THE AEROPLANE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 5, 30 January 1909, Page 3

THE AEROPLANE

WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENTS , TAKING I'JjACE. VIF.WS WITH AERONAUTS. A recent number of ".Motor" conlains interviews with Wilbur V, right, Dc-la-grange, Henry Earinan, and oliieis, who make some remarkable statements regarding achievements in aerial navigation wnich tney expect in a few veals-

AX E.\GlnE OF ViAli. Air. Wilbur \\ right said Ue aeroplane would dew.op along iniLuu.. lines. 1.1 would only iiecume a spoiling piopos.tion lo a certain extent. '.a certain number of sportsmen will be drawn to it,' he remarked, 'but i do not think their number will be great, it may, ol course, develop ill directions that we do not think of now. Frequently a course is mapped out for a great invention, and it takes quite a dilleieut one. But the future of the Hying maciiiiie is with armies'. Kwvy army will have no! one but hundreds of these machines carrying three or four men and aiiiiuuuiuoii, and capable of keeping the enemy continually harassed. Naturally these machines will take the place of cavalry, and will be much more effective than that branch of military service. With regard to the aeroplane iulltienciiig the motor-ear industry, Mr. Wright was emphatic. "No," he repliel, "l do not think it will. Sportsmen will, of course, be attracted to the Hying machine, but ill all cases they will be men who can afford both car and aeroplane. "With regard to the aeroplane," said the American, "people seem to imagine that its advent was dependable 011 the petrol engine. Well, the petrol engine, in my opinion, was not necessary at all. Steam was always quite as ellieienl. Moreover, engineers are wrong in searching for specially light engines. Certainly it would be folly to carry unnecessary dead weight, but reliability is much more important than lightness. There is really no need for a special type of engine. There are plenty of automobile engines that I could use on my llyiug machine, and use successfully, without any change whatever. The future aeroplane will be probably limited to six or eighty passengers. With my machine I can ily just as well alone as with a very heavy weight giving a load equal to three or four ordinary people. There is really no danger by reason of a passenger moving about during a flight. If he had- to shift Ills position several feel it would make no real difference to the machine's equilibrium. As a matter of fact, 1 could lly on the tip of the wing without upsetting the balance of the machine,"

Asked as to what form the flying machine of the future would take, Wright said, "It will probably maintain the same proportions as at present. It all depends on what will be required. Big planes will give a greater lifting capacity, but will be slower. The Hying machine of the- future will have a capacity of two or three passengers and a range of action of about 200 miles. Whether litteil with one or two propellers will not make any dill'erencc." As to the possibility of making the cross-Channel llight just now, the American said he could do it any day he liked, but, with a smile, asked of what use would it be. T'lA'lXl! MACHINE FOB. ;Cl5O.

Leon Dclngrangc, one of France's premier aeronauts, who lias been working lianl on his models, ami who has made sonu! wonderful (lights, was more hopeful of the future than Wilbur Wright. ••In live years," he said, "the Hying machine will be used in sueh large numbers that it will have been brought within the reach of practically everybody. The initial cost will be not more than .CloU, which will be one of the cheapest means of locomotion known. The aeroplane will undoubtedly be used very extensively in the army. Every regiment will have, a certain number to be used for scouting and continually harassing the enemv. As a sport llyin" will be unique, while' for long or short distance touring it will be without a rival, for il makes possible a journey, say, from Paris to .\lTirseilles, or London to .Monte Carlo, in an hour or so's time. As the result of the development of the aeroplane, long-distance motor-car touring on high-speed machines, ruinous in upkeep, will fall oil' very considerably. Thing will he so much more economical as'well as more fascinating, that nobody will be found U> travel long distances by road. In niv opinion," he concluded. « * "

„,. monoplane mid the multicellular. The ' dillVrcnt types ~-monoplane ami nuiltiplam -arc'so dill'crcnt ami have such dill'crcnt liclds of action Unit it is impossible to prefer 0110 to the oilier. The progress of the aeroplane, in fact. will lie ten times more rapid than that of the motor-car. Its progress, however, is likely to he arrested by accidents, which will inevitably happen lo reckless sportsmen, to men who vill take a pleasure in risking their lives by flying over towns—a thing that is absolutely useless in time of peace. In the very distant future it will be possible for an aeroplane, to receive its motive power from electric stations on the earth. Yes. in live years everyone will be Hying."

" XEW FfEM) FOR SPOUT. llonrv Kill-man. before the accomplishment of the first cross-country aeroplane llighl. -Uted that in. live years the building of Hying machines would have become an important industry. "I believe that it will be used very generally as a sport, and that, journey* from point to point will very generally lie undertaken during the next few years. During the next live years there will not be any attempt to cross mountain ranges o,- in lly over towns, but journeys along the seashore from onf 'watering-place lo another will be very common. Trips of one hundred miles out, and home, always avoiding towns, mint attempted under favorable eondi- ] lions, will be exceedingly common in the I near future.

By reason of its development as a sport the aeroplane is certain to hnve| an adverse influence on the motor ear. Thoui'h it will never drive out motoring, it will doubtless bring about a certain neglect of the high-powered car." "Yes.' a special motor is necessary. II must be rnlher liirhler than the present car engine, and it must at the same time be absolutely reliable. It is incorrect lo sny thai Hie Wright engine Is iill ordinary type. It has a lot of special points, and is much lighter than the ordinary car motor.' 1 A C'OMIHXATrOX MACHINE. '•How will the aeroplane develop in the immediate future?" was asked by Mr. Charles Yoisin, one of the partners in Hie firm of Voisin Erercs, builders of the Eariuau, Delagrangc, and other successful machines.

"Xot at all on the lines that are being followed now. The (lying machine of the future will not be more than Oft from tip to tip; instead of merely two superimposed planes, it will have twenty or thirty; it will run on wheels like a. motor-car, hut will be driven by an aerial propeller. When used in towns or any crowded district, it will keep to the road, and will be used in exactly the same way as a motor-car, with the difference that its four wheels will be free, drive being through the propeller. When conditions are satisfactory for high speed the elevation plane will be raised, the. machine will rise from the ground, and skim along at a very much increased speed a few inches from the surface of the road. For instance, on a journey from Paris to Marseilles, this Hying motor-ear would follow the road as fur as Fontniiicblcau, travelling just the siiiiie as a motor-car. From Fontainebleau it would still follow th.e road, nt times skimming over the surface of the ground, at times running on its four wheels. Further south, where absolutely flat, open country is reached, there, would be uo necessity to stick to the road, but the machine would never rise high in the air. Many an angle on Hie road would be cut ofl', ami many of the dips on our long straightaways would be avoided.