Early Aeronauts

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22000, 5 January 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)

Early Aeronauts

It is such an 'ordinary thing to-day to see aeroplanes flying overhead that we have almost lost our sense of wonder, at these marvels, which have been brought about by man's skill and aring and patient experiment. We look upon the aeroplane as a modern invention, the latest triumph of man's clever brain and unfaltering courage, but more than four centuries ago men were attempting to make tiding machines. One of these early experimenters was Leonardo da Vinci, an Italian, best known to. the world as a famous artist, but who gave a great deal of his time to science and inventions. To read of his patient work on his airships and his many disappointments is very interesting. He B&id: 11 if the eagle can sustain itself in th'e rarest atmosphere and great fehips by sails float across the sea, cannot man fly by means of powerful wings?" So he set to work. _ In his first attempt the wings of his plane were attached. to a beam, and wore worked by means of cords and pulleys. He soon realised, however, this would be far too heavy, and clumsy, so hedecided to devise something better. His new machine " was like an enormous bat. The body of the wings was formed by live wooden lingers, like a skeleton hand, with many joints and pliant articulations. Tendons and muscles, connecting these fingers, wero formed by strips of tanned leather r«! id laces of raw silk. The wing rose by means of a crank and moveable piston, and was covered by impermeable taffeta, resembling thu webbed foot of a goos«. There were four wings moving in turn like the legs of a horse, their length being five times as great as their spread. They bent backward for propulsion, and dropped to make the machine rise." All this sounds clumsy and rather absurd to-day, no doubt, but, considering how little was then known to the theory and practice of flying, it was a proof that da. Vinci was on the right trick. Unfortunately, "however, in those days, petrol as a. means of power was unknown, and the would-be aviator liad only man-power on which to depend to propel his machine. In da Vinci's machine the pilot or driver had to sit in it astride, "witli his feet in stirrips, to move the by a complicated machinery of cords, blocks and levers. There was a great rudder attached, which was feathered like a biid's tail, and had to be turned by movements of the driver's head. It can easily be imagined there '•as not much chance of success with these primitive methods, and the wonder is that men had the great courage to trust themselves; in the air in such machines. Again da Vinci realised that his new machine would never fulfill its purpose, and patiently set to work to design another. This time he made his flying machine on the prin-

By I. M. CLUETT

ciple of the swallow rather than the bat. The skeleton of the machine was made of light cane, overlaid with a network, of bullock's tendons, and he studied for hours, days and weeks the flight of birds, bees and moths in the hope of solving the secret of flight. Poor da Vinci never won success, for his machines failed to rise, and his unfortunate mechanic, who believed in his master blindly, was nearly killed in an attempt to fly by binding the great wings to his shoulders. But farther back still men were attempting to fly. Before the Norman Conquest, an English monk made such an attempt on wings, which he attached to his hands and feet, but, as might be expected, he came to grief and was crippled foxvlife. Others too experimented, and were all killecr* or injured. The only successes, appeared to be made with gliderß and parachutes, which was actually not flight at all. At last it came to be believed that flight by man's own efforts was an impossible dream, and for some time no more attempts to solve the mystery of flight were made. Then, in the eighteenth century, interest in flying machines began to revive. The first navigable air machine was made in 1834, resembling the sausage-shaped dirigibles of to-day, though nearly a hundred years before hot-air balloons had successfully risen in the air. This was, however, rightly thought not to be flying, as the balloons were at the mercy of wind and weather, and could not be successfully steered, and therefore a machine which actually moved through the air as it was directed was thought to be the solution of the air problem at last. This machine, however, and another bliilt early in Queen Victoria's reign, had to carry steam engines, and (hough this second one, known as the " aerial steam carriage," very much resembled in outward appearance the modern plane, it was found that engines and fuel were too great a load for it to carry, and once more man s dream of flying seemed to be fading away. Another attempt w;as made, however, by Sir Hiram Maxim, who built a huge flying machine to carry three men, and fitted up with a steam engine. This, too, was found to be too heav.v for any practical purpose, though it flew in the air successfully. Parts of it now are to be seen as a curiosity in the Albert and Victoria Museum in London. Now that man's ambition to fly is fully realised, and in all parts of the world we see the ships of air rushing through space, it is hard to visualise (jhe days when it was all an unaccomplished dream, and yet is not all honour due to those pioneers of flight, who gave their time and labour and very often their lives, in the effort to learn the secrets of the air P.