HOVEL WINCED AIRSHIP.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XII, Issue 17, 23 September 1909, Page 3

HOVEL WINCED AIRSHIP.

A novel flying-machine has been invented by Mr. H. J. B. Passat, a Thornton Heath man. It is of the heavier-than-air type —it has no balloon, that is to say. The central framework is shaped like the body of a large bird. Four wings—-two in front to sustain the machine, and two behind, principally for propelling it—will be attached. No screw propeller is required. There is a series of levers to regulate the wings, and a small motor. Four wheels are fitted to the body. The wings can bo folded and fixed to the side of the machine, which can oe adjusted so as to be utilised as a motor-car on the ground. The principal feature of this clever invention is the wings. For three years Mr. Passat—he is a Frenchman., by the way, although he has been restdent in England lor a number of years—has studied the flight of birds from the sparrow to the vulture and the ungainly wild duck, and he claims to have found the secret of how to fly as the birds fly. The wings have a rotatory motion which enables them to “grip” the air and harness the wind. Mr. Passat has so far tested the principle that by attaching the wings to his own body he has beeD raised several feet from the- ground, and sustained there for some little time. The machinery of the airship is kept a profound secret for the present ; but the invention is clearly one of great importance.