The Topeka state journal., 1922-04-19
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
wREDERIo ,. HAsKRS. Director,
washington. ID. c.
FoRERUNNER OF THE FLIvvER

one of them in a single leap-and
the exploits of aircraft during the late
war. it might be supposed that the
conquest OF the air has been accom-
plished, and that aviators are bird
men" in fact
But the thing toward which stu
dents of flying are turning their at
tention now is the possibility Of sus-
tanned flight without power-the kind
of flight possible for an albatross, an
eagle, or a sea gull. These birds and
many others are capable of keeping
themselves in the air, and of actually
climbing higher and higher, without
any apparent effort other than hold
ing their wings extended.
The pursuit of this development is
arousing more interest abroad than it
is in America. the German flyers be-
ing particularly active IN working to-
ward accomplishing this end. 1t is
now little more than nineteen years
since the first controlled flight in a
full, the machine being piloted by the
American pioneer flyer, Wilbur
Wright, at Kitty Hawk. North Caro-
lima In the years between. heavier
than air machines have been perfected
in many details, and huge planes able
to carry bombs weighing thousands
Of pounds and capable of carrying
many persons have been constructed
and their worthiness proved. But de-
velopment of the so-called glider
with our late enemy, Germany.
Study of big soaring birds, notably
the albatross, has led to the accom-
plishment of remarkable results. al
tho it cannot be said that the power
less airplane is perfected as yet by any
means 1t is a fact that certain of the
birds can remain for hours in the air
without an apparent expenditure of
energy in the way of flapping their
wings. GullS following a ship seem to
hang stationary behind it, travelling
forward at the limited speed of the
vessel The larger seabirds, it is
claimed, have been observed for as
long as daylight lasts, keeping up in
the air and cruising here and there
without once moving the wings in the
motion commonly known as Tapping.
Soaring Birds as Models.
In the studies of the birds as a
model for "gliders,' it was noted that
the birds best capable of this sustained
flight without effort have wings ex-
tending a considerable distance out
from the sides of the bird, and tending
to be narrow rather than broad wings
This idea has been followed in max
ing gliders.
BY glider is not meant a machine
that will merely coast down the wind,
gathering speed from loss of altitude
Such machine would be useful only
If started from the top of a hill. with
a landing place somewhere on the
plain below. This sort of thing would
be and is relatively easy of accom-
plishment. Tho ambitious goal of the
experimenters in this line is a machine
without power which will rise of it's
own volition, utilizing air currents for
the purpose, and fly about here and
there without artificial means of pro-
pulsion, such as the propeller used by
all airplanes.
The best record thus far obtained
in this respect is credited to a German
This man, according to accredited rec-
ords. made his machine rise from
standstill without assistance. and
eventually gained an altitude of about
200 feet above the starting point,
keeping his machine in the air for
H minutes When he did land, it
was at point only 35 Or 40 feet below
his starting point. and that after be-
ing in the afr for more than a third
OF an hour.
Too much should not be expected
from the perfection OF the glider ia
the way of actual long flights without
any power whatsoever. Harth re-
quired a wind of about 20 miles an
Obviously it is impossible to get any
thing like lift" from the air when
there is a dead calm.
The big development which would
seem to be possible in the near future,
judging from the German experiments.
is the aerial ''flivver''-a small safe
plane, extremely low-powered. which
the average man could afford and
operate. On many occasions, such q
machine could be operated without
altiturdes to take advantage of the
winds which are encountered more
frequently high in the air. Also, a
sufficiently skillful operator of such
an aerial flivver could use it as q
glider nearer to the ground when con-
ditions made it possible.
Winds Blowing Upward.
Winds blowing in a general upward
direction are recorded with more fire.
quency than is ordinarily believed.
The coloring of the ground. with the
consequent varying reflection of the
suns heat. causes the air to rise quite
generally over some areas, with COM
pensating descending airs over other
portions of ground Inequalities of
the surface-hills and mountains-
force moving air into an upward di-
rection- 1t is these air currents which
the skilled manipulation of A glider
takes advantage of in order to climb
in. the air above his starting point.
Earlier glider records were remark
able, but were beaten by Harth in his
trip made last autumn. One German
glider flew about six miles. and in the
course of the flight rose 500 feet above
its starting point. But the landing
point was fully 1900 feet below the
point, and the flight lasted a
much shorter time than Harth even
tually was able to accomplish. Later
on another German kept. a powerless
plane in the air about Is minutes.
The great accomplishment made by
Aarth, tho, was not so much the time
record he made and the actual ascent
into the air without power, as the fact
that the plane from start to finish of
the flight, lost altitude" or came
down, at the rate of only about two
feet a minute
The machine used by Harth did not
nave rudder to guide it This had
been dispensed with. and movable
wing tips used Without any effort
on the part of the aviator. the Harth
heads into the wind when it
CHANGES diractinr On tto aa.--h =