The Boys' Book of Airships
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ll!liBiBli;iPlilillMI!l!ili!lili!l3i!li|liMaii!iiM^^^^ i || ; 1 § iiil |1 Hi ISIJ! ! S;» THE l1«ilMli!i*nnMl)Mrll(MliMIIIM'I!t(HUil!i*1tM»!rM!nitV!liliJi!lii(till«ll5i,ltjBOYS' BOOK r AIRSHIPS Heights Attained by Various Aeroplanes at the Time of Going TO Press as Compared with the Height of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. THE BOYS' BOOK OF AIRSHIPS BY H. DELACOMBE WITH NINETY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE 5EUM-LIBRARY Copyright, 1909, By FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY December, igog To My Friend Olnlntt^l Jaw^a H. ©jmpbr who devoted over thirty years of his life to Aeronautics for the benefit of his country, and through whose conversation I was first interested in the subject. CONTENTS PART I-BALLOONS PAGE I. Some Early History i II. Names and Uses of the Various Parts of a Balloon 17 III. Something About Gases—Lifting Power—Variations IN Atmospheric Pressure—Effects on a Balloon of (o) Increasing Altitudes, (&) Sun's Radia- tion, (c) Rain 20 IV. The Practice of Ballooning—Laying Out—Inflating —Weighing and Letting Go—Sensations of Ascent — — —How to Descend Landing Packing Up . 25 V. Military Ballooning—First French Balloon Corps— Service in American Civil War—Episodes During Siege of Paris 31 VI. Military Ballooning Continued—The School at Woolwich—Two Important English Inventions— A Perilous Adventure — Campaigns in Egypt, Africa, and China—American and French De- velopment 36 VII. Ballooning as a Sport—Formation of Aero Clubs- — Gordon Bennett Races Other Competitions . 45 VIII. Description of International Point-to- Point Race— How It Was Won—A Clever Descent—An Un- expected Passenger 52 IX. Cross-Channel Trips—The First Record—Green's Voyage to Nassau—A Frequent Grosser-Only Just Over—The First Lady to Cross—An Exciting Night Passage .•. 60 — CONTENTS PAGE X. How Balloons are Built—Calculations of Sizes- Cutting OUT Material—Tailor Work—Varnishing — — — The Valve The Neck Forbes' Narrative . ^(i XI. Balloon Photography , . 85 XII. Parachutes ....... .1 . ., .. ...... 89 PART II—AIRSHIPS I. Development of the Dirigible—Duke de Chartres' Airship — Meusnier's Design ^— Giffard's Experi- ment 95 II. Progress from 1882 to 1897—Tissandier Airship—" La France " Dr. Wolfert's Balloon—The Schwartz Aluminium Airship 103 III. Failures and Progress During the Nineteenth Century 113 IV. The Experiments of Santos-Dumont—His Fourteen Airships—Some of His Adventures—Winning the Deutsch Prize .116 V. Roze's Double Airship—The Pax—Severo's — Death The De Bradsky-^Another Fatal Journey . 125 " " VI. A Short Description of the Lebaudy Airships . 130 VII. French Military Dirigibles—The "Patrie" ... 133 VIII. The "Ville de Paris" 139 IX. Count Zeppelin and His Airships 143 " '" X. The Parseval "—The " Gross ...... 153 XI. England's Airship—The " Nulli Secundus "... 158 XII. The United States " Dirigible No. i " 165 PART III—HEAVIER-THAN-AIR MACHINES, KITES, GLIDERS, AND AEROPLANES I. A Brief History of Early Experiments—Wenham; Von Helmholtz; Lilienthal; Pilcher; Chanute; Hargrave's Kites; The Wrights i68 CONTENTS PAGE II. Principles of Gliding—Simple Models and How to Make Them—The " Weiss " Machine .... 178 III. Practice and Theory—Sir George Cayley's Ideas— Stringfellow's Model .- . 183 IV. The Best Form of Plane—Effects of Curved Sur- faces—Lift and Drift 188 V. Aeroplanes Proper—Santos-Dumont, the Pioneer— The First Flights on Record 19S VI. The Wright Aeroplane 202 VII. The Voisin Biplane—How it Differs From the Wright Machines 214 VIII. The Experiences and Trials of Esnault-Pelterie— The Evolution of the R. E. P. Machine . 219 IX. The Curtis s-Herring Biplane—Antoinette Machines —The Bleriot Monoplane 224 X. Flying the Channel , 231 XL The First Aviation Meeting 238 ILLUSTRATIONS Heights Attained by Various Aeroplanes at THE Time of Going to Press, as Compared WITH THE Height of St, Paul's Cathedral, London Frontispiece FACIKG PAGE montgolfier experiment at versailles, 1 783 Ascent of Vincent Lunardi, 1784. The First Balloon Ascent in England .... 12 The First Cross-Channel Trip . 13 Diagram Showing Essential Parts of a Balloon 18 A Partly Inflated Balloon 26 Climbing the Net to Make a Repair 27 L'Arc de Triomphe, Paris, from a Balloon 28 The End of a Descent .... 29 Deflating after Descent 30 Packed and Ready to Go to the Station De- scent in France 31 Inflating a Service Balloon on the Field 36 Army Balloon Ready to Ascend . 37 The British Army Balloon Corps at Gibraltar 38 Army Balloon Detachment Outside of Ladysmith 42 Army Balloon Detachment Advancing on Ladysmith 42 Army Balloon Corps Crossing the Tugela 43 The First Gordon Bennett Balloon Race, Paris Balloons Starting for the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race, October, 1908, from Schwarzendorf 49 The " Conqueror " as She Fell on the Roof. (Gor- don Bennett Race, Berlin.) ..... 50 Night Ascent by Charles J. Glidden 51 Belgian Balloon Carrying Away Branch of Tree 58 Cross-Channel Balloon Trip by Messrs. Spencer and Pollock. Views of Crystal Palace and Hastings 60 Harbour . , .... < yiii ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Mr. Pollock's First Cross-Channel Trip from East- bourne . 6r The "Conqueror" Bursts in Mid-Air. (Gordon Ben- nett Race, Berlin.) 82 Inaugural Ascent of the English Aero Club Balloon AT Stamford Bridge 83 Shadow of a Balloon Photographed from Its Own Car 86 Strawberry Hill from a Captive Balloon . 87 Cocking's Parachute •...., 90 From Monaco to Mentone, Mr. A. M. Singer and M. Jacques Faure . .91 Trailing over Beaulieu Bay 91 Due de Chartres Dirigible .98 Giffard's Airship . 99 Tissandier's Dirigible . .. ..1 104 The Schwartz Airship no The "Bayard-Clement" Sailing over Beaumont . in Santos Dumont Rounding the Eiffel Tower . 120 The Malecot Airship Being Towed Back to Its Hangar 124 " " La Russie Built in France by M. M. Lebaudy . 130 "La Russie" Seen from the Front (on the Right) AND from the Rear End (on the Left) . , .131 " " The First Trial of the Lebaudy in ,1908 . 132 The First Trial of the French Military Airship "Republique" . .... I.. ,. 132 Italian Army Dirigible ........ 133 " ViLLE de Nancy " and " Republique " Manoeuvring over French Troops at Longchamps ,. 138 The First Trial of "Ville de Paris" .... 139 " Zeppelin I " Showing Stern Elevating Planes . 144 Members of the Reichstag Watching Zeppelin Ma- noeuvres AT Friederichshafen (over Bodensee) . 145 " Zeppelin III " Voyage to Berlin : Landing at Tegel 150 "Zeppelin II" after Collision with Tree at Goppin- gen ,. 151 " " German Military Dirigible Parseval . 154 German Military Dirigible " Gross " Flying over Ber- LINI ;„ r.] [.; !.i :.i r.i ;.i i.i r.i ;.i i.i > I $6 ILLUSTRATIONS ix facikq page New Portable Balloon Shed for German Military " " Airship . Gross .... ... 157 The British Army "Baby" Dirigible . .158 " NuLLi Secundus " over the Public School Camp at Farnborough . ,., . .; :. .^ ., . 162 "NuLLi Secundus II" . ., ,. ., . 163 " " Baldwin U. S. Dirigible No. i . .. ;. 166 Weiss Glider Prior to Start ...... 180 Weiss Glider in Flight ...:...,.,.. 182 Weiss Glider in Flight . .• . ,., . 183 Vaniman's Triplane ... .1 . ,., . 194 Wright Machine in Flight . 202 Wright Starting with Passenger 203 Wright Machine Starting down the Rail . 204 Wright Machine Rising Just after Leaving the Rail 204 Diagram of Wright Brothers' Aeroplane . 208 Details of the Winged Warping Action in the Wright Aeroplane 210 At Rheims. Some Voisin Machines Ready to Start 214 Framework of a Short Biplane 216 Farman Machine Prior to Start 217 Farman in Flight 218 The First Cross-Country Flight. Farman Flying FROM RoMILLY to RheIMS , , 219 M, Esnault Pelterie's Early Experiment . 220 The "R. E. P." in Flight ,., . 222 The "R. E. P." after an Accident . 223 The "June Bug" American Biplane .... 224 The Curtiss-Herring Biplane. Winner of Gordon Bennett Aviation Race at Rheims .... 225 All That Was Left of Bleriot's Monoplane, Burned AT Rheims 226 Bleriot's Cross-Country Flight 227 Bleriot's Cross-Country Flight. Racing a Train . 228 Fournier's Wrecked Biplane at Rheims .... 229 The First Cross-Channel Attempt. Latham's "An- toinette " Alongside the Tug 232 Bleriot Leaving the French Coast for England . 234 X ILLUSTRATIONS FACIKG PAGE The First Lady to Fly in England: Mrs. Cody Ready TO Fly with Her Husband ...... 235 Latham's Second Cross-Channel Attempt (from the French Destroyer " Escopette ") 236 Lefebvre Flying over a Spectator at Rheims . 238 Aeronautical Exhibition in the Grand Palais, Paris, 1909 • . •- .. .- .: .-. >. .; . 239 — AIRSHIPS By Harry H. Kemp {RtfTinttd from Iht Amtrican Magaxint, Deumbtr, rgoS, iy firmiitim^ Brave captains of the ocean of the air, Agile the buffets of the .winds to dare. To dartle upward on a track oblique As eagles fade from peak to mist-wrapt peak; Forerunners of the mighty time to be When men will sail the air as now the sea And flocks of ships like migrant birds will go, Their shadows speeding under them below, And take the buffets of celestial gales In cloudy tier on tier of bulging sails All hail! Columbuses of realms unwon And windy champaigns germane to the sun. Neglected as of yore will be the Deep Ere timid Commerce on its edge -did creep. Abandoned to the pale and lonely moon And to the awful flails of the Typhoon; And the brown savage, vivid with tattoo, Gliding from isle to isle in swift canoe And clumsy junks manned by the Chinese crew, And fishing smacks dim-seen through slant gray rain Alone will tempt the bosom of the Main; And Liners useless at the docks will stand Like dead Leviathans washed up to land. While steamship companies through bribed law Will seek the winged fleets to overawe. Yea! Gradual, by ones, and twos, and threes. The daring mariners will tempt the breeze: At first for pleasure only will they sail And chart the sightless currents of the gale^ ! — — THE BOYS' BOOK OF AIRSHIPS But next increasing cargoes will be laid In holds, and over continents conveyed.