The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-10

Expects Speed and Duration
Figures to Improve This
Season
Glenn H. Curtiss who is here for
the big meet, spent the winter at San
Diego, Cal, training army and navy
officers to fly and developing his hy-
dro-aeroplane is very enthusiastic
| about his work out on the coast.
THE interest in aviation this spring
| is much greater than I thought it
would be- he said to an interviewer,
land I think the activity throughout
| the country argues well for the in
| creased faith in the practicabi1ity of
! the aeroplane.
! There is a strong movement toward
practical aviation; that is, machines
| that Will carry passengers and make
| long cross country flights. There is
also considerable rivalry to produce
! the fastest machines. This is a nat
ural trend of the development of the
| aeroplane. The possibilities for speed
are almost unlimited and we shall
see some remarkable records before
! the summer is over.
LAS far as the practical Or trans
sue VI Tie dtTCUItthS 10
concerned. that will be slower of real
ization Aeroplanes will soon be used
to transport one Or more passengers
on long flights, but as to the estab-
lishment of regular aerial Transports
ton routes I don't believe we shall
see it for some time to come. The
field that is now open to the aero
plane and the one Offering the great
est practical utility is the military.
THE hydro-aeroplane opens up a
new field, and I believe, Will do much
toward popularizing aviation among
those persons who have time and mon
ey to devote to machine that holds
wonderful possibilities as a pleasure
vehicle. It means that every body
of water may be made an aviation
field, as it were. It is safer, too for
the beginner to learn to fly the n.y.
dro-a eroplane. Then there's the pleas
ure Of driving it on the surface of the
water faster than any motor boat ev-
er built.
"As for the military value Of the n.y.
dro-aeroplane, think it is very great.
It was absolutely necessary for the
navy to have q machine that could
alight alongside and be hoisted aboard
a vessel and that could be dropped
overheard to take its stast from the
water"
j. A. Cummings has returned to
his home in Boston from a course at
the Bleriot school at Pau, France. In
addition to the Bleriot works Cum
mings saws the Newport Hanriot and
Antoinette monoplanes in course of
construction as well as the two Far
man and other biplanes. Cummings
was greatly struck at the tremendous
rate at which aviation is being de-
veloped in France. The 1911 ma
chimes, he found, presented many new
features. One Of the most notice.
able characteristics Of the latest mod
els in monoplanes is the fattenins
out of the wing surface with the OBJ
ject Of gaining greater speed. In
deed, so far has this movement gone
that the racer upon which Bleriot is
Cup contest in England On July ac-
tually has a slight reverse curve, the
under surface being convex, instead
Of concave.
Great improvements are also being
made along the lines of greater
rier which LIE Martin used when he
carried eight persons is built very
substantially indeed. So stiff have
the wings been made that warping
is out of the question, the transverse
stability being maintained by means
of ailerons attached to the rear of the
two wings. The fuselage. or frame
work which bears the tail, has been
covered and is much more strongly
constructed than the Bleriots we have
seen in this country.
The work of developing the biplane
in France, too, is showing great adj
vanceS. A feature of Breguet'S new
biplane which makes for simplicity
and also cuts down the head resist |
ance is the reduction in the number
of struts. In place of the eight or
ten supports seen in the Wright and |
Curtiss and other biplanes, the Breg-
uet has but four. All throughout too, |
steel rods are used in place of guy |
' Tres, another feature which lessons |
head resistance, for a wire vibrateS |
an inch and a half, and therefore Of |
fers a resistance of an inch and a |
half to forward progress. half-inch
steel rod will vihrate considerably |
less, and will in addition be much |
stronger.
Cable dispatches report two serious
aeroplane accidents in France. While |
making an early morning flight at Is
Styles Molineaux. NJ. See collided with |
a telegraph pole erected on the top
of a house. He fell to the roof and |
was seriously injured. See was trying
a new type of aeroplane called the
"Canard." At st. Cyr. Lieut.. Loder,
one Of the French military aviators,
capsized his biplane and was seriously
in jured in the fall that followed.
Lieut. Loder was taken to a hospital
in a critical condition one of his YER
tebrae being fractured.
The first strike of aviators was be-
gun Yesterday in London. Sixteen air.
men declined to fly at Brooklands
when the management refused their
demand of % per cent of the gate
money.
r 1UC TIAJDEp x11DITEDc