GLIDING LESSONS FROM BIRDS

Evening Star, Issue 18144, 7 December 1922, Page 6

GLIDING LESSONS FROM BIRDS

BUZZARD AND ALBATROSS. Tho development) of gliding has occasioned considerable discussion in regard to the results that may bo obtained from the study end practioe of motorleas flight, and the perform anoca of the pilots aro being carefully noted by airmen ail over the world (writes tho aeronautical correspondent of 'The Timea'). Mr Glenn Curtiss I>elievoa that a glider can be produced to take off from the sea, and he is now building such a machine. It is constructed of -wood, duralumin, and silk, and weighs 5101 b with the pilot on board. It has an over-all length of 22ft llin, and a span of 28ft. This glider is a _ biplane with a flying-boat body, the tail being supported on a boom rather similar to that used in Pokier gliders. It ie designed for a speed ■of twenty miles an hour. Mr Curtiss, discussing in the 'Aeronautical Digest' the general question of motorless flight, saya that wo are now at a etage in aeronautics in which the buzzard and the albatross appear prominently. Tho buzzard is a magnificent soaror. in fiat country, where it is most frequently found, tho air rises from the surface of the earth in waves and sometimes in spirals. Mr Curtiss says that h« hue often watched a buzzard seek and fmd a "lodgment" in one of these spirals, and bo literally lifted out of tight. The buzzard is oompwaUvely lightly loaded, the loading eometinres being only half a pound to each square foot of its wing surface. Tlie albatross, on tho other hand, haa a wing-loading of more than 31b to ths square foot. Air Curtiss believes there are greater gliding possibilities over the sea than over the land. The albatross, ho points out, take* off with little effort from the crest of a wave and rides the winds for hours. The Curtiss glider described above will be experimented with first by being launched from the deck of a fast boat, or by towing, but it is hoped that ultimately* a direct " take-off " from the surface of the sea will be possible.