Flying Machines: Construction and Operation A Practical Book Which Shows, in Illustrations, Working Plans and Text, How to Build and Navigate the Modern Airship

size the surface planes should be about twice as large as those of the 20-foot glider, viz: 40 feet spread instead of 20, and 6 feet deep instead of 3. The horizontal beams, str...

Until recently, American aviators had not given serious attention to any form of flying machines aside from biplanes. Of the twenty-one monoplanes competing at the International...

Motors for flying machines must be light in weight, of great strength, productive of extreme speed, and positively dependable in action. It matters little as to the particular f...

Greatest Speed Per Hour, Whatever Length of Flight, Aviator Alone--E. Nieuport, Mourmelon, France, June 21, Nieuport Machine, 82.72 miles; with one passenger, E. Nieuport, Mouml...

[5] There is a wonderful performance daily exhibited in southern climes and occasionally seen in northerly latitudes in summer, which has never been thoroughly explained. It is...

First decide upon the kind of a machine you want--monoplane, biplane, or triplane. For a novice the biplane will, as a rule, be found the most satisfactory as it is more compact...

The limits of a man's property lines, however, have not been so well understood by laymen. According to eminent legal authorities such as Blackstone, Littleton and Coke, the "fa...

I am asked to set forth the development of the "two-surface" type of flying machine which is now used with modifications by Wright Brothers, Farman, [1] Delagrange, Herring and...

In a lecture before the Royal Society of Arts, reported in Engineering, F. W. Lanchester took the position that practical flight was not the abstract question which some apparen...

Don't be too ambitious at the start. Go slow, and avoid unnecessary risks. At its best there is an element of danger in aviation which cannot be entirely eliminated, but it may...

Owing to the fact that the Wright brothers have enjoined a number of professional aviators from using their system of control, amateurs have been slow to adopt it. They recogniz...

As a general proposition it takes much more power to propel an airship a given number of miles in a certain time than it does an automobile carrying a far heavier load. Automobi...

One of the first difficulties which the novice will encounter is the uncertainty of the wind currents. With a low velocity the wind, some distance away from the ground, is ordin...

It is a mistaken idea that flying machines must be operated at extreme altitudes. True, under the impetus of handsome prizes, and the incentive to advance scientific knowledge,...

Changes, many of them extremely radical in their nature, are continually being made by prominent aviators, and particularly those who have won the greatest amount of success. Wo...

Every professional aviator has his own ideas as to the design of the propeller, one of the most important features of flying-machine construction. While in many instances the pr...

Spurred on by the success attained by the more experienced and better known aviators numerous inventors of lesser fame are almost daily producing practical flying machines varyi...

In laying out plans for a flying machine the first thing to decide upon is the size of the plane surfaces. The proportions of these must be based upon the load to be carried. Th...

As a commercial proposition the manufacture and sale of motor-equipped aeroplanes is making much more rapid advance than at first obtained in the similar handling of the automob...

While wonderful success has attended the development of the dirigible (steerable) balloon the most ardent advocates of this form of aerial navigation admit that it has serious d...

In order to understand the theory of the modern flying machine one must also understand bird action and wind action. In this connection the following simple experiment will be o...

That there is an element of danger in aviation is undeniable, but it is nowhere so great as the public imagines. Men are killed and injured in the operation of flying machines j...

Since the first edition of this book was printed, early in 1910, there has been a remarkable advance in the construction of aeroplane motors, which has resulted in a wonderful d...

Having constructed and equipped your machine, the next thing is to decide upon the method of controlling the various rudders and auxiliary planes by which the direction and equi...

While every craft that navigates the air is an airship, all airships are not flying machines. The balloon, for instance, is an airship, but it is not what is known among aviator...

Gliders as a rule have only one rudder, and this is in the rear. It tends to keep the apparatus with its head to the wind. Unlike the rudder on a boat it is fixed and immovable....

We will now assume that you have become proficient enough to warrant an attempt at the construction of a real flying machine--one that will not only remain suspended in the air...

Of these the aeroplane takes precedence and is used almost exclusively by successful aviators, the helicopters and ornithopers having been tried and found lacking in some vital...

Lateral Equilibrium or Stability.--Maintenance of the machine on an even keel transversely. If the lateral equilibrium is perfect the extreme ends of the machine will be on a de...