Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-11-18
THE FUTURE OF AVIATION

planning to make a trip from New York to Chicago in
six hours cannot but stir the Imagination, and immedi-
ately a picture arises of the new and wonderful traffic
of the future. The fact that a radio telephone device
has been used successfully by the American army. for
communication between the ground and aviators high up
in the air, adds color to the picture.
1t is less than ten years since Bleriot made his flight
across the English channel and accomplished a feat which
has hailed all the world around as significant OF still
greater things to come. But-"nothing is new under the
sum-" and French newspapers Immediately published a
full and seemingly authentic account of a channel flight
made by a Bordeaux monk nearly three centuries before!
No doubt the idea of initiating the flight Of birds re-
suited in the construction of many crude devices in for
rner ages; to think<of the ease with which a bird scared
from the ground far above the skies made man imagine
that he. with his superior intelligence, would find it
child's play to do the same thing. AS a matter of fact.
it was not child's play-it was a business of matnemar-
les and we'll calculated application q the law of gravity
as we'll as other laws of nature, and whatever inventions
may have been made in former ages, it was not until the
twentieth century that any real development could be
registered.
The beginning of aviation was largely due to Amer
leans, chiefly to the Wright Brothers, but also to a num-
Der of other daring and inventive men in various-parts of
the country. By working patiently over their models; py
experimenting aud detecting faults; by persistently trying
lagain and again-some of them losing their lives in con-
sequence-these' inventors slowly perfected the airplane
as it was when the war broke out. Altitude records were
established and endurance tests made, while much atten-
ton was made to speed. In the summer of 1914 it was
thought that the development of the airplane had pro-
crossed at a pretty fair rate.
But at that time no one had dreamed that greater
wonders were in store. The war caused an" immense
change in the manufacture of aircraft, and the improve
ments were made SO fast that it has been impossible yet
r. uyritof hoir hSSfnr1 TLo 1i%, lit. --- ao--I
oped to a strength and a. speed hardly ever imagined a
couple Of years before, and where. the sight of an air
plane was one Of the rare events to be remembered for a
lifetime, it now became a daily occurrence to see flotil-
las Of the machines lowering miles above the ground.
The record of the airplane in war will in due time
be described by competent experts, and air the layman
knows for the time being is that the part this craft have
played in warfare is of inestimable importance.
But as the mind is reverting \to the old paths of
peace it is fascinated by that immense vista of the future
which opens before it. The airplanes of all belligerent
countries will be sent back home and probabilities are
that they will not be as necessary for military use as
they have been before! Undoubtedly thousands of them
will be released for purposes of regular traffic, industry,
commerce and luxury, and in addition to them hundreds
of thousands more planes will be manufactured by the
establishments which have been taught Standardization
and production in bulk.
Within a period of very few years it is exceedingly
possible that the appearance Of airplanes will be as reg
ular and as frequent an occurrence as is the sight of an
automobile nowadays; those who harken back to the be-
ginning of the present century will remember how rare
and how tremendously expensive automobiles were. Now
they are within reach Of men with quite ordinary in.
comes. and undoubtedly a corresponding development,
will take place in the production and price OF the air.
plane. #-rg \
The speed possibilities of the airplane have not We,
been fully developed. Soon they will travel not one hun
bred and one hundred and fifty miles an hour, but twc
and three hundred, and Grand Forks business men ma,
leave their home city early in the morning, have lunch al
Chicago, dine at New York and be back in. their office.
the next day.
The present generation. has beensbrought up in q
world seethins with progress and development in all dt
rections. The immediate successors Of this generation
win see greater wonders. and one Of the most amazing d
then, all Will be the continued development Of aviation
which issstill only in its Infancy.
vas responsible torithe expulsion OF the Mennonites VII
uAO III III n a ~kl>AA GAHAsL