The Mastery of the Air
This book makes no pretence of going minutely into the technical and scientific sides of human flight: rather does it deal mainly with the real achievements of pioneers who have helped to make aviation what it is to-day.
My chief object has been to arouse among my readers an intelligent interest in the art of flight, and, profiting by friendly criticism of several of my former works, I imagine that this is best obtained by setting forth the romance of triumph in the realms of an element which has defied man for untold centuries, rather than to give a mass of scientific principles which appeal to no one but the expert.
So rapid is the present development of aviation that it is difficult to keep abreast with the times. What is new to-day becomes old to-morrow. The Great War has given a tremendous impetus to the strife between the warring nations for the mastery of the air, and one can but give a rough and general impression of the achievements of naval and military airmen on the various fronts.
Finally, I have tried to bring home the fact that the fascinating progress of aviation should not be confined entirely to the airman and constructor of air-craft; in short, this progress is not a record of events in which the mass of the nation have little personal concern, but of a movement in which each one of us may take an active and intelligent part.
I have to thank various aviation firms, airmen, and others who have kindly come to my assistance, either with the help of valuable information or by the loan of photographs. In particular, my thanks are due to the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service for permission to reproduce illustrations from their two publications on the work and training of their respective corps; to the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain; to Messrs. C. G. Spencer & Sons, Highbury; The Sopwith Aviation Company, Ltd.; Messrs. A. V. Roe & Co., Ltd.; The Gnome Engine Company; The Green Engine Company; Mr. A. G. Gross (Geographia, Ltd.); and M. Bleriot; for an exposition of the internal-combustion engine I have drawn on Mr. Horne's The Age of Machinery.
William J. Claxton
THE MASTERY OF THE AIR
PREFACE
THE MASTERY OF THE AIR
PART I. BALLOONS AND AIR-SHIPS
CHAPTER I. Man's Duel with Nature
CHAPTER II. The French Paper-maker who Invented the Balloon
CHAPTER III. The First Man to Ascend in a Balloon
CHAPTER IV. The First Balloon Ascent in England
CHAPTER V. The Father of British Aeronauts
CHAPTER VI. The Parachute
CHAPTER VII. Some British Inventors of Air-ships
CHAPTER VIII. The First Attempts to Steer a Balloon
CHAPTER IX. The Strange Career of Count Zeppelin
CHAPTER X. A Zeppelin Air-ship and its Construction
CHAPTER XI. The Semi-rigid Air-ship
CHAPTER XII. A Non-rigid Balloon
CHAPTER XIII. The Zeppelin and Gotha Raids
PART II. AEROPLANES AND AIRMEN
CHAPTER XIV. Early Attempts in Aviation
CHAPTER XV. A Pioneer in Aviation
CHAPTER XVI. The "Human Birds"
CHAPTER XVII. The Aeroplane and the Bird
CHAPTER XVIII. A Great British Inventor of Aeroplanes
CHAPTER XIX. The Wright Brothers and their Secret Experiments
CHAPTER XX. The Internal-combustion Engine
CHAPTER XXI. The Internal-combustion Engine(Cont.)
CHAPTER XXII. The Aeroplane Engine
CHAPTER XXIII. A Famous British Inventor of Aviation Engines
CHAPTER XXIV. The Wright Biplane (Camber of Planes)
CHAPTER XXV. The Wright Biplane (Cont.)
CHAPTER XXVI. How the Wrights launched their Biplane
CHAPTER XXVII. The First Man to Fly in Europe
CHAPTER XXVIII. M. Bleriot and the Monoplane
CHAPTER XXIX. Henri Farman and the Voisin Biplane
CHAPTER XXX. A Famous British Inventor
CHAPTER XXXI. The Romance of a Cowboy Aeronaut
CHAPTER XXXII. Three Historic Flights
CHAPTER XXXIII. Three Historic Flights (Cont.)
CHAPTER XXXIV. The Hydroplane and Air-boat
CHAPTER XXXV. A Famous British Inventor of the Water-plane
CHAPTER XXXVI. Sea-planes for Warfare
CHAPTER XXXVII. The First Man to Fly in Britain
CHAPTER XXXVIII. The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service
CHAPTER XXXIX. Aeroplanes in the Great War
CHAPTER XL. The Atmosphere and the Barometer
CHAPTER XLI. How an Airman Knows what Height he Reaches
CHAPTER XLII. How an Airman finds his Way
CHAPTER XLIII. The First Airman to Fly Upside Down
CHAPTER XLIV. The First Englishman to Fly Upside Down
CHAPTER XLV. Accidents and their Cause
CHAPTER XLVI. Accidents and their Cause (Cont.)
CHAPTER XLVII. Accidents and their Cause (Cont.)
CHAPTER XLVIII. Some Technical Terms used by Aviators
CHAPTER XLIX. The Future in the Air