Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-16
WANTS BRITAIN walked UP
Flying Machines, He Thinks, Will
Render Navies Useless.
VIEWS OF SIR HIRAM MAXIM
United Service Institute in London
Talks Over the Prospect Of
Practical Flight.

Cable dispatches indicate that England
Is taking serious interest in the re-
ported success of Santos Dumont with his
aeroplane flying machine.
Though the English have been SLOW as
they were in the case of automobilism, to
take the same interest in aerial naviga-
ton as other European nations, the en-
thusiasm which they are now displaying
was manifested by large and interested
audience which assembled yesterday at
| the Royal United Service Institution to
listen to lecture on Recent Progress
in Aerial Navigation" by Col ]. D. Full
lerton of the Royal Engineers.
Maj. B. F. s. Baden-Powell occupied the
chair.
In the course Of the lecture Col. Fuller
ton said great progress had recently been
made toward solving the problem of
aerial navigation. and it behooved Eng
lishmen to keep abreast of the times
other countries were giving particular
attention to the subject, and England
must do the same The soaring" balloon
was never likely to be of any practical
use and the driving" balloon was
question of the future.
Fuel to supply this driving force pre-
sented difficulty which no inventor so
FAR had overcome successfully. AT pres
ent oil appeared best for aeronautical
and could be easily handled. The motor
was machine devised to utilize the
power of the fuel to the best advantage.
In conclusion the lecturer said: There
is no doubt whatever that aerial ships will
play an important part in future wars. 1t
is consequently most desirable that this
country should at once take steps to insure
a suitable aerial force being ready when
the time for the struggle arrives and l
suggest that royal commission be APP
pointed to report, after careful inquiry as
to whether there is a reasonable
chance of solving the problem of flight
Sir Hiram Maxim.
Sir Hiram Maxim, who opened the dis
cussion, said I'm my experiments 1 have
found the lifting power of the aeroplane at
high speed to be much greater than has
ever been suspected. My own experience
tells me there cannot be any question of
the future of the flying machine. 1t is COM
ing. whether we like 1t not.
Other nations are spending large sums
of money in making experiments and
must do the same, otherwise we will be left
out in the cold. Our knowledge can only
come from practical experiment In some
of my tests 1 have found the power of the
wind on the machine to be many times
greater than had been supposed"
Col. Baylis said it had always occurred
to him that the marvellous lifting power of
the bird should make it our model.
Colonel Capper, R. E., who is head of
the balloon works at Aldershot Joined in
the discussion by remarking: There is
one remarkable thing | have discovered
through ballooning. This is, you can see
the channels In river clearly when
you are in the air as when in a small boat.
For marine surveying l think something
in the way of a flying machine or dirigible
balloon would be exceedingly useful"
Major Baden-Powell remarked that every
nation was now studying ballooning The
French had long start in the attention
they had paid to the subject, but the Ger
mans were not far behind them with Count
Zeppelin. In fact, so far advanced were
both these nations with these machines
that he thought they might consider them
a new instrument of war with which
they would have to reckon in the future.
AS regarded M. Santos-Dumonts latest
flying machine, he did not think it was
anything wonderful. In his opinion it had
not attained the same success as the ma
chine invented by the Wright brothers.
Bamboo Framework.
With regard to the material most suit
able for flying machines, Major Baden
Powell said that a couple of years ago he
made experiments In this direction and got
better results by using bamboo than steel
tubing.
A machine with bamboo frame work
stood tests better than the one in which
he used steel. 1t was actually stronger
for steel buckled under severe pressure
but bamboo simply split. and even then
retained a good deal of it's rigidity and
strength.
He emphasized the great Importance Of