FLYING WITHOUT MOTORS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19033, 10 June 1924, Page 7

FLYING WITHOUT MOTORS.

JEALOUSLY GUARDED SECRET. The Technical Service Department of the French War Office has secured a wonderful new airplane which has neither propeller nor motor, and is said to be able to fly 375 miles an hour. The machine is an invention of a French engineer, M. Fabrice Melot. Twelve other airplanes of the same type are now being constructed at Bois Colombes, near Paris . The new airplane, it is said, is based on the following principle:— Oil and compressed air are sucked through two tubes into a combustion, chamber, in which they are exploded. Then the burned gas is driven out violently through k series of valves of a special aud secret type. Air is driven with the burned-out gas and becomes mixed with it. The mixture is forced through tubes which have an outlet at the back of the airplane. The air and gas striking the atmosphere force the airplane forward.

When the inventor constructed his first machine of the new type he was obliged to use a motor in the airplane in order to compress the air and gas, but about three months ago he discovered a means of doing this automatically.

The utmost secrecy is preserved concerning the way in which thia is done, as this is part of the invention which makes the new airplane so valuable.

After the war the French Government advanced money for M. Melot to carry on his experiments, but at the end Of 1918 financial support was withdrawn, and the inventor carried out his experiments at his own expense. In September last M. Melot demonstrated his invention before aviation officials, and secured considerable financial assistance from the Government.

M. Melot was born in Paris 30 years ago. He was severely wounded in the war, losing an eye. He worked as designer in au electrical factory for a time, until he had raised some money for his experiments.

He is said to have spent much time in experimenting with various materials for the construction of his combustion chamber, but finally hit on a material which is kept secret, and which is said to be light, but able to resist the enormous temperature brought about by the combustion of air and compressed gas.