The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-08-30
THE AER0PLANE
Interesting Contribution by a
 Foremost Aviator.
(By Glenn H. Curtiss.)

(From The Columbian Magazine.)
 The possibilities of the aeroplane for naval use-that is, the immedi- ate pOSSibilitieS-might easily be in- ferred from present conditions, but the ultimate possibilities of this new force of warfare lie far ahead in the realms of prophecy.
 are, then, my machine could carry about one hundred and fifty pounds of explosives. If we were flying at an altitude of eight hundred or a thousand feet, and if we had a tube from which to shoot them, we might have a good chance to hit a target as large as the deck of battleship. However, the wind conditions have a good deal to do with it; in my manoeuvres with an aeroplane, the wind conditions present very seri- ous problem. Then, there are other circumstances that make this new form of target practice quite differ is famous for marksmanship, and it will have to come into play here as we'll as in other fields.
 It does not seem to me to be abso- lutely necessary to carry passenger to drop the missiles if we had some apparatus, such as pneumatic tube, with which to shoot. Indeed, the passenger would not be able to shoot any better than the aviator. The passenger accommodations on board an aeroplane are bound to be limited, and pretty closely. I suppose a ma chine could be built large enough to carry ten passengers, but it would have to have very large place for starting and for landing, with plenty of room to run on the ground before rising.
 For use in naval warfare, or for naval use in general, the man oper- ating an aeroplane would have to problem of wind conditions, the pos abilities of landing on the deck of a ship, or in the sand of the sea- shore. As for the first of these, the winds from the sea seem to be pretty steady, but the winds from the shore are heated, and as soon as they strike the cool air from the water they cause rising and falling currents Naturally this makes mechanical flight a. much more difficult matter when the winds are off-shore. Sand is all right to start in or to alight upon; found at Atlantic City that could start on the hard strand or even upon the soft part of the beach. As for landing on the deck of a ship, that I have never tried, but I should think it would be quite possible. You could do it only when you could head into the wind, following over the ship with the deck right below you, and then drop on the after deck.
 Landing in general is, after all, one of the most important matters to consider, and the most serious prob lem of today is to find a good course to fly over. Just the day a course is open oyer which a man can fly from city to city, and be sure of hay ing a good place to alight at any moment, just on that day transpor- tation by aeroplane between distant places will be practical thing. Now it is a question of daring to take the chance of flying over broken coun- try, over trees, houses and wires. The next time you are on a train be- tween Atlantic City and New York, for example, shut your eyes few moments and then, opening them suddenly, see how few spots you will be able to pick out for suitable landing place-for you have to choose a landing place in a very short time if your motor should stop in the air. A machine would have to come down at an angle of one in five; you could not come down in a muGh shorter distance, at least you could not do so very easily, and you certainly could not extend the distance without pow CT. As for circling around, 1t is very difficult to turn while gliding to the earth.
 As for the start, the problem of ris- ing from the water with an aeroplane is one of the greatest importance Just as soon as this is accomplished a great new field is opened to avia- tion, for it immediately makes prac- tica1 flying over lakes and rivers and wherever there is a smooth body of water with even a small starting and