EARLY TROUBLES OF FLYING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10760, 6 May 1911, Page 3 (Supplement)

EARLY TROUBLES OF FLYING.

(By J. Armstrong Dre.xel.) When a man takes to flying he enters up on a c are er which is the most , roU blcsome and yet at the same time »fi C most fascinating that has ever yet been opened up for human beings, lie - ra j.:s a realm for which nature never intended him. All his instincts teach tim that to ascend high above the earth ■ t0 e ourt death and that to trust himself to so flimsy and so breakable a thing is an aeroplane is to go to the extreme of recklessness and daring. 1 Bat man is so strangely constituted jjjat the very thought of danger ill at--.lininK the hitherto unattainable holds » compelling fascination for him that Vereonies all sense of the consequences an *i makes a final triumph an exhilaration that repays him amply for all -hat it costs. ' i imagine that the first prehistoric -an who found that lie could uso the sicd to propel him through the water £ a crude craft hewn from a rough log gjjs; have felt something of this joy ; rten to-day feel it as they dash with speed "of the wind in their highrevrered racing automobiles. But after jll these two things overcame no very ,-eat difficulties and at no point on ijci or water did nature say decisively, • l'oa shall not do it." The realms of the air have through •„ e 3;: es been for the birds alone. Sudfound himself the possessor r? V secret which enabled him to enter !*is r ealm. He built for himself wings, in a marvellously short space of tie he found himself outdoing the very tirds in some ways and on the threshold " c : i future whose vastness no man can Vict. _ He can fly. He can rise among the and circle about with them,' sceedins faster than most of them and sarins almost at will in the realm that •njj been forbidden to him. ' * admiration is unbounded for those yst" men who actually rose off the rennd in their crude heavier-than-air machine 5 and defied nature with their . el f-fonnd toy. Each of us who have frfloired has had to prove his nerve and -,: £ £ kiil. but we know when we start 4 learn that the machines we trust- ourilres to are right, that they will fly if jroperly handled, and that there is no ; e ry pro at secret about it at all because I has heen done before, and we need aerely do as our predecessors did. But •vV first men dashed absolutely into 7. c ~ unknown. They had only their to guide them and to tell them ijjt tn do, and they had no way of •ets: certain that these theories were innate in time of need. "trill. I think that any man who goes ■jroash the early stages of learning to an <i aeroplane and who continues to once he has learned is entitled to a fsain amount of credit, and has proved iii his nerve is good and his courage ■- eo means wanting. I know of nothing in the world much -cr>'ilisfou raging than these first atvspts to flv. Not long ago Captain facias S. Baldwin, the veteran bnl->r.i-t and aviator, investigated the lni.-et. and as a result he declared that wrv beginner in aviation smashes up :ff: worth of property before he cm J a certificate of competency; and can easily imagine the risk to life ■.;! limb that is constantly run while 5* gedglinpt flights are being made. 'l~ my n tvii case when the mechanics Vr, of my machine for my first flight • V V.i! p.? though I were going 1o ; : -rr-.v this statement, but it was not -;i>rnnd<s thereafter before 1 v-I riiat. if anything. Captain Bald- :■■■ .-:i:nate of port was altogether iiy first lesson was taken OrMiame- \V!iit«> at Tau. His Hie- I equipped with an Anzani r, fur it was before Gnome bad • : ;: ,i >(i upon the market, and it 1»1 v fortunate for me that ray . ■!it! not have the greater horso--r (!• -vi-loped by the latter type of

.thai time we did not have the - . machines which are used now r ■ aviation schools and which ; man running along the ground :: : : ' power to rise until he has thoroughly accustomed to his ;; T.liirle and the operation of the lias become instinctive. I r«i n- did most- of the men who - ■ !•■ a success of the work. The were explained to me and I ;i thorough study of the theory on " i tife machine operates. I knew what to do to make the tnonoiie o> up or down or steer to right and I knew how to warn tiis- ■ ;.i preserve my balance, that is, I :■ things in theory, though I -li'!: course never tried them in prac-"S-7." said Grahame-White. "you :a!ii- a ran along the ground and *:: can steer the machine. The ■•! i? r.i'-d so that you cannot go up air. and all you are to do is to ;.»ing straight and shut off your v h> n von conic to the end of the -rvthmg seemed perfectly simple to i uith the knowledge tlm- the i>f the steering post would preo rising from the ground I felt ;r my tir.st jaunt would be nothing than rolling over the grass in a -•J '>["• nt automobile. » my • was siarted and when /jr(ip< [li r got going at a fair speed th*> signal to the,mechanics who r"-,t«!'ling the machine to let go and ! ir.v-elf dash forward smoothly ■-r iii.. -round. I believed that all I a; to 'in was to leave the machine I""'' ~i ii alone and it would go in a ; S:;ht line until I stopped the enin this I was destined to meet a great surprise, for instead of !::i - straight ahead I found myself go".'irDTuiil in 3 circle to the left, and j&t br-fil re I knew it I was back at I parting place and had stopped the flrahame-White explained tome r -"i I!I rint always has a tendency to :■> t'ii- left when it is running ground. This is due to the . v >:ir i thrust of the propeller and a-. i- effect of the air pressure 011 ''than another. r lining instructed to steer with • ■ .Vi'.r |,.j-iT until I got going at full i -iarti-d off again. This time, V : " hist sign of a pnll toward the. ■ ■ 1 thrust out my right foot and .1 i'■ r the other way. Once more ti, this, and then I attained -i -po, 1! nu,l was able to keep on in a i-iir line down the course. the utmost confidence the tying of the wheel would make for me to rise from the I had not the slightest nervously 1 -- t - the outcome of my journey, M t!if.rn:ighly enjoyed my dash down Rah- level earth at a rate of "thirty <.r thirty-five miles an " :lt again I was destined to a. I surprise. a surprise that taught c riy much as one teaches a boy v*"* 1 . 1 '" throwing him in the water ■j'''"ing him strike ont for himself. t!;<> Ind of the mile straightaway i.iurse was a road crossing the ri-lit angles and at an clcva- '' - vral feet above the rest of ~ Without thinking, much U:n road and feeling perhaps that ' nnd so gradual an embank--5 " ri;N !! " [ a serious obstacle, I went ; :r -~ iiirrrilv on and up the slope tin- highway. ; ®'' : I stopped to argue the theory thing I would have shut off my long before I reached this eni-''"r--nt. Hut I was full only of the t "renting a new machine and v'-'i bother me. Conse--7 I iln.-hi.-d past the rojd, and a rr..!:,!ti.s hiter my utter astonisliv-"'; 1 " ''' imagined when I suddenly that I was not upon the ground ,i:| t Was sailing gracefully 'hi- air at a height of, about- '■ almve the earth. ;i,' ' x l'!auation of this fluke is sim- ," r ii;ii t,i me now. When tho front KaV-lt took the slope of the !it it rose until the slant of jLJ'';""-- 'vas exactly what was ncces>V ri i t ®' l> impact of the air to get „"; er tin i,. ri nd give the required lift—.for the machine to fly. In the embankment did for y '- a " I might have done for myself ®y wheel not- been tied, and itMachine upward into the air rnilv and as easily as though it j' n ° : '"'-n purposely operated for fv/'u' >v the most skilful aviator. ' ; tho first few minutes my astonishJjt,- so great that I did absolutely "it motionless and let the iisj; 'ts course. Then I pulled .V'-i th-T and tried to remember that Grahamc-White had 'Thout how to manage the mathe smooth fields and was fly- - rnugh and dangerous ground

that would have meant instant disaster had I landed upon it. So, in order to turn I thrust niv left foot gently foiward. and 1 shall never forget my thrill of triumph as I found the Bleriot gradually sweeping about in a wide and easy circle to the left that soon brought ine again hack to the smooth fields and facing toward the direction from which. I had come. " As-1 approached my starting-place I shored my wheel gently forward, •as I had been instructed to do to come down, and a few moments thereafter 1 landed as lightly as a bird, feeling that my first flight had been indeed a triumph unmarred in <my way and entirely disproving the discouraging things 1 had heard about the difficulties of learning to fly. But my feeling of triumph had come entirely too soon, and was destined to. receive a severe setback. Truo I did land beautifully, as beautifully as any expert could have done,' but 1 had not taken into consideration the fact that after touching the gronnd I Jiad to roll along on the easy running wheels of the machine until I lost my momentum. I landed with the wind, and, going at a speed of between' fifty and sixty miles and hour, and not twenty feet from where I touched the ground was a high fence. Into this I crashed at full speed. I felt a sudden jar and heard the loud noises of splintering wood all about me —so loud indeed that I felt that the heavens were tumbling about my ears. Then I felt another jar as I fell to the earth, and_ when I had recovered my sense sufficiently to examine the wreck I found that there was not much left except the seat and 'me. For the scat I had no very "high regard, but I was mighty glad and grateful to find that I was able to get up and walk about' with only a score or so of sore spots distributed over my body.

I must have been a sight to behold. From the very beginning of my flight, unaccustomed as 1 was to hurtling at such a rate through the air, the wind had lashed my eyes as though with whipcords and my eyeballs had. become sore and. inflamed. The oil from the engine had been dashed back on to my face, and there it had mingled in grimy brotherhood with the water that streamed from my eyes under the lashing of the wind. It took me {i loug while to get used to this pain caused in the eyes by the rushing air, and during the next few weeks, when I began flying with the Gnome engine I got a double dose of lubricating oil in my hair, all over my ■ face and down my neck, so that my early days of flying, while full of the exhilaration of a new experience, were not- by any means beautifying, nor did I feef clean for a long time afterward, for it was practically impossible to scrub the burned oil out of the pores of the skin.

it may be well to explain to those who are net familiar with aviation motors that the Anzani is a three-cylin-der engine, developing about 25 horsepower, and with the cylinders set two in a V shape and the third perpendicular between them. The Gnome is a seven cylinder, star-shaped engine, and the whole thing revolves around the crank. In other words, the Anzani has its cylinders stationary and revolves the crank shaft, whereas in the Gnomethe entire star-shaped engine goes whirling around at the rate of 1200 to 1-500 revolutions a minute, carrying the propeller around with it. "It can easily be imagined how this revolving engine will throw oil around by the tremendous centrifugal force it develops. Nowadays they have fitted a inetal hood around the engine and 'this prevents the oil from spattering hack upon the aviator and blinding him, but in tile old days we had no sncli protection and a five minutes flight was enough to give our faces a solid coating of mingled water from the eyes and burned oil thrown out from the Hying cylinders and dashed back upon us by the rush of wind. I flew with the first Gnome engine ever put upon the market. It was a short time alter I had taken my initial lessons from Grahame-W hite, and when I was in the school run by lileriot hi inself at j'aii. I was anxious to try the new tvpe of engine, which in its pieliminary trials had made such a tremcn{tons stir ill the world of aviation, and I was fortunate in being able to purchase a machine with the first commercial Gnome engine installed upon

It was a vastly different ivatter to start a flight with tiii-s new power plant. Instead of having an easy run along the ground and lifting at a ew j of about thirty miles an hour as 1 had done with Grahame-Whito's Anxam l nov.- found mvseif rushing along at nearly fifty miles an hour almost as soon as the mechanics let go ot the

machine. ... > :11 v pnm* eyes got a lashing which I shall "never"forget and which 't"ilv -iwriv blinded me until I became accustomed to living at this tremendous £|K*ed. but my experience has firm'v convinced me of one thing, antl riuit 'ir thai ti::- i:--r. ice v. !-o learns to ft" r. H'-erh-t :houid begin with the Anzani motor. :i-id not attempt to use the 'iowerful Gnome until he has prett\ thoroin'hl*' mastered the control ot his machine. ' Then he is able to cope with the greater difficulties of the highpowered revolving motor and he can take his place in the ranks of expert aviators. , , From the very first "the one phase ot aviation that held a really pow erf ill fascination for mo was altitude* climning. All novices at the. schools not only at I'au but elsewhere in Europe had been content to flv for months at a height not exceeding fifty or seventy-five feet from the ground. This never seemed to me to be really flying. I rcarded it onlv as little more exciting "than riding" in an automobile. No sooner had I tried my fledglmg wings thai: I looked longingly into the upper air and wanted to climb as far as my engine would carry me. Oi: the third day of my practice at the Bleriot school with the Gnome motor I decided to take affairs into my own hands and disregarding all the advice that had been given me 1 headed the machine upward and climbed close to one thousand feet, when suddenly one after the other three of my cylinders went bad and I was forced to coast down to the ground again.

It was the result of some minor defect in the new engine and when it. was repaired I took my equipment with me t-o i::y place at Heaulicu in rmglaiid, there to practise a bit and then to tr\ for mv certificate or aviator s license. I became nrofieient in a rcmavKab y short time. "When I felt that I could pass inspection I had the officials of the Kn.dish Aero Club appoint a day when I should try for my certificate, but 1 was determined that 1 would not pfj'." the coveted paper by any mere exiiili!.tion of plain flying a short distance above the ground. I wanted to go up —up —up, and nothing but- a high liignt would suit me. . I spoke to one of the ofhcials aliout it. but he sliook his head dubiously. "■'Yon are onlv a novice," he said. '•You had better do just enough to-day to get votir certificate and let your altitude work go until'vou are more pro1 'would not be satisfied with this, however, and so I sent for a navy officer who was an expert in-the use ot a sextant and when all was ready X mounted my machine. An official came up to wish me good luck and just- before my mechanics started the propeller

I asked. . ••What is the English height- record "Paulhan lias it," ,he replied. "It is 977 feet. - "Well." I said as I turned away. 1' am izoirijj to try to licat that." I started off in wide circles and the rirst two limes I p.isstd over the heads of tiie olGcials I saw one of them wave a r.-i! flap, tho signal for the officer with" the sextant to take my height. Higher and higher I went, but I was surprised not to see the flag wave, after that and I ca.no to earth again. "How much did I do.- 1 I asked the ii3vv officer. • . ,•,,,, '•Ten hundred and forty feet, lie replied. "You have broken tho English altitude- record and I behove you wentivice as high as that, but unfortunate! v the man who was to signul me with the flag got mixed* up somehow and i only took your height on your Gr=t and second circles," Tl-.K l :i ve of altitude wcrk lias beer, mv ."onsiant passion ever siiiro. Mere!' U''t 'iito n!i :.T.tplnne and fly 110 f<ii:-i"r lias any fascination for me. I want to keep yoinn up until T am sure r lint 1 am higher than any man lias ever bser. b-.-forc in a heavier than ail machine. and though not lcng ago I al-

most determined to givr up aeroplane work I now feci the desire growing Wronger upon lr.e and it would not surprise m" if i tried for another iecord this spring. When 1 compare my beginnings with the beginnings of other men who are living I am forced to admit that I have been more than usually fortunate. I know several cases in which the wouldbe aviator has spent nearly a month doing little more: than making short -hops from theground and often smashing upon landing. In fact so general is this experience that most European schools compel their pupils to spend the first three or four weeks doing' nothing but rolling along the ground and steering to right and left. After that they spend another month barely rising off the earth arid coining clown again as softly as possible and then another month circling low around the field. Not until then arc they considered competent to do any really free work or to try for an aviator's certi-

jficate. There is 110 time to think of what to do when a contrary gust of wind strikes the end of a piarie. The moment that in taken for thought is all that is refill: red to get the machine beyond the critical-angle and after that nothing that the aviator can do can save it.

Eternal practice and unfailing patience r.re necessary when the average man ' takes to f'vihg. Day after day he must go out "grass cutting" as they say at Mineola when the novices roll along the ground or talce only short, low- jumps into the air. This is not exciting and it will seem to the would-be pilot that hq is making slow progress,' hut as a matter of fact he is training Ill's mind and his muscles to work in unison and by instinct, and this faculty alone is worth all the trouble it takes to acquire it once i> if. called into play in a bad spot high above the earth.