Evening star., 1922-09-10

says he, ''to be supplied with fuel and
engines, which would be indispensable
| to susta in 1T in a calm and which we
now see might be ordinarily left en-
tirely inactive. so that the machine
could supposedly remain in the all
and even maintain its motion in any
direction without expending it's en-
ergy, except as regards the act OF
changing the inclination of aspect
which it presents to the wind while
the wind blew This statement is
made in communication dated
washington, August, 1ssS.'
| 1t Is quite natural that any country
which should have to it's credit feats
so apparently sensational should have
made the most of them-doubly nat
ural in the present case from the fact
that the country in question happens
to be Germany. Yet some OF the ef-
fusions that have come to US make
demands on ones credulity. Such are
the recent reputed disclosures" OF
the secrets of natural flight, supposed
to have been CLEANED by German
scientists from the study OF birds
confined in cages at an experimental
laboratory at Magdeburg. The dis
closures are represented as having
issued from a former German ace,
whose name must obviously be with
held for fear Of reprisals by his gov
ernment," and who is moreover, "one
of the foremost aerial scientists and
mathematicians in Germany.
He is, therefore, G ace. t2) promi-
nent scientist, () distinguished math-
ematician. and 60 one of the group
that conducted the experiments. Here
we have a simultaneous equation In
which the unknown should not be
hard to find. The problem set before
the vengeful German government OF
finding the Judas who betrayed the
| secret of those eerie and recondite
experiments at Magdeburg should be
much simpler Of solution than that
famous old admiralty problem-given
the name of the pilot and the speed
of the ship, to find the latitude.
| One wonders. moreover. how data
on soaring fight would have been OBJ
tanned from birds confined in cages
for II they flew in such small quar-
tors it must have been by Tapping
their wings. But fiapping-wing flight
is dynamic flight, and dynamic flight
is a thing quite distinct from soaring
flight. Langley and all former bird
observers have thought 1t highly inn
portant to study soaring birds in the
open under natural conditions.
| 4 Il X
THE story has interlarded in 1t just
enough pseudo-technical verbiage
to make it appear plausible to the
average reader and ludicrous to a
scientist The methods of investiga-
ton alluded to-motion pictures OF
birds in flight and the like are the
obvious methods that would be used
| in research of the kind. One can
step by the Smithsonian Institution
any afternoon and see on exhibition
a Photographic gun" constructed
and used for the very purpose of in
vestigating bird flight by our own
Prof. Langley twenty years ago.
To this point the disclosures. If not
convincing. are at least rational But
when We are told that a group of fifty
of qermany's best experts divided IT.
self into sections to study certain
birds, ono section devoting itself ex-
clusively to a study of the wing, an
other to a study Of only the tip OF
the wing. another to the action of the
tail feathers and a forth to the head
we have a picture of the subdivision
of investigation worthy only of being
recommended as a theme for the in
genious pen of Mr.. Goldberg.
1t is quite natural that the discov-
cry Of q sixth sense" In birds should
have been fixed upon as the mysteri-
Gus secret. 1t is a thought that has
often occurred to observers of soar
ing birds Mouillard. the pioneer In
vestigator Of bird flight, in his book
L'Empire de rAir." published as long
ago as 1881. speaks Of birds being
able, thanks to some tactile sensi-
bility to the pressure and direction
| Of air currents, to ''see the wind" like
an experienced sailor. But besides
discovering this ancient secret" the
Germans, we are asked to believe
have. moreover, been able to transfer
the sixth sense" to themselves, and
thereby gain mastery of the air. The
Inconsistency with that assertion OF
q second report from Germany, which
speaks Of Hentzen making a flight OF
moro than . quarter of an hour on
his worry first attempt, and therefore
presumably without any schooling to
acquire the sixth sense, is apparent.
| +**
TT II mt ~ conrs> thu vr;t> -. ,>,,~
pose to imply that bird study ex-
periments may not have been con-
Quoted at Magdeburg with the usual
German system and care. and that
some interesting facts may not have
come to light, but that these facts
should have had any such sensational
bearing on tho recent gliding tests as
they were alleged to have had is sim
ply prsposteroua
Let 1t be asserted, then, definitely
and dennitively. that the secret Of the
German success IL nothing more un-
canny than that Of taking advantage
Of an ascending wind Of such velocity
that the vertical component Of pres
sure acting on the glider will equal
or exceed tho weight Of the plane. No
+, ,common-sense and well-informed per-
son will allow himself to be duped
| by such adjectives as "epochal,"
phenomenal, and Astounding" He
will take soaring flight as Just what
it is-a thoroughly good sport. And
gliding certainly has in 1t all the ele-
ments of a true sport. In the most
liber sense it takes one out into the
air, and there IS not inconsiderable
element of risk and Of skill involved