Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1922-09-06
SOARING TESTS PREDICT
LOW-PONERED AIRPLANE
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Washington. Great interest has
been aroused here in motorless aerial
flight by the success of German soar
ing exhibitions in the Rhon Mountains.
The most promising possibility that
can be foreseen as the result of fur
Their perfection of soaring flight is a
low-powered airplane that will rival
the vulture and the albatross.
Soaring that is being practiced in
the German contests is true flight as
e0ntrasted with gliding, a mere drop
ping in altitude gradually with hor-
izontal mavement. A glider may be
compared with a flying squirrel using
its tightly stretched skin between its
front and hind legs TO glide from a
high tree TO lower one, while a sail
err" or true soaring plane utilizes
the same sort of upward air currents
that support soaring birds which long
ago instinctiveiy mastered the secret
of effortless fight. In addition TO up
ward air currents, irregularities in the
natural wind are available for motor
less flight without loss of height. Such
irregularities take two forms: Great
fluctuations in the strength of the
wind and rapid fluctuations in wind
direction. But they are little utilized
by birds or their mechanical imitators.
Soaring birds and planes take advan-
tage of rising air currents almost ex-
clusively
When a wind is blowing in uneven
country, rising air currents can al
ways be found due to the vertical COM
ponent of the detected wind. This is
the case at the site of the German
soaring exhibitions. But weather con-
ditions instead of the lay of the land
can create upward breezes that will
support a properly designed and man
ipulated bird or plane. Though the
air is not warmed to any great extent
by the passage of the suns rays
through it, the heat rays reflected
from the earth do raise the lower air
to higher temperature than that OF
upper levels. AS hot air WEIGHS less
than cold, it must go up and create a
rising current. Birds utilize this lift
ing power ard man will in the future.
In soaring, a future low-p0wered
airplane, using its motor as an auxil-
larry just as a sail-boat does, will prob
ably utilize the meteorological upward
currents rather than the less extern
sive and less reliable wind currents in
rough country. Such soaring will be
easier in hot weather, during the day,
when clouds are absent, and over heat
producing areas such as cities. True
soarability will be found only in hot
climates The soaring airplane, TO be
practicable, experts believe, should be
able TO fly as slow as 20 miles per
hour and should not be loaded over
two pounds per square foot Of wing
surface. The heaviest birds, loaded
one and half pounds per square foot,
can keep in the air at is miles per
hour. With such an airplane, having
a top speed Of so miles per hour, it is
believed that gasoline consumption
as low as that Of touring car could
be obtained 1t would be able TO land
and take off from an ordinary field.
Under favorable circumstances, in hot
countries, it may be even possible for
it TO fly without power once a certain
height is gained.
When such an economical airplane
is produced rivaling the seagull man
will be able TO claim the conquest Of
the air. Ocean liners may aerially
tow such semi-soaring planes just as
the upward wind they create in plow-
ing through the sea carries along the
motionless seagulls.