create j ;i new record At the first attempt in lhe morning the machine rose after running a few yaicls on the ground, and i tia\elled 400 \aids before its conductor i hiought it to the ground After luncheon i the first essaj «a> a flight of 380 yards. [ and the second one 440 yards.

This, however, did not satisfy the inventor. wlr> took ad\antage of the brilliant sunset to make a third attempt, and this time to cross the rectangular field diagonally. After a very few > ards the machine rose, and, travelling about 25ft above the ground, took M. Farman straight to the opposite corner in 52sec. The machine, which is built of wood, aluminium, canvas, and steel wires, i* in

some ways like M. Santos-Dumont's first aeroplane, and is composed of two winge, which are like a huge box kite, with the vertical partitions removed. connected w r ith a tail which is similar to, but slightly smaller than, the wings. The motor, which is placed in front between the two wings, develops 50 horse power. M. Far- [ man says he will continue his experiments indefinitely.