LILIENTHAL’S MONOPLANE GLIDER.
(Courtesy W. J. Hammer.)
LILIENTHAL’S BIPLANE GLIDER.
(Courtesy W. J. Hammer.)
PILCHER’S MONOPLANE GLIDER.
The craft was thought also to possess stability; and this it had, in a measure, about those two axes corresponding to the two rudders; but the control about the third axis, effected by dangling the legs to right or left, was extremely crude and primitive. It was in keeping with his adage: “to contrive is nothing; to construct is something; to operate is everything.” If he had contrived more intelligently, he would have operated more easily, and avoided those wild and dangerous dancings in space. A more scientific adage would read: “To design effectually is everything, to construct is routine, to operate is play.”
The marvel is that Lilienthal, the observant, the technically trained, the practically skilled, should operate for three years, then patent, an aërial glider having two rudders, but lacking the third rudder, or torsional wing, now so commonly used throughout the world. But doubtless he contemplated a device for preserving the lateral balance without shifting his weight; for he acknowledged the economic advantage of lying prone on the machine, and stated that this might be done after some important improvements in the apparatus had been made.