Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-19
NO-P0WER FLIGHTS
Army Officers Experimenting
Without Motors.
UP-DRAFT Is RELIED ON
Models of Birds Used in Interest
ing Tests.
IDEA WAS HELD BY LANGLEY
Capt. lie Bris Rose 300 Feet With
out Propulsion-Other
Achievements.
jP-DRAFT IS RELIED ON
IDEA WAS HELD BY LANGLEY

Aerial flight without motive power, or
with much lower power than has ever
been attempted. is the aim of army
officer at post not far from Washing
ton, who has been experimenting with
model aeroplanes for several years.
He asked that his name and exact loca-
ton should not he mentioned, simply to
avoid notoriety and curiosity seekers.
But lie said there was no particular Sc
cret about his work and that, so far, it
has been promising.
He began several years ago construct
ing bird models to md out, as near as
possible. the reaction of air currents from
the different forms of bodies and wing
surfaces. These small models were flown
as kites without motive power and were
dropped from heights as gliding ma
chimes. Some of the best results were
obtained with a model of a sea gull.
Results Are Encouraging.
My results with small models he said
in this connection, were SO encouraging
that l am of opinion that, by skillful con-
struction, the efficiency and speed control
of power driven aerOplane can be great
ly increased by a closer approximation to
the bird form. The power can be greatly
reduced. There is good chance that, in
breezes of over fifteen miles an hour, the
power can be cut out entirely and rea-
sonably fast flight continued"
This. it will be recOllected, was the
opinion of the late Prof Langley, al
though he never attempted any definite
construction in this line. The idea was
shared by Octave Chanute, father of Gid
ing flight in America.
Chanute made many careful expert
ments on wind currents and proved that
there ALWAYS inward and. there
fore, sustaining trend even in apparently
still air. He thinks that soaring flight is
within the limits of possibility.
Prof Langley in his book The Internal
Work of the Wind" said that while it
might never be possible to make an aero
plane exclusively for soaring flight, there
was reason to believe that machine
could be built that would need only a low
power and would have to use this only
part of the time to carry it through areas
of comparative calm where the energy of
the wind itself could not be utilized.
Handicapped by Lack of Time.
The builder of the bird models says he
has not been able to do much in the
last three years. largely owing to lack
of time, but that during the past winter.
with only the aid of two unskilled soldiers,
he constructed a thirty-foot gull model
that he wants to try this summer.
He says that he would like to see
healthy controversy started as to what
bird forms really are and why the vari-
atoms make so largely for variations IN
efficiency. At the same time he says that
experiments have led him to believe that
the mathematical relations are much
simpler than most people think.
The model that is to be experimental
with this summer has no motors in it,
The builder wants to install a low-power
motor in the next machine and make
some attempts at slow flight
He says also that he thinks one useful
stimulus to inventors would be for some
Of the prizes being offered to be given
for the first machine that would fly
without any power except the energy OF
the wind itself.
Achievements of lie Bris.
Those who are interested in the de-
velopment of the subject will recollect
that experiments in soaring flight were
made by Capt. LIE Bris in France as early
as 1850. The captain was a seafaring
man Of good general education. but of no
scientific attainments.
He was interested in the bird model
idea AS there were no lightweight
motors at that time he constructed an
aeroplane on the lines of an albatross.
This model had wings that did not flap.
but that changed their angle of incidence
with the air, in response to pair Of
levers, and thus maintained the lateral
balance of the machine. 1t was the
earliest record of an approximation to
the warping-wing idea of the Wright
brothers.
Capt. LIE Bris made several attempts at
soaring flight. the first being the most
successful He is reported to have reach
ed a height of 800 feet and glided 600 feet
| before coming down.
For some unknown reason he never
repeated the form of launching that was
so successful with his first machine. He
continued his experiments at intervals
| for years and met with several accidents.
| Finally his funds were exhausted. He
| quit discouraged. However, he seems to
| have had the germ of the idea that is
now being tried out along modern lines.