SECRET TESTS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20418, 24 September 1934, Page 8

SECRET TESTS.

Aeroplane Without Wings or Engine. DRIVEN BY HOT AIR. (Special to tlie “Star.”) PARIS, August 18. Two inventions, one of which may revolutionise the entire field of aviation —are being tested by the French Government. The first is an aeroplane—if it may be called that, since it has neither wings nor motor in the present sense of the words. The second is an aerial torpedo, lloth are the inventions of the same man Paul Dupuis <le Rolleghein, a war time pilot in the French Army. ► The aeroplane he has designed weighs only 3521 b, and will carry a load of 5381 b. It will travel approximatey 120 miles on less than five gallons of petrol. It will rise 1000 metres in seven minutes, vertically. It will land without any landing speed whatever. All Fuselage. It consists simply of fuselage. In front of the pilot's seat are a series of tiny wings forming part of the fuselage and made of duralium coated with a special preparation. In front of the aeroplane where normally would be the propeller are IS more of these little wings. Behind the passenger’s seat are ten of them. Instead of an engine there arc simple heating devices, three in all, any one of which can support the machine in its descent. These devices send hot air, at 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, coursing through the little wings. This creates a vacuum necessary to H£t the aeroplane, and —through the wings in front —to pull it forward. M. Kolleghem claims that his aeroplane will land and rise with a greater load, on a smaller fuel consumption, than any other machine now being built. The French Ministry of War is guarding closely the secret of M. de Rolleghem’s aerial torpedo. It is believed that it involves the construction of the new aeroplanes on a smaller scale with fixed or radio controls.