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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0564.PDF
SEPTEMBER I8, 1909. THE WRIGHT GLIDER AS MADE BY CLARKE. GLIDING is a side of flight that is a little apt to be neglected in the present rush to achieve the higher art ; but it is a useful side nevertheless, and the present is a particularly appropriate time to learn the mastery of the motorless flyer, seeing there is for the moment some work has been admirably executed by Messrs. T. W. K. Clarke and Co., of Kingston. It is of course a biplane, and has an elevator in front with a vertical tail behind. The elevator, however, is constructed according to the design shown in the latest Wright patent—with which our readers are acquainted—having flexing planes instead of simple pivoted planes. The tail at the rear consists of a single vertical plane, in which respect it is in agreement «&'*' General view, from in front, of tht completz Wright-Clarke glider. Light bow-skids are fitted under the extremities of the lower deck, as shown above. difficulty about obtaining a proper supply of engines in this country. Other experimenters have, it is true, shown that the stepping-stone used by the Brothers Wright is not' necessary in all cases; but, all the same, we are not at all sure that gliding may not teach a lot even to the flying man, and in any case it seems to us that Messrs. Alec Ogilvie and Searight have done very much the right thing in having a glider built for them in addition to the Wright flyer which they have on order. with the Wright glider, but differs from the Wright flyer, which has a double rudder. On the other hand the main decks are double surfaced on the machine which Messrs. Clarke have constructed, whereas the gliders used by the Wright Brothers were, we believe, invariably only In this view, as seen from behind, the glider is shown mounted on a specially-designed two-wheeled hand-cart, by means of which the whole machine can be easily wheeled about by one man. At the least it may be the means of saving the flyer from some little unnecessary damage during the early stages of learning to fly. The glider which Messrs. Ogilvie and Searight have had built for them is to all intents and purposes a copy of the machine used by the Wrights in 1902, and the single surfaced. The workmanship which Messrs. Clarke have put into the construction of the glider is admirable, and thoroughly upholds British reputation for making a sound job. There are some people who rather incline to the view that a machine which is going to be knocked about need not have much time spent upon its construc- 568
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