But perhaps the most remarkable achievement of 1912 was the Curtiss flying-boat. Glenn Curtiss, who won the James Gordon Bennett race in 1909, had succeeded in rising from the water in 1911 with a similar biplane fitted with a central pontoon float instead of a wheeled under-carriage. This he made into a genuine flying-boat, consisting of a proper hydroplane-boat, with wings and engine superimposed. All the great modern flying-boats have descended from this, and it is the forerunner of the great passenger-carrying seaplanes of the future. Curtiss is also credited with the invention of ailerons.
The 1912 Short Seaplane
Another type of seaplane was also developed in 1912 when, after many trials, the Short brothers, of Eastchurch, England, built a successful seagoing biplane, equipped with twin floats instead of the ordinary landing-gear. This, with only an 80 horse-power Gnome engine, was the first flying-machine to arise from or alight on any kind of sea.
The 1912 Taube
The German Taube was yet another development of 1912. This plane is so called because the wings are swept back and curved up at the tips like those of a dove. The builders were Herr Wels and Herr Etrich, of Austria, in 1908. Herr Etrich took the design to Germany, where it was adopted by Herr Rumpler.
This machine was designed to be inherently stable, that is, uncapsizable, and it was successful to a great degree. If it had altitude enough it generally succeeded when falling in recovering its proper position before striking the ground. Other builders had striven for inherent stability, but had failed to get beyond a certain point. Owing to the greater financial support obtainable in Germany the 1912 type Taube lasted, with small changes, far into 1915, when it was succeeded by the large German biplanes, which had greater speed and carrying power. Several machines in Britain and the United States have attained a considerable reputation as having inherent stability.
The 1913 Sopwith Tabloid
T. O. M. Sopwith, Harry G. Hawker, the Australian pilot who first went to Newfoundland to fly the Atlantic, and Mr. Sigrist, Mr. Sopwith’s chief engineer, turned out early in 1913 an extremely small tractor biplane, equipped with an 80 horse-power Gnome engine, which surprised the aeronautical world by doing a top speed of 95 miles per hour and a climb of 15,000 feet in ten minutes, while it could fly as slowly as 45 miles per hour. It was achieved by skilfully reducing the weight, paying close attention to the designing of the wings, and by carefully stream-lining external parts. All the modern high-speed fighting-biplanes, such as the “Camels,” “Snipes,” “Kittens,” “Bullets,” “Hawks,” and others, are descended from the original “Tabloid,” so called because it had so many good points concentrated in it. Because of its fast-climbing ability it was used for the defense of such cities as London and Paris against the Zeps and aeroplanes.
The 1914 Vickers Gun Bus
The first genuine gun-carrying biplane, designed and built by Vickers, London, came early in 1914. Clearly of Farman inspiration, it had an especially strong nacelle to stand the working of a heavy gun. Equipped with a 100 horse-power Gnome engine it made over 70 miles an hour. It was known everywhere as the “Gun Bus,” and the name stuck to the whole class.