Plate II.
| Fig. 3.—BLERIOT MONOPLANE. |
| Fig. 4.—A.V. ROE’S TRIPLANE. |
 | |
| Fig. 53.—Wright Flying Machine; diagrammatic sketch. | |
A, B, Main supporting surfaces. C, D, Aeroplanes of horizontal rudder with fixed semilunar fin E. | F, Vertical rudder. G, Motor. H, Screws. |
A feature of the year 1909 was the success obtained with monoplanes having only a single supporting surface, and it was on a machine of this type that the Frenchman Blériot on July 25th flew across the English Channel from Calais to Dover in 31 minutes. Hubert Latham all but performed the same feat on an Antoinette monoplane. The year saw considerable increases in the periods for which aviators were able to remain in the air, and Roger Sommer’s flight of nearly 2½ hours on August 7th was surpassed by Henry Farman on November 3rd, when he covered a distance estimated at 137¼ m. in 4 hr. 17 min. 53 sec. In both these cases biplanes were employed. Successful aviation meetings were held, among other places, at Reims, Juvisy, Doncaster and Blackpool; and at Blackpool a daring flight was made in a wind of 40 m. an hour by Latham. This aviator also proved the possibility of flying at considerable altitudes by attaining on December 1st a height of over 1500 ft., but this record was far surpassed in the following January by L. Paulhan, who on a biplane rose to a height of 1383 yds. at Los Angeles. In the course of the year three aviators were killed—Lefèvbre and Ferber in September and Fernandez in December; and four men perished in September by the destruction of the French airship “République,” the gas-bag of which was ripped open by a broken propeller. In January 1910 Delagrange was killed by the fracture of one of the wings of a monoplane on which he was flying. On April 27th-28th, 1910, Paulhan successfully flew from London to Manchester, with only one stop, within 24 hours, for the Daily Mail’s £10,000 prize.
The progress made by all these experiments at aviation had naturally created widespread interest, both as a matter of sport and also as indicating a new departure in the possibilities of machines of war. And in 1909 the British government appointed a scientific committee, with Lord Rayleigh as chairman, as a consultative body for furthering the development of the science in England.
The table below gives some details, approximately correct, of the principal experiments made with flying machines up to 1908.
| Year. | Experimenter. | Tip to Tip. | Surface. | Weight. | Pounds per sq. ft. | Speed per hour. | Maximum Flight. | Motor. | Horse- power. | Pounds sustained per h.p. |
| Ft. | Sq. ft. | ℔ | Mls. | Ft. | ||||||
| 1879 | Tatin | 6.2 | 7.5 | 3.85 | 0.51 | 18 | 100? | Compressed air | 0.03 | 110? |
| 1885 1889 | Hargrave (No. 16) | 5.5 | 26.0 | 5.00 | 0.19 | 10 | 343 | ” | 0.06 | 79 |
| 1893 | Phillips | 22.0 | 136.0 | 402.00 | 3.00 | 28 | 500? | Steam | 5.6 | 72? |
| 1894 | Maxim* | 50.0 | 4000.0 | 8000.00 | 2.5 | 36 | 300? | ” | 363.00 | 28 |
| 1896 | Langley | 12.0 | 70.0 | 30.00 | 0.43 | 24 | 4,000 | ” | 1.00 | 30 |
| 1897 | Tatin and Richet | 21.0 | 86.0 | 72.00 | 0.83 | 40 | 460 | ” | 1.33 | 55 |
| 1897 | Ader* | 49.0 | 270.0 | 1100.00 | 4.00 | 50? | 100? | ” | 40.00 | 27 |
| 1895 | Lilienthal* | 23.0 | 151.0 | 220.00 | 1.46 | 23 | 1,200 | Gravity | 2.00 | 110 |
| 1896 | Pilcher* | 23.0 | 170.0 | 200.00 | 1.17 | 25 | 900 | ” | 2.00 | 100 |
| 1896 | Chanute* | 16.0 | 135.0 | 178.00 | 1.31 | 22 | 360 | ” | 2.00 | 89 |
| 1906 | S. Dumont* | 39 | 560 | 550 | 0.98 | 22.26 | 2,900 | Petrol | 50 | 23 |
| 1908 | W. Wright* | 41 | 650 | 1100 | 1.7 | 37 | 295,000 | Petrol | 24 | 46 |
| * The apparatus marked thus * carried a man or men. | ||||||||||
References.—Some of the books mentioned under [Aeronautics] contain details of flying machines; see H.W.L. Moedebeck, A Pocketbook of Aeronautics, trans. by W. Mansergh Varley (London, 1907); Sir Hiram S. Maxim, Artificial and Natural Flight (London, 1908); F.W. Lanchester, Aerodynamics and Aerodonetics (London, 1907 and 1908); C.C. Turner, Aerial Navigation of To-day (London, 1909); also two papers on “Aerial Navigation” read by Colonel G.O. Fullerton before the Royal United Service Institution in 1892 and 1906; papers read by Major B.F.S. Baden-Powell and E.S. Bruce before the Society of Arts, London, in April 1907 and December 1908 respectively; Cantor Lectures by F.W. Lanchester (Society of Arts, 1909); and the Proceedings of the Aeronautical Society (founded 1865), &c.
[1] According to Dr Crisp, the swallow, martin, snipe and many birds of passage have no air in their bones.—Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. part xxv., 1857, p. 13.