At the hydro-aeroplane meet at Monaco practically every well-known type of biplane was equipped with pontoons and entered the contest.
The Blériot Canard or "duck" is one of the latest developments of the pioneer constructor, and the chief difference between it and the other Blériot machines is that the body extends out in front of the main plane instead of behind, something like Santos-Dumont's first machine. The main plane has a spread of 29 feet, and has a total supporting surface of 129 square feet. At the forward end of the body is placed the horizontal elevating rudder, while two small vertical rudders, placed on the top of the outer ends of the main plane and working in unison, serve to steer it from side to side. The balance in this machine is preserved by large hinged ailerons at the outer rear edges of the main plane. The pilot sits in front of the engine underneath the plane, which is a military advantage, giving him ample chance for looking down and observing everything over which he is passing.
ANTOINETTE MONOPLANE
No machine that ever was flown has excited more admiration from those on the ground than the graceful Antoinette monoplane, designed by the famous French motor-boat builder, Levavasseur. Its great tapering wings and long fan-shaped tail give it the appearance of a huge swallow or dragon-fly as it sails through the air, and whenever this type has appeared at the American meets it has received tremendous applause.
The two best known models of the Antoinette are the type used by Latham in this country, and the "armoured" type, entered in the French military tests. The bow of the first-mentioned machine is shaped very much like the prow of a boat with the 50 to 100 horsepower 8-or 16-cylinder water-cooled Antoinette engine occupying the extreme forward part. The propeller is set in front of this, and is of the tractor type, drawing the machine through the air behind it. In the recent models of the Antoinette, the main plane, set at a slight dihedral angle, spread a little more than 49 feet (compare this with the spread of 28 feet of the Blériot). The two sides of the main plane taper from the body of the machine, but have an average depth from front to rear of 8 feet, which gives a fairly high aspect ratio of about 6. The total area is 405 square feet. The main plane also tapers in thickness, being nearly a foot through close to the body and tapering down to a few inches at the outer tips. The graceful tail at the rear has both vertical and horizontal surfaces gently tapering to the height and width of the elevating and direction rudders. The elevating rudder is a single horizontal triangular surface at the rear controlled by cables running to a pilot wheel at the operator's right hand. It has an area of 20 square feet. The direction rudder is composed of two triangular surfaces with an area of 10 square feet each. One is above the elevator and the other below, but both are worked in unison by wires connecting with a foot lever. The machine is balanced by a warping system much like that on the Wright biplanes we know so well. This is accomplished by wires connecting with a steering wheel at the pilot's left hand, so that he uses his right hand to steer his machine up or down, his feet to steer from right to left, and his left hand to maintain the balance. Of course, in making a sharp turn he uses his warping wheel as well as his direction wheel, because, as previously explained, it is necessary to incline the machine over toward the inside of the curve desired to be made. The pilot sits in the framework, above and a little back of the supporting plane.
The "armoured" Antoinette, which was designed for military purposes, is entirely enclosed, even increasing the already great resemblance to a bird, while the direction rudder is made of a single surface, and the elevating rudder of two rhomboid-shaped rudders. The pilot sits in a cockpit with only his head and shoulders protruding above and has a view below through a glass floor. Its most important feature is the total elimination of cross wires, struts and the like. The resistance is greatly decreased, but the weight increased. In addition, a peculiar wing section is used, flat on the under side and curved on the upper side. The wings are immensely thick, being entirely braced from the inside. At the body the wings are over two feet thick. Their thickness decreases toward the tips, which are about eight inches thick. The shape of each wing is called trapesoidal, and they are set at a large dihedral angle. The motor is a regular 100-horsepower Antoinette.
The oddest feature of this type is the landing gear, which is entirely enclosed to within a few inches of the ground; the landing wheels at the front are six in number, three on each side of the centre, enclosed in what is called a "skirt." At the rear are two smaller wheels.
The dimensions are roughly as follows: Spread, 52-1/2 feet, wings, 602 square feet; length over all, 36 feet; depth of wings (from front to rear) at tips, over 9 feet, increasing to almost 13 feet at the centre. The total weight is nearly 2,400 pounds.
NIEUPORT MONOPLANE
The Nieuport monoplane is one of the newer machines that has attracted a great deal of attention for its speed with low-powered engines. Among the achievements of this monoplane was Weyman's winning of the James Gordon Bennett Cup and prize in England in 1911, and the demonstration of its remarkable passenger carrying abilities. The Nieuport also is a wonderful glider, for Claude Grahame-White took his new one up 3,000 feet at Nassau Boulevard, Garden City, during the 1911 meet there and glided down the whole distance without power, the downward sail taking him nearly as long as the upward climb.