Aeroplanes Improved.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7, 14 August 1912, Page 54

Aeroplanes Improved.

THE MONOPLANE BEST FOR SI'EEP. The race round London, though there were so few starters, presented a fine opportunity for taking stock of the progress made in flying machine construction during the past year, and the gradual elimination of Hie Element of Chance. In regard to monoplanes or machines, nearly all arc now fitted with a type of hurricane deck, forming part of either a streamline or boat-.shaped body section, that enables pilot, passenger; petrol-tank, and so forth to la. shielded from the wind caused by the passage of the 'plane through the air. To some there are also fitted inspection glasses, which enable the pilot to see without exposure of his head Now that the age of cross-country acroplan:ing has arrived, flyers steer by compass specially designed so as not to be affected by elect rieit.t or vibration, and by special aviators' maps, wherein all the. distinctive features to be seen lielow in passage “are indicated in pictorial fashion, so that the pilot can cheek the accuracy of his compass or correct his course by prominent- landmarks.

The exhibition demonstrated once again that ■ for mere speed work the monoplane is still leading. One of the most interesting of the machines competing was the Cauldron monoplane, which has the back end of the wing shaped something like the ripple of waves, instead of being in a straight line, as regards the front edge, and for some distance backwards, but the rear half of each wing is left quite pliant, instead of being rigid. This is the result of experiments, carrying out much of the principle of a bird's whig. It has been held for some time that the flexibility of a bird's feather tips contributes in large measure to its stability when flying.-..ami certainly' the Cauldron inonoplffi*»J» flic's remarkably steadily.

The aeroplane performances were another tribute to the present day ascendancv of the Gnome engine, but at the same time it is becoming quite clear that • unless the Gnome is very much improved it will noit long retain -its pride of place. The Cauldron 'plane, with its 45-h.p. Anzani motor, proved, only the merest, shade slower than Sopwith's Gnome Bleriot up to the time its pilot -had to descend, owing to petrol shortage, and the Maurice Farman biplane, with its 70-h.p. Renault engine, gave a- remarkable display of quick-rising with a passenger. Apart from power, a .good deal lias been done to render machines more manageable When‘ the engines are switched off. Most of the devices for main'taiiiing lateral balance are still in the experimental stage, but .already machines have'been evolved which, .in spite of their greatly enhanced speed,'do not require a tithe of the physical effort to control them tiiait was required in the days when ‘'airmen" were pleased to be able to' flutter a few hundred yards, forty or fifty feet above Mother Earth Much more, of course, has to be accomplished in this direction, and the'avoidance of mishap .still depends to a very considerable extent'on the. pilot’s sense of balance and close attention to his machine, but it is an incontestable fact that the strain on pilots has been greatly .'diminished of .lull - .