CONQUEST OF THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14000, 4 March 1909, Page 5

CONQUEST OF THE AIR.

GERMAN RESEARCH WORK. By Telegraph:— Press Allocution.—Copyright ■'\ ; -m.■;';•. V'.-''.v'"'••: Berlin, March 2The firm of Krupps, Essen; , has given £500 to the Gottirigen University towards ) establishing ; a professorship for research work; in aeronautics. ;'. v ':";'''';':■ l '■■■'. AEROPLANE ACCIDENT. WILBUR WRIGHT'S MACHINE. London; March 2. ■' Owing to the propeller of his aeroplane becoming: entangled with the starting machine Mr. ; Wilbur Wright and his passengers were thrown to the , ground during experiments ' at Pau, in France. The passengers.were, uninjured, ; but i the aeroplane ■ was damaged. ' : ''

; Great strides have been made' recently i both in the construction of aeroplane* and airships, the Wright Brothers—-Wilbur and Orville —being in the forefront in regard to the former. % They are the sous of a clergyman,' of Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., and owned a 6maJl cycle factory there, 'where they -began to experiment in gliding machines in 1900. ■'•'■■' >: Gradually they developed practicable flying machine. ;;• In 1908 Wilbur Wright went to Paris with his' aeroplane, and his machine was greatly admired by French aviators. M. Lazare Weiller; arranged to purchase the French patents for 500,000 francs, and stated in September last that he had given an order for the construction of 50 aeroplanes. . .Mr.. Orville Wright remained in America, and directed; his efforts towards satisfying ; the tests imposed by the' U.S. Government when ; it invited tenders ■• for .' a heavier-than-air machine. The longest aeroplane.;"' is :' 10 metres long. The horizontal bi-plane rudder for regulating height of flight is ,in front, and the vertical; bi-plane rudder for steering at the back. The motor, of 25 h.p.i in one case, and 30.35 h.p. in the other, is one designed by the" Wrights, and drives two wooden propellers, 2.80 metres in diameter, revolving in opposite -directions. 1 Others who have achieved a large; measure of;success' with their aeroplanes are Mr. Henry Farman .! (who won '• the DeutschArchdeacori prize of . 50,000 f francs, and the Armequand prize :of 10,000 francs last year), M. Delgrange (who has carried son trials at Rome and Paris), *Ml Blariot, and Mr. Herring, the latter, like the Wrights, being an American. In the matter of airships, the names of M. Santos Uumont, M. Lebaudy, and Count Zeppelin, are the best known. j Zeppelin's airship,' in;particular, attracted much attention, and when it was destroyed; by a ? hurricane, the 'Reichstag voted a large sum of money, which was supplemented by public subscriptions totalabout £300,000, in order to enable him to continue' * his experiments. ;; Germany, above all other nations, appears to Ibe bent on the conquest of the air, with its almost limitless possibilities. - ■ . ' ; .■>•' ;