So far, the credit of the only English airship which has yet flown rests with Mr. Stanley Spencer, the well-known aeronaut. Mr. Spencer comes of a race of aeronauts. His grandfather, Edward Spencer, was the great friend and colleague of Charles Green, and shared with him some of his chief ballooning adventures, notably the terrible voyage when Cocking lost his life. Green stood godfather to Edward Spencer’s son, who was christened Charles Green after him. He also grew up to be an aeronaut, and made several inventions and improvements relating to balloons and flying machines. His love of ballooning, inherited from his father, has been passed on to his children, and his three eldest sons, Percival, Arthur, and Stanley, are chief among British aeronauts, and indeed have practically the monopoly of professional ballooning and balloon manufacture in Great Britain. Nor have they confined themselves to this country. All three have taken their balloons and parachutes to distant parts of the world, and among their many hundreds of ascents, both abroad and at home, have met with all manner of exciting and perilous adventures, though never yet with serious mishap. Their knowledge of practical aeronautics, then, is unrivalled, and Mr. Stanley Spencer had the experience of three generations to guide him when, in 1902, he set to work to build an airship which he had long been devising.
His first machine was a comparatively small one, capable only of lifting a light man. It took the usual form of a cigar-shaped balloon, the framework of which was built of bamboo, driven forward by a screw-propeller worked by a small petrol engine. Warned by the fate of the unfortunate Severo, Mr. Spencer placed his engine far away from the valve. Profiting also by Santos Dumont’s experience, he constructed his balloon in such a manner that, should it become torn and the gas escape, the empty silk would collapse into the form of a parachute and break the fall. Furthermore, there was an arrangement by which, while aloft, ordinary air could be forced into the balloon to replace any loss of gas, and so keep the silk always fully inflated and “taut”—a very important factor in a machine that has to be driven forward through the atmosphere.
With this airship Mr. Spencer, as also his equally daring wife, made several highly successful trials at the Crystal Palace, when it was found to steer well and answer its helm most satisfactorily. Mr. Spencer also made two long voyages, from London and from Blackpool, on both of which occasions he found he could manœuvre his airship with considerable success, make circular flights, and sail against the wind, provided it was blowing only at moderate speed.
Encouraged by his success, he next built a similar but much larger machine, nearly a hundred feet long, holding 30,000 cubic feet of gas, and driven by a petrol motor of twenty-four horse-power. In this case the propeller, instead of being placed at the rear, as in general, is at the front of the airship, thereby pulling it forward through the air instead of pushing it from behind. By this arrangement Mr. Spencer thinks his balloon would have less tendency to double up when urged against a strong wind. The steering is done by a rudder sail at the stern, and to cause his machine to sail higher or lower, the aeronaut points its head up or down by means of a heavy balance-rope.
This new airship was ready by the summer of 1903, but the unfavourable weather of that stormy season again and again interfered with the experiments. On the 17th of September Mr. Spencer announced his intention of sailing from the Crystal Palace round the dome of St. Paul’s, and returning to his starting-place. The Cathedral was indeed safely reached, but the increasing breeze, now blowing half a gale, baffled all his attempts to circle round. Again and again, till his hands were cut and bleeding with the strain of the ropes, he brought his machine up, quivering, to the wind, but all to no purpose, until at length, abandoning the attempt, he sailed with the current to Barnet. More favourable results may doubtless be looked for with better weather conditions.
In France during 1903 the brothers Lebaudy made some successful trips with an airship of their own construction. Many other airships are now being built in all parts of the world, in preparation for the aeronautical competitions to take place in America on the occasion of the St. Louis Exhibition of this year.
CHAPTER VII
THE FLYING MACHINE
It is now time we turn our attention from the airship to its important rival, the flying machine.
At first sight it may perhaps appear that so far the flying machine has accomplished less than the airship, and gives less promise of success, since up to the present time no flying machine has taken a man any distance into the air, or indeed done much more than just lift itself off the ground. Nevertheless those who have made a study of the matter are full of hope for the future. Many experts declare that already the limits of what can be done with the airship, which depends upon the lifting power of its gas to raise it and to sustain it in the air, are being reached. It has indeed been proved that on a calm day, or with only a light breeze, this form of sky vessel can be steered safely about the heavens, and doubtless as engines are constructed yet lighter and more powerful in proportion to their weight, more successful voyages still will be accomplished. But it is extremely doubtful whether an airship can ever be constructed which shall be able to stand against a gale of wind.