AIRPLANES OF THE FUTURE.

Taihape Daily Times, 15 June 1918, Page 7

AIRPLANES OF THE FUTURE.

AN INTERESTING OPINION. Speaking recently before the Empire Club at Toronto, Canada, Prof. Aleaxnder Graham Bell, the inventer of the telephone and one of the members of tho Aerial Association which produced tho "Silver Dart’'" many years ago, had the following to say regarding the airplane of the future. "The airplane is to be a deciding factor in this war. Men now fly 20,000 feet in the air, and what I want you to note is that theoretically the machine at that height should be efficient by flying faster and more economically. Supposing your propeller has the same push at that height where tho air is rarer, you should get more speed. Dr. Bell then gave a scientific explanation of why the airplane should travel faster at the greater height. A change of gear, as in a motor car, which would make the propeller travel faster, he pointed out, was the solution of this problem, and he predicted the day when flying machines would attain such speed that the wings may be unnecessary. "Now, if we have! machines flying without wings, how about flying without engines?" added Mr. 8011. "All other things that fly, fly without engines. Consider the albatross, which, without the movement of its wings, can overtake a ship even when the bird is travelling against the wind. The flying of these birds is a problem open to science. The question is, "How do they do it?"