Experiments With Flat Planes (1866–1890)

Extract

The pioneer rarely receives that meed of praise which is his due, until those days arrive when his pioneering has become a page or so of history. What meed of praise he may then receive is too often made savourless by critics unable to disassociate themselves from the knowledge of their own technical era. The halting speed of pioneering aerodynamic research cannot be judged by the supersonic speed of secret splittings of the atom.

It was R. L. Stevenson who said that to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive. In aviation we have arrived at that streamline flow of technical jargon which deludes so many they have at last reached the boundary layer of aeronautical knowledge, so that they find experiments with plates always a little flat, although their curiosity may still be aroused by flying saucers.