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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0043.PDF
JANUARY 15, 191°- afford a home for one of them ; dirigible sheds are not yet so numerous in the vicinity of London that they are likely to follow the present slump in house property. There remains the shed that is already in existence ; the shed that housed " Nulli-Secundus " and is at present the home of the " Baby." So far as is publicly known, the " Baby " is at present the sole occupant of this shed, but for our own part we have our doubts. There has been more material going into that shed than ever the " Baby " could find room for or than has yet come out ® ® MONOPLANE Y. By A. AT the recent Authors' Dinner the Hon. C. S. Rolls said " It seems fairly certain that for the moment triplanes or multiplanes will not be successful." When Mr. Rolls uttered these words he surely must have overlooked that an English triplana made a number of flights last July and August with only a 9-h.p. J.A.P. engine, having two air-cooled cylinders of only 85 mm. bore and 92 mm. stroke. As far as the writer is aware no monoplane or biplane has ever approached this result, and this speaks very highly of the future possibilities of the triplane. At present the monoplane is undoubtedly the most graceful of flyers, but other things besides appearances must be taken into consideration. In my case efforts have and are being devoted to producing a light handy machine, for obviously the smaller and lighter the aeroplane, the less likely is the aviator to find himself in trouble when . taking cross-country trips. Naturally one would ask, " What are the advantages of the triplane ? " Firstly, the triplane is only one-third the size of a monoplane, roughly speaking, of the same area, and consequently the aeroplane portion is reduced to one-sixth of the weight. As there is such a reduction in size the strains are reduced considerably, and the angle of the wing is not so acute as in the monoplane, one can more easily get a higher aspect-ratio with greater cutting edge, and this gives greater lifting power per square foot of surface. Monoplane enthusiasts say there is a loss of efficiency through superimposing the planes ; but it has been proved that for angles of less than 15% the interference is prac tically nil, when planes are at their own depth apart. The main planes being narrow, the tail can more easily be kept several depths apart from these, and consequently they can carry the same weight per sq. ft. as main planes. The writer found his 9-h.p. aeroplane would not fly unless it carried the same weight per sq. ft. on all the planes, ® ® 12! Miles Up in the Air. MR. W. H. DINES, who is conducting some experi ments in connection with the temperature of the upper atmosphere, was able to give recently the results obtained with some small balloons equipped with registering apparatus. Eight such balloons were sent up from Crinan, Argyllshire, and three have been recovered, one near Oban, another at Sanquhar, and a third at Biggar. Two of them reached an altitude of 12^ miles, and while the temperature at seven miles high at one reading of the instruments was 60 degrees F., at another it showed 90 degrees F. [/yGHT] again in any recognisable form. We shall be sadly mistaken if something very much like a large dirigible does not sail valiantly through those doors one of these fine days, and on a fine day in the very near future, too, if the Clerk of the Weather cares to keep the elements in check a little while longer. We shall see what we shall see, but readers of FLIGHT may take it for granted that Cove Common, South Fam- borough, is going to be quite an interesting place again in the near future. © @ MULTIPLANES. . ROE. that is to say, more than 9-h.p. was required to make,it fly under those conditions. Others may raise objection to the triplane, stating there are too many wires and complications ; as a matter of fact there is much less wiring in a triplane than a biplane of equal area. Stability is perhaps the most important feature of an aeroplane, and in this respect I consider the three types mentioned above will all prove to be very much alike, when constructed on approved lines. At present the Antoinette monoplane holds the world's record for manoeuvring in rough weather, and this I consider is greatly due to the dihedral angle of wings. Perhaps non-advocates of the tiiplane may consider the triplane unstable owing to my accident on December 24th. This was due to making a sudden turn ; the inside quickly sank owing to the reduced speed on that side. I relied solely, as I had often done before, on the twisting to bring this back again (which, by the way, had been recently reduced as it seemed unnecessary to have the amount originally used) but this was not enough, and before I thought of using the rear vertical rudder to turn the machine round and so increase speed on the falling side, the machine struck the ground heavily. Had the machine been a monoplane of same area and conse quently greater span, and had such a sharp turn been made, this action would have been still more pronounced, as the tips of the monoplane would have been travelling relatively slower on the inside and faster on the out than those of the smaller span triplane. Some pilots may think they have perfect control of an aeroplane after their third flight, but it seems to me a hundred flights are not sufficient to prevent the learning of some little dodge each time. As regards quadruplanes and multiplanes, having more decks still, these no doubt will come along in the near future, but each type necessitates a considerable amount of experimental work. ® ® Flying Over Lake Geneva. THE organisation of flying races across Lake Geneva, to which we referred recently, is now taking definite shape, and an event is being arranged to take place from Renens, just by Lausanne, to Evian-les-Bains, the date suggested being between June 19th and 26th. The distance between the two landing places would be 14 kilometres, and in view of the fact that one is on Swiss territory and the other in France, the meeting would naturally assume an International character, the Aero Clubs of Switzerland and France sharing the responsibility of organisation. 39
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