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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0119.PDF
FEBRUARY 27, 1909. THE PRESENT STATUS OF . MILITARY AERONAUTICS. By GEORGE O. SQUIER, Ph.D., Major, Signal Corps, U.S. Army. # IT is a matter of first significance that the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, composed of a body of highly trained and serious-minded men, should be considering in annual meeting .assembled the subject of aerial navigation. Five years ago such a subject could scarcely have had a place on the list of professional papers on your programme. The present period will ever be memorable in the history of the world for the first public demon- strations of the practicability of mechanical flight. In fact, at the present moment a resistless wave of enthusiasm and endeavour, sweeping away every prejudice, is passing over the entire civilised world, fixing the attention of all classes upon the probability of (light. France, Germany, and England are in a state of frenzied interest in this subject, and each period of a single mouth sees some new step accomplished in the march of progress. The universal highway is at last to be made available for the uses of mankind, with its consequent influence upon our modes of life and thought. The subject of war balloons and their accessories pertains by law to the Signal Corps of the Army, and some months since an invita- tion was extended to the chief signal officer of the Army, Gen. Allen, to meet with you on this occasion, and present to this dis- tinguished body of practical engineers an outline of the work of the Government in this direction. On account of pressure of official •duties, General Allen has designated me to perform this duty, and notwithstanding a keen consciousness of personal shortcomings, yet I would be indeed lacking in sentiment if I failed to acknowledge the honour felt in appearing here to-day to present such a subject ior the first time before a national body of American engineers. At the outset, it must be stated that the subject is so vast in its scientific details, amd that data and results are being obtained so rapidly, that it is manifestly impossible to present more than the merest outline of the present state of this new science and art within the limits of a short paper. From the earliest times men have dreamed of imitating the birds in sailing through the air, yet it is only within a very few years that the strength of materials and the mechanical construction of motors have reached a state to make power-flight possible. The industrial development of the auto- mobile has been a powerful ally in the realisation of mechanical flight, and the engineering profession finds itself equipped and ready .to further the development of this great problem. On December 23rd, 1907, the Signal Corps of the Army issued a public advertisement and specification, calling for bids for furnishing the Government with a heavier-than-air flying machine. (A copy of this specification will be appended to this Paper as of possible historical interest.) The conditions of this specification require that the Government be furnished with a heavier-than-air flying machine capable of •carrying one passenger besides the aviator, and it must remain in the air on endurance test for a period of one hour without landing, and must also be subjected to a speed test, over a measured course, of •more than 5 miles, against and with the wind, attaining a minimum speed of 36 miles per hour. The machine must, in addition, carry fuel for a continuous flight of not less than 125 miles. In preparing this specification, it was purposely sought to leave the bidder perfectly free in the methods to be employed, and he was not restricted as to type or design. At the time this specification was issued eleven months ago,+ the conditions were publicly regarded .as being unusually severe, and far beyond the state of the art at that time. That these conditions were justified has been subsequently proved, as is now well known. Although the public advertisement called for but one heavier- than-air machine, yet when the bids were opened it was found possible through the co-operation of the Board of Ordnance and Fortification, to award contracts to each bidder who complied with the requirements of the law in every respect, and consequently contracts were ultimately awarded to the Wright Brothers, of Dayton, Ohio, for the sum of $25,000 for a 4O-mile speed, and also to A. M. Herring, of New York, for the sum of $20,000. It was believed tha-t the acceptance by the Government of each of the bids submitted instead of but one of them would serve as an additional stimulus to develop practical aviation in the United States, and at the same time serve to supply the War Department with machines needed in military service. This dual object—-to advance a new art of interest to the nation as a whole, and to secure necessary equipment for the military establishment—has been in the past and is at present the policy of the Signal Corps of the Army. * Presented at the New York meeting (December, 1908), of the AmericanSociety of Mechanical Engineers. t Published in The A.vtpmotor Journal of January 18th, 1908. The result of issuing this specification, as well as a similar one for supplying a small dirigible balloon for the preliminary training of the men of the Signal Corps, was an awakening of interest in this subject throughout the country to such an extent that the Signal Office continues to receive daily a large number of letters, plans, and models proposing manifold schemes for navigating the air. The Aeronautical Division of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer of ihe Army was organised on July 1st, 1907, and the Aeronautical Board of the Signal Corps was appointed in July of the current year for conducting tests of dirigible balloons and aeroplanes under existing contracts. It should be stated that the mention of particular types of dirigible balloons and aeroplanes in this paper must not be considered as an official endorsement of these particular machines, nor the failure to mention other types be construed to indicate a lack of equal recog- nition of the merits of the latter. In the case of the Wright Brothers, however, it is desired to associate the Signal Corps of the Army publicly and officially with the present universal recognition of their work in advancing the science and art of aviation. These results have been due to the persistence, daring, and intelligence of these American gentlemen, to whom the whole world is now paying homage. It will ever be recorded that the classic series of public demonstrations first made by Orville Wright at the Government testing grounds at Fort Meyer, Va., in September, 1908, and by Wilbur Wright at Le Mans, France, made a profound impression throughout the world, and kindled especially the patriotic spirit of the American people. There are two general classes of vehicles in the air : (a) those which depend for their support upon the buoyancy of some gas lighter than air, and (/>) those which depend for such support upon the dynamic reaction of the air itself. These classes are designated :— (a) Lighter-than-air types:—Free balloons, dirigible balloons or airships. (6) Heavier-than-air types:—Aeroplanes, orthopters, helicopters, &c. It should be remarked, however, that these two general classes exhibit a growing tendency to overlap each other. For example, the latest dirigible balloons are partly operated by means of aero- plane surfaces, and are also often balanced so as to be slightly heavier than the air in which they move, employing the propeller thrust and rudder surfaces to control the altitude. I. AEROSTATION. Captive and free balloons, with the necessary apparatus and devices for operating the same, have been for many years considered an essential part of the military establishment of every first-class Power. They played a conspicuous part in the siege of Paris, and were often valuable in our own Civil War. The construction and operation of aerostats are too well understood to need further atten- tion here. SUCCESSFUL MILITARY DIRIGIBLE BALLOONS. ' • . FRANCE. Two types of dirigible balloons have been used in the French Army ; first the " Patrie," and second the " Ville de Paris." The " Patrie " was developed by Julliot, an engineer employed by the Lebaudy Brothers at their sugar refinery in Paris. A history of his work beginning in 1896 is fully given in I.a Conquete de I' Air. The " Patrie w (Figs. 1 and 2). The " Patrie," the third of its type, was first operated in 1906. The gas-bag of the fiist balloon was built by Surcouf at Billancourt, Pari'-. The mechanical part was built at the Lebaudy Sugar Re- finery. Since then the gas-bags have been built at the Lebaudy balloon shed at Moisson, near Paris, under the direction of their aeronaut, Juchmes. The gas-bag of the " Patrie " was 197 ft. long with a maximum diameter of 33 ft. 9 ins., situated about two-fifths of the length from the front; volume 111,250 cub. ft. ; length approximately six diameters. This relation, together with the cigar shape, is in accordance with the plans of Colonel Renard's dirigible, built and operated in France in 1884 ; the same general shape and proportions being found in the " Ville de Paris." The first Lebaudy was pointed at the rear, which is generally admitted to be the proper shape for the least resistance, but to maintain stability it was found necessary to put a horizontal and 121
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