The Second Boys' Book of Model AeroplanesCollins, Francis A. (Francis Arnold)
Science
The Second Boys' Book of Model Aeroplanes
Collins, Francis A. (Francis Arnold)
Airplanes -- Models
The model aeroplane has one great advantage over the man-carrying
machines. It makes possible indoor aviation, and may be enjoyed the year
round, and is especially effective for evening entertainment. The
fortnightly meets in one of the great New York armories, some time
since, attracted the attention of the officers, and the boys were
invited to give exhibition flights in connection with athletic games.
The first of these meets was held under the auspices of the New York
Model Aero Club, in connection with the Greek athletic games, in the
interval between the games and the ball which followed.
An audience of fully 3,000 people, crowding the armory, witnessed the
flights. Some twenty members of the club entered the contest. In a
public contest of this kind, much depends upon the system of flying. The
floor must be kept clear and the flights follow one another so quickly
that the interest will not lag for a moment, and the audience have no
opportunity to tire. The flights on this occasion went with a rush and
proved in every way so successful that the rules which made this program
are given in full on another page.
Few in the audience had ever seen a model flight, and the contest held
the great crowd’s attention more closely than had any of the evening’s
athletic events, which had come before. There was a breathless moment of
suspense when the whistle had sounded for the first flight. A beautiful
white monoplane led off, but in the excitement of the moment, it had not
been properly adjusted, and failing to get its altitude, spun daintily
across the floor. The second model yawed sharply and flew into the crowd
at the side.
The third model found itself, however, rose perhaps twenty feet and,
settling down to a steady horizontal, darted across the arena. Every eye
followed it. A burst of handclapping greeted its graceful rise, which
increased in volume, and as it reached the farthest corner of the great
armory, more than 200 feet distant, there was a perfectly spontaneous
cheer.
The program was so well organized and carried on that the flights
followed rapidly without a break. There was scarcely a moment when an
aeroplane was not aloft, and the interest never faltered. There were
Scores of excellent straight-away flights of 200 feet or more, at
various altitudes. Occasionally a model would fly wild, even refuse to
rise, but the flights followed one another so continuously that a
failure was quickly forgotten in the delight of watching the next
flight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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