Marcel Penot in the Mohawk Biplane Mineola to Hicksville, L. I.
26 miles cross-country in 30 minutes (50 hp. Harriman Engine)
Recent combinations of aeroplane and automobile, and aeroplane with motor boat, have been exhibited. One of the latter devices is like any monoplane, except that the lower part is a water-tight aluminum boat body carrying three passengers. It is expected to start of itself from the water and to fly at a low height like a flying fish at a speed of about seventy-five miles per hour. Should anything go wrong, it is capable of floating on the water.
In the San Diego Curtiss flights, the machine skimmed along the surface of the bay, then rose to a height of a hundred feet, moved about two miles through the air in a circular course, and finally alighted close to its starting-point in the water. Turns were made in water as well as in air, a speed of forty miles per hour being attained while “skimming.” The “hydroplanes” used are rigid flat surfaces which utilize the pressure of the water for sustention, just as the main wings utilize air pressure. On account of the great density of water, no great amount of surface is required: but it must be so distributed as to balance the machine. The use of pontoons makes it possible to rest upon the water and to start from rest. A trip like Ely’s could be made without a landing platform, with this type of machine; the aeroplane could either remain alongside the war vessel or be hoisted aboard until ready to venture away again.
There are various other biplanes attracting public attention in this country. In France the tendency is all toward the monoplane form, and many of the “records” have, during the past couple of years, passed from the former to the latter type of machine. The monoplane is simpler and usually cheaper. The biplane may be designed for greater economy in weight and power. Farman has lately experimented with the monoplane type of machine: the large number of French designs in this class discourages any attempt at complete description.
Santos-Dumont’s “Demoiselle”
The smallest of aeroplanes is the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle. The original machine is said to have supported 260 pounds on 100 square feet of area, making a speed of sixty miles per hour. Its proprietor was the first aviator in Europe of the heavier-than-air class. After having done pioneer work with dirigible balloons, he won the Deutsch prize for a hundred meter aeroplane flight (the first outside of the United States) in 1906; the speed being twenty-three miles per hour. His first flight, of 400 feet, in a monoplane was made in 1907.
