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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0773.PDF
DECEMBER 4, 1909. SOME EXPERIMENTS IN GLIDING FLIGHT. THE TYPE TO AVOID—AND PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. By HORACE W..H. VAUGHAN. THE sport of aviation is one of which a large number of us are anxious to obtain some sort of experience, and •small experiments of various kinds are being made in all directions. Now, it seems to me that kite-flying—trie placid •contemplation of a soaring aerofoil—lacks that active co-operation between machine and operator which is the essence of the sport, and the same may be said of models, especially of those driven by twisted elastic or springs, which are little more than projectiles. I have for some time felt that gliding flight must afford -a valuable insight, at very little expense, into the principles underlying flight as demonstrated by all the modern practical flyers, and I decided in the early part of this year to start upon the construction of a man-carrying glider, and looked about me for means of carrying the work into effect. Dimensions of practical machines were not over easy to obtain a few months ago, but eventually I came across particulars of a Chanute glider in an article translated from one in a Continental paper by Voisin Bros. TOTAL HKE* MR. HORACE VT. VAUGHAN'S GLIDER.—Sketch to scale. From this I decided upon the type and dimensions in Fig. 1. The sole method of control is by shifting the weight of the body. The next problem was how to find room to construct the machine. My garden is a small one, and I hardly felt disposed to erect a building 30 ft. by 20 ft. to take it if built in one piece. It therefore remained to devise a glider of such a portable nature that it could be taken down or set up in a fairly short time and stowed away in the motor-house, a building 14 ft. by 12 ft., which has, of course, to accommodate the car as well. It was felt, as has proved to be the case, that after a very few experiments a more perfect type of machine would be required, and therefore it was highly desirable to reduce the cost of material to a minimum. I do not propose to enter fully here into all details of construction, but may say that the total cost of material did not exceed ^5, and the machine could be taken •down or set up under one hour. The construction of " Vaughan I" was then undertaken. The ribs were cut from | in. spruce battens (curved 2| in. at maximum versine), and clipped on to i-in. pine main spars of circular section. The main planes were jointed in the middle by short lengths of steel cycle tube forming bayonet catches. The stanchions (out of £-in. circular pine) were screwed into plates at the bottom with wing- nuts at the top. The stays were of steel piano wire with a strainer to every pair of diagonals. The tail was made in the same manner, somewhat lighter, with side curtains laced at their bottoms to the lower plane, a bootmaker fitting the clips for the lacing at a trifling outlay. For the covering I found that a light blind material was air-proof and cheap, but although good enough to use on a rough experimental machine, not strong enough for permanent use. The lower main outrigger spars were of bamboo 1 f in. at its maximum thickness and extending from the extreme front to back. A cycle maker constructed the small special ironwork required, but most of the little screws, bolts, clips, &c, can be found in ordinary commercial use. The construction, during my limited spare time, took some months, but, at length completed, the machine was taken up in an ordinary cart to some suitable downs about five miles from my house, where I was fortunate in obtaining the use of a shed by the courtesy of the owner. The following Sunday morning was fine, and a party of us motored up to the ground, but there was no breeze blow- ing. We set up the glider and hoped for wind, but only the lightest ze- phyrs played upon our m o i s tened finger. We tried running down the slope, pulling the machine by the 6 ft. cords at each front corner ; it was extremely hard work, and the machine only once lifted its own weight for a short distance. Experiments were then abandoned until more suitable weather. The Sunday after was again dead calm, and the next week-end pouring wet, but the Sunday following was clear with a fine breeze blowing from 15 to 20 miles per hour, as nearly as we could.estimate. We found a slope about 80 yards or more in length facing the wind, and having erected the machine in the lee of the " hangar," we took her round for action. Upon tilting the front planes, to our joy she lifted up clear from the ground, and showed a considerable upward pull, but the angle she maintained seemed greater in relation to the ground than I had expected from accounts of other experiments. As we found she exerted her lift more or less steadily when pulled down the slope, I took my place in the machine, and was lifted clear from the ground for 30 or 40 yards, my friends hauling against the wind. 775
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