FUTURE OF FLYING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1194, 1 August 1911, Page 6

FUTURE OF FLYING.

POPULAR DEMAND SOON TO BEGIN. Mr. Claude Graham White, the British aviator, recently contributed an interesting article to tho London "Tinits" on the future of flying. Mr. White said:— The advancement of the aeroplane, lias been checked by three defects in the machines themselves. These I may enumerate a≤ follows:— 1. Inability to combat winds. 2. Constructional weaknesses. 3. Unreliability of engines. These defects, which made aeroplanes mero playthings in their early stages of developments, are already being overcome in an altogether surprising way. That they will be completely overcome, and that ilyiiig machines will bo of practical and everyday use, is my firm conviction. Take ilyiug in winds as a first example. Witli the aeroplanes wo had in the beginning it was only possible to ascend when the wind was as low as four or five miles ail hour. Now I find it quite possible to remain in the air, and control my machine, in a wind of 25 miles an hour. From this, to the ability to fly in even stronger winds, it is merely a question of greater speed. I have become an ardent advocato of high-speed flying. Speed "ives you power to overcome tho attacks of sudden wind gusts, which are tho airman's peril. On a high-speed monoplane, for example, you dash through an adverse gust in tho same way that a fast torpedoboat destroyer thrusts her way through an opposing wave. Engine problems are solving themselves. With the scepticism with which some people always view a now idea, it was contended, in the infancy of aeroplanes, that no petrol motor would stand the strain of propelling an aeroplane, because of its necessary lightness and tho high speed at which it would have to run. The answer to these critics has been overwhelming. Even while our aeroplanes, and particularly our propellers, are admittedly imperfect; thereby imposing upon an engine the most difficult conditions, flights of three, five, and six hours are already evoking no particular comment. To a certain extent, indeed, the duration oi a flight has now becomo purely a matter of petrol-carrying. And now there is the. question of safety. Here, I know, I am face to face with a very gravo misconception. People generally have come to the conclusion that flying is highly dangerous, and will always remain so. I, as a practical flyer, say there- is very little danger in it now, ant that in the future there will be no more risk in an aerial journey than in moving from point to point in a railway train. At present, reckoning expert flyers and pupils who can pilot a machine off tho ground, there are estimated to be 3000 airmen throughout the world. To teach these men to navigate a new element, with crude, experimental machines, and absolutely no data to go upon, what has ths death-roll amounted to? Less than .'(fl! And, in this particular oonnecti n, it is significant to recall, as a comparison, that nine men were killed in one of the great motor-car races. Inexperience, foolhardiness, and constructional weakness in machines have been responsible for practically all tho accidents which have taken place. Given a good machine, a careful, well-trained pilot, and proper weather conditions, flying is already as safe as motoring; and very soon it promises to be safer. This year there is coming the first of a type of machine ono might call "the air-car." It will be a stronply-built monoplane. A 100 h.p. -engine will pro Del it. It will have a body like that of a motor-car, with four comfortably-padded seats, well protected from the wind. There is no , reason at all why any wealthy motorist should not purchase such a' machine as this, have an "aerial chauffeur" instructed to pilot it, if ho

does not want to le.irn to drive himself, nnd enioy aeroplaning in a thoroughly practical way. Tn it? sporting aspect, concludes Mr. "White I 'foresee that flying will enjoy an even greater vogue th*n motoring. Tho reason is not far to .seek. Motor-car driving, even in its most favourable aspects, cannot be compared with flying. There is a sense of freedom —an exhilaration—in passing swiftly through the air that never conies to one when driving a car. I speak from experience again, having done more, than a little motoring. DireHlv a more convenient, less bulky machine can he rtrof'uccd. what one miirht call the public demand for an aeroplane will b?sin,