Great Falls tribune., 1922-04-18
Bv FREDERICK
]. HASkM

any power whatsoever. Harth re-
quired a wind of about 20 miles an
hour to make his remarkable record.
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 4lowpowered, which the
average man could afford and oper-
ate. On many occasions such ma
chine could be operated without the
use of power, when at suftlclent al
titudes to take advantage OF the winds
which are encountered more IrequenI-
ly high in the air. Also, sufficiently
skillfnl operator Of such an aerial fliv-
var couid use it as a glider nearer to
the ground when conditions made it
possible.
Winds Blowing Upward
Winds blowing in general upward
direction are recorded with more ire
quently than is ordinarily believed. The
coloring of the ground, with the con-
sequent varying reflection or the suns
heat, causes the air to rise quite gen
erally over some areas, with compen-
sating descending airs over other por-
tions of ground Inequalities of the
surface-hills and mountains-force
moving air into an upward direction.
1t is these air currents which the skilled
manipulation of a glider takes advan-
tage 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 300 feet above
its starting point But the landing
point was fully 1000 feet below the
starting point, and the flight lasted a
much shorter time than Harth eventu-
ally was able to accomplish. Later on
another German kept a powerless plane
in the air about Is 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 minute.
The machine used by Harth did not
have 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 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 in gusts, and changing di-
rection often. The machine headed
into the wind whenever such 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 climb
ing Of the machine.
Little Power Needed
About a 20-nrile wind was blowing
when this noteworthy feat was per-
formed Aeronautical experts say that
very little power for artificial pro-
pulsioD would be needed in light plane
built along the lines of soaring bird
to give the same lift as that acquired
from q moderate wind.
The wing loading" of the German
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 gliders best known have
wing areas ranging from 160 to 175
square feet Assuming that the average
flyer weighs 165 pounds. the wing load
ing varies from about two pounds per
square lDot " oHc poubd IAC AAhA III
machine weighs about an even hun
dred pounds. probably the lightest Of
the gliders. Having wing area of 165
square feet, the wing loading is just
about 1 "a pounds per square foot when
a 165 pound man is being carried.
Naturally. the development Of the
glider is as much in it's 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 develop
ment since the pioneering done by the
Wright brothers in the face Of public
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 pocket
book. 1t would not be fast, but would
have the compensating advantages OF
ascending into the air at very low
speed and the ability to land almost
anywhere at about the same velocity,
instead of requiring regular flying fields
for both starting and ending flights.