The Curtiss Aviation Book

by Glenn Hammond Curtiss; Augustus Post

I feel confident that an aeroplane can be even now built which will be able to lift a ton of dynamite or other high explosive, and that it can be so constructed that it will be an aerial torpedo or winged projectile, the engine charged with compressed air and set to run any required distance, from one mile to ten miles. Such a machine can be steered by wireless controlling apparatus just as submarine boats and small airships are directed.

A hydroaeroplane can be made to fly at just a certain height over the water by attaching it to a drag or a float which would prevent its exceeding the desired limit of altitude. The machine so equipped might be started in a circle and flown around in a circular course gradually widening and widening, like a bird dog hunting a scent, until the object aimed at is hit.

One of the most important uses of an aeroplane adapted to the uses of the Navy will be its valuable assistance in enabling the manner of formation of the enemy's ships in line of battle to be made known to the commanding officer and the angle of approach to be estimated, in order that our own ships may be so formed in line of battle as to meet the brunt of the attack effectually.

An aeroplane launched from the deck of a battleship and ascending to the height of a mile will give the observers on board a range of vision of ninety-six miles in every direction and powerful glasses will reveal many details that can be seen more clearly from above than when observed from the same level. Submarines can be located with great ease when far below the surface of the water. Even the bottom appears clearly in some of the tropic seas, and fogs, which obscure all things to the enveloped mariner bound to the surface of the sea, usually hang comparatively low down and even a moderate altitude will enable an aerial observer or pilot to see clearly above the banks of mist which shut down like a pall upon the water.

The military aeroplane will be able to muffle its motor and for night operations will be equipped with search-lights and able to approach an enemy unseen and unheard from a high altitude, a direction in which there are no pickets.

In the school machines of one of the Chicago schools the motors have already been muffled to permit the teacher more readily giving his instructions to his pupils. U. S. Army officers have also experimented with mufflers on their motors.

Aeroplanes have been recently used by the Italian Army near Tripoli and bombs were dropped which not only frightened the enemy but stampeded their horses and caused panic among the soldiers. They were also of great service in directing the fire of the guns from the ships which were quite out of sight of their targets, a captive balloon and an aeroplane signalling the effect of the shots and the angles at which to train the guns. The aviators took steel bomb-shells with them and filled them while flying, holding the caps in their teeth, and steering with their knees while performing this operation. They did not dare to carry the bombs loaded for fear of being blown to pieces themselves in case of an accident when landing.

In the fall of 1911, extensive tests were made by the French military authorities which showed how reliable aeroplanes can be. The aviators flew at the command of officers and under the strictest orders; the machines were required to land in ploughed fields and to start away again with their full complement of passengers and extra weight of fuel. All the machines were required to carry a weight of about five hundred pounds and to rise to a certain height in a specified time with their complete load. The machines were also dismounted and assembled in the field and packed and transported from one place to another, to test the ease with which this could be done.

These military tests were won by Charles Weymann, who was also the winner of the Gordon Bennett International Aviation Cup for America last year.

Mr. Weymann drove a special Nieuport machine, which was the most speedy type of aeroplane built at that time, and was successful in landing and starting from a ploughed field, which many thought impossible for a very fast type of machine. It took the greatest skill to land such a speedy machine on rough ground, for he had to glide down with absolute accuracy, to land without a smash.