Eric Stuart Bruce

“ For those brave heroes of the air our hearts beat with fervid admiration. In accomplishing their all-important tasks they have not only to fear disaster from shot and shell of the enemy, but from the mistaken fire of their comrades and the very forces of nature. ”

“ The success of the aviator was an example of the truism that experience often does not coincide with preconceived opinion, for the reason that some unknown factor exists, and is only brought to light by the special circumstances of the case. Of all people, the aviator is one who constantly practises sharpness and concentration of sense; his eye and brain have a perpetual habit of harmonious and close-bound working; time to him has an enhanced value; none, like he, has ever learnt the exigencies of the minutes. ”

“ The vexed problem of the stability and equilibrium of aëroplanes is the most important that has yet to be solved; until this is done it is not likely the airship will completely disappear as an instrument of war. In speaking of the remarkable exploits of Pégoud, it was said that they were an object-lesson on the materiality of the air, and we have yet to learn how to use this materiality to the best advantage, so as to afford us continual stability. Until the problem is solved, man cannot be said to have brought himself to the level of the soaring bird ”

“ THE ADVENT OF THE AËROPLANE The year of 1908 will be memorable in aëronautical science for its demonstration of the possibility of mechanical flight. Day after day in France and America was then seen the spectacle of men flying in the air, with a grace equal to that of the soaring bird. This was done with a machine not raised by the buoyancy of a gas, but with one that was heavier than the medium in which it travels, and whose sustentation and direction was accomplished by dexterity and skill. ”

“ We should scarcely think that so apparently fragile a substance was strong enough to form the envelope of a balloon. It is, however, an admirable substance for the purpose on account of its lightness and capacity of holding the gas, and the desideratum of strength can be obtained by combining layer and layer of the substance to any desired thickness. By the use of gold-beaters’ skin it became possible to have much smaller balloons for a given lifting power than when varnished cambric or silk was employed. ”

“ The fact that the maintenance of the airship in the air does not depend upon a certain speed being maintained, as is the case with the heavier-than-air machine, endows it with the property of being able to hover in fairly calm weather. The hovering power is certainly an advantage for such offensive operations as dropping bombs. ”

“ It was the Cody machine which won the first prizes which were open to the world at the military trials in 1912. Of all the earlier practical fliers in this country no one perhaps did so much to popularise flight as Cody. His pluck109 and perseverance, despite the constant disasters that were his lot, gained British appreciation, and all recognised that if he was not a man of letters he was one of intuition. His well-known man-lifting kite, unequalled indeed for the purpose for which it was designed, was an example of the illuminating flashes that were wont to cross his brain. ”

“ Whether or no the inventor’s exact arrangements may prove on trial to be successful is a matter on which decisive opinion cannot be given; but the principle of expanding and diminishing surface is thoroughly sound, and is worthy of lavish expenditure and experiment. Other ways of attaining variable speed machines have been suggested, though the method of a variable surface would seem likely to carry the regulation of speed to a greater nicety than do the other plans. One of these projects is to alter the angle of the incidence of the planes while the machine is in flight ”

“ Imagine some seventeen huge bicycle wheels made of aluminium, with their aluminium spokes complete, and these gigantic wheels to be united by longitudinal pieces of aluminium, and in this way seventeen sections to be formed, each of which contains a separate balloon, and it is easy to grasp the construction of the Zeppelin airship. It consists of a number of drum-shaped gas-bags, all in a row, held together by a framework of aluminium. They form a number of20 safety compartments. The bursting of one does not materially matter—the great airship should still remain in the air. ”

“ The advent of the first at all practical military airship was forgotten because the experiments, comparatively successful as they were, suddenly ceased. They came to an end because it was found that though electricity as a motive power could afford an airship demonstration, it was unfitted for serious and prolonged use.
One industry has often to wait for another—the world had to wait for the missing link in aërial navigation. That was the light petroleum motor. ”

“ The system of filling the balloons from steel cylinders in which the hydrogen gas had been compressed, so well exemplified in the Boer War, was a great improvement on the older methods of manufacturing the gas on the spot. Speed in filling balloons is a desideratum for their use in war. By the cylinder method, owing to the great pressure under which the gas escapes from the cylinder, the inflation of the observation balloons became a question of minutes instead of hours. The necessity of speed applies to the inflation of airships also. ”

“ One day, at Blackpool, Latham went up in a very105 high wind, and remained in the air for a considerable time. How much of the stability of his machine was due to his dexterity, or how much to the machine, it is difficult to say. Probably the fact that the wings were set at a dihedral angle had much to do with it. He also had a much larger horse power than his contemporaries, which no doubt contributed to his success. Anyhow, by the Antoinette monoplane flight was redeemed from the reproach that it was merely a pastime for ideal weather conditions. ”

“ Maurice Farman Biplane.—A type of weight-carrying machine that has survived is that designed by Mr. Henry Farman’s brother, Mr. Maurice Farman. This machine has extensions to its main surfaces, which enable it to carry a considerable weight. It has been found capable of remaining in the air a very long time, which is an important consideration for war use, especially when the aëroplane is on the offensive. It is capable of flying at a very low speed. A disadvantage is that it requires very skilful piloting, especially when used in high winds. ”

“ The only salvation of the attacked airship is its mitrailleuse gun fixed on the platform at its topmost part, but the chance of hitting the swiftly advancing aëroplane is fairly remote.
There are more ways than one in which the fatal attack of aëroplane v. airship can be made. The airman can, indeed, ram the gas-bags by hurling himself and machine against it. Then destruction would be swift and sure, with the probable loss of the airman’s own life. Better tactics would be to fly above, and drop suitable weapons on the fragile gas-bag ”

“ A very remarkable type of aëroplane is the giant biplane invented by the Russian aviator Sykorsky. It doubtless marks the beginning of a new era in the construction of machines on the heavier-than-air principle. Most aviators have shirked the use of a machine that could carry a large number of persons. It would seem that Russia is destined to take the lead in this class of machine, which may before long put the lighter-than-air Zeppelins entirely out of date. ”

“ An airship can be anchored more easily with the point against the wind on water. It is quite impossible to anchor on land when assistance is not forthcoming to hold down the airship. On water, also, the airship will give a little to side winds and to alterations in the direction of the wind, without overturning. On land this danger is not excluded, even with rigid airships. Of course, a watertight and seaworthy car is a necessary condition for landing on water. ”

“ In Sir John French’s report, mentioned in the introductory chapter, he tells us that our own Flying Corps in the present war were exposed to the shot of friend as well as of foe. As the German aëroplanes have a more or less distinctive appearance, it seems probable that these peculiar shapes were not well known to our troops at the beginning of the war. Such a knowledge would protect the aëroplanes of the Allies from being mistaken for those of the enemy. The shape of a bird has been very generally adopted for the German flying machines. ”

“ But one can imagine that it may often be expedient in military operations for machines to rise from land so unequal that with the present method flight would be impossible.
The perfect military aëroplane should be able to rise in the air at any time and from any place. The application of horizontal lifting screws beneath the flying machine would make this a possibility, though it would be necessary to have two of such screws revolving in opposite directions. It is indeed curious that so little has been done in the way of such experiments. ”

“ When it meets an aëroplane the chances are more evenly balanced. Success will depend chiefly upon the speed of the respective aëroplanes, their climbing power, their armouring, and the guns with which they are armed. Speed and climbing power are perhaps the greatest protective factors. Several stories have already been told of the pursuit of German aëroplanes by those of the Allies. The climbing power of the machines of the latter has often been the cause of victory. It is the well-directed shot from above to which the airman is exposed that has ended the career of airman and machine. ”

“ The Germans have not favoured rotary engines and have almost exclusively adopted those with stationary cylinders, but an exception has been made in the case of the Sommer arrow-shaped biplane.
Another feature of German machines is that they are all, with one exception, double seated, the extra swiftly dashing scouting monoplane does not seem to appeal to the German. We find, however, one exception to the rule: the Argo type of monoplane is a one-seated machine. It has a span of 9 metres, surface of 15 square metres, and speed of 130 kilometres per hour. ”

“ Those who have survived have had a hard and exceptionally strenuous training in the ways of the air, ever having had to be on the alert against the ever-present threatening blasts which tend to upset the stability of flying machines. ”

“ Astra-Torres Type.—The Astra-Torres airships may be said to form a rather special subdivision of the non-rigid class, for, though there is no rigid metal in its construction, an unbendableness of keel is assured by panels of cloth so placed horizontally as to be kept rigid by the pressure of the air in a ballonet. Thus the virtue of rigidity is attained without the extra weight generally appertaining thereto, and a greater speed with economy of weight and size. The British naval authorities possess one of these airships. ”

“ The resistance of the gas-bag.
From a mechanical point of view it is in opposition to science to attempt aërial navigation by pushing such a large resisting surface as the envelope of an airship against the air. In navigating an airship against the wind, as the latter increases speed is diminished, until a limit is reached when the motive power will be unavailing. Thus there are weather limitations to the airship. Not that the aëroplane is unaffected by the weather. ”

“ In the case of paints, white lead or zinc oxide are chiefly used for this purpose. The other method consists in mixing with the oil a gum resin which renders the film harder and prevents liquefaction. Such a mixture of linseed oil and Kauri gum forms an elastic, tough mass, which is much more durable than the linoxyn alone, and also possesses greater tensile strength. During oxidation the linseed oil absorbs about 12 per cent. of its weight of oxygen, and when the area exposed is very large in proportion to the weight of the oil the temperature may rise until the mass catches fire. ”

“ A fabric may be rendered almost impermeable to69 gas when coated on the inside with insoluble gelatine, and on the outside with a waterproof varnish. Animal membranes are far less permeable to gases than fabrics coated with varnishes of the usual kinds. A balloon of gold-beaters’ skin, if carefully constructed, will retain hydrogen gas for a long time, and if treated with gelatine that is afterwards rendered insoluble it becomes practically impermeable. Fabrics treated with linseed oil varnish, on the other hand, allow gas to pass with comparative ease. ”