Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-07


in such novel way would certainly
win an enviabe place for itself in the annals
of brdcraft But more important might be its,
moral influence those humans who design
aircraft.
Scientists and inventors have always had the
flight of birds to give them encouragement IN
developing the airplane At times OF detection
they have looked up at the effortless, soaring
flight of the buzzard and asked: eff o mere
bird can ny without even Tapping its wings,
why cannot man with all the power Of steam,
gasoline and electricity at his command ny
even better?" Encouraged by these thoughts,
they have returned to their laboratories to
work and build, until they have made the power
full. swift airplane Of today.
But those who have tried 10 make q heavier
tllan-ar flying machine that would rise straight
up and remain stationary in the air have gotten
such encouragement from birds. For there
is no bird that can fy vertically and only one
that can stay still In mid-air. It Is the hum
ming bird.
The humming bird can also fly backward.
How he does 1t, no one seems to know. Judg-
ing by the tone of the hum he makes in flying
he must fap his wings often as zoo times
. second. Maybe some scientist VIII soon
analyze this wing movement with an ultra.
slow-motion picture camera.
Even without an example in nature to en-
courage them inventors Of helicopters, who
have been at work as long as those who flew
airplanes a quarter Of century ago, seem
nearer their goal this Summer than ever before.
The latest helicopter, as vertical rising aircraft
are known among technical men, is being tested
It Is the combined product of the ingenuity of
o 27-year-old inventor and the research organ
zation OF $70.000.000 corporation.
This newest heiicopter is very much unlike
any individual machine Of the past. It's build
ers, the Curtiss- Wright Corporation, make no
fantastic predictions. They call 1t "a step
toward controlled vertical ascent and descent"
Points have been taken from a number of pre-
ceding helicopterS, and this new one is ex-
pected to utilize fully the experience Of the past
What a helicopter must do has been well
defined by the makers Of the new machine
The true helicopter." they say, "iS q flying ma
chine that win be able to lift itself vertically
OF the ground, to hover indefinitely over q
given spot, TO descend vertically under Its own
power. and to achieve safe descent In the event
of engine failure. In addition, it must be able
to move horizontally at satisfactory speed and
10 be comfortable and satisfactorily stable under
all flight conditions"
After a preliminary test the latter part of
June in which the ship did not attempt to rise
from the ground. the following explanation
was given disappointed spectators: Reason
and logic were against such flight but. If
they were not enough, heavy mist, a choppy
wind, and a minor leak in the Oiling system
combined to make It impossible" Further tests
are expected soon, however.
A LOT Of performance Is packed In those
two sentences, and engineers have not yet
made a machine that will do everything speci-
fed. They are, however. learning daily more
about the aerodynamic laws the new craft
must obey and how TO design helcopters so
that least effort will be expended in making
these laws work for them.
The first helicopter was a product of the
brain of the versatile Leonardo da Vinci It's
aerOdynamic principles were carefully thought
out and a sketch, which is still in existence,
was made OF the proposed craft before the in
Ventor's death TN 1919. The need of an engine
for flying had already been discussed by Sir
Roger Bacon as far back as 1880
By 1913 heliOopter design was well in the
matchmaking stage. Encouraged by the new