The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1906-11-20
AERIAL FLIGHT IS ASSURED.
Solution Of Flying Machine Prob
lem IS at Hand.
Unprecedented Developments Expect
cd ii the Coming Year Extinction
Of AuEonaobiiing May Results

fsctsd navigabie flying machine is
now regarded By experts here as one.
Of the probabilities Of the immediate
future. and every inducement is being
held out TO inventors to produce a
reliable machine
The air for the last few days has
been meIaphorically humming with
as-oplanes, motoe kites and other
heavier than air flying machines
Santcs-Dumont' partially successful
experiments in Paris and the Wright
brothers apparently far greater sue
cesses in America, to which, by the
way, little attention was paid here
until the enthusiastic admiration OF
the Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls wac
eabled over, have given a strong fillip
TO the interest ia air travel and led
to the publication Of numerous inter.
views with aeruaauts and engineers.
There is a consensus that the year
1907 viii see unprecedented develop
ments and that ere long automobiles
will be discarded as a slow and old.
fashioned pastinle for the more novel
End more exciting tours Of the air.
The chief obstacle to the develop.
ment Of air travel for the moment
seems to be the lack OF a motor which
Is equally light and powerful. San.
tos-Dumont is convinced that 1907
will find motor makers paying atten-
ton to this problem and that the DIFF
ieulty will soon he solved. This, ac-
co-ding to the cable reports, seems
to be the main trouble with the
Wrights, but their achievements are
held to be Of far greater Importance
Than Dumont
ST. Hiram Maxim, VINO has for
long time been an advocate OF the
heavier than air machine as opposed
to the balloon type, is enthusiastic
over the Ohio experiments and their
success. He says they are just as
much greater than Dumont's as thir-
ty-fve minutes is greater than TWEEN
ty-one seconds. which, ne under
stands, represent the durations of the
respective flights. He admits that
Santos-DumonI has led the way in
Europe, but is not greatly impressed
with his achievements as compared
with that of the Wrights. He says
Dumont has adhered too long to the
dirigible balloon ideas, and is con-
sinced that these will soon become
obsolete.
Major Baden-Fowell an exper-
fenced aeronaut, who has had made
valuable experiments with balancing
aeroplanes, agrees with Sir Hiram
that there is nothing very wonderful
in the achievements of Santos-Du-
mont as compared with that of the
Wright brothers, as Dumont's ma
chine seems to be very liable to turn
over and always comes to the ground
with a damaging thump. What all
the experimenters are now crying out
for is more money TO hasten the sue
cess of the work Santos-Dumont
complains of the terrible expense Of
his efforts which he has borne him.
self Sir Hiram Maxim says that al
ready he has spent S150,000. He
urges that the British Government
should grant an appropriation for
The experiments. as the United
States, France, Germany and other
countries have already done. Eng
land, he says, has plenty of men ca
pable of utilizing the money to the
BEST advantage and they would prob
ably be able to outdistance other ex-
perimenters. There is no sign as
yet of the Government complying
with his suggestion, but private en-
terprise is busy, and the public is al
ready looking skyward in anticipa-
ton Of satisfactory experiments.
Colonel Fullerton, of the Royal
Engineers, featuring on November is,
discussed the recent progress in
aerial navigation and its relation to
the next war He said he did not
doubt that flying machines would
play great part in the next great
conflict They could operate against
each other. against land forces and
against warships
There would be light class of
machines. weighing anything from
10000 to $4,000 pounds, with a
crew of three or four men, which
would have q speed of from forty to
eighty miles an hour. The impor-
tant features of their utility would
be an abundance of ammunition and
first-rate gunnery. Their work
would be to destroy the enemy's air.
ships. Then there would be heav-
Ter class with heavy armament for
firing downward at warships, forts
and large bodies of troops. Their
weapons would be similar to torpedo
tubes Flying machines of all kinds
would be particularly effective
against cavalry, as it would be all
most impossible to keep horses
steady under fire from above
Doubtless, the lecturer said, these
war machines would have the most
difficult task. Many would be lost
because all sorts Of guns for firing
upward from the ground would be
invented, and although the flying
machines would be difficult to hit
they would be extremely vulnerable
Countries using these machines
must keep a large stock of them
ready for service at moments no-
tice. He recommended that the
British Government appoint a COM
mission to Investigate the whole sub
ject.