James Radley, the English aviator, is also optimistic of the future. He says that no one can foretell the astounding developments in aviation that are near at hand. He believes they will be along the lines now laid down, that is, the monoplane and biplane. “I can only guess,” said he, “the improvements that will come in motors and steering. The machines are able to accomplish much more than has been asked of them so far. I do not think folding wings will ever be used, since the trend is toward simplicity instead of complicated contrivances. Automatic stability will be attained and it will bring the solution of the greatest problem that confronts amateurs. Within three years aeroplanes will become as common as automobiles.”
An unexpected field for their use was brought to light at the aviation meet at Los Angeles in January, 1911, and was suggested by the great flight made by Eugene Ely to the United States cruiser Pennsylvania. This proved that hundreds of lives can be saved every year by the use of aeroplanes at life-saving stations or at government lighthouses. Multitudes have been lost because ships have been stranded on sandbars or rocks, where the inhabitants of towns had no way to get a line far out to them. An aeroplane could run ten or fifteen miles in a few minutes carrying a reel of cord from shore and the waves would be easily cheated of their prey.
As proof of this claim the case of the Czarina may be quoted. Early in 1910, that great ship went on the bar at Coos Bay, and forty-seven lives were lost. The air was calm and the sun shone out, but the enormous swell pounded several lighthouse boats to pieces and death won its appalling victory in the presence of thousands on the shore who were helpless to raise a hand to save them. A biplane could easily have gone out to the vessel, carrying cords which would have been the means of putting a breeches buoy into operation. Nautical men say that if the use of aeroplanes in lighthouses or life-saving stations is begun hundreds of lives will be saved every year.
Wilbur Wright, than whom no higher authority in aviation lives, thinks the world has grown too optimistic about the possibilities of travel by aeroplane. He said in Washington in January, 1911:
“It will be nearer two thousand years than two when we shall be able to fly from Washington to New York in an aeroplane in two hours. It is almost impossible to estimate the speed that can be attained by a flying machine. I would undertake to build a machine that could fly at the rate of a hundred miles an hour, but I would not want to operate it. Many years will elapse before the aeroplane will be used for transportation. It cannot supply the requirements that are furnished by railroads. Its greatest use lies in the field of sports and military operations. Flying through the air is a great sport and no more dangerous than automobiling.
“The tragic deaths of Hoxsey and Moisant, I presume, may retard the development of the aeroplane to some extent, but it will go forward. Public sentiment and laws will minimize the danger of the flying machine. These influences will check the recklessness of aviation.”
And now let us wait and see to what extent these prophecies will be fulfilled.
The End.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: