The Bismarck tribune., 1928-08-21

IlreL OF 4 0eIIee OF oYtIeIe0 ~
which Captain Malcolm ]. Blu.
chanan. writer for The Trib-
une and NEA Service, explains
the use Of the airplane and how
to operate Il. Buchanan wsS Z
pilot with the u. 8. Army Air
Corps on the Westcrn front dur.
ing the World War and 10 now
on the editorial staff OF the Fl.
Worth (,rex.) Press. Here he
gives the background OF cvia.
tion.
BY CAPT. MALCOLM BUCHANAN
Mans desire to fly has always
been a peculiar trait cf the species.
There are few who have not watched
the flight Of . fleetwinged lark OF q
slow-movinE buz4ard and not felt
the urge to Join the aerial procep-
sion and take look 4: the clouds
from above.
Even back beyond the dawn Of
hunt, probably leaned on his club
and watched with wtst1ul eyee the
antics Of the Roe and the Dede
bird, but 4 as not until many CEN
turies had passed that his mind had
developed to the point where he was
capable of emulating his 1sathsred
nei1hborS.
And because latter-day men At-
tempted to forge into reality the
dream that Mr.. Stoneha het dreamed
in the mouth Of hiS caYe, numerous
~A.l.. ,,.A~> h~>lSA~ a. An~ &sps<
attempted flight BY attaching me.
chanical devices to hte arms And
legs; thus encumbered he leapsd
from towers and building topS, and
attempted flutter to earth. Il
was q tragic lesson that he learned
Ia lesson that brought forth much
poirting to the Bible with the com.
ment that "Man was never intended
to fly, else God would have given
him wings"
They wer. right. Man equipped
with wings probably never will
have a place in the scheme Of things,
but nevertheless, the a;e-old inhibi.
ton to conquer the air today can be
satisfied safely. Modern aviation IL
the answer.
kipling'S Prophecy
About this new method of trans.
portation, Rudyard Kipling summed
up the whole thing when hi said:
I'VE are At the opening verse Of
the opening page Of the chapter Of
endless possibilities"
Air navigation has reached the
point where not only the younger,
but the older, generation has he
come interested. Future possibilt-
ties are seen in the fact that in.
terest is being shown by the type Of
men who first must be, shown the
worth Of a thing before they can
believe in it.
It always has been difficult 70
convince the skeptics. In the dawn
Of aviation's history very few people
were interested in the foolish" ur-
dertaking and those who pioneered
the idea were scoffed and held up
to derision. Witness, in this light,
the experiences Of Prof. Samuel
Pierpont Langley and the brothers
Orville and Wilbur Wright.
Langley, one Of the forernott
scientists Of his day, experimental
with aeronaatics in the early '90s
and in 1895, near Washington On
the Potomac river, tested out what
he called an "aeroqrone." Thie
passengerless plane flew; twice It
travelled one-hAlf mile. negotiating
each trip in one and ons-half min
utes. Langley also experimented
with q plane capable Of carrying
q man. but numerous accidents pre-
vented launching.
So it remained for the brothsre
Wright to velop the first truly
successful planA-a trail, motorized
bird-skeieton, which, after tests at
Kitty Hawk, N. c., made Z flight
with = passenger ct Dayton. O.. u
1905. But even after this practical
demonstration the Wriehts were re-
sarded AZ nut inventort." II was
not until 1908, after demonptratiQnp
by the Wrights In Europe, that the
United Sta bought plansp for use
in the army.
It is an Interesting comparison
that Of the Langley and Wright
machines with the plane that to-
udy opUIo t1IS AsSo1AssSe " sssS Oss0
which carries the mail over your
home every night.
It causes one to wonder 4 even
Langley, the Wrights and al the
other tlying pieneers fully realized
the portent Of the work they were
starting; causes one to wonder It
| it could have been possible tor them,
at the outset, to conceive the three
great outstanding things which
their experiments would mean t.
the world.
The Airplans's Field
These three things are:
/. The development Of ! mill
tary weapon Of destruction never b.
fore equaled.
2. A means Of transportation
either in pee or In war, that Il
unexcelled In speed.
8. An economical method o1
carrying freight, mail and express
over Q route which has, tieurativsly
speaking, reduced . continent e. thu
size Of state when compared with
former methods o. transportation.
Thirty years ago everyone wht
| Jr1eQ 30 1ly OF tolkeO Tying Woo ~
garded 40 Just = Bit unbalAnced. IA
was avoided. But he went right Of
facing diecturagemont and nov h
IL something Of I hero because hl
helped rive the world succsaAtul 3ly
ing machines.
| The World .iAv did much 20 Dc
vslop the irplaiAe. The genera
public read dispatcher from TIL
front and awakened to the 4aet tina
the plane was . great factet 4
modern warfare. IT. war uses per
hAps, q responsibl1 fof IT. beeonln(
big facto IN our present ecotc
mic AysteIn.
IN thirty years Of devslopmsnt III
airplans has 1as outsttipps6 "a