other were bent upwards. By the aid of this arrangement the natural cant of the machine when making a turn could be checked, if it became excessive. The four-cylinder petrol engine was placed on the lower aeroplane a little to the right of the central line, being counterbalanced by the driver (and passenger if one was carried), who sat a little to the left of the same line. Making about 1200 revolutions a minute, it developed about 24 horse-power, and was connected by chain gearing to two wooden propellers, 212 metres in diameter and 312 metres apart, the speed of which was about 450 revolutions a minute. The whole machine, with aeronaut, weighed about 1100 ℔, the weight of the motor being reputed to be 200 ℔.
 | |
| Fig. 53.—Wright Flying Machine; diagrammatic sketch. | |
| A, B, Main supporting surfaces. C, D, Aeroplanes of horizontal rudder with fixed semilunar fin E. |
F, Vertical rudder. G, Motor. H, Screws. |
A feature of the year 1909 was the success obtained with monoplanes having only a single supporting surface, and it was on a machine of this type that the Frenchman Blériot on July 25th flew across the English Channel from Calais to Dover in 31 minutes. Hubert Latham all but performed the same feat on an Antoinette monoplane. The year saw considerable increases in the periods for which aviators were able to remain in the air, and Roger Sommer’s flight of nearly 212 hours on August 7th was surpassed by Henry Farman on November 3rd, when he covered a distance estimated at 13714 m. in 4 hr. 17 min. 53 sec. In both these cases biplanes were employed. Successful aviation meetings were held, among other places, at Reims, Juvisy, Doncaster and Blackpool; and at Blackpool a daring flight was made in a wind of 40 m. an hour by Latham. This aviator also proved the possibility of flying at considerable altitudes by attaining on December 1st a height of over 1500 ft., but this record was far surpassed in the following January by L. Paulhan, who on a biplane rose to a height of 1383 yds. at Los Angeles. In the course of the year three aviators were killed—Lefèvbre and Ferber in September and Fernandez in December; and four men perished in September by the destruction of the French airship “République,” the gas-bag of which was ripped open by a broken propeller. In January 1910 Delagrange was killed by the fracture of one of the wings of a monoplane on which he was flying. On April 27th–28th, 1910, Paulhan successfully flew from London to Manchester, with only one stop, within 24 hours, for the Daily Mail’s £10,000 prize.
The progress made by all these experiments at aviation had naturally created widespread interest, both as a matter of sport and also as indicating a new departure in the possibilities of machines of war. And in 1909 the British government appointed a scientific committee, with Lord Rayleigh as chairman, as a consultative body for furthering the development of the science in England.
The table below gives some details, approximately correct, of the principal experiments made with flying machines up to 1908.
| Year. | Experimenter. | Tip to Tip. | Surface. | Weight. | Pounds per sq. ft. | Speed per hour. | Maximum Flight. | Motor. | Horse- power. | Pounds sustained per h.p. |
| Ft. | Sq. ft. | ℔ | Mls. | Ft. | ||||||
| 1879 | Tatin | 6.2 | 7.5 | 3.85 | 0.51 | 18 | 100? | Compressed air | 0.03 | 110? |
1885 1889  | Hargrave (No. 16) | 5.5 | 26.0 | 5.00 | 0.19 | 10 | 343 | ” | 0.06 | 79 |
| 1893 | Phillips | 22.0 | 136.0 | 402.00 | 3.00 | 28 | 500? | Steam | 5.6 | 72? |
| 1894 | Maxim* | 50.0 | 4000.0 | 8000.00 | 2.5 | 36 | 300? | ” | 363.00 | 28 |
| 1896 | Langley | 12.0 | 70.0 | 30.00 | 0.43 | 24 | 4,000 | ” | 1.00 | 30 |
| 1897 | Tatin and Richet | 21.0 | 86.0 | 72.00 | 0.83 | 40 | 460 | ” | 1.33 | 55 |
| 1897 | Ader* | 49.0 | 270.0 | 1100.00 | 4.00 | 50? | 100? | ” | 40.00 | 27 |
| 1895 | Lilienthal* | 23.0 | 151.0 | 220.00 | 1.46 | 23 | 1,200 | Gravity | 2.00 | 110 |
| 1896 | Pilcher* | 23.0 | 170.0 | 200.00 | 1.17 | 25 | 900 | ” | 2.00 | 100 |
| 1896 | Chanute* | 16.0 | 135.0 | 178.00 | 1.31 | 22 | 360 | ” | 2.00 | 89 |
| 1906 | S. Dumont* | 39 | 560 | 550 | 0.98 | 22.26 | 2,900 | Petrol | 50 | 23 |
| 1908 | W. Wright* | 41 | 650 | 1100 | 1.7 | 37 | 295,000 | Petrol | 24 | 46 |
* The apparatus marked thus * carried a man or men.
References.—Some of the books mentioned under Aeronautics
contain details of flying machines; see H. W. L. Moedebeck, A Pocketbook
of Aeronautics, trans. by W. Mansergh Varley (London, 1907);
Sir Hiram S. Maxim, Artificial and Natural Flight (London, 1908);
F. W. Lanchester, Aerodynamics and Aerodonetics (London, 1907 and
1908); C. C. Turner, Aerial Navigation of To-day (London, 1909);
also two papers on “Aerial Navigation” read by Colonel G. O.
Fullerton before the Royal United Service Institution in 1892 and
1906; papers read by Major B. F. S. Baden-Powell and E. S. Bruce
before the Society of Arts, London, in April 1907 and December 1908
respectively; Cantor Lectures by F. W. Lanchester (Society of
Arts, 1909); and the Proceedings of the Aeronautical Society
(founded 1865), &c.
FLINCK, GOVERT (1615–1660), Dutch painter, born at Cleves
in 1615, was apprenticed by his father to a silk mercer, but
having secretly acquired a passion for drawing, was sent to
Leuwarden, where he boarded in the house of Lambert Jacobszon,
a Mennonite, better known as an itinerant preacher than as a
painter. Here Flinck was joined by Jacob Backer, and the
companionship of a youth determined like himself to be an artist
only confirmed his passion for painting. Amongst the neighbours
of Jacobszon at Leuwarden were the sons and relations of
Rombert Ulenburg, whose daughter Saske married Rembrandt
in 1634. Other members of the same family lived at Amsterdam,
cultivating the arts either professionally or as amateurs. The
pupils of Lambert probably gained some knowledge of Rembrandt
by intercourse with the Ulenburgs. Certainly J. von Sandrart,
who visited Holland in 1637, found Flinck acknowledged as
one of Rembrandt’s best pupils, and living habitually in the house
of the dealer Hendrik Ulenburg at Amsterdam. For many years
Flinck laboured on the lines of Rembrandt, following that master’s
style in all the works which he executed between 1636 and 1648;
then he fell into peculiar mannerisms by imitating the swelling
forms and grand action of Rubens’s creations. Finally he sailed
with unfortunate complacency into the Dead Sea of official
and diplomatic painting. Flinck’s relations with Cleves became
in time very important. He was introduced to the court of the
Great Elector, Frederick William of Brandenburg, who married
in 1646 Louisa of Orange. He obtained the patronage of John
Maurice of Orange, who was made stadtholder of Cleves in 1649.
In 1652 a citizen of Amsterdam, Flinck married in 1656 an heiress,
daughter of Ver Hoeven, a director of the Dutch East India
Company. He was already well known even then in the patrician
circles over which the burgomasters De Graef and the Echevin
Six presided; he was on terms of intimacy with the poet Vondel
and the treasurer Uitenbogaard. In his house, adorned with
antique casts, costumes, and a noble collection of prints, he often
