South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-11-24
The Enormous
Possibilities of
the AeropLdne
BY Garrett r. Serviss.

and the running OF aerial trains for
passengers and goods at a speed ap-
preaching 200 miles an hour. and
all 10 be accomplished shortly after
the termination Of the war. Many
foresighted persons have for some
time been looking forward conf
IDENTIFY 10 just such a contamination
Of the enormous progress that this
originally American invention has
exhibited under the stress of war,
within the past three years
Everybody knows that the aero
plane has come 10 stay and that
We have seen as yet hardly more
than a beginning Of its develop
ment., The paths of the air are
opened, but its great highways are
TO come. The best of the aero
planes OF today are, 10 those of
the not far-Off future. like the car
avals of Columbus 10 modern ocean
liners. Yet 10 attain the point al
ready reached the progress has been
so wildly rapid that we are not apt
to appreciate the wonder OF H.
Here is a fact that may serve as
"a hAAAA VI lIAAECNOlE U1 " nANn ~
measure the amazing distance that
we have traversed.
scientific Toys" said Lord Kelvin.
Not long before his death. which
occurred in 1907. Lord Kelvin. who
for many years had stood at the
very foremost of English science.
paid a visit 10 this country just at
the time when the news of the
secret flights Of the Wright broth
ers was beginning 10 leak out.
When I spoke 10 him of what those
inventors were doing and of the
growing hope that mechanical
flight would soon be an accom-
plished. practical fact. he shook
his head and declared that these
things could never be anything
more than interesting scientific toys.
incapable of playing any part in the
practical affairs of the world. Yet
at that very time. or Immediately
afterward. one of the Wrights made
flight of more than "a miles.
A year after Lord Kelvin's death.
Orville Wright began TO carry pas
sengers. and Wilbur Wright flew
56 miles, remaining an hour and a
half in the air. and Lord Kelvin
had been but two years in his grave
when Bleriot electrified the world
by flying across the English chan
mel as nonchalantly as a butterfly
flutters over a pond.
OF course, every reader will un-
derstand that here there is no chal-
lenge TO the soundness of Lord
KeIvin's science or TO the accuracy
Of his judgment on subjects that he
had specially studied: but the very
solidity of his fame emphasizes the
marvellous quality of what was ac-
complished so swiftly in direct
opposition to his settled opinion
concerning the limits beyond which
human achievement could not go.
Wonderful Progress i'm Dozen Years.
Within only about a dozen years
since the highest scientific author
ity pronounced the aeroplane TO be
only a toy it has established itself
as one of the mightiest weapons
with which warning nations contend
for victory and has made its i'm
mense practical usefulness so evil
dent 10 everybody that thousands
are longing for the end of the war,
if for no other reason than TO see
what peace can do in turning
this terrible toy into an instru-
ment of human advancement. TO
which the entire history of civiliza-
ton can present few rivals.
There are many possible ways in
which the aeroplane can he inn
proved. Today it is "A soaring, cir
cling eagle; but it is not as the
eagle when he flaps his wings. VIII
there ever be a wing flappin- aero
plane? If there could I've many ad-
yantages would apparently be gain
ed sudden turns i'm the air. direct
motion toward an object, taking
flight and alighting would all he
rendered easier through more
flexible control of the wings Mere
~ the ability To tip and turn them
Independently of one another and
of the igid frame of the machine
would make the aeroplane much
more mana seable. IL would cease
TO be an aeroplane and become d
true mechanical bird.
Increase of size and of engine
power are not all that are needed.
There are secrets OF construction
i'm the birds wings not yet COM
pletely analYzed The feathers evil
IDENTITY count for much; they are
not simple cover or AN adorn-
ment. but they have an important
function, a necessary part 10 play
in the act Of flying.
When an aerOplane is seen in
high flight its likeness to bird,
or TO a gigantic dragon-fly. is tart
lingly realistic, but when il rests on
the ground the crudeness Of its
construction becomes slaringly APP
parent Cannot and viii not the
things that il lacks be supplied .
Surely they can and they will.
No Limit TO What Next Decade May
DO.
The nearest perfect aeroplane of
today will seem. To those who look
upon its successor of the next de-
cade, like the form and machinery
OF Fulton's first steamboat cOmpar-
ed with those of the swiftest and
most luxurious product of modern
shipyards. What would have seem
ed even 10 him a dream Of unat-
tainable perfection has now become
a commonplace Fact