The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-05-06
OvINCTON
LEARNED To
FLY AT PAU
Aviator Tells How He Made
Flights in France
(By Earle L. Ovington, Licensed Av-
iator Aero Club of America and
Aero Club de France)

Strange as it may seem I learned
to fly in bed. From a psychological
stand point flying is more difficult
than most people seem to realize. One
false move by an aviator in high
speed racing monoplane like mine
and sure death is the result. 1t was
therefore very necessary for me to
understand the movement of the con-
troll levers before I attempted to fly.
Seated in my Bleriot monoplane
have vertical control rod be-
tween my knees, there being a small
wheel on the top of this rod. My
feet rest upon q cross bar and by
pushing this bar with the left foot
the aeroplane is turned to the left,
and the same for q right turn using
the other foot. When 1 wish to go
up I pull the wheel on the verticai
control rod towards me and when 1
wish to descend push it away from
me. So far flying is very simple
but now comes the difficult part of
the operation.
I'm spite of the fact that a good
many aviators have given the impress
sion that flying is an easy and safe
pastime, I wish to say most emphat-
ically, that it is neither safe nor is it
easy. At Bleriot's school at Pau, in
the south of France, Leblanc who is
Bleriot's right hand man and who
represented France in the last Cor
don Bennett Cup race at Belmont
Park, tod me of the large number of
students that graduate. there is hard
ly two per cent. who are born flyers,
and not over ten per cent. that can
really fly machine with any degree
of safety and assurance. / do not
wish to say anything that will retard
the development of the aeroplane, but
for the good of the sport and the
safety of future aviators / wish to
say that in my opinion flying is to-
day an acrobatic accomplishment
since it is necessary to balance the
aeroplane on the invisible air cur
rents with as great an accuracy as
tightrope walker balances on his very
unsta BILE support l. have already
explained what must be done to move
the machine to the left or the right
and to go up or down. I will now
explain the more difficult process OF
keeping the machine upright, that is
on an even keel.
Suppose L am flying and puff of
wind strikes my right wing. The
effect of course, is to tip my machine
to the left and in the aeroplanes of
to-day the machines are not self
Fighting, that is it requires a move
ment of the, controls to bring the
machine back to the horizontal posi-
ton. This is accomplished by what
- Cdlleu wing WdIplHS on the Ble-
riot and other mOnOplanes and by
movement of what is called the ailer-
ons on the Curtis machine and most
biplanes. If the machine tips say to
the left movement of the control
wheel above mentioned to the right
warps or pulls down the left wing.
On account of this warping effect
more wind acts on the left wing
than on the right wing with the re-
suit that the upward pressure on the
left wing is greater which of course
results in making that wing rise and
re- establishing the normal position of
the aeroplane. 1t is upon this move
ment that the life of the aviator de-
ponds, and it can be readily under
stood that If the wings are warped
for even the fraction of a second in
the wrong direction the aviator and
machine would be upside down be-
fore anything could be done to pre-
vent.
The born aviator warps his wings
involuntarily for every little air cur
rent exactly as you have seen a sea-
gull or other steering bird move his
wings to take advantage of every
change of wind pressure. 1 said at
the head of this article that I learn
ed to fly in bed and by that I mean
that this involuntary movement which
warps the wings and upon which so
much depends was absolutely auto
IIldllC Will me DeIOr6 i ever got into
an aeroplane. Before 1 ever sat in
a machine I understood the theory of
aerodynamlc flight. For fifteen min
utes each morning and night / sat up
in bed with my feet on an imagin-
airy steering crossbar and my hands
on a pillow placed vertically between
my knees to initiate the control of
an aeroplane. / would then imagine
my mechanic starting my machine
and go through the whole process of
rising from the ground, making the
corresponding movements of my i'm
aginary control. In this manner I
took a large number of very enjoy
able flights, but if I had been in
real aeroplane / would not be here at
the present flying in Bridgeport for
it was sometime before I was able to
make a sustained imaginary flight
without killing myself several
times.
THE result of what at first sight
might seem a foolish practice was
evident when l entered the BIeriot
school at Pau. The first time l got
into machine "cut grass that is
endeavored to simply make a straight
line across the field without rising
from the ground. Finding no diff
Guilty in doing this at my second les
son I rose to height of 100 feet, and
at my third lesson flew for over three
miles at a height of over three hum
dred feet and have flown without diff
fculty since. My fellow students at
first laughed at me when I told them
of my imaginary flights, but took a