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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0709.PDF
SEPTEMBER 3, 1910. out of line. The breaking of the tail-frame under wind pressure would, therefore, be impossible in the American-built machine, and although the French construction was weaker, it is extremely improbable that the tail on Mr, Rolls' machine collapsed under wind pressure. Mr. Rolls' Accident. The propellers probably fouled the frame of the tail and cut through the lower members, but how the frame approached suffi ciently to take up the three inches clearance, whether by bending or disconnecting, will never be known. Although it is certain that the tail frame broke in the air, it is by no means certain that this was the cause of the main accident. The wind was blowing towards the grand stand, and would be rising in a wave over it, and in commencing the dive towards the target the machine would be running down at an angle in a rising current. Most of the weight of the machine is between the main planes, and when the machine entered the lower strata of air this would be travelling horizontally, and would catch the elevating front planes on their upper side, thus tending to still further increase the downward angle of travel, irrespective of the angle at which they might then be set. The inertia of the weight would, however, maintain the forward direction of the heaviest part, and assist the completion of the vertical move ment. Rolls attempted a daring manoeuvre, just as a hundred times previously he ihad dared some feat in motoring or ballooning, but on this occasion the risk he took prevailed. The fact that the Wright Brothers neither designed nor authorised the tail fitted to Mr. Rolls' machine does not therefore appear to be of much im portance, because, no matter what machine had been flown and brought into that diving position in the wind wave before that grand stand, the result must have been the same. Pupils Learning to Fly. The flying ground used by the Wright Brothers is situated about eight miles west of the city of Dayton, at a small station called " Simms " on an electric car line between Dayton and Springfield. The cars, which are as large as Pullmans, leave the main street in Dayton on the ordinary city tram rails every half-hour, and in twenty minutes drop their crowd of aviators and spectators on the main road which runs alongside the rough weed-grown field. Every morning at breakfast the telephone used to ring, and the same answer suited all enquirers, " Well, you are as likely to see a flight to-day as any other day. The Wright Brothers don't know them selves whether there will be any flying," and this explanation was literally true. They never knew, any more than other inventors, what stage of the designing, testing, or experimenting they would reach that day. After the first day's visits to the factory and the workshop I generally remained at home, until Wilbur or Orville came running in to say they were going out to Simms on the next car. If the weather was fine, then we had to fight our way on to the car, Orville generally riding on the step because of the crowd going out to see the "airship proposition." Why will the man in the street muddle the airship with the aeroplane? He does not muddle a life-belt which enables him to float in the water with a pair of skates for gliding on the surface ; but perhaps he did make this mistake when skates were first invented. On arriving at Simms we cross a plank bridge over a ditch, pass through a little wicket gate and enter the back of the shed where two machines are standing. One is on skids and the other has auxiliary pairs of wheels attached to the skids. Mr. Coffyn is in charge of the school, and two other pupils, Messrs. Brookins and Johnstone, are tinkering with the machines preparatory to making trial flights. Both machines have adjustable tail planes attached, and one has had the two front planes removed and the "blinkers" have been nailed temporarily to the front framing. This frontless machine is the first to be taken out, and we pull it out on to the smoothest part of that rough ground, where weeds as stiff and high as young willows cover most of the land. Then the engine is started up, and before I know what is about to happen there is Orville riding up in the air on the machine without its bridle. "They'll be going up soon on the engine alone with half a propeller," remarks the man who hands back my cap across the fence where it has been blown by the wind from the propellers. After a short three minutes' flight Orville is down again to make some adjustments, and then in another seven minutes is up for a second trial. They have a simple home made range-finder at Simms composed of a wooden PHI yard stick and a little metal slide on it having two pairs of prongs projecting from it at 1 in. and $ in. apart respectively. You point the stick and sight it at the machine as it flies ove»head, and run the slide out until the prongs enclose the wings exactly. Knowing the wings to be about 40 ft. wide, and assuming the 1 in. prongs fit at 10 ins. distance down the stick, the height of the machine is approximately 400 ft. One of the first flights that I saw measured by Wilbur in this way gave Orville a height of 1,200 ft. More Flights and "Stunts." My second visit to Simms was a pupils' day, commencing with Brookins going up and doing " stunts " for my benefit. He turned many circles in less than ten seconds each, and the banking angle to which the machine was brought in these quick turns was 45 at the least. On expressing surprise at these quick evolutions, I am told that he has turned a complete circle in less than seven seconds, but has been instructed not to do so quick a turn again before the strains brought on to the machine, and which exceed twice the ordinary flying strain, have been accurately figured out. This Brookins is a promising kind of pupil, and holds the world's record for height, having flown under official observation 6,175 ft-* This was done early in July at Atlantic City when he won the ^1,000 prize for beating all officially certified high flights. Brookins seemed too daring, and I told him that I for one would nor care to experience the exhilaration of a flying trip with him. A new pupil is to be taken up for the first time, and Orville decides to take him instead of leaving him to Brookins. " I guess he was afraid I'd scare him too much for a first trip," says Brookins as they fly overhead, the novice squeezing the sap out of the upright, to use the parlance of the expert flyers of two months standing. It is well to notice here that Brookins, who had never seen a flying machine three or four months ago, has found no difficulty in mastering the "complicated Wright flyer "and capturing a world's record on it. Before I left ten days later, the novice, Parmalee, was using both levers, and told his instructor that he thought he had nearly got the hang of that "double-jointed lever." After this lesson Johnstone was sent up for a practice flight of an hour, sufficient petrol being put into the tank to cover the hour, but insufficient to tempt him to make a record for endurance. At the end of an hour and thirty- four minutes he came down with the petrol finished. The day terminated by Coffyn making two 20 minute flights, the second being terminated by signal, so that we might all catch the next tram home. This time I stood on the step and Wilbur and Orville got jammed somewhere in the vestibule. Brookins and Johnstone hung on to the buffer and cowcatcher outside, whilst the spectators sat it out comfortably on the seats. And so the days flew by. Crammed full of interest from the time of eating the cantaloupes in the morning, to the sitting out on the verandah after dinner at night, when the brothers talked horse- * Drexel at Lanark has since then bettered this. Photo by Godshall. WITH THE WRIGHT BROS.—Play between flying times. A trio of pupils—Messrs. Brookins (top), Coffyn (centre), and Johnstone. Note in the background the patient crowd, with its cars and vehicles, waiting behind the fence for the sight of a flight. 707 c
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