Airframe

“ At the front and just beneath the wings, as you see, is the engine and propeller. This particular type of plane, and in fact the majority, are drawn and not pushed through the air. The pilot is seated in the cockpit immediately behind the motor. Two rudders and two ailerons are placed at the rear of the fuselage. The former, vertical, and used for steering the plane horizontally, are operated by a cross-piece of wood upon which the pilot rests his feet. The ailerons are horizontal, connected with a control stick by means of wires, and, of course, tilt the plane either up or down. ”

“ Of course, when an aviator is lost in the fog or above the clouds he needs to use all the instruments on board to find his position. For that purpose drift instruments are mounted on aircraft; those tell how much the air-currents, which have the same effect on aircraft as the tide has on a boat, have driven him off his course. A compass indicates the direction in which he is travelling, and other instruments show him whether his machine is climbing, diving, or “banking”; the aneroid barometer indicates the altitude. ”

“ Above all, flying has been rendered safe: with a sound machine to-day, and a competent pilot, it is as safe in the air as it is on the ground. So much for five years: but aeroplanes are still small, and their engine-power is low; and airmen may be likened perhaps to the first navigators of the sea. They paddled tiny boats, and found they could control them; then longed for larger craft, with which they might cross the ocean, and bear passengers from land to land. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When, some five years ago, work on this annual was first commenced, the military aviator was an idle dream. Fighting men in dirigibles were a bare possibility; but nothing more than that. Every amateur building an aeroplane (or even merely intending to build one) in his back garden was a possible "conqueror of the air." The aeroplane was going to oust the motor car as a sporting vehicle—everyone was quite certain about that! Beyond that, nothing!
To-day everything is completely changed and except as a war machine the aeroplane is of little interest or use to anyone. ”

“ According to this plan, although both names stand for an aerial vessel88 capable of travelling in the sky by its own motion, an airship is a machine supported in the air by reason of its buoyancy, while a flying machine is kept aloft only by virtue of its onward movement.
In other words, part of the construction of an airship consists of a bag or balloon, filled with gas or hot air, which causes the whole to rise and maintain its position in the air. ”

“ Within a comparatively short time, then, we ought to see many companies organized in this country for aerial transnavigation of the globe by helium airship! Before the year 1919 has come to a close we ought to see aeroplanes and dirigibles jumping the Atlantic from shore to shore. Who knows, it may even come to pass that man shall become as much a creature of the air as the birds! As a world of exploration and travel the heavens offer him many adventures. ”

“ The great difference, of course, between the airplane and the airship is that the former sustains itself as a heavier-than-air vessel by the lifting power of the air in relation to a body driven hard against it by its powerful engines, while the latter sustains itself as a lighter-than-air body because of the large amount of air displaced by a huge envelop loaded with gas much lighter than the air itself. The contrast is obvious; one vessel is small, agile, and very fast ”

“ Two new types of aeroplane have been alluded to in the last, preceding paragraph; the fast-flying, quick-climbing racer and the slow-going, heavy-weight carrier. We are of opinion that there should be three types in all for military purposes. Of greatest importance and in greatest numbers we should have the middle-class machines; those capable of staying in the air for at least three hours of continuous flight, while carrying two men and one hundred and fifty pounds extra, of either wireless apparatus or machine gun and ammunition. ”

“ The wing-tips should be equipped with lights, and small red and green lights, called navigation lights, should be installed on port and starboard struts. Under the fuselage a signalling light could be used, and Very lights, rockets, parachute flares, or Borse flares could be employed, as in war, to illuminate the fields, give the pilot a clew to his whereabouts, and at the same time reveal to the wireless-telephone operator on the ground the position of the ship in the air. This would also prevent collisions. Care should be exercised so as not to blind the pilot when he makes his landing. ”

“ On the other hand, the airship, being provided with engines to propel it through the air, and with rudders and elevators to control it for direction and height, can be steered in whatever direction is desired, and voyages can be made from one place to another--always provided that the force of the wind is not sufficiently strong to overcome the power of the engines. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If we were concerned with the primary function of the aeronautical arm alone, there appears to be no reason to doubt that both kinds of aircraft would have their place; the large air-ship has unquestionable advantages under suitable conditions: cruising at high altitudes over the battlefield, or over or in the rear of the enemy's lines, and reporting to headquarters by wireless every movement of strategic or tactical importance, it might render the most vital service. ”

“ The biplane is standing out in the middle of the field, its nose pointed in the opposite direction from the firing-line, for the airmen will only bring their machine into the wind after they are in the air. The roar of the engine grows suddenly louder as the officer, his injunctions at an end, steps clear, and the biplane slides away over the ground with that curious bobbing motion that one knows. ”

“ And this war, which continually has spurred man to new murderous inventions, has also seen the airplane in action. While at the start of the war the comparatively few airplanes in use were employed as scouts, a few months saw them fitted with machine guns and devices for dropping explosives. Hand in hand with this came the rapid development of the airplane itself. To-day we can truthfully say that a journey, even a long one, by airplane is less dangerous than an automobile ride through a densely populated district. ”

“ No one who has considered rigid airship design and studied rapid strides which aeroplanes have made in the last three and a half years can doubt for a moment that an airship could be built in the course of the next two years which would have a disposal lift—or, [224] in aeroplane parlance, a ‘useful load’—of over two hundred tons, giving it an endurance of anything up to three weeks at a speed of forty to forty-five miles an hour. ”

“ On a clear night, however, with flambeaux, search-light flares, etc., a pilot has little trouble in landing, for [152] the straightaway can be as illuminated as it is in broad daylight. Nevertheless, when the aircraft is high in the sky, owing to the vast distances of infinite space, the speed at which an aeroplane moves, and the drift out of its regular course, due to the wind, it is often difficult for the flier to keep his bearings. ”

“ The aeroplane is such an essential part of the Intelligence in modern war that no detailed survey of the methods by which the Royal Flying Corps fulfils its functions as the eyes of the army can safely be given until the war is over. I have had to content myself, therefore, with seeking to impart to you at home some of the admiration with which the gallantry and endurance of our airmen in the field have inspired me, who have been privileged to see them at their work. ”

“ Owing to its ceiling, rate of climb and speed, which we take to be from 70 to 80 miles per hour in the airship of the future, the airship may be regarded as comparatively safe against attack from the ordinary type of seaplane. The chief danger to be apprehended is attack from small scouting seaplanes, possessing great speed and the power to climb to a great height, or from aeroplanes launched from the decks of ships. ”

“ The aeroplane is eminently adapted for certain purposes, and the greatest bigot in favour of the airship can hardly dispute the claims of this machine to remain predominant for short-distance travel, where high speed is essential and the load to be carried is light. For long distance voyages over the oceans or broken or unpopulated country, where large loads are to be carried, the airship should be found to be the more suitable. ”

“ The plane, fitted with extra tanks to add to its cruising range and time in the air, had been checked and rechecked from propeller boss to rudder post. Every square inch of wing surface, every wire, every nut, and every cotter pin, had been carefully examined by expert eyes. ”

“ Moreover, there is even a greater opportunity for the giant sky-liners to provide luxurious cabins and other comforts for the travellers, such as of course cannot possibly be supplied on a heavier-than-air machine, where even the chief engineer cannot so much as leave his seat to examine the engine once the machine is in flight!
The ability of the airship to cruise at low heights is another comfort the dirigible enjoys over the aeroplane, which, to insure a safe landing in event of engine trouble, usually navigates across country at five thousand feet altitude or more. ”

“ Thus we find that in aviation man has designed the propeller, which, by its rapid revolutions derived from the motive power of the aerial engine, cuts a spiral pathway through the air and drives the light craft rapidly forward. The chief use of the planes is for support to the machine, and the chief duty of the pilot is to balance and steer the craft by the manipulation of the rudder, elevation and warping controls. ”

“ The aeroplane and the air-ship are recent accessions to the list of fighting craft. Their rôle in naval warfare cannot yet be defined, because the machines themselves have not yet reached an advanced stage of development, and their probable performance cannot be forecast. There is no doubt, however, in the minds of naval men that the rôle of aircraft is to be important and distinguished. ”

“ The arrangements made for handling airships on the ground and while landing, and also for moving them in the open, provide scope for great ingenuity. An airship when about to land is brought over the aerodrome and is "ballasted up" so that she becomes considerably lighter than the air which she displaces. ”

“ In a recent article the editor of The Aeroplane referred to the erstwhile terror of the air as follows: "The best of air-ships is at the mercy of a second-rate aeroplane". Enough to make Count Zeppelin turn in his grave!
To-day in aerial warfare the air-ship is relegated to the task of observer. As the "Blimp", the kite-balloon, the coast patrol, it scouts and takes copious notes; but it leaves the fighting to a tiny, heavier-than-air machine armed with a Lewis gun, and destructive attacks to those big bomb-droppers, the British Handley Page, the German Gotha, the Italian Morane tri-plane. ”

“ And passing constantly along these routes will be a volume of air-borne traffic—neat, privately owned planes; large and speedy passenger machines; multi-winged craft for the transport of goods; and here and there, flying swiftly and high, some slim-built war machine. Upon the land in the day-time, to indicate the direction of the airways, will be signs which may be read from high aloft; while at night, from signal towers, will flash forth lights, differing in the frequency and the colour of the beams they throw skyward, to guide the airman on his path. ”

“ One or other may be forced to yield and fly, scattering in confusion; and after this there may be the aerial battle proper, in which the large, heavily-armed craft, and the giant airships with their batteries of guns, will come into action. The aeroplane, in fighting an airship, will have the advantage that it offers a smaller mark, and one also which is moving rapidly through the air. It may also be struck many times before it is crippled or put out of action. Shot passing through its planes will make little difference to it; and the occupants will sit in a hull which is armoured. ”

“ Many of the functions brilliantly performed during the course of the war by aeroplanes had been claimed, during the early days of aviation, as the proper province of the airship. A wireless installation for receiving and sending messages was too heavy for an aeroplane; it must be carried by an airship. No sufficient weight of bombs could be carried by an aeroplane; the airship was the predestined bombing machine. ”