Popular Science Monthly 1920-03: Vol 96 Iss 3

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Popular Science Monthly Waldemar Kaempffert, Editor. March, 1920; Vol. 96, No.3 25 Cents a Copy; $3 a Year —— 7H »- Published in New York City at 225 West Thirty-ninth Street A » | —{ A ee that Sheds Its Wings Changing from bird to fish if compelled to alight at sea HEN you fly to New York from England across the Atlantic ocean, everything depends on the engines. So long as they run you skim the clouds in safety. If they stop, down you must glide to the sea. Motion is the secret of an airplane flight—incessant motion. Do you remember Hawker’s mishap? Do you remember how nearly he lost his life in a heavy sea, because a BOW COCK-PIT NMA PILOT'S SEAT . ¥ ; SWING UPWARD) _//\ SPRING (Steno sTeP ) ot \ hk S ae \ OBSERVERS SEAT R. RELEASES ALL BOLTS “rs (THIRD STEP) ie Ss Ye STRUT = Le, LOCKING BOLT OF — CENTER PANEL 4 & (peers) ne “7 Vax [Say og OF LOWER passing tramp steamer found it diffi- cult to reach him? To be sure, his was a land machine—doomed if ever it was compelled to alight on the heaving billows. The transatlantic airplane of the future will probably be a flying-boat. If its engines fail, it will alight on the surface of the water and float. The wings will then become a handicap, particularly in a storm. A sailing ship 7 in a storm scuds along, , either close reefed or under bare poles. The enormous expanse of wing of a flying-boat (Ty as it floats may imperil } thepassengers. Why not shed them altogether? That is the solution pro- posed by Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss and one of his engineers, Mr. William L. Gilmore. Examine the accom- RUDDER wiRES FIRST STEP To shed the wings the pilot in the rear cockpit disconnects the rudder wires, pulls up the wing controls and pilot’s seat to a position above deck, and climbs to a position of safety. The observer forward unfastens the holding bolts and the wind from the propellers blows the wings overboard panying drawings and you will see how Mr. Curtiss and Mr. Gilmore could rid a flying-boat of its useless wings. In the first place, there is a very staunch, seaworthy hull, provided with bulkheads and water-tight compart- ments. In that hull an engine is mounted which drives aerial rrorel- lers; there is also an auxiliary engine, which drives a water propeller. The wing structure to be shed con- sists of a triplane, secured to the back of the hull by meansof a saddle. Full a lever and the saddle is releesed co that the wings and outrigged tail (supported from the wing cell only) slides back on rails from the stern cf the boat. The wings are to be shed with tke aid of the aerial propellers. But sur- pose the engine is dead? The wirgs can nevertheless slide back because cf the’ inclination of the trackway and the propulsive effort derived through the water propeller. The wind liter- ally blows the entire wing .structure away when it is released, leaving the boat free to ride the storm, Changing from bird to fish in mid-ocean is the work of only a few min- utes for this biplane