Grand Forks daily herald., 1915-11-30
new HyDR0PLANE
BUILT N america. |::|
Gliders Travel at Rate of 50
Miles an Hour and Are
Safe to Ride In.

something new in boats of the hydro
plane variety. Imagine driving a high
powered automobile over the surface
of the water at fifty miles an hour
and you have fair idea of what rid.
ing in a glider is like. You are not
much more fascinating than motoring
and quite as safe. ::
The Yolanda II, the hrst glider
ever built in America, made ITS trial
trip down the Hudson few days
ago. It covered the twenty-five
miles from Nyack to West Ninety
first street in a few seconds more
than half an hour and it ran SO
smoothly that the eight passengers
big. limousine body. as comfortable
as. nthey had been riding IN a4private
carr over the best laid roadbed In the
United States.
Propellers Drive Against Air.
Nothing could be more simple in
construction. Take an unsuitable
lift raft, made of six cork-alled pom
toons, fit it with a front rudder gear
ed to an ordinary automobile steer
ing wheel. and at the stern mount
two big retractors, like those used on
the new battle planes of the allies,
and you have q machine that Skins
over the surface of the water at al
most any speed.
When not In motion the Yolanda
II. draws five inches Of water. but as
soon as the motors are running: she
glides over the surface with an inch
or less Of draught, Just like q quot
II came down the river, passing fast
motor boats as II they had been
standing still, the idea OF propelling
boat by a. tiny screw under water
seemed absurd. The air-driven boat.
it is predicted, will revolutionize river
navigation. No matter how shallow,
every stretch of calm water is q po-
tential highway open for the most
rapid kind Of transit. Every river
is road road that will never wear
out and never need repair.
The Yolanda II Is the idea Of a
wealthy Colombian, Senior Gonzalo
Meja, who, some years ago, deter
mined to supply quick river service
down the Magdalena river between
Bogota and the coast, about 600
miles. He came to the United States,
but the shipbuilders he saw told him
his demand for a boat making thirty
knots or better an hour and drawing
only q few inches Of water was inn
practicable. $50 -
FIRST Boat Was Unsuitable.
One day he saw a dispatch saying
that in test OF a hydroaeroplane in
France the machine had skinned
along the surface OF the water at
high speed several hundred yards be-
fore rising in the air. He at once
wrote to Louis Bleriot. the French
could not be built on the idea Of
aeroplane propulsion, but to glide on
the water. Bleriot said he thought
1t could and Meiia took the next
steamer for Paris.
Bleriot built q boat to meet Mr..
Mejia's specifications, and although
it made forty-six miles an hour it
was not commercially practical. It
was one-passenger affair and too
light. to bear packing and transpor-
tation to Colombia. He had another
boat built on stronger lines which
he took with him to South America
and tested on the Magdalena. But
the French constructors had insisted
upon submerged screw In addition
to the air propel1ers and the boat
drew too .much water and was too
small for his purpose.
Hearing that the Comte de Lam:
bert. who had seen his Bleriot speed
boat, was making experiments with
q pontoon glider and had formed q
company to manufacture the "bateaux
glisseurs de Lambert" Mr.. Mejia
went back to Paris in 1914 to see the
new boat and get modified model
for use In Colombia; but the war
broke out and the motors ordered
were taken by the French govern
ment.
Mr.. -Mejia then came to New York
and met D. Lachapelle, boat, builder
and engineer Of Nyack, who designed
and built the Yolanda III. 7'7''' &
Within q few days the boat will be
shipped to Colombia and used to car
~ the mails and government officials
from the capital to the coast. It will
make the trip easily In two days in
stead OF eleven days that the rear