A History of Aeronautics | Page 3

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A History of Aeronautics by E. Charles Vivian

FOREWORD
Although successful heavier-than-air flight is less than two decades old,
and successful dirigible propulsion antedates it by a very short period,
the mass of experiment and accomplishment renders any one-volume
history of the subject a matter of selection. In addition to the
restrictions imposed by space limits, the material for compilation is
fragmentary, and, in many cases, scattered through periodical and other
publications. Hitherto, there has been no attempt at furnishing a
detailed account of how the aeroplane and the dirigible of to-day came

to being, but each author who has treated the subject has devoted his
attention to some special phase or section. The principal exception to
this rule--Hildebrandt--wrote in 1906, and a good many of his
statements are inaccurate, especially with regard to heavier-than-air
experiment.
Such statements as are made in this work are, where possible, given
with acknowledgment to the authorities on which they rest. Further
acknowledgment is due to Lieut.-Col. Lockwood Marsh, not only for
the section on aeroplane development which he has contributed to the
work, but also for his kindly assistance and advice in connection with
the section on aerostation. The author's thanks are also due to the Royal
Aeronautical Society for free access to its valuable library of
aeronautical literature, and to Mr A. Vincent Clarke for permission to
make use of his notes on the development of the aero engine.
In this work is no claim to originality--it has been a matter mainly of
compilation, and some stories, notably those of the Wright Brothers
and of Santos Dumont, are better told in the words of the men
themselves than any third party could tell them. The author claims,
however, that this is the first attempt at recording the facts of
development and stating, as fully as is possible in the compass of a
single volume, how flight and aerostation have evolved. The time for a
critical history of the subject is not yet.
In the matter of illustrations, it has been found very difficult to secure
suitable material. Even the official series of photographs of aeroplanes
in the war period is curiously incomplete' and the methods of
censorship during that period prevented any complete series being
privately collected. Omissions in this respect will probably be remedied
in future editions of the work, as fresh material is constantly being
located.
E.C.V. October, 1920.
CONTENTS Part I--THE EVOLUTION OF THE AEROPLANE I.
THE PERIOD OF LEGEND II. EARLY EXPERIMENTS III. SIR
GEORGE CAYLEY--THOMAS WALKER IV. THE MIDDLE
NINETEENTH CENTURY V. WENHAM, LE BRIS, AND SOME
OTHERS VI. THE AGE OF THE GIANTS VII. LILIENTHAL AND
PILCHER VIII. AMERICAN GLIDING EXPERIMENTS IX. NOT
PROVEN X. SAMUEL PIERPOINT LANGLEY XI. THE WRIGHT

BROTHERS XII. THE FIRST YEARS OF CONQUEST XIII. FIRST
FLIERS IN ENGLAND XIV. RHEIMS, AND AFTER XV. THE
CHANNEL CROSSING XVI. LONDON TO MANCHESTER XVII.
A SUMMARY--TO 1911 XVIII. A SUMMARY--TO 1914 XIX. THE
WAR PERIOD--I XX. THE WAR PERIOD--II XXI.
RECONSTRUCTION XXII. 1919-1920
Part II--1903-1920: PROGRESS IN DESIGN I. THE BEGINNINGS II.
MULTIPLICITY OF IDEAS III. PROGRESS ON STANDARDISED
LINES IV. THE WAR PERIOD
Part III--AEROSTATICS I. BEGINNINGS II. THE FIRST
DIRIGIBLES III. SANTOS-DUMONT IV. THE MILITARY
DIRIGIBLE V. BRITISH AIRSHIP DESIGN VI. THE AIRSHIP
COMMERCIALLY VII. KITE BALLOONS
PART IV--ENGINE DEVELOPMENT I. THE VERTICAL TYPE II.
THE VEE TYPE III. THE RADIAL TYPE IV. THE ROTARY TYPE
V. THE HORIZONTALLY-OPPOSED ENGINE VI. THE
TWO-STROKE CYCLE ENGINE VII. ENGINES OF THE WAR
PERIOD
APPENDICES


PART I
THE EVOLUTION OF THE AEROPLANE
I. THE PERIOD OF LEGEND
The blending of fact and fancy which men call legend reached its
fullest and richest expression in the golden age of Greece, and thus it is
to Greek mythology that one must turn for the best form of any legend
which foreshadows history. Yet the prevalence of legends regarding
flight, existing