Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-23
Finds Turning Difficult, But
Says Any One Will
Fly Within the Next
Few Months.

man would unconsciousiy move his body
forward, which would lower the head OF
the machine, or lean to one side which
would give a tip that must be compen-
sated. or the motor would give less force.
slowing the attack upon the air. And
so on. Each such accident would cause
Il downward dip.
He would lift the machines head in
stantly, and the rise would follow the
dip; and, day by day. the upward curve
would more and more begin to equal the
down curve, until on saturday. OCTOBER
26, 1907 in presence of the off1clal time
keepers of the Aero Club de France. he
flew in a straight line $50 yards and then
403 yards. This latter was the straight
across limit of the Issy naneuver grounds
making allowance for the necessary
space to get up speed upon the ground
I'll try 1t diagonally," called Farman.
and. starting from one corner, new a
straight $50 yards to the far corner at
the other side-and could have kept on.
easily. kilometer. two. three-wno
knows? A hundred witnesses affirm It,
There are photographs, snap-shotted as
he came down. They show that he
came down by a willful downward ma
neuver of his vertical rudder::
II have got the trick Of straight
ahead flying he said that night to his
admirers at the Palais de rAutomobile.
Now I'll attack turning"'
At this writing he has turned again
and again from the straight line by
quarter of a circle. Several times he
has come down and slightly damaged
the machine, and there are scientists on
paper mostly from the Polytechnique,
who explain why turning with one screw
propeller will be quite impossible.
Practice or Theory.
Do you know what they call the gyro-
scope? 1t is a scientific toy-a round top
that. by its rapid revolutions, gets pecul-
to IN no of a pancil
it maintains itself straight. Give 1t a
push over and it comes back. To change
it's plane of rotation requires a compare
tive effort.
Now, they say, the single screw-propel-
Ter of the Farman aeroplane. revolving at
1900 turns. becomes a gigantic gyroscope.
Going straight ahead is all right. But
when Farman tries to turn it opposes that
pig-headed resistance. compromising Ion
gitudinal equilibrium. That is why the
apparatus jumps suddenly into the air
when he tries to turn to the highland
dives when he attempts to turn to the
left.
II know nothing about horoscopes"
says Henry Farman, land I can already
turn a quarter circle"
Have two propellers, revolving In oppo-
site directions, and the difficulty will be
obviated." says the Polytechnique school.
Lets wait and see," says Farman.
We will see you go skidding" says
your horizontal rudder you will turn
your quarter circle all right, but during
the next moment the acquired speed will!
oppose itself to your change of direction
and you will skid like an automobile that
has turned too short on a slippery road.
Slippery roads are nothing in compari-
son with the slippery air!
I'VE see but one possible way out of
the difficulty conclude the mathemati-
clans. You will have suddenly to tilt
the whole apparatus downward on the
inside curve-like a bicycle racer round
ing a tilted track. Birds do 1t when
they want to turn. They do not depend
on their tails for horizontal rudders. They
slant their whole bodies inward-out-
stretched wings and ALL
That's just what I'm learning to do
at present. answers Henry Farman.
STERLING HELLO.