Will Make 200 Miles An Hour In The Air — Curtiss.

New York Times 100 years ago today, October 13, 1912:
    With his new machine, the hydroaeroplane, a tested and accomplished fact this year — the machine that flies with the speed of a hawk, swims like a duck, and runs over the ground like a deer — Glenn H. Curtiss sketches some rapid history-making chapters in the near future of aviation.
    Notwithstanding the frequent reports of fatal accidents to aviators, Mr. Curtiss believes that with this new aeroplane we have a machine that is quite as safe — if not safer — than the automobile. He views with complacency the attainment of a speed averaging 200 miles an hour. For immediate practical purposes he describes how this aeroplane will go hunting wild animals, how it will explore hitherto unknown regions of the earth, how it will carry the mail, how it will cross the ocean in a comparatively few hours, how it will become a moving wireless station, how it will save life, and how, in war, it will play the roles of scout and bomb thrower.
    All this and much more that will appeal to the aviation enthusiast Mr. Curtiss describes and predicts in a forthcoming book, ("The Curtiss Aviation Book," to be published by Frederick A. Stokes Company,) containing his own account of the recent development of heavier-than-air flying machines, reinforced by chapters from Augustus Post, Capt. Paul W. Beck of the United States Army, Lieut Theodore G. Ellyson of the United States Navy, and others who have made a special study of the aeroplane and what it is destined to accomplish. And that the aeroplane is accomplishing things, and at a faster rate than is credited by the average man of the street, becomes very evident after reading only a few pages of this book.

    At first, Mr. Curtiss tells us, aviators could not believe in the powers of the machine; we used to trim down our garments to the lightest point, to avoid extra weight, whereas now we bundle up in heavy furs, or wear two suits, one over the other, to meet the intense cold of the upper air; and a great surplus of weight can be carried by almost all machines. We used to wait for a calm almost absolute before going up — it used to be a regular thing to see aviators wetting their fingers and holding them up to see from which direction the faint breezes were coming, or dropping bits of paper to see if the air was in that complete stillness we used to think necessary for successful flight. When I was waiting for just the fight moment in Albany to begin the Hudson flight — which, because of the unusual and absolutely unknown atmospheric conditions over a river flowing between precipitous and irregular hills, had to be timed with unusual care — the Poughkeepsie paper in an editorial said "Curtiss gives us a pain in the neck."
    Even after I had made the flight The Paterson Call made the wait a reason for denying the use of aeroplanes in time of war, pointing out how amusing it would be to see in the newspaper reports of the wars of the future, "Battle postponed on account of the weather!" Whereas now we go up without hesitation into what is actually a gale of wind, and under weather conditions that would have made the first fliers think it absolute suicide.

Future Aeroplane Speed.
    Mr. Curtiss puts as the most practical present and future uses of the aeroplane in the order of their relative importance — for sport, war, and special purposes which the aeroplane itself will create. In connection with the sporting or racing side of the aeroplane, Mr. Curtiss declares that in the future there will be no bounds to the speed attainable by the racing machine.

    Aeroplanes will soon be going considerably over 100 miles per hour. A motor cycle has gone at the rate of 137 miles per hour and an aeroplane should be able to go even faster. With the help of a strong wind blowing in the direction of flight, 200 miles an hour ought to be possible of attainment. Machines for high speed, however, must have some means of contracting the wing area or flattening out the curve in the planes so that when we want to go fast we can reduce the amount of surface of the machine to lessen friction, and so that when we want to go more slowly and land we can increase the size of the wing surface.
    The record is 108 miles an hour now, (September, 1912,) and we will not be surprised to see it climb up in proportion as rapidly as the altitude record did in 1911.

    The factors that will govern the increase of speed are largely, Mr. Curtiss tells us, the motive power and the reduction of resistance. In both these factors much is being done by Curtiss and other aviators. But with every advance new problems are opened up. Thus:

    With the great speed that will undoubtedly mark the aeroplane flights even of the near future, the physical endurance of the operator will count for a great deal in long flights. By the time we can fly much over 100 miles an hour there will have to be some means of protection devised for the operators for any one who has traveled 60 or 70 miles an hour in an automobile knows how uncomfortable such a trip becomes if it keeps up over long distances. The driver of an aeroplane sitting out in front unprotected causes far more "head-resistance." It will be an easy matter to arrange some sort of protection for him.
    How strong this "head-resistance" can be I realized in a curious experience while racing with Ely at Los Angeles, going at probably 65 miles an hour. I looked upward to see just where Ely was flying, and as I raised my head the wind got under my eyelids and puffed them out like toy balloons. For a moment I was confused and could scarcely see, but as soon as I turned my gaze on the ground the wind pressure forced the lids back into their normal position.

    Nevertheless, for all these curious dangers that seem to crop up with the perfecting of the aeroplane, Mr. Curtiss insists that races with the latter are safer than with automobiles. Once an aeroplane is up in the air, he tells us, it is often safer to travel fast than it is to travel slow. A French Government report for 1911 is quoted as showing that there have been only one-tenth as many fatal accidents in proportion to the number of flights made as in the first year of aviation, "but each accident has made ten times as much stir."
    Mr. Curtiss is an ardent believer in contests, especially between different makes of machines, pointing out that it is thus the best racing type of the future will be evolved. In this connection, too, he suggests the necessity in the near future for a better set of rules than are used at present in aeroplane contests:

    There are at the present time a number of types and makes of aeroplanes, each claiming some especial advantage over the others, and trying to demonstrate it. Some of these will drop out — some of them have dropped already — some will develop toward the aeroplane of the future, which we can only infer from the machines of to-day. The way to bring about this "survival of the fittest" is by speed contests and endurance races, where the American manufacturer pits his machine against the foreign-made article and the biplane contends against the monoplane.
    The public believed, when these two types came into being, that there would be a sharp division of uses between them; that the biplane would excel in just certain directions, the monoplane in others, and the public has watched the various records of speed, of endurance, of distance, as they changed back and, forth between the two types, and has found that deciding their relative merits and assigning their special uses was by no means the simple and summary process they thought it would be. The contests will have to evolve new rules and regulations; for instance, there will have to be some means of handicapping machines with very high-power engines and small plane surface — as in the case of monoplanes, which, with a minimum of plane surface and high power engines have a speed advantage over the biplanes, that with equal engine power have much larger plane surface. Perhaps the method of handicapping now used in certain races of stock automobiles, that is cubic displacement of the engine, will be adopted.

Flying Across the Atlantic.
    In discussing the problem of the flight across the Atlantic, Mr. Curtiss expresses his conviction that it is possible to-day, just as the flight across the United States was possible in even the early stages of aviation. He hardly goes so far, however, as Grahame-White, who predicts that within twenty years we will he flying across the Atlantic in fifteen hours upon regular schedule between London and New York. "Further development is needed along the lines of a flying boat," we are told, "where a substantial vessel will be provided, able to stand rough sea and yet able to rise and skim the surface of the water." Following this Mr. Curtiss makes this interesting offer:

Mr. Curtiss Makes an Offer.
    Following up the success of my new hydroaeroplane, I have taken great interest in the idea of a flight across the Atlantic Ocean by aeroplane. I consider the flight possible and I am willing to undertake the construction of a machine for the purpose, provided any of the aviators now considering flight wish me to do so. I am not prepared to give the details of such a machine as would be required to make the flight, but I simply express the opinion that the feat is possible, and that under certain conditions I will undertake to furnish the equipment.

    Among what he calls the "future surprises of the aeroplane" Mr. Curtiss narrates possible achievement to hunting, travel, mail-carrying, wireless, life-saving, and other special uses, basing most of his speculations on what has already been done in these various lines. Thus we are told that on the Pacific Coast Hubert Latham has chased wild ducks for thirty minutes, bagging one as a result, and planned a flight up the Rockies to shoot grizzlies.

    Some ranchers out West have clubbed together to purchase an aeroplane for hunting wolves which have been killing their cattle, and four aviators flew over San Fernando Valley in California recently, eagerly watching the underbrush for a sight of two fugitive bandits who for two days had eluded a large Sheriff's posse after attempting to hold up a railway agent and mortally wounding a deputy at San Fernando. Each aviator was sworn in as a deputy and carried with him an observer provided with a powerful field glass. They reported that they could see objects very clearly below.
    In scouring the hills one of the observers thought that he had surely spotted his man and the plane was dipped abruptly toward the ground. On returning he said, "It was a dog I saw, and I'll bet that dog is running yet."
    I have heard on the best of authority that an aviator in this country, chased a buzzard until it fell exhausted, and that in Europe this same game was played by a German aviator, upon a large stork. * * *
    Shooting rabbits from an aeroplane would be comparatively easy. I came to this conclusion while flying over North Island, which is covered with weeds and sagebrush for the most part, with hundreds of jack-rabbits and cottontails living there. At first these rabbits were terribly frightened by the aeroplane and ran in all directions to escape. They soon became used to the sight, however, and would watch the aeroplane with a great deal of curiosity. One of the big jack-rabbits, either from fright or curiosity, waited too long to get out of the way of Harry Harkness in his Antoinette, when he made a rather abrupt descent, and was cut in two by the propeller.

    The aeroplane as a successful mail-carrier was recognized in this country last Fall, when Postmaster General Frank H. Hitchcock and Capt. Paul Beck inaugurated the first aerial postal service regularly, established in the United States over a route between the Aero Club of America's flying grounds at Nassau Boulevard, L. I., and Mineola, L. I.

    The record for long-distance mail carrying is held by Hugh Robinson, who took a bag of mail at Minneapolis, Minn., and carried it on his long flight down the Mississippi River in a hydroaeroplane as far as Rock Island, Ill. The distance covered by Robinson was 375 miles on this trip, and letters and first-class mail matter were put off and taken on at Winona, Minn,; Prairie du Chien, Wis.; Dubuque and Clinton, Iowa, and Rock Island, Ill.

The Aeroplane and Wireless.
    Wireless telegraphy Mr. Curtiss considers "the side-partner of the aeroplane," just as the telegraph is the companion of the locomotive and the telephone of the automobile. Its use in forest survey, in the prevention of forest fires, in the taking of moving pictures, and in rescuing life from shipwrecks at sea, the aeroplane is described as having possibilities which as yet have been barely touched. It will also be a means, Mr. Curtiss thinks, for bringing quick reports of changes in the weather, and will thus become a valuable adjunct to the meteorologist.
    These are some of the immediate future developments of the aeroplane. Of perhaps even greater interest are Mr. Curtiss's forecasts of some of the future practical problems of aviation:

    Biplanes will always be the standard machines, in my opinion, because you can get more supporting surface for the same weight.
    Surfaces may be set one far out in front of the other, as Farman has done, but with three surfaces the third requires a full set of struts and wires and just as much weight as for two ordinary surfaces, and adds only one-half more surface, and the head resistance is also increased once again. Surfaces no doubt will be made larger and machines much bigger in every way will be built.
    Telescoping wings may be a feature of the future machines, so that a graduated area of wing surface can be readily obtained and changed for slow or high speed.
    The limousine, or enclosed cabin body, will be a familiar sight in the future machines built for passenger-carrying. These cabins will be provided with comfortable seats.
    In regard to the question of automatic stability, or some device to balance the machine automatically, there seems to be no doubt that this problem will be solved; in fact, it is already solved both for balancing laterally and keeping the machine from tipping sideways and also to govern its fore and aft pitching.
    These devices may be of value in learning to fly. But in the practical use of the aeroplane you may see conditions arising which you wish to counteract before they occur and for which you wish to prepare. Automatic stabilizers will no doubt prove very good auxiliary devices, and some aeroplanes will have automatic stabilizers on them before this is printed, but the aviator will no doubt have to regulate the regulators in the future as he operates the levers personally in the present. * * *
    The cost of the machine is high at the present time because there are but few made. No doubt when the great numbers of people who are now deeply interested in the subject get to the point of practical flight and desire to take flights, they will want to own machines, and learn to operate them. Then aeroplanes will be made in quantities, and the price will be reduced in accord with the number that are built, and some day we will be able to buy a good aeroplane for about the price we have to pay now for a small automobile.
    Cortlandt Field Bishop is credited with having said when some one asked him if the manufacture of a cheap aeroplane, to cost $150, including the motor, would not be a great business undertaking: "Well, a great undertaking business should certainly come of it."
    The most serious problem of flying to-day is to find a good course to fly over and suitable landing places. The day will soon come when every city and town will have public landing and starting grounds. As a matter of fact the Park Commissioners of New York City have already been discussing the setting apart of landing places or isles of safety in the public parks of the city, although some authorities declare that it would not be well to encourage fliers to risk themselves and the people below by flying over the houses. There should be routes of travel established between cities over which an aviator will have a right to fly, just as there are highways on the surface of the earth. * * *

The Aeroplane in War.
    After the development of the aeroplane for sport and commercial purposes, its greatest field of growth is for purposes of war, and here we find that the aeroplane can be at once the most deadly weapon of offensive warfare as yet developed by man, and an even more serviceable agent for defensive measures, or for all those most important duties related to scouting and obtaining and carrying information.
    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 searchlights 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. United States 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 signaling the effect of the shots and the angles at which to train the guns. The aviators took steel bombshells 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 accidents when landing. * * *
    Among army officers the keenest competition is developed, and it is only by a spirit of rivalry and a desire to excel that the best qualities in officers and men are brought out in times of peace. Of course in time of war there is a need which calls for the best there is in a man.
    The needs of the army and navy aviators have developed some special features in machines built for their purposes. They want to be as far-out in front of the machine as possible so they can have an unobstructed view, and so that if they should be so unfortunate as to be pitched out, they will be quite clear of everything. This is especially true of naval machines built to fly over the water. Military aeroplanes also should have a standard method of control, so that any army or navy aviator can operate any army or navy machine.