FUTURE WARFARE IN THE AIR.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1248, 30 January 1896, Page 9

FUTURE WARFARE IN THE AIR.

EXPERIMENTS IN ARMY SIGNAL SERVICE. The officials of the army signal service have practically decided to buiJd a flyingmachine. When completed it will be used in a series of experiments whose object will be to determine, if possible, practicability of artificial soaring flight. The apparatus will probably be on the aeroplane or. aerocurve design, and is calculated to throw considerable light upon the relative merits of a device of that order and the balloon, which latter vehicle of aerial locomotion has been the object of study by military men during the past few years. The construction of the flying-machine will probably be under , the supervision of Captain Glassford, of the Department of Colorado, who, under General Greely, of Washington, chief signal officer, United States Army, has been carrying on extensive experiments in military ballooning for the past three years. Captain Glassford is making preparations for an extensive exhibit in connection with the Denver Exposition, to open on JuJy Ist, 1896. This exhibit will illustrate many of the conspicuous phases of military aeronautics. A whole department of the Exposition will be devoted to aerodynamics. During • the intervening years previous to the opening of the Colorado fair every effort will be made to construct an apparatus which may actually carry a man. The meohanism. to be constructed is what ia„, known as the soaring apparatus, the onljf : kind of flying-machine on the aeroplan«H order which has actual!}' succeeded hx J transporting a man in free air. One qM

these has been built and successfully usetl by Herr Lillienthal, a.German manufae-j turer, who succeeded in flying several hundred yards by its means. The same device has been made and improved by an American engineer living in New York City. A new apparatus on these lines will be constructed for the exhibit mentioned.

Captain Glassford is a sanguine enthjjj ast, both as to the future of his baSAjj experiments and the accomplishments! mechanical flight by means of the aerq-j plane. He believes that Professor Maximj in his late experiments, has presented] many new features of the flying-machine! The new soaring apparatus will greatly resemble a gigantic butterfly, with large curved but fixed wings, provided with a flat tail and upright keel projecting out behind. It will bo about thirty feet across, from tip to tip of wings, and about seven feet from front to back. It will expose about 160 square feet of surface. This surface will consist of fine cloth, stretched tightly over a framework of light wood, held in place by fine steel wire. There will be no movement of the wings whatever. The whole surface will be

: rigid, without hinges or joints for the I movement of one part against another^ The whole is designed to represent the I eagle in the act of soaring. From the, : centre of the machine to the front edge will be left an open space, to be occupiec by the aeronaut, who flies in a standing position. Herr Lillienthal, the Germar who made the first soaring apparatus or this pattern, started from the top of a LiJ I with his flying-machine, and, hy running against the wind, was able to sail forward and downward, holding fast to the frame! work in the centre. He made many sucll flights of several hundreds of yards, th| hill being about two hundred feet highj He has since built an artificial conical hill, about fifty feet high, on which he hal been expeririienting. 1 According to an English army officeil who witnessed his experiments, thl average length of his soaring was generl ally about ninety yards. LillienthJ conceived the idea of imitating the soarinß of those birds which appear to fly fcfl hours at a time without the slightest effort, apparently utilising every changj either of direction or intensity of windj He believes that soaring birds, like thl eagle or buzzard, far instance, while thuß in motion, derive their entire-support anfl motive power from the rising currents (M air believed to exist at certain altitudeH The soaring apparatus, therefore, if pefl fected and engineered by one who wefl understands the science of the bird! soaring, will he sent high in the al without aid of any motive power, eith<M Steam or electricity. Military aeronautiM ihas become a special study in all of tH great European armies, including those fl England, France, Germany, EussiH Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium and HoB land. Congress, however, has made littfl or no appropriation for this valuabß adjunct to our army. Experiments in J countries, so far, have been made wiß balloons only. But upon the perfectidH

of an apparatus which may be propelled and steered rapidly froth place to place, the functions of the balloon as a military agent will be lost. Our army's first balloon experiments were made with the captive balloon exhibited at the Columbian exposition. A still larger balloon than Mibis has since been built in France, under Captain Glassford's supervision. This is called the General Myer. It is spherical, having a capacity of, over 13,000 cubic feet. The envelope is of thousands of pieces of the thinnest membrane, stripped from the intestines Of oxen. Each piece is so thin that it would require about six hundred pieces, if piled upon one another, to make the thickness of an inch. For the sake of strength, however, the large bag is made in severallayers. The whole balloon is kept captive by a cable. In the daytime signals are sent from this by means of the heliograph. Searchlights in the military field can also be turned upon the balloon at night, to indicate signals in much the same manner. A searchlight may also be erected in - the car that a distinct view of the movements of an enemy may be seen at night, from distances of many miles. Captain Glassford has studied the English, French and German systems of military ballooning. He spent considerable time at Aldershot, England, "where many experiments in this science have been inade under the direction of the British laxmy. In a recent sham battle near 'Aldershot a balloon was used, but although | the aeronauts were able to study the movements of the enemy, they could, not feave the balloon itself from 'being captured. The approach' of the enemy, ■however, was observed, and although those below were unable to save the balloon from capture, the balloon signalled the latter to remove the gas tanks and other supplies to a place of safety. All of this goes to show that the balloon, although in peril itself, is an" invaluable means of defence and information to the army manipulating it. The English balloon, like ours, cannot, of course, be allowed to float freely in the air. It would be at the mercy of the wind, and migh> float directly over the territory of the enemy and eventually fall within their lines. Every military balloon except ihat used in France is a captive. In Prance the dirigible or steerable balloon j las received considerable attention. The arge French war balloon, known as La France, consists of a eigar-shaped envelope sontaining hydrogen gas. Inside is a ; fcfcrilar bag, which may be pumped full of ; Ht; thus keeping the outer envelope stiff Kd of proper shape. In the car is kept a R>werful bichromate battery, which runs In electric motor, driving in the rear a rery large, light, cloth covered screw Impeller. This balloon on the very lalmest of days has made trips of several loiles, returning safely to its starting ' mjk& speed of balloons of this pattern, '• is slow, averaging twelve or | larteen miles an hour, less than the ; rerage velocity of the wind at the heigths ] t* which La France travels —i.e., about - thousand feet high, within the range 'Comparatively small firearms. A first- < ass mortar —the only large gun which | ill throw a projectile directly upward— -, ill send a ball to the vertical height of ( rosiderably over a mile. The French ] Blieve that by doubling the dimensions of ( a - France she will travel twenty-five i iles an hour. In view of these disad- ( mtages in the balloon system of signal- , g, our experimenters are thus looking < lore toward the perfection of the aero- < ane or aero-screw idea. The best ] ithorities on flying-machines agree that i ieir first practical use will be as instru- i en'ts of war; not to take part in actual ( ittle so much, but as a means of com- t nnication. One might be guided over i jstile territory, where explosives might j > dropped, destroying bridges and other i eans of communication. A flying- f achine would be very much less likely ' i be hit by a gun aimed from the earth an would a balloon, on account of its i H&h smaller sizp, combined with its ; itreme speed, which some aerodynamics >W believe will noine., dav reach as high t ■2OO miles an hour.—New York Tele- , am.