The Pensacola journal., 1909-11-14

Quietly at work for many months
and not even known to many OF the
officers at the post, Lieut. A L.
Rhodes of Fort Barrancas, has under
construction, and in fact, nearing COM
pietion an aeFoplane which, when COM
pleted, viii be along lines different to
those built by the Wrights, Curtiss
and other aerial navigatOrs. The ma
chine on which Lieut.. Rhodes has been
quietly though diligently working and
studying, will be completed within the
next SIX weeks and then the inventor
will make his first test.
"Yes, I am building an acceptance
guardedly admitted the army officer to
a Journal representative yesterday afs
ternoon. Il have been at work on it
for some time now and hope it viii be
a success when tested, but of course
that remains to be seen. Dr.Gossman,
who is associated with me in the
building of the machine. is now in
Washington, where he has gone for
examination for promotion, and while
there he hopes to have patented some
OF my ideas on aerOplane constrUc-
ton.
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES.
The machine was designed by Lieut..
Rhodes and in it he has incorporated
quite a number of distinctive features,
any other machine now in use or de-
signed. One of the features will be
an endeaVor to make the machine soar
and to bring this about there are four
ailerons at the end of each plane or
wing. This, II is believed, win give
it lateral stability. The idea originat-
ed with Lieut.. Rhodes after he had
studied for weeks the manner in
yhieh the buZZard scars high in the
air and apparently without any effort
whatever. In fact the lieutenant has
followed, to a great extent in building
his machine, the buzzard.
ITS CONSTRUCTION.
The frame of the machine, with
which Lieut.. Rhodes hopes to solve
the problems of aerial navigation, is
being constructed of oak and juniper
and braced with copper wire. The
wings will be 26 feet from tip to tip,
it will have 250 square feet of sup
porting surface and will weigh in the
neighborhood of $50 pounds. Every
piece of material is carefully tested
before it is placed, and the builder ts
especially careful in his selection OF
the juniper. The horsepower OF the
motor has not yet been decided upon,
as the first test will be made by tow
ing with an automobile. By this
means the motor necessary can be
which could not otherwise be done
When the test is made the machine
will be mounted upon three bicycle
wheels and the trial will be on the
new cemetery road, a long tow line
being fastened to the automobile and
attached to the machine.
A CLOSE STUDENT.
That Lieut.. Rohdes is a close stu
dent of aerial navigation is clearly
shown by his conversation. The early
attempts at flying machine constTuc-
tion, the manner of construction or
the Wrights, CuTtiss and other aero
planes, what features cause their sue
cess or failure and why a machine
constructed along the lines that he
has mapped out should prove a sue
cess.
He and DR.. Gossman hope to In
teTest the army in their new machine,
at least to the extent Of getting some
encouragement, and while in Washing
ton DR.. Gossman will go before the
department and see if this cannot be
secured.
Lieut.. Rhodes is the only officer in
either the army OF navy who has at
tempted the construction of an aero .
plane and those officers who are aware
of the inventors plans believe that it
will be a great success.
"AUNT JANE" WAS 112.
Nashville, Tenn, Nov. 13-"A1Int"