The Aeroplane Speaks by H. (Horatio) Barber
page 5 of 183 (02%)
page 5 of 183 (02%)
|
and consequent density of air they at present experience,
I increase at about the Square of the Speed. ``Oh, I'm a most complex and interesting personality, I assure you--in fact, a dual personality, a sort of aeronautical Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There's Lift, my vertical part or COMPONENT, as those who prefer long words would say; he always acts vertically upwards, and hates Gravity like poison. He's the useful and admirable part of me. Then there's Drift, my horizontal component, sometimes, though rather erroneously, called Head Resistance; he's a villain of the deepest dye, and must be overcome before flight can be secured.'' ``And I,'' said the Propeller, ``I screw through the air and produce the Thrust. I thrust the Aeroplane through the air and overcome the Drift; and the Lift increases with the Speed and when it equals the Gravity of Weight, then--there you are--Flight! And nothing mysterious about it at all.'' ``I hope you'll excuse me interrupting,'' said a very beautiful young lady, ``my name is Efficiency, and, while no doubt, all you have said is quite true, and that, as my young man the Designer says, `You can make a tea-tray fly if you slap on Power enough,' I can assure you that I'm not to be won quite so easily.'' ``Well,'' eagerly replied the Lift and the Thrust, ``let's be friends. Do tell us what we can do to help you to overcome Gravity and Drift with the least possible Power. That obviously seems the game to play, for more Power means |
|