The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1909. AVIATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13991, 28 August 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1909. AVIATION.

The brief cable messages we have been able to publish regarding the aviation, tourney at Kheims, must have made many of our readers envious of those who were privileged to see so many flying-ships. careering through space. Perhaps such persons will not have long to wait for, a lesser degree of satisfaction-in seeing one or two flying about South Canterbury. The machines are becoming more and more satisfactory, and the desire to enjoy a new sensation—one deciarad to he delightful—will surely cause soma well-to-do New Zealandors to procure them. In spite of the notable success of the Zeppelin dirigible balloon,with its considerable carrying capacity and its ability to make long journeys in ordinary conditions of weather, the real interest in aviation is centered upon the hoavier-than-air machine, of the type evolved ♦from the "gliding" kites 'of various American experiment* ters, including- the brothers Wright. Public opinion. 'in America, in England,; and France accepts this principle as the better of the two, while in. Ger« many the driven balloon seems to be most favoured; at all events wo do not hoar anything of German "mono-" or " bi-planes." So far the " fliers "■ have been but small, carrying two or three person's at most; whereas a, Zeppelin has carried twenty passengers. It, may be that the. fliers can never be made large, though it would be rash to assert it. Count 'Zeppelin himself has said that machines will always be too costly for anyone but Governments or sporting millionaires; and from the enormous amount of material and skilful workmanship required for the construction of one of them, this is obviously true, whereas the flier, of the small sizes hitherto made, is a somewhat simple affair, so far as material and workmanship go, apart from the motive power. The development of the-motor-car has been of immense service to aviation, through the amount of ingenuity that has been expended upon improving and lightening petrol engines. The contraction of lisdit motors has 'progressed far since Sir Hiram Maxim carried the steam engine which he fitted to the experimental aeroplane he constructed —now some years ago—which wrecked itself .by rising off the track it was intended to remain upon. An account in a Home paper of the Antoinette engine made for. Mr Latham, says that the cooling attachments of the engine are so thin that one could crush them with tke list. The end of invention in respect to motors is surely not yet in view. There are hints that l)e Laval, of milkseparator fame, lias a petrol turbine almost ready for the market. Then there are other' notions which may be developed into practical successes, such for instance ns the machines which dispense -not only with balloons, but also with gliding planes. A machine of this type is stated to have made good trial (lights in France; and two Wellington men have made .a successful, model which rises and sustains itself in the air by the operation of its propellers only. Soaring flight is comparatively rare among birds, and it may be that flight by tireless wings that have no back-stroke will prove the final form of the commercial " aero." An engineer friend thinks so; and that there is no particular limit to be placed upon the size or carrying capacity of lliors constructed on -that principle, because the " wings" can be multiplied, and the more pairs of them the safer the ship. Whatever the practical final form of the living-ship maybe, it is gratifying that so much progress has been made in so short a time; and this augurs well for further progress in the near future. It would not he entirely foolish to suggest that the naval Dread noughts, built, building, and projected, will be "scrapped"a good deal sooner than would otherwise be the case, through the brilliant] results of the experiments of Zeppelin,, th-> Wrights, Farmaii, lileriot, Latham,and the "rest of the aeronautical advent hirers.