MIRACLES OF SCIENCE 



from Hempstead, Long Island to Fort Meyer, a dis- 

 tance of 329 miles, in 4 hours and 31 minutes. 



THE HYDROAEROPLANE 



But all these are matters of detail. The only really 

 essential modifications of the aeroplane in the first 

 decade of its existence relate to the methods of 

 starting and landing. The first modification, which 

 was introduced early by European aviators, notably 

 Mr. Henry Farman, and which was soon universally 

 adopted, consists of adjusting bicycle wheels to the 

 frame of the machine. A still more striking modi- 

 fication depends upon an arrangement designed to 

 permit the aeroplane to rise from and alight on the 

 water. The development of this idea has resulted 

 in the so-called hydroaeroplane. 



The advantages of this type of air craft are obvious. 

 They were pointed out by Octave Chanute, a pioneer 

 in the use of soaring apparatus, in the early days of 

 experimental aviation. Langley made his experi- 

 ments over water courses, as did Hargreaves, Bler- 

 iot, and Kress. But Fabre in France seems to have 

 been the first to succeed in making a machine that 

 would rise from the water. Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss, the 

 American aviator, has been prominent in perfecting 

 the apparatus. It should not be overlooked that a 

 clue was given by Wilbur Wright when he made his 

 historic flight up the Hudson in 1909; his aeroplane 

 on that occasion being equipped with a covered 

 canoe, to give it safety in the event of an inadvertent 

 descent into the river. 



The hydroaeroplane is simply a combination of 



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