CHAPTER I

THEORIES AND FACTS ABOUT FLYING


THE "SCIENCE" OF AVIATION.--It may be
doubted whether there is such a thing as a "science
of aviation." Since Langley, on May 6,
1896, flew a motor-propelled tandem monoplane
for a minute and an half, without a pilot, and the
Wright Brothers in 1903 succeeded in flying a
bi-plane with a pilot aboard, the universal opinion
has been, that flying machines, to be successful,
must follow the structural form of birds, and
that shape has everything to do with flying.

We may be able to learn something by carefully
examining the different views presented by
those interested in the art, and then see how they
conform to the facts as brought out by the actual
experiments.

MACHINE TYPES.--There is really but one type
of plane machine. While technically two forms
are known, namely, the monoplane and the
bi-plane, they are both dependent on outstretched
wings, longer transversely than fore and aft, so
far as the supporting surfaces are concerned, and
with the main weight high in the structure, thus,