THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR 



89 



glider, taking advantage of the air currents to keep him in the 

 air. This was in the summer of 1922. The accompanying pic- 

 ture shows one of the French contestants at the gliding contest 

 at Clermont-Ferrand. He was in the air two minutes, thirty-one 

 seconds, in this particular flight (Fig. 38). 



FIG. 38. A French glider in flight over the field at Clermont-Ferrand. 

 Courtesy of the New York Times. 



Three methods of getting a heavier-than-air machine to 

 rise and move through the air have been devised. Naturally, 

 the first method was by means of beating wings like those of a 

 bird. A second was by the use of a plane like that of a kite, 

 which, instead of passively flying on the wind, should be driven 



