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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0111.PDF
FEBRUARY 27, 1909. THE BRITISH ARMY AEROPLANE. - -: SOME IMPRESSIONS AND COMPARISONS. AFTER a period ol enforced retirement, brought about by the disastrous termination of a previous trial flight, the British Army aeroplane was again taken from its shed on Thursday of last week, February 18th, and some brief, but by no means uninteresting experiments were carried out on Laffan's Plain. It was not until the afternoon that the doors of the great balloon shed at South Farn- borough were moved slowly and laboriously back along their guides, to expose a yawning cavern, out of which emerged, equally slowly, a diminutive white machine. Diminutive, that is, by comparison with its enormous house, for the British Army aeroplane is, as a matter of fact, a large machine, and once away from its shed—which is, of course, the rightful habitation of " Nulli Secundus "— its full dimensions can be better appreciated. It had been intended to make a trial flight in the morning, for the dawn was calm, but as the day grew older, so did a breeze spring up ; and although the casual observer might have been pardoned for supposing that the condi- tions were perfect, as was the weather, the authorities very properly considered that it was useless to take risks until they knew more about the handling of their machine. details which can only be revealed to those who set themselves the undoubtedly difficult task of learning to- ny with the cruder machines which the brain of man is able to evolve ab initio. Such evidence as has so far been afforded offers no grounds for supposing that the British Army aeroplane has any particular claim to belong to the category of what what might be styled the " self-flyers," but on the other hand we can see no particular reason to take a despon- dent view of its ultimate capabilities of flight. As a type, the British Army aeroplane is not unlike the Wright flyer, or rather it was not, until the latest addition of a small tail — formed by the super- position of the two planes which were formerly on* either side of the elevator in front—removed it to a class of its own. On theoretical grounds—so far as- there is any theory worth applying in these matters—- this modification should result in an increase of the automatic longitudinal stability, on the grounds that if the machine tips fore and aft, the action of the wind upon the tail has a self-righting effect, whereas if there is no such horizontal surface at the rear, but only an THE BRITISH ARMY AEROPLANE.—Hauling the machine on to Laffan's Plain. perspective of the front of the machine. " Flight" Copyright Photo. This view gives an excellent This decision may savour somewhat of the old chestnut about not going into the water before learning to swim, but, as a matter of fact, in the present stage of flight the art of learning how is almost as great as that of the art of flying itself. Being pitched overboard in a storm may be a very effective method of making a practical acquaintance with the water; but, just as most people would prefer to learn to swim in a calm sea, so do most aviators prefer to learn to fly on a still day. Of course, there is this fundamental difference, that whereas man can swim with his unencumbered body, he cannot possibly fly without the aid of a machine; and at first glance there would seem to be a closer analogy between flight and seamanship of the racing yachtsman than between flight and swimming. But from whichever point of view the situation be regarded, it seems to us very necessary never to overlook the important part which the individual sense of control possessed by the aviator may have in the mastery of the air with any particular machine. It may be possible ultimately to build a machine that will practically fly by itself, so to speak; but it seems reason- able to suppose that such an invention will only be brought about by an appreciation of innumerable little elevator in front, the apparent automatic effect attri- butable to the presence of the latter surface is that of exaggerating any initial departure from an even keel. >'* It is, of course, a feature—it might almost be said1 the feature—of the Wright machine, that it has no tail, and it is mainly for this reason that it is commonly supposed that the art of using it in the early days of apprenticeship is greater than is the case with the Voisin aeroplane, which has a very fully-developed empennage. That the Wright machine can be flown satisfactorily by anyone who knows how, the Wrights themselves have shown to all the world, and that the difficulties are not great in themselves, may presumably be judged from the fact that Wilbur Wright has undertaken to make his three pupils proficient. Since the British Army aeroplane now has a tail, it can no longer be classed in the same category as the Wright aeroplane, nor can it justly be said to be similar to the Voisin aeroplane on that account, for the Voisin machines have essentially a larger tail, situ 4ed at a proportional ely greater distance from the main surfaces. Various views have been expressed as to the utility of such a big tail, and although it seems to be admitted that it has very considerable steadying effects,. 13 C 2
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