Aircraft

“ Without going so far as to claim having predicted or foreseen in its entirety the many-sided utility of aircraft as it is to-day manifesting itself, the author can point to the fact that he has in the past taken every opportunity to insist on the importance of dynamic flight in its Military and Naval application. ”

“ So highly trained now are the aviators, so highly perfected the aeroplane that each morning in squadrons they take flight, to meet hostile aircraft, to destroy a munition factory, or, if they are Germans, a maternity hospital. ”

“ We already know the stories of many of the pioneers of aircraft, who risked their lives in situations involving the utmost peril. The men who, in the first frail monoplanes and biplanes attempted to fly the British Channel, or to make dangerous cross-country flights under adverse weather conditions were heroes indeed. ”

“ Aircraft manufacturers are sure the majority of the twenty thousand flyers and hundred thousand aero mechanics who have learned their trade in the Great War will want to fly either machines of their own or of somebody else or of some transaerial company. ”

“ To some extent, as touching more especially points of strategic importance, aircraft are already occupied in this duty; the extension of the system is mainly a matter of increase in materiel and personnel. ”

“ We learned the songs of all motors, the peculiarities and uses of all types of French avions, pushers and tractors, single motor and bimotor, monoplace, biplace, and triplace, monoplane and biplane. And we mingled with the [105] pilots of all these many kinds of aircraft. They were arriving and departing by every train, for G. D. E. is the dépôt for old pilots from the front, transferring from one branch of aviation to another, as well as for new ones fresh from the schools. ”

“ The moment when that homemade plane rose from the ground was akin to others that heralded epochs in the progress of mankind. Crude as it was, that first plane represented an almost incredible amount of preparation. Gliders had been designed, constructed and flown to gain technical data and piloting technique; a satisfactory system of control had been discovered; a wind tunnel and balance had been built to amplify flight data; an aircraft engine sufficiently light in weight had been developed ”

“ Reaching the turn of the point without being brought down by the parting shots from the Turkish battery, the overloaded aircraft soon settled in the shelter of the warships outside the entrance of the straits. ”

“ If suitable aeroplanes are available, machines-guns are better undoubtedly. Request you to endeavour to supply efficient fighting machines as soon as possible.' A day or two earlier a request had been sent home for nine aeroplanes to replace losses, and for a complete new set of reserve aeroplanes for the Aircraft Park.
War is the only adequate training for war, and it was the necessities of the war which revealed the needs of the Flying Corps, and gradually, by hard-won experience, determined the best types of aeroplane and the best kinds of armament. ”

“ The first step in learning to fly consists in studying the structure of the aeroplane and of the aeronautical engine, and aerodynamics, or the science of the forces that aid or hinder the flight of heavier-than-air machines. During the last half-dozen years many of the manufacturers of aircraft maintained schools in order to encourage men to learn the art of flying, and have given their pupils the chance to study at first hand the designing, the building, and the assembling of aeroplanes and hydroplanes. ”

“ Well, there are several we have run down and dismissed from our minds. Two-thirds of them are cranks seeking notoriety. Some of the others are inventors who know all about mechanics, but nothing practical concerning aircraft. ”

“ Just as one make of motor car can be distinguished from another by noting some characteristic detail, such as the radiator, the trade mark, the hubs, etc., so can the main types of aeroplanes and airships be readily differentiated by the recognition of the outstanding features of each machine. It must be admitted, nevertheless, that it needs considerable experience to be able definitely to classify detail modifications of a particular type of aircraft, for the difference is often very slight. ”

“ Certain principles are adaptable to the larger air line aircraft for increasing their safety in maneuvering and landing, but the present allotment is insufficient to experiment with larger planes.
9. ”

“ A Five-seated Touring Aeroplane of the Grahame-White Company.
No. 7.
The Aircraft Manufacturing Company's new high-speed Aeroplane for two passengers, fitted with a 360 h.p. Rolls-Royce engine. Speed 130 miles an hour. ”

“ As we have traced the development of both dirigible and airplane from the first nascent germ of their creation to the point at which they were sufficiently developed to play a large part in the greatest of all wars, let us now consider how hosts of young men, boys in truth, were trained to fly like eagles and to give battle in mid-air to foes no less well trained and desperate than they. ”

“ Nerve and rapidity of thought save the aviator in many a ticklish position. It is perhaps a tribute to the growing perfection of the airplanes that in certain moments of peril the machine is best left wholly to itself. ”

“ Every part is produced in large quantities by skilled workmen, and its strength is scientifically determined before it is passed on to become a member of the finished airplane. [225] Sometimes whole factories specialize on a particular detail of the airplane. Here they make only airplane propellers; there only engines; while in this factory the wings and fuselage are produced.
Let us imagine ourselves on a visit to one of the great aircraft factories which have suddenly sprung up in the United States and become so busy with the work of turning out a huge aerial fleet. ”

“ For example, if the tail plane or flat, finlike surface that projects from the sides of the tail of the body, or fuselage, has too much “incidence,” or, in other words, is slanted at too sharp an angle downward, it has a tendency in flight to lift the rear of the machine and to make it dive. A seaplane, when properly constructed, is so evenly balanced that, when the crane that lifts it off the mother ship holds it suspended in the air, the machine is equipoised like a bird with wings spread in flight. ”

“ Now the wings and fuselage of our airplane are ready, and the rudder, the elevating surfaces and the ailerons are in course of production. They are made in the same manner as the wings, with a wooden framework over which fabric is stretched and “doped.” We begin to think our big bird is almost ready to be put together, but we have forgotten two important items: the engine and the propeller.
The airplane manufacturer usually does not attempt to build his own engines or propellers. ”

“ But, after all, the great defence against aerial menace is to attack the enemy’s aircraft as near as possible to their point of departure. ”

“ Materials have always presented a source of endless experiment and differences of opinion in the construction of the airplane. The problem has come up in connection with the fuselage, the wings and wing coverings, [164] the landing chassis—in fact, each and every part of the heavier-than-air machine has raised the old query: “What shall we make it of?” ”

“ The steering and control in the air are arranged in principle exactly as in a small aeroplane, but it was not an easy problem to arrange that this 14-ton boat could be handled by one man of only normal strength. ”

“ But with all the wonderful things the aeroplane has accomplished and with all the stupendous advance it has made as a carrier of man and his chattels, even though it does travel the shortest distance between any two points on this planet with the greatest speed, nevertheless, much must yet be done to make the aeroplane a safe, comfortable, popular, and inexpensive means of aerial transportation. ”

“ Some of the most strenuous supporters of the airship as an auxiliary to the aeronautical service are fond of drawing a parallel between the air service and the Navy, the airship being put forward as analogous or comparable to the battleship or battle-cruiser, and the aeroplane to the torpedo boat or destroyer. ”

“ He picks motors to pieces, and puts them together, he learns the principles of airplane construction, and can discourse on such topics as the angle of attack of the cellule, the incidence of the wings, and the carrying power of the tail-plane. More than any other science aviation has a vocabulary of its own, and a peculiarly cosmopolitan one drawn from all tongues, but with the French predominating. America gave the airplane to France, but France has given the science its terminology. ”

“ These fearful shadows that walk by night require pilots of the utmost skill to navigate the sea of darkness, as well as bomb droppers and gunners whose training has been perfect. The largest of them are equipped with either two or three powerful engines, each working a separate propeller. ”

“ On the aviation training-fields, owing to the novices who were learning to fly, the natural recklessness of youth, and sometimes the faulty construction of planes—hastily built and often superficially inspected—the casualties were higher. Stunting too near the ground [187] and in machines constructed primarily for straight flying so that the stresses should come from only one flying angle, enemy treachery, and the absolute necessity of discovering the best manœuvres and newest types of aeroplanes also augmented the honor roll. ”

“ One must have a good, smooth piece of ground to land on and plenty of it. When we get an airplane that will fly along (p. 102) at twenty miles an hour, one can land almost any place,—on a roof, if necessary,—and then people will begin to take an interest in owning an airplane for the enjoyment of flying. ”

“ TYPES OF MODERN AIRSHIPS With the new century came the modern military airship—to stay, at any rate, until the heavier-than-air principle of aërial navigation has so developed as to absorb those features of utility the airship has and the aëroplane has not. ”

“ One or two dirigibles carrying oil and petrol for the aeroplanes—possibly capable of dealing with all minor repairs and of carrying a certain number of aeroplanes on board.
(c) A number of war aeroplanes specially designed for fighting other aeroplanes and attacking hostile dirigibles as chances may occur.
(d) A few very swift one man aeroplanes which will be the eyes of the unit. ”

“ Whether or not formation flying will become popular in peace-times remains to be seen. In case of a crash of one machine the others could bring aid quickly, or carry the occupants to their original destination. ”

“ Before attempting to apply the foregoing, either as touching the conduct of aerial warfare or the equipment of the fighting aeroplane, it is of interest to examine a few special cases and applications in other directions and to discuss certain possible limitations. ”

“ In 1917, at the time of writing this book, there are probably thirty distinct types of airplanes being manufactured for commercial and military use, and not less than fifty thousand are being used daily over the battlefields of Europe. ”

“ So far as the scouting aeroplane is concerned, the obvious solution to the difficulty is the provision of a floating aeroplane base, capable of accompanying, or acting in co-operation with, the fleet on the high seas, or of acting independently if required. ”

“ Thus the life of an aeroplane in active service is a matter of only some three or four months, and the manufacturing resources of the country must thus be capable of replacing the whole active force of aeroplanes three or four times over in every year. ”

“ In sharp competition with the aspiring souls who sought to fly with wings—the forerunners of the airplane devotees of to-day—were those who tried to find some direct lifting device for a car which should contain the aviators. ”

“ The aeronautical engineers have, therefore, designed the sports type for the young fellows who wish to race in the air, travel from country town to country town, from lake to river, or to commute from country to city. ”

“ Aeronautical Arm, essentially a National responsibility, § 130; future development, importance of, § 131; in peace time, § 106; must be ever ready, § 130; primary and secondary function of, § 2; strategic and tactical uses of, § 8.
Aerial and Naval Tactics contrasted, § 99.
Aeroplane, auxiliary to tactical operations, § 10; for directing artillery fire, § 10; types of machine, differentiation of, § 10; protection by armour, § 12; fighting type and its future, § 17; offensive against cavalry, § 18; attack by aeroplane on aeroplane, § 43; fighting machine as specialised type, § 44 ”

“ Within a year the flying personnel of the navy had grown to be twenty times greater than it was when we went to war, and where a year ago we had one training-school, we now have forty naval aviation-schools.
The navy has not only strained every nerve to turn out aviators and to produce airplanes, but the development of improved types of planes has not been overlooked, and we now have abroad several fine types of seaplane as well as airplane. The seaplane is merely an airplane [Pg 232] with pontoons, It starts from the ground or from the deck of a vessel. ”

“ However that may be, what may be termed the mathematising of aeronautics has rendered the type itself evanescent; your pilot of to-day knows his craft, once he is trained, much in the manner that a driver of a motor-lorry knows his vehicle; design has been systematised, capabilities have been tabulated; camber, dihedral angle, aspect ratio, engine power, and plane surface, are business items of drawing office and machine shop; there is room for enterprise, for genius, and for skill; once and again there is room for daring, as in the first Atlantic flight. ”