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"How did you happen to land on the track?" asked the fireman. "The wind put the machine out of control and we came down quicker than we wanted to," explained Sam. "Then you came along before we had a chance to drag the biplane off the tracks." "Well, I'm glad I didn't hit anybody," said the engineer, in tones of relief.
In their case the machine, which was again a biplane, had, like both the others previously mentioned, an elevator in front though in this case of monoplane form and, as in the Wright, a rudder was fitted in rear of the main planes.
At this juncture the big biplane that had been pursuing the Fokker suddenly ducked, dove far beneath his adversary and came up on the opposing side, at the same time peppering the Hun with machine gun explosive bullets. The Fokker almost stopped and appeared to tremble. Both Bangs and Erwin saw that some serious internal injury had occurred.
On the next day, Paulhan on his Voisin biplane took the air with Latham, and Fournier followed, only to smash up his machine by striking an eddy of wind which turned him over several times.
Thus some machines have a "lift" of 9 or 10 pounds to each square foot of wing surface, while others are reduced to 3 or 4 pounds per square foot. The under part of the frame of the Wright biplane, technically known as the CHASSIS, resembled a pair of long "runner" skates, similar to those used in the Fens for skating races.
"Perhaps we can save the engine, and a dealer in second-hand machinery may give a hundred dollars for it. Now what I propose is this: You pay for half the value of the biplane and we'll call it square." "Preposterous!" "Very well then, Mr. Fogg, we'll consider the interview closed." "If you sue, you won't get a cent, Mr. Rover." "That remains to be seen."
Why, just think, not a soul knew about his old biplane until he had it about done. We were working in the open almost, telling much of our plans, but Puss pretended to be mighty envious and asked questions, when all the time he was meaning to beat us out. Of course, he could get into Colombia without giving his secret away. You don't need to tell me, Frank, you're surprised at that."
The Voisins, however, fitted a fixed biplane horizontal 'tail' in an effort to obtain a measure of automatic longitudinal stability between the two surfaces of which the single rudder worked. For lateral stability they depended entirely on end curtains between the upper and lower surfaces of both the main planes and biplane tail surfaces.
As a result the weight, which is farther below the supporting surface than in the biplane, aids in maintaining the lateral stability, particularly since the supporting frame is higher. Usually, for the same wing spread, the monoplane is narrower, laterally, which is a further aid to prevent tilting. ITS DISADVANTAGES. But it also has disadvantages which must be apparent from its structure.
His exclamation was called out by a sudden change in the method of advance adopted by those in the leading aeroplane. Instead of keeping along in a direct line the biplane had uptilted and was now shooting downward in what seemed a terribly perilous way; just as though the pair of precious scoundrels had taken a notion to end the pursuit by seeking a plunge into the water.
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