Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-04-18

his remarkable record. obviously
it is impossible TO get anything
like lift" from the air when there
is u dead calm.
The big development which
would seem to be possible in the
near future, judging from the Ger
man experiments. is the aerial
"flivver' small. safe plane, eX-
tremely low-powered, which the
average man could afford TO oper-
ate. on many occasions, such 4
machine could be operated with
out the use of power, when at suf-
fiCient attitudes to take advantage
Of the winds which are encoun-
tered more frequently high in the
air. Also, a sufficiently skilled OPP
orator of such an aerial flivver
could use it as glider nearer to
the ground when conditions made
1t possible.
Winds Blowing Upward.
Winds blowing in a general up
ward direction are recorded with
more frequency than is ordinarily
believed. The coloring of the
ground, with the consequent vary
ing reflection Of the suns heat,
causes the air to rise quite general
ly over some areas, with compen-
sating descending AIRS over other
portions of ground. inequalities
of the surface-hills and mountains
force moving air into an upward
direction. 1t is these air currents
which the skilled rnanipulator Of a
glider takes advantage of in order
to climb in the air above his start
ing point.
Earlier glider records were re-
markable, 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 800 feet above its start
ing point. But the landing point
was fully 1900 feet below the
starting point, and the flight
lasted much shorter time than
Harsh eventually was able to
German kept a powerless plane
in the air about fifteen minutes.
The great accomplishment made
by Harth, though, 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 have a rudder to guide it. This
had been dispensed with, and NOV
able wing tips used. Without any
effort on the part of the aviator.
the Harth machine heads into the
wind when it changes direction. On
the day when his great record was
made. the wind was said to be
blowing gusts and, and changing
direction often. The machine
headed into the wind whenever
such a change came. So slight was
the inclination of the ground that
observers of the flight asserted
that upward currents of wind had
little to do with the climbing of
the machine.
Little Power Needed.
About a 20-mile wind was blow
ing when this noteworthy feat was
performed. Aeronautical experts
say that very little power for arti-
fetal propulsion would be needed
in q light plane built along the
lines OF a soaring bird to give the
same lift as that acquired from
moderate wind.
The wing loading" of the Ger
man gliders Is little. BY this term
is meant the weight sustained by
each square foot of wing area when
the machine is in flight. The Gid
ers best known have wing areas
ranging from 100 to IT'S square
feet. Assuming that the average
flyer weighs 165 pounds. the wing
loading varies from about two
pounds per square foot to one
pound. The Harth machine weighs
about an even hundred pounds,
probably the lightest Of the gliders.
Having a wing area Of 1865 square
feet, the wing loading IL just about
one and one-half pounds per square
foot when a 165-pound man is be-
ing carried.
Naturally, the development of the
glider Is as much in its infancy as
power driven airplanes were in the
days of the first machine. which
was pushed" from the rear by
propellers. Nineteen years have
witnessed amazing development
since the pioneering done by the
Wright brothers in the face of pub
lie ridicule. The next decade may
witness the merging OF the glider
into the low-powered. low-priced
flying machine within the reach of
the ordinary pocketbook. 1t would
not be fast, but would have the
compensating advantage OF as
cending into the air at very low
speed and the ability to land al
most anywhere at about the same
velocity, instead Of requiring regu-
lar flying fields for both starting
and ending flights.