The Short Double-Engined Aëroplane.
How many times have engines failed during flight on both monoplanes and biplanes! How many tragedies have thus been enacted! Time and experience indeed have mitigated this type of aërial disaster. The improvement in engines has been one cause of salvation in this respect, the practice of vol-planing the other. But even now from the seat of war comes the news of engines that fail and machines that drop into the realm of the enemy. The old proverb of having two strings to one’s bow should apply to aëronautics.
The desideratum, indeed, is the duplication of such a vital part as the motor. Considerations of weight have been the hindrance to engine duplication. Mr. Short has given very special attention to this matter, and has designed what appears to be an excellent machine, undoubtedly of military value. The biplane is supplied with two Gnome motors. One drives the screws in the front of the machine, and placed a considerable distance apart. The other drives a single screw behind the planes. In the ordinary way both engines run at moderate speed, but if one fails the acceleration of the speed of the other will keep the machine flying.