JF Ptak Science Books

A Guide to German Trenches and Aircraft, 1915

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WWI was into its sixth (of fifty-one) months of war when these helpful graphics appeared in the pages of the Illustrated London News on Feb 6, 1915.  Distinguishing trenches was interesting though not very essential, and certainly not as potentially useful to the broad population as the sheet identifying German aircraft. This image is a version of a poster that was distributed far and wide in Great Britain and France teaching ordinary citizens the differences between airplanes of friend and foe. There were a large number of designs of aircraft,especially so when you threw the British and French planes into the mix. It certainly would've been a bit involved at first to make these distinctions, though if your survival depended on perhaps knowing the differences in all of these aircraft then no doubt the learning curve would flatten out. It is also remarkable that all of these developments in aviation come just a dozen years after the Wright brothers first made their powered flight at Kill Devil Hills.  

• Both images are clickable and greatly expandable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Massive Triple Tandem Triplane (1921)

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What we see here, below, is a rather extraordinary flying machine, a mammoth beast with 8,000 square feet of wings (more than 40% greater than that of a 747). It was a triple tandem triplane, which is a glorious-sounding and possibly epic description of the aircraft—a plane with three independent triplanes fixed to one fuselage. The article appears in Popular Mechanics for May 1921, and describes this aeronautical attempt as the work of Giovanni (Gianni) Caproni (1886-1957), which was to be a transport for 300-mile round trip excursions at about 80mph cruising speed. It was powered by 8 12 cylinder 400 hp Liberty engines operating on push/pull arrangements on different wings, carrying a crew of eight and 100 passengers. Unfortunately the flying boat crashed on its second test flight, and then the remains were towed badly toward shore, and that was the end of the plane.

 

Flying to India from London at 93 mph (1928)

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These oblique cross-section and cutaways have been near-and-dear imagery for a long time, and I've probably made 50+ posts on this blog sharing them. This drawing is by S.W. Clatgworthy and appears in Popular Mechanics for March, 1928-- it depicts the not-identified and brand-new "Short S.8 Calcutta", which made its first flight the month before.  The airplane was designed for the Mediterranean leg of the London-India service of British Imperial Airways (1924-1939 when it merged into BOAC and then in 1974 became British Airways) and was the first stressed skinned metal hulled flying boat, and was constructed by Shorts¹. Its three Bristol Jupiter engines pulled the aircraft along at about a 100 mph cruising speed, which no doubt made for an exciting and relatively fast (by 1928 standards) trip to the East.  The aircraft was pretty large for the day: 66' long with a wingspan of 93' and a height of 23'. It was probably noisy but relatively comfortable, the passengers being served food and drinks by a steward. Far less comfy were the pilot and navigator, who as you can see were in an open cockpit. 

Notes:

1. Shorts was the firm started by the Short brothers in Battersea in 1908 and which was the first aircraft manufacturing company to make production airplanes. 

 

Bomb-Dropping Torpedo Plane Guided by Wireless (1917)

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This illustration appeared in the December 1917 issue of Popular Mechanics, just a year away from the end of WWI. This was a promotion for the idea of a remote-controlled miniature-aircraft, which was equipped with bombs and suggested to be an "irresistible engine of annihilation".  The map displays how the aircraft--or multi-squadrons of them--could be controlled from Dunkirk to bomb targets in Zeebrugge, Bruges, and Thourout, "without the loss of a single flier". 

• "Will the radio bombing plane and the flying torpedo be similarly evolved in time to crumble the fortresses of autocracy along the Rhine?".

The small inset of the flying machine at bottom right seems to be little more than a bomb (a "mechanically controlled aerial torpedo").

 

 

The Urban Rooftop Airport Idea in 1920

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This is another unexpected find of an urban rooftop airport¹/dirigible docking station from 1920.  The idea has a certain amount of sense to it, especially here in the still relatively restricted early history of aviation, just 13 years past Kill Devil Hills, and two past the great expansion of flight following the end of WWI. It is an interesting mix of modernity when coupled with growth of the skyscraper², which is just living through the beginning of its fourth decade.  On the other hand...well, there are a lot of obvious problems with an idea like this, too many to go through in a simple post just intending to share an evocative image. It was a tempting peek into the future, and as we can see one of the dirigibles advertisers "transatlantic", the first of which wouldn't occur by dirigible uintil the Graf Zeppelin in 1928. The planes are way too big, and so on. (Is that the Plaza Hotel in the foreground?) The rendering itself is very pretty, and has a certain Renaissance-y quality too it, especially with the etching-like rendering of the sky.  

If you're interested there are probably ten posts on such ideas in this blog--just enter "airport" in the Google search box for the site and you'll find them.

(Source: Popular Mechanics, December 1920, pg 912.)

Notes.

1. "Airport" and "Air port" first appears in the OED in 1902 in the great Brooklyn Eagle, though I'm unsure of its aviation context ( Brooklyn Daily Eagle 10 Apr. 1/2   "I hope New York will be the greatest airport in the world"). There is a clearer usage in 1914 (Times 16 Mar. 5/3   "The time will come when, with the development of aviation, every town of importance will need an air-port as it now needs a railway station") that leaves no doubt the reference is for airplanes.  

2. "Skyscraper" (and "sky scraper" and "sky-scraper") in the architectural sense draws on a long history of common and colloquial use: it first appears in the Oxford English Dictionary as a nautical term relating to a tall horse (1788), and then used to refer to a  sail (1791), tall bonnet (1800), high flying ball in sports (1842), tall person (1847), exaggerated story (1890), and so on.  The use of the term relating to a tall building (generally 10 to 13 floors high) appears in 1883

A Shadowy, Watery Window into Early Flight (1907)

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It seeped into recognition that the photo below is remarkable to my experience for showing an early airplane being pushed through a puddle--marsh, actually--prior to flight, and we can see its progress and its helpers in a  reflection in the water. Now it is easy to find an aircraft with pontoons made for a watery environment, but the other, well, it seems to be remarkable to me. The photo  is from Henry de la Vaux's  heavy and highly illustrated Le Triomphe de la Navigation Aerienne, Aeroplanes, Dirigiables Spheriques, printed in Paris in 1911, and shows the Euro-famous Henri Farman's Voisin aeroplane across an inundated section of the fields at Issy.  Farman used this aircraft (made by Gabriel and Charles Voisin of Aeroplanes Voisin, founded 1905) in March 1907 and “… flew the first successful powered aircraft designed by aeronautical engineer… to make the first heavier-than-air flight lasting more than a minute in Europe, and also to make the first full circle”. (Wikipedia) And yet for that the thing that attracts me to this photo, found serendipitiously while flipping through the pages of the big book, was were the reflection of the underside of the plane in the mirror surface of the wet field. Simple, and unusual.  

And the full image:

A Trafalgar of the Air--the Battleship Aeroplane, 1907

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“Is t he Future War-Ship to be Aeroplane or Balloon?”, is a glorious 2pp (16” x 23”) illustration in the Illustrated London News, published August 31, 1907, and drawn by Harry Grant Dart¹ only four years after the Wrights’ powered flight at Kill Devil. It features four images of enormous aircraft as well as two smaller images, none of these seem to be the balloons in question in the title of the artwork, the artist seeming to have come down on the side of the aeroplane. That said, these aircraft are massive—iterating by the figures on deck the plane was close to 50’ tall with wings that must’ve been 100’ wide. Everything seems to be massively heavy, looking more like steam-fired ships (“flying battle-ships”) than anything else…except for their resemblance to birds and dragonflies.  Also of note in the upper right corner is a missile—an “aerial torpedo"—fired at one of the aircraft.

Notes:

1.  Harry Grant Dart (1869-1938) was a correspondent, artist, and cartoonist who worked for the New York World, Life, and Judge, whose specialties seem to involve techno-future-vision. 

 

 

Bombing Dirigibles, from Above (1913)

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“Fishing for the Enemy, Hooked Bombs for Catching Dirigibles”, a drawing by H.W. Koekkoek, in the April 12, 1913 issue of the Illustrated London News. Samuel F. Cody (born Cowdery, adjusting the surname of Buffalo Bill/William in his youth) was a Wild West showman at the beginning, and then a showman through his middle years in other fields, and then finally becoming an advanced pioneer in aviation. Cody was the first person to fly in England in 1906 and experimented with different (and successful designs in aircraft) as well as human-lifting kite designs, some of which were employed by the Brits in the Boer War and also used in place of observation balloons under appropriate weather conditions. There is no doubt that Cody was more on the frontier of aviation than on the U.S. Western frontier. Unfortunately Cody would be killed flying one of his experimental aircraft four months after this story appeared.

Cody went fishing for dirigibles with this invention. The idea was to fly an airplane about 2000’ above a dirigible with a towline of the same length with a grapnle-bomb attacked to the end. The plane would try to hook the dirigible with the grapnel at which point the bomb would detach and detonate.

Birds of a Feather: Flying and Perpetual Motion Machines (1848)

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Here's a wonderful and short editorial comment from the Scientific American on the possibilities of human flight, coupled with the observed fruitless pursuit of perpetual motion machines.  There wasn't much hope expressed in flight, but "the end of flying machines is not yet" and the author shares a vision for one possible flying machine, which was a huge, steam-driven, wrought iron 40' x 8' design with between four and twelve wings. No mention is given of its weight. 

"Flying Machines", in Scientific American, December 23, 1848, vol 4, #14.

“Flying Machines and Perpetual Motions are very old and unfortunate acquaintances. No people have invented so many as the Germans, and many a poor fellow has lost his life by his fool hardy confidence in some machines he had invented to ride upon the winds, yet for all the accidents that have taken place to high flyers, from the Dutch Doctor at Ratisbone in 1692 to the unfortunate Englishman who perished a few years ago in London when descending by a parachute, there are still to be found new flying machines coming out every few months.”

“But the end of flying machines is not yet, and here we insert the description of a new and an original one certainly, taken from the Jacksonian published at Pontiac, Michigan…”

“As wings then, have failed, and balloons been attended with no better success, men have begun to think that the end is unattainable, and that flying is a victory which man can never achieve. The art of flying simply consists in the suspension and motion of a heavy body in a lighter. Although this may appear contrary to the nature of things, it is what takes place every day, and is seen exemplified in the case of every insect and bird that flies—all of which are heavier than the air.”

“Let us suppose a machine to be constructed resembling a long railway car, with arms projecting at certain distances from the roof and floor, appearing like the long axles of a wagon wheel. At me extremities or these arms the axles of the screw wheels or wings are inserted, which thus work parallel to the earth, instead of perpendicular, as in a vessel. At the stern of the car are from two to four wheels, to serve as propellers, the side wheels being merely to elevate and suspend the car. In the interior of the car, at the centre, is the steam engine, with the fuel and water, while the extremities are reserved for passengers and baggage. The wings are moved by independent bands connected with the internal machinery, so that the whole or a portion of them may be used at once, for the convenience of ascending and descending.”

“This machine instead of having two wings like a bird, will have from four to twelve, according to the length. The forward end should be built sharp, to offer less resistance to the wind. Having more wheels than are necessary to its elevation, no danger can occur from any accident that may occur to one or two of them. The machine can be guided by some kind of rudder, or by stopping one or two of the stern wheels, which are attached to each side of the stern. At first sight, such a machine as this may appear the production of a visionary, but the same would have been said fifty years since had any man described a locomotive engine and a railway. Every step towards the construction of this machine can be based on mathematical principles The air furnishes a vast fund of power for the use of mankind, although as yet they have only used it to propel ships and wind-mills. “

“A car forty feet long, with five wheels on each side, eight feet in diameter and three smaller propellers at the stern, would certainly appear a novel object, when roaring along through the air. If a certain breadth of wheel be not sufficient, try broader ones—if the velocity be too slow, increase it.”

“We however wish the inventor success—but before he proceeds to construct his machine we hope he won’t forget the law that was discovered by the great Newton in the falling of an apple.”

The Mysteries of Air Travel (1945)

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There's very little detail of the aircraft in general, though like a lot of free-thinkers the artist has imagined plenty of life being lived in the interior of the plane's wings, where all of our attention is directed. It seems that the plane has banked to such a degree that it has completely upset the pace of life of its passengers. Many of the travelers have taken a big tumble, and we can see a guy hanging onto another man's suspenders who in turn is hanging on to a woman clutching a man grabbing a man holding onto a door. Beneath that circus routine is another--we see a small band jostled and imploded into itself (with the clarinetist swallowing his instrument and someone landing in a tuba) while a man in sock garters and a night shirt takes aim at the group with something-or-other.  

Evidently, the plane's performance was destabilized by a moth--all was brought back to normal.  

In any event, I came upon this looking for early published tech reports on the V-1, so there was something that came from this rabbit-hole research:

Source: L'Air, revue mensuelle: organe de la Ligue Nationale populaire de l'aviation (France).  January 15, 1945 (via the wonderful Gallica site)

 

A Not-So-Good Idea for Air Travel (1922)

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This October issue of Popular Mechanics 1922 is robust! Here's another attractive piece of design with loads of character and one central question:  "why?"  The image is that of a giant aeroplane capable of hauling 100 or more souls (not this particular version, though) for long distance uninterrupted flight of 1000 miles--so in order for there to be no in-between landings the aircraft came equipped with a glider aircraft (an altogether different version of the "hang glider") that was released for the mother ship. As you can see it is a much smaller aircraft and looks to me to be pretty well packed, leading no doubt to questionable utility and much prayer. The thing is, why bother with another aircraft when you can just stop the plane and let people off? This beast was half-stopped in the air anyway by modern standards, probably chugging away at, what, 100mph? (The airspeed record at this time was just a touch over 200mph.) and it wasn't flying very high (relative to even 1950), so stopping may not have been such a big deal. The airport or air station wouldn't've been an issue either, because the glider would near to land somewhere. Anyway, I just couldn't figure out this piece of The Possible Future.

Aircraft Cross Sections, WWII

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I'm sharing some of the collection here of the published work of George.H. Davis (1881-1963), the prolific and vastly accomplished artist for The Illustrated London News. His work with that magazine for the forty or so years that I am familiar with is superb, and his great strengths can be found in rendering technical cross sections and infographics.  He had a great sense of design and a very fine hand, and so far as I can tell he displayed an excellent control of his subject, thousands and thousands of times (2,500 times, according to Mr. Davis).

Here are some fabulous examples of technological cross sections of WWII aircraft by Davis--the drawings are just superb, and you can easily get lost in them, following the geography of engineering detail from one logical place to the next.

Blohm u. Voss BV141 

Surprise!  My first cross section isn't one--I just couldn't resist posting it, though. This aircraft is the Blohm u. Voss "BV 141"a very unusual-looking aircraft as it appeared in The Illustrated London News for 23 May 1942--it gives an excellent view of what the editors called "a lop-sided freak".  Perhaps the editors of the ILN wanted to educate its readers on the plane since it was supposed to be widely employed on the Russian Front, though it looks like only 38 were ever built (and none survive today). Actually, the plane, designed by Dr. Richard Vogt (1894-1979),  was a high-flying three-seater  surveillance aircraft capable of 220 mph at 17,000 feet, powered by a single 1000 hp Bramo Fafnir 9-cylinder radial engine.  The idea for the design was to give the pilot and co-pilot a very wide field of view--and by this, I'm guessing that the field of view most affected and aided by this would be straight down. The rear gunner also had an enormous field of view. 

As it turns out Vogt survived the war and spent his Golden Years in the U.S., seven of them (1960-1966) with Boeing to evaluate hydrofoils and vertical liftoff systems:  he had built other odd planes during his career, and carried them with them into near-retirement, making this sort of design his metier.

"The Mustang--Fastest Army Co-operation in the World", appearing in The Illustrated London News for 12 December 1942.  

 

 The Spitfire (perhaps the most beautiful-sounding aircraft of WWII):

 

The Early Airplane in Popular Culture: Sheet Music (1897-1911)

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I'm posting these following sheet music covers because of their lovely airplane covers. They are located at the wonderful (and highly available and useful) Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection at Johns Hopkins University.  

"I Could Live in An Airplane", by James O'Dea, with music by Edward Buffington, 1909. [Image source: http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/catalog/levy:060.048]

 

"Sixty Miles an Hour. March and Two-Step',  Frederick W. Hager, 1910.  [Image source: http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/catalog/levy:059.065]

"The Aeronautical World"--a Great Advertisement from 1903.

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Here's a clearer picture, which is from the front cover of the magazine, and which identifies the fliers--as you can see the middle flyer that looks like a Wright plane was Octave Chanute, and which was moved over to the left in a new design to accommodate the title of the journal in the ad. Chanute was really very helpful to the Wrights and gave them support at nearly all times during their experiments...but I think it was his interest in them early on that was most beneficial, as the Wrights were just starting out and Chanute was a recognized world-wide authority who actually traveled to Dayton to meet them.  Anyway, that's his flyer, though not Chanute himself, who I'm pretty sure never flew one of his own inventions--the Wrights on the other hand insisted upon that, saying it was of the most supreme importance for understanding motion in the air and controlling the aircraft. As the Wrights realized at the outset, it wasn't getting into the air that was the problem--it was staying there. And in order to stay there you had to be able to move the aircraft, and so move different parts of the aircraft. Everything else flowed from that. 

It was in volume 1 issue 7 that Chanute was quoted saying that the Wrights "flew like a vulture" which was a high compliment, given the ability of vultures, and that with them "soaring flight was almost an accomplished fact". (p. 147). See Internet Archives for the magazine: https://archive.org/details/aeronauti111118021903glen/page/148

Fantasia of the Air--Cops, Booze, Marriage, and a Monkey. (1890)

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Well, not quite a fantasia, but more like a "fanciful/fantastical/imaginary" collection of  "flying objects" ("objets volants de fantaisie"), a whimsical look at the very near future (or so) of airship flight in 1890. This future seems to make room for everyone in the air, and celebrated by a collection of worldwide nationalities on the ground. There really isn't a title for it,  and the print is indexed according to the posters/signs adorning the floating businesses and municipal pleasantries.  According to the excellent French library  site "Galica" the print is catalogued as "Sanatoir aérien du docteur Farceur, bureau volant de mariage, police aérienne [objets volants de fantaisie]", which is entirely unpoetic and slightly galling given the subject matter, and merely describes some of the objects in the print. The only part of the title that hints at the delightful subject matter is the "police aerienne", which would in spite of its clumsiness at least raise an eyebrow of just about any overworked research mole:

[Image source: Galica https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53024091c/f1.item]

What vision of the future of aviation doesn't include two flying doggies and a monkey? This one does. At top right we have part of the title, a marquee for a floating sanitarium run by "Dr. Farceur", which is probably some very light wordplay implicating a medical jester. There's the police station, marriage chapel, a hook-up joint (sounding better as a "ballon de rendez-vous"), and a bar/cafe/restaurant. The law is there directing traffic and making an arrest; there are two ships, one a warship with a skull-and-bones and the other probably not; there's a pamphleteer literally dropping his suggestions, some ladies with attaches, and a long-shoe Flaneur. Belting it all together is some sort of chorus line, though these ladies aren't attached to any flying thing save for the wings on their backs. All in all, this is a fine and pleasing work, full of action, and probably not so impressed with the actual future of human flight.