ÆRIAL NAVIGATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 162, 18 October 1910, Page 7

ÆRIAL NAVIGATION.

THE MONOPLANE. M. BLERIOT'S STRI'IKILE TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS. How M. Bleriot became the champion ami inventor of a special type of monoplane is told l)\- himself in some biourapliical notes ho was asked to write i'or a Paris paper. It is known that the actual type _of the Bleriot flying machine, the one with which lie made the lirst cross-Channel iliii'ht, is usually described as the Bleriot XI. This means that ten previous typo; or models constructed by him or tor him preceded the successful and final series now in use. Curiously enough, the inventor of the small, compact, and rigid monoplane began by devising a. living machine with movable or vibrating wnips, which were intended to-imitate closely the actual (lights of birds as they heat their wings up and down. 11 is lirst inspiration came to him in ].!!<)(), at the Paris Exhibition, when he stood in front of a great bat-li'ke machine constructed years before by 11. Ader, which had a formidable electric motor, with accumulators, that seemed to weigh a ton. Ader's gigantic bat had immovale wings, and was a real monoplane. J.I. Bleriot thought lie could improve it bv making one with movable wings, and, after three years of patient effort, lie produced a machine which moved and Happed its to such an extent' that it smashed itself to pieces. THE CLIDINC '-MACHINE. His first liver having destroyed itself, he turned his thoughts to simple glidingplanes. The first reports of the success of the Wright Brothers in America stimulated him to fresh activity, and he asked 'lf. Purcouf to construct a glider for him. When experimenting with this plane he got into touch with the Voisin Brothers, and, without knowing precisely what the future had- in store for him, lie founded an aeroplane workshop in partnership with them. They took up the biplane idea, and worked it for all it was worth, but constant failure attended their experiments. .M. Bleriot gave up biplanes in disgust in lftfifi, and thus separated himself from the Voisin Bros., who, through thick and thin, adhered to the super-imposed planes, and adhere to it still. In 100-7 M. Bleriot's first monoplane came into being. It was the sixth attempt at making a practical flying machine, and in shape it resembled a duck. He took it out for its first trial with intense excitement. Would the thing leave the ground at all? He says: "With infinite precaution, at first I just let it run along the ground, to see That it would do. It moved on 'beautifully. Then 1 could not resist the temptation. I had to attempt a flight. I pulled the levers, and the machine gave a terrific bound upwards." It darted into the air at such a rate that it frightened him. He thought that he would be killed, anil then, what would happen to his poor wife, who had implored him not to risk his life, and to his little children? He nave another tug at the levers to bring it back to the ground, and it did go hack, with a smash. The levers worked too abruptly. The motor, which was at the back, had swung completely round, but happily a wooden prop was between it and hini, and deadened the shock. He owed his -life that day to that piece of wood.

His next machine was a further improvement. It was completed on September 17. 1 !)()7, and with this he mad,? iiis fir-t real flight, which the Aera Club recognised by awarding him a silver gilt medal. Of all the prizes he ever won ha cherishes perhaps this simple trophy most. But Xo. VII. met its fate, like several subsequent ones, which. \\;ere smashed one after the other. 'Wlisn he counted up all that his, experiments had cost Inn. bv that time he was almost ■ in despair. .More, than £30,1)03 had been spent, and he was on the verge of ruin. Those nearest and dearest to him im- , plored him to irive it up, but like the gambler, he felt tint he could not stop until he had won it back. Some day he must succied in fiirlin!" the ideal type, and lie did at last when ha had in hand his monoplane No. XL, with which he achieved his cross-Channel flight. Thus; beginning in l!!0O, he spent three years studying the rudimentary gliders, three years more were devote.!, to biplanes, and finally in 190;), after a third period, of three years, hi.-; success I'ul monoplane was produced. THE lIEXAPLAXE. A six-decker aeroplane is about to begin trials at Frankfort (says a message from Berlin). It is asserted that this is the largest aeroplane in the world. The body of the machine i.} seventy feet long, and has three seats at intervals of twelve feet, each for two persons. i The "hexaplane'' requires two pilots and carries four passengers. The uppermost plane, of titti square feet, is spread over the whole apparatus, and acts at onec as a shelter and a parachute to retard a fall in the event of a motor breakdown. The remaining live planes are set step-ladder-wise, one underneath the other ,and -bring: the total plane area to 45(H) square feet. There are three vertical and four lateral rudders. The weight of tl'.o whole apparatus is just over 2<)!)Ib. Ii; has three propellers worked by an engine of 100-h.p.