The Story of the Aeroplane E-Book

C. B. Galbreath

• Herausgeber: Seltzer Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 45

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

History of aviation first published in 1915. According to the Preface: " Around the dry land of the earth are the oceans of water. We may never have seen them, but we have knowledge of them and their navigation, and their names suggest very definite and concrete objects of thought. We sometimes do not realize, however, that we live and move and have our being at the bottom of a vaster and deeper ocean that covers to a depth of many miles the whole earth, and to the surface of which man nor beast nor bird has ever ascended; an ocean with currents and whirlpools and waves of more than mountain height; an ocean in which we are as much at home as are the finny tribes and the monsters of the deep in their watery caverns. This is the ocean of the air. ?

Leseprobe

THE STORY OF THE AEROPLANE BY C. B. GALBREATH

Published by Seltzer Books

established in 1974, now offering over 14,000 books

feedback welcome: [e-mail]

Books about early aircraft and aviation available from Seltzer Books:

Flying Machines: Construction and Operation by W. J. Jackman

Early History of the Airplane by Orville and Wilbur Wright

The Aeroplane Speaks by H. Barber

The Aeroplane by Claude Grahame-Whiteby

The First Man-Carrying Aeroplane by A. F. Zahm

The Story of the Aeroplane by C. B. Galbreath

Over the Front in an Aeroplane and Scenes Inside the French and Flemish Trenches  by Ralph Pulitzer

Aviation in Peace and War by F. H. Sykes

PUBLISHED JOINTLY BY F. A. OWEN PUB. CO., Dansville, N. Y. and HALL & McCREARY, Chicago, Ill. INSTRUCTOR LITERATURE SERIES--No. 253

COPYRIGHT, 1915

F. A. OWEN PUBLISHING CO.                        

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The Ocean of Air

Early Attempts at Aviation

Early Flying Machines

Nineteenth Century Experiments

Claims of Maxim and Ader

Langley’s Tandem Monoplane

Experiments with Gliders

Aviation at the Beginning of the Present Century

The Kite

The “Plane” Defined

Essentials of the Aeroplane

The Wright Brothers and Their Problem

Balancing the Machine

At Kitty Hawk

The First Flight

Machine Balanced by Warping of Planes

Newspaper Reports Verified

Trial Flights at Fort Meyer

Fatal Accident

Wilbur Wright Wins Fame in France

Wright Brothers Honored

United States Government Requirements Successfully Met

Recent Improvements

Future of the Aeroplane

The Ocean of Air

 Around the dry land of the earth are the oceans of water. We may never have seen them, but we have knowledge of them and their navigation, and their names suggest very definite and concrete objects of thought. We sometimes do not realize, however, that we live and move and have our being at the bottom of a vaster and deeper ocean that covers to a depth of many miles the whole earth, and to the surface of which man nor beast nor bird has ever ascended; an ocean with currents and whirlpools and waves of more than mountain height; an ocean in which we are as much at home as are the finny tribes and the monsters of the deep in their watery caverns. This is the ocean of the air. We are about to consider man’s efforts to rise from the bottom of this ocean and wing his flight a little way through the atmosphere above him. His excursions upward are limited, for he could not live near the surface heights of this ocean, vast and deep and boundless. The art and science of his flight through the air, because of its relation to the flight of birds, we call aviation. (Avis: Latin, a bird.)

Early Attempts at Aviation

 “The birds can fly and why can’t I?”

This query of Darius Green’s, in various forms, has suggested itself to man since the dawn of history. Born with an inspiration to look upward and aspire, the navigation of the air has appealed with peculiar force to his imagination and through the centuries has at different times led bold and adventurous spirits to attempt what the world long regarded as impossible. The heavens seemed reserved for winged insects, birds and angels. Audacious man might not venture out upon the impalpable air. Can man fly? After more than four thousand years it was left for man to answer yes, to rise from the earth on wing and thrill the world “with the audacity of his design and the miracle of its execution.” Bold enterprise! Fitting achievement to usher in a new century! A seeming miracle at first, but destined soon to excite no more curiosity than the flight of bees and birds. The solution of the problem of human flight was no miracle nor was it the swift work of genius accomplished at a magic master stroke. It was the result of intelligence and industry patiently applied for years till the barriers of difficulty gave way and man ventured out with assurance on the highways of the air.

Just when he first attempted to fly is not known. Ancient Greek mythology abounds in stories of flying gods and mortals. Kites which bear some relation to the aeroplane were toys among the Chinese thousands of years ago. A Greek by the name of Achytes is reported to have made a wooden dove which flew under the propelling power of heated air. Baldad, a tribal king in what is now England, so tradition has it, attempted to fly over a city but fell and broke a leg. A similar accident is said to have happened to a Benedictine monk in the eleventh century and to others attempting like exploits in after years. A fall and a broken leg seem to have been the usual results of these early attempts at aerial flight.