"AERIAL SWITCHBACK"

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15098, 20 November 1922, Page 8

"AERIAL SWITCHBACK"

MOTORLESS FLIGHT.

NEW WING FOR MEN-BIRDS

A new wing, which it is considered will revolutionise motorless flight, has resulted from secret research carried out in America. In contrast to the German lixed and rigidly-extended 'plane, the new wing, which imitates the action of a bird's, is hinged and flexible, so that it can be flattened or curved,. So "armed," the pilot will be able to make continuous flight; swift downward glides being followed by sleep climbs up the invisible hills of air.

An entirely new aspect is placed on the motorless flying problem by secret and costly research, which is on the eve of completion in the States. With magnificent laboratories, enthusiastic workers, and plenty of money, American science and airmanship are determined not merely to equal, but to excel, the recent engineless soarings of the Germans.

What, already, is bearing astonishing fruit is a secret quest—much of it carried out in the laboratory of that famed pioneer, Mr Orville Wright, brother of the late Wilbur Wright—into a new form of wing with which "men-birds" may furnish themselves.

The Germans, using a fixed, rigidlyextended wing, depend mainly upon upcurrents of air for their support when soaring.

American research, striking audaciously deeper into the problem, Is evolving a marvellous flexible 'plane, which imitates one if the principal actions of the bird's wing. This will, it is declared, enable expert human soarcrs not merely to rise in temporary up-gusts, but extract continuous "lift" and energy from fluctuations in a body of air moving horizontally in its relation to the earth;Hinged Wings.

How is such wizardry to be accomplished? In the first place it is now known that American research has evolved a wing which is not, as hitherto, one unyielding structure, but is divided, lengthways, into several movable sections or long strips, hinged most ingeniously; and the whole structure extraordinarily light, and yet at liie same time dependably strong.

Sitting in the cockpits of their gliders, the American test-pilots, who will first fly these machines, will have one of these new flexible wings stretched out on either side of them; and by a movement of levers they will be able instantly, while in the air, to adjust these wings—as does a soaring bird—so that at one moment they are almost flat, looked at from front to back, and the next moment heavily cambered or curved.

So far as the pilot is concerned, sitting snug in his central hull, a flight will resemble a glorious, thrilling form of "aerial switchback-," with long, swift, silent, breath-taking glides, followed by steep, purposeful climbs up invisible "hills" of air. Launch by Catapult.

This is the method. Launcned by a hydraulic catapult mechanism from hilltop or ; tower, the "bird man" will flatten his flexible wings and glide forward and downward at tremendous speed. On a dashboard, just in front of him in his cockpit, will be dials and marvellous ingenuity. They will tell him not only his speed through the air, and the precise rate, in feet, at which he is losing or gaining height, but also —thanks to the action of an extremely sensitive forward surface—what fluctuations are taking place in the horizontal travel of the wind as it impinges upon his craft. And now you may picture one of the most thrilling modes of travel mankind has ever devised.

Rushing "downhill" through the. air the pilot will have his eyes on quivering needles and telltale gauges. The crucial moment comes! The gaining of an immense forward momentum coincides with a sudden acceleration in the horizintal movement of the windstream into which he is heading. Swoop and Soar. Dexterously he moves levers. His flexible wings, ceasing to be flat, curve firmly and gracefully and "grip" the air in a way which suddenly converts that downward swoop into a splendid soaring climb. Gathering energy and lift, thanks to its momentum, and-wing movement from the quickened wind stream, the glider rushes "up-hill" now, like a thing of life. The altitude needle travels across its dial. Precious height is being gained each instant. But, like the cyclist who gains speed down one hill to help carry him up the next, this climber of intangible, invisible hills and dials is soon warned bv his speed-gauge that his pace is declining and his impetus falling away. Whereupon, quickly, he moves levers and flattens his wings, swooping away again, down an aerial incline, till he has gathered enough speed to profit by another climb up a "hill of wind." There, In a nutshell, is the new fascinating theory—the wing being its kevnote. For, there being almost always fluctuations in wind-strength, apart altogether from rising currents, it is believed that one of these drivers of a flexible-winged mechanical "bird" will, when skill in manipulations are gained, be able to "switchback" at speed'in long, purposeful, point-to-point flights, rushing down gradual air-slopes and then, wings arched, climbing with a sudden wind strength till his lost altitude is regained and he is ready for another swift, flat-winged glide. , . ' , The wonders we see to-day in aerial navigation are as nothing to the marvels we are now about to witness 1