BRITAIN AIR MASTER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3138, 9 October 1922, Page 7

BRITAIN AIR MASTER.

Shall we soon be able, beneath eomiething like a pin-wheel whirring at a speed incredible, to rise vertically in air, and, when we will, poise in air, or shoot off at an. angle (including horizontal flight) when that is convenient, or, again, if circumstances dictate, descend, still in a straight line, with such gentleness that jar may be entirely eliminated by a skilful pilot? That is what the helicopter would assure. Has it been perfected? The rumor that the British Government, working on designs devised l by its own expert, Louis Brennan, actually has a machine which will do all these' things persists, although Brennan and Royal Air Force headi deny it. It is believed strategic reasons would justify denial even though achievement had been perfect. Not yet have come those days of calm security when nations will be able to -forget the vast military value which achievement of this kind' would mean. Official denials and even those of Brennan therefore are not taken very seriously. It is the general belief in London that the successful helicopter is a, fact. Not even the statement of the Air Ministry that it has not withdrawn its offer of a £50,000 prize for a helicopter changes the popular impression that a helicopter now lurks hidden in a certain airdrome, perfect and of demonstrated worth. The offer is so worded that subsequent inventions by outsiders could be eased away from the great prize if there were reasons for it—reasons owned by the British Government and kept secret for strategic purposes. And, Brennan's denial of his own success is quite natural. Ho is a Government expert, ineligible to win prizes and filled, of course, with that esprit de corps which transcends human longing for self-glorification.

Balloons, alone, so far, have gone straight up into the air impelled by their own power, according to scientists an mechanicians.

The Wrights ascended in an aeroplane, later, doing more than did Elijah, for they left the secret of their means of flight behind them. But all these heavier-than-air events were at an angle—not vertical performances. None, unless the Brennan tale is true, has gone straight up, save when lifted by a lighter-than-air gas; none has been able to do that common trick of birds, especially of the humming bird, and hover—that is, remain still in tho atmosphere.