The New York herald., 1922-09-07
CURTISS AGAIN IN AIR
IN MOTORLESS FLIER
Speed Boat, Like Boy Run
ming to Raise Kite, Yanks
Him Above Water.
TOP CLIMB 20 FEET
Longest of Five Trips Is 49
Seconds in Manhasset
Bay Tests.
CALLS FLIER .SAILPLANE'
Says Sea Level Experiment Is
Different From Mountain
Gliding in Germany.
CALLS FLIER 'SAILPLANE'


the air yesterday above Manhasset
Bay. on the north shore OF Long
Island. His highest climb was twenty
feet. To get the speed necessary for
ascent he was yanked through the
water by fast power boat trailing a
with string in order to raise his
kite.
Three times. after rising from the
water, Mr.. Curtiss did not attempt to
drop the towline. He just skinned
along on even keel and then descended,
still pulled along by the motor boat
on two later voyages he cut loose
from the motor boat with the idea Of
seeing what his sailplane could do
without propulsion. The first of these
experiments resulted in the glider tilt
ing downward Immediately and set
ting gently in the bay. The second
attempt at self-sustaiIed fight was
better After casting off the line Mr..
Curtiss kept on going For about nine
seconds before foam at the prov
proved that the bay had reembraced
the hull.
The two longest flights, from the in
stant of leaving until the return to the
water. lasted forty-nine seconds. The
others lasted fourteen. fortythree and
thiriy-five seconds, respectively. When
the airplane descended at the end of
yesterdays final experiment, near the
hangar at Port Washington, the tip OF
the lower right wing hit the water with
such force that wooden rib was
broken. The damage can be quickly re-
paired.
Weather Far Too Calm.
The weather was not right for ex-
tended gliding The serenity of Man
hasset Bay was fine for the snapper
fisherman. but Mr.. Curtiss would have
appreciated at least twenty-mile wind
to supply lifting power under the wings
OF his biplane. There was no breeze at
all when the first four flights were
made. The last and most successful
test was aided by puff or two. but
they were nothing to get excited about.
However. the aviator said he was salts
fed with the proceedings thus far. He
had proved. he said, that his sailplane
would ny and that while In the air it
was under perfect control. Next he
viii try 1t against the wind. Eventu-
ally he hopes to ascertain. by further
experimenting. how the albatross is able
TO soar right from the waves on motion
less wing, and then he will try to imi-
tate the albatross.
There is a commercial object in all of
this Everywhere manufacturers of air
planes are trying to develop a plane so
light and manageable that anybody can
work 1t and so cheap that almost any
body can buy one. To do this they
must first find some way of taking ad-
vantage of the lifting power of air cur
rents. The more they can put the at
mospherc to work. the less the power
required from the motor. Mr.. Curtiss
said Yesterday: II believe that the sail.
plane can be developed so that, with a
small motor of only five or six horse
power, we can remain i'm the air very
we'll"
Curtiss. one or avlation's pioneers, a
winner of prizes as long ago as 1908 Gin
1910 he won $4,000 for breaking the
record from Albany to New York; had
not until yesterday piloted plane since
1916. Absorbed in manufacturing, he
counted his flying days as ended. but
the revival of interest in the glider, which
preceded the airplane, has set him awing
again. lie smiled yesterday as he ad-
mtted that he was using the old time
shoulder controls--a lever on either side
OF the pilot. against one OF which ile
leans TO restore slipping equilibrium.
They're the kind I'm accustomed co.,
he said.
To Test with Trailer.
Some OF yesterdays spectators who
watched the trials from Plum Point, op-
posite Port Washington and not far from
Sands Point. suggested that one or more
sailplanes could be towcd through the
air for long distances by seaplane.
Mr.. curtiss thought It could be done.
Tho Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce
expects to make test with at least one
trailer Its experts said that the sail
plane used yesterday pulled very lightly
on the line connecting it with the rush
Ing speed boat.
w. l.. Gilmore. chief engineer for the
Curtiss corporation. at the stern of the
power boat said that he took hold OF
the line and was astonished to find that
he could hold II with one hand while
the glider. or sailplane, was about twenty
feet above the water. This caused Mr.
Curtiss to remark that II might be pos
sible TO raise such n plane with an en-
gine no more powerful than an ordinary
motorcycle engine. BY alternately "cut-
ting out" the engine and then cutting in
when the plane began to settle he
thought long flights might eventually be
made with the use of very little power.
lie has a vision of small, motored sail
plane in practical use and costing less
than $1,000. But that is for a day far
removed" he adds.
He explained at the start Yesterday
that his tests were not comparable with
those OF the German gliders which have
been staying In the air three hours al 4
tine. The Germans hop or from tbe
eide OF mountain and mancuver and
ere held up by vertical air currents rush
Ing up from the valley. The American n
experiments are made at sea level where
the air currents or there are any) run
parallel TO the surface OF the water.
The sailplanc used yesterday Is almost
p miniature copy OF the NC flying boats.
one Of which crossed the Atlantic. 1t
IS biplane with a wing spread of only
twenty-eight feet. The hull. with Its
cockpit. into which Mr.. Curtiss. In golf
ing tweeds, was barely able TO squeeze.
Is NJ duralumiu the feathery alloy Of
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