The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1911. FLYING MACHINES.

Waikato Times, Issue 12189, 26 September 1911, Page 4

The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1911. FLYING MACHINES.

The aeroplane fatalities that have been reported during the last few weeks will confirm Herr Eteoil Keller, a German authority, in his opinion that the really reliable flying machine has not yet 'been constructed. Herr Keller contends that the aeroplane is nothing better than a motor-driven kite, a t the mercy of the wind and weather, and that the inventors should have been guided in their designs by the example of the 'birds. Hj has determined, accordingly, to make a machine that will propel itself through the air With wings. The German, who has published an interesting little volume on the subject of scientific flight, states that ten years ago he built a flying machine with wings and a tail. It was 'destroyed 'by fire before completion, but the experiment had proceeded far enough to- satisfy him of the enormous power of the wings. He is now constructing a sscond flying machine, for which he has obtained a 30 h.p. motor weighing 85lb. The framework of steel tubing roughly imitates the shape of a bird, with two wheels under the tail to make movement on the ground possible. The two wheels are 'geared to the motor that on the ground the machine can propel itself. The machine is to carry a driver sitting in the breast and four passengers behind him. The wings of this strange machine are composed of "imitation feathers," which can be laid flat so as to present a continuous surface, or else turned so as to let the air pass 'between them. There is to be a broad tail and also some •"'bearing surfaces," which really are planes in disguise. Herr Keller has not explained in detail how his maphine as going to fly, but apparently he proposes that the motor shall cause the wings to flap like the pinions of a great eagle. His brother experts are frankly sceptical regarding the possibilities of human flight in this fashion. They urge that the bird is able to fly because' it can instantly and continuously adjust its balance with a nicety not to be aohieved by an insenate machine. But the cautious man of to-day hesitates to declare that anything is impossible. *