FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1172.PDF
OCTOBER 17, 1918, aircraft that the United States must have in order to crush the Prussian autocracy. " The country needs trained men NOW for the construc- tion of aircraft, and now is the time to prepare yourself for this industry. The construction of aircraft has become and will continue to be one of the great industries of the world. " The Y.M.C.A. School of Airplane Construction trains men and women in the construction and repair of airplanes, and is conducted by the Central Branch of the Philadelphia Y.M.C.A., with the active co-operation and support of those in authority at the Naval Aircraft Factory and of the Aero Club of Pennsylvania. Two courses are offered, one for factory and the other for field mechanics. " The Factory mechanics'course consists of demonstration and practical work in the construction of airplane parts and their assembling. " The Field mechanics' course gives instruction in the repair and upkeep of the airplane and its power plant, consisting almost entirely of actual work on airplane con- struction and repair, with only enough theoretical instruc- tion to enable the student to obtain a clear understanding of the work he is doing as it is related to the science of aero- nautics .The Aero Club has'agreed to open its meetings to the students of our school, and offers every assistance in its power to those who wish to continue the study of aeronautics beyond the point it is possible to reach in either of the courses'' FUELING opulent the other day we strolled into Woolworths, and, evading the blandishments of the damsel who triedto sell us a dream book and a pair of rubber heels, we picked up a volume, dated 1903, from the pen of Mr. H. G.Wells. The very first story of the series dealt with flying. Theauthor had predicted 1907 for the conquest of the air, and his scrubby, illiterate, but terribly earnest little inventor had gonerather an interesting way. to work : " He perceived the way in which the contrasted andhitherto incompatible merits of balloons and heavy flying machines might be combined in one apparatus, which shouldbe at choice heavier or lighter than air. He took hints from the contractile bladders of fish and the pneumatic cavities ofbirds. He devised an arrangement of contractile and absolutely closed balloons which when expanded could lift theactual flying apparatus with ease, and when xetracted by the complicated " musculature" he wove about them, werewithdrawn almost completely into the frame ; and he built the large framework which these balloons sustained of hollow,rigid tubes, the air in which, by an ingenious contrivance, was automatically pumped out as the apparatus fell, and •whichthen remained exhausted as long as the aeronaut desired. There were no wings or propellers to his machine, such asthere had been to all previous aeroplanes, and the only engine required was the compact and powerful little appliance neededto contract the balloons. He perceived that such an apparatus as he had devised might rise with frame exhausted and balloonsexpanded to a considerable height, might then contract its
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
