A GLIDER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 172, 19 January 1912, Page 7

A GLIDER

LADY MAKES SEVERAL FLIGHTS. Down a" hillside near St. Clair golf on Saturday, afternoon Miss Nellie Mitchell, -of B'alclutha, "flew" for 25 yards on a. flying glider at a height of 7ft from-the ground, thus achieving what others in' Dunedin have managed to do only in dreams (says the Duaedin Star), The flying machine upon wliich she aped the birds was anything but a pretentious affair, it being a home-made copy of the Weiss glider, which is said to have been a successful invention in Sussex (England). The local builders (Messrs B. Hughes and D. Wood, members of the Dunedin Aero Club) saw a picture of this glider in the Aero Magazine, and forthwith resolved to build one like the original. They succeeded so well that out of ten trials made on Saturday afternoon their glider temporarily and actually flew three times. On each pccasion Miss Mitchell was "on the bridge," the men being too heavy for the position. The young lady must have had a man's nerves, for the glider is but a frail craft. It is a canoe-shaped contrivance, winged, and mounted on wheels.; The motive power is the speed of the thing as it runs down a slope against the wind. If the rushing air presses on the wing surface in the expected manner and with necessary force, you fly; if it does not, you carry the glider up the hill again and have another trial. The whole outfit only weighs 851b, and should be as easy to shift about as some of the trollies small bovs "drive" down the steep streets. The body of the glider reminds one of a coracle without an oilcloth covering. It is long and narrow, and offers about as much seating accommodation as a coffin gives. The studs are of hickory, lashing with marling. Along the keel —if that be a permissible term — there is an ash skid. 13ft Gin long, to which are attached the wheels. The wings, which have a spread of 33ft, arc ribbed with bamboo rods, still'ened with Oregon spars. The "llesh" of the wings is unbleached calico. There are wooden levers for controlling the wings and steering the glider.

Tlift trials on Saturday afternoon result i-d in tin' glider getting ;i bit damaged. some of the gear being broken. It is not expected that the craft will ever have ;V commercial utility in its present form, if provided witli a motor it has possibilities. Meanwhile it proves exhilarating pastime, if the hillside bo favorable.