The Crossing of the English Channel.

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 11, 1 September 1909, Page 378

The Crossing of the English Channel.

When Wilbur Wright said that the crossing of the Channel, which he refused to attempt, would prove nothing, he spoke in a way which only the experts understood. Since then the narrowly won success of Bleriot's attempt and Latham's two failures

have enabled the whole world to take due cognisance of the reason why the crossing is such a difficult thing. The experts thought of the danger, however, as may be judged from the article which appeared in the August number of "London" (colonial edition), from which we reproduce the picture of the arrangements suggested for the crossing. The prize offered by the Daily Mail of £1000 had stimulated the energies of all the aviators. There was considerable hesitation, and for good reason enough. The experts knew well enough the difference between their performances round a closed circuit and a voyage across the unknown atmosphere. In the circuit one is in a region to some extent familiar, and comparatively safe. "Whereas, in the outer atmosphere

one is at the mercy of the unknown and the unexpected, and the sudden. The men who knew the complexities of the air as discussed above concluded that the vicinity of a great body of water must make that complexity more complicated. There are the waves rising and falling; great masses of incompressible water, and there is the highly compressible air responding to their impressions in a thousand directions. There are the cliffs, moreover, on either shore, with air currents of their own to add to the complication. To the yachtsman it is well kitown that the wind changes are frequent and without warning, and meteorologists b?v that the variations of the wind velocity are great at different

levels. On the whole, then, the complexity is such that the suggestion was made by experts to anchor a line of motor boats across the channel, each boat carrying a pole with a captive balloon attached, each balloon at a different height from the others and having its own height displayed on a large flag for the guidance of aeronauts anxious to minimise the aerial complexity by flying high for the greater part of the distance. In case of accident the fall of the machine would be seen by the people in the motor craft in time for a swift rush to meet the machine about the time of its descent into the waves. These suggestions show the nervous feeling with which the experts were inspired by the proposal to cross the Channel. But enterprise never waits for the timid.

Latham took his courage in both hands and fell in the middle; and Bleriot, following, had the narrowest escape frora the dreaded complexity, which threw him completely out of his reckoning, very nearly sending him into the sea at the foot of the famous cliffs. It was apparently only on the pier at Dover that the daring, much-buffeted, aeronaut managed at last to land. It was thought owing to a mistake in the description of the course he followed that he got away into the southern counties, reaching Windsor after a prosperous flight. But the truth turned out to be that he had only reached Dover, and that he could not have flown another yard to save his life. After him Latham made another attempt, and

once more came to grief, falling this time not in the middle of the Channel, but close to the end of his journey. His unhappy failures have emphasised the difficulty which had confronted Bleriot and measured the narrowness of his escape.. The article in the London contained a prophetic piece of description: "The air has not yet been conquered. It is giving up its secrets grudgingly. Those who probe them sometimes scarcely know the portent of what they have discovered." Perhaps both Bleriot and Latham will subscribe after the event to this which was written before. The article goes on to point out the limitations of the motor-driven aeroplane, owing to which it is compelled to keep over a plain or open stretch of ground so as to be ready to come down at any moment. The reason

is that the engine of the aeroplane must be lightened and lightened "until it is a miracle of sparseness and strength." It i^ moreover very well said "that whirling propellors at more than a thousand revolutions a minute the piston must race at excessive speeds. The result is only natural: often it races itself to a standstill. In fact, it is wonderful that these aerial engines keep up even as long as they do. Then the aeroplanist, with his motor power gone, has no choice. Down he must come; come quickly with a gliding rush, unable to pick the exact point of his contact with earth, and only saved from accident by tho fact that there are no obstructions below him." Moreover, the aviator has to study every adverse current. It is not the difficulty of the distance. Longer distances have been done by the Wrights — Wilbur has kept up for two hours at fifty miles an hour, and Orville has done fifty miles in fifty-two minutes. Other aeronauts have rivalled fast trains. But speed is not the point, it has been truly remarked. Sudden changes of winds are common in the Channel, as all yachtsmen know, and there are vertical currents swirling upwards, more especially in stormy weather, of which no machine

has as yet been able to measure the strength. Meteorologists agree in regarding the wind conditions of the channel as remarkably complex. They even go so far, many of them, as to declare that these wind conditions may be Britain's best defence against the aerial warship, as they were once against the Spanish Armada. Of the manner in which the aeroplane is enabled to fly the world is quite aware by this time. Two long planes of rigidly stretched fabric, curved slightly to resist the pressure of the air when thrust broadways through the atmosphere at high speed, are found to be capable of supporting the weight of the pilot and the propelling engine. That is the principle. There are many details, such as balancing planes. rudders and wing warps, but the main thing is that the air supports the aeroplane only if it is propelled fast enough The monoplane has been devised to do the same thing with greater lightness, and has succeeded up to a certain point. Bleriot for instance, has flown nearly ns far and nenrly as fast as the Wrights. But the

monoplane type is not yet proved to have acquired the stability of the biplanes with which the Wrights, Farmans, Delagranges and Voisms have achieved such renown. But it is the unexpected that always happens. Therefore the machine that has conquered the Channel is a monoplane. It remains to be seen whether the champions of the bi-plane will take up the challenge implied by the first crossing, and steer a machine over from one coast to the other. They ha^ c in their favour the fact that the victory of the monoplane was, after all, a Pyrrhic victory. The chance is open to them of obtaining one more substantial It must be borne in mind that in their celebrated independent flights — Farman between the camp at Chalons in his Voisin bis-plane, and the City of Rheims, and Bleriot over a circuit of open country independently chosen in a monoplane on the lines first projected by Santos Dumont — both enjoyed complete success. In the Channel trial, then, the monoplane has gained a Pyrrhic victory, and it remains to be seen whether the bi-plane will have better fortune. We give a sketch of the Wright bi-plane with particulars of how to work the same. Tlrs type enjoys the highest reputation for stability.