New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-10-12

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States army took it up thirtytwo officers have been
actually engaged in the science, and o. ms nuoe'
seven have been killed in accidents Naturally there
fore it is not safe enough to be used by the ayan
either as a means of transportation or as q toy
Although Lieutenant Benjamin D. Foa.oiS made al
Fort Myer the first cross country flight ever maze
ANYBODY in any country, and although Lieutenant
Scott went to France and wreSed two prizes from all
contestants there in throwing bombs from IN aerope
at targets on the ground the nferority OF Americans
military aviation is everywhere painfully apparent
The death rate from aviation in France Is seven per
cent of those engaged in it; in German The hgureS
show but nine per cent; but IN this country 'he lS'
jumps TO twenty per cent -,
Students of the subject in Washington say tnS
an inventor, sane crazy, sent Us a suggestion t@
would rcvolutonize aviation, and II we really though
the idea good the best could DO would be 70 pass
along to a private enterprise and ask the conpah!
try it out But we could contract beforehand to o
the finished machine Consequently. II It did not woA
would be thrown back on the hands Of the manua'
turers The natural result is that private enterprise
cannot be stimulated in that way, and all the plans
receive, the good and the bad, remain IN nigeonnoTs
1t is the SmithSonianS hope that It can remedy HH
situation
IN this as in all other big things there an element
humor. Suggestions of every conceivable deScrpuoH
regarding the improvement the stabizatlon' ana 'l
safety of aeroplaneS flow continually into the olceS
the Departments of the Navy and War.
Not long ago a retired army officer elected hiiSel
the grand Pooh Bah of how to fly Taking OHs'
lingering glance at all aeroplanes 50 far manufacturer
he concluded that they Sordd, sinister Things Ca
culated to kill anybody who got into them often enough
Fixing an official of the War Department with o"S
and lanly finger, he spoke thus:
Take the albatroSs with wings frequently fourteen
feet from tip to tip although hardly foot wide Iha'
bird sails for hours with hardly any perceptioe wing
movement; while the small wings OF the wasp Vio''s
at the rate of one hundred and ten movements SeVoHl
And the house v, my dear sir! Its wings vlbrate tne
hundred and thirty times second. Again eAPI ,
that. while no definite relation exists between the Wes
Of hving animal and the size of its flying surfaces
law that the larger the flying animal the smaller
comparison are its flying surfaces. Such Ia" Is 8"
couragng 1t cheers up. 1t proves that the H!'s
surfaces of large heavy powerful aeropane ma!
made comparatively small and compact and strong
we solve the secret of making the wings attack Tue an
All this sounded more technical than true anu Wv
War Department passed it up. But the inventor ""i
more successful with the chairman OF a congreSS'o'
committee and, backed by request from tnaI s'' "
man, he secured an order from the Secretary Oh w."
directing signal officer to take look at the aeroPi.
that the inventor said was already built The time va
set Several signal corps officers taken to S'uu
in the rear of one of the most fashionable residences
WASHINGTON. They encountered two tall watcnii ~,
who had instructions to let one approach the O
ing unless accompanied by their employer Ihey ny
left the place they said until relieved by S'ii'"'
guard. ,,.,was
Interest began to rise The inside of the building Wa