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Power Versus Weight in Aviation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Maurice Roy
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Extract

The flight of heavier-than-air craft has marked as it were the triumph of man over gravity; while, “the struggle of power versus weight” constitutes an outstanding feature of technical development. Aviation was effectively born on that day when the mechanical engineer was able to design a sufficiently light engine: in France, Ader who conceived and made use of a steam engine weighing only 6.5 lb./B.H.P. (3 kg./C.V.) is credited with the first flight, in October 1897, of a piloted aircraft. A few years later, the Wright Brothers bettered the exploit, thanks to a sufficiently light engine, this time a petrol engine.

The aeroplane in which Louis Blériot flew across the Channel is worthy of attention today, because it is typical of the 1909–1910 type of aeroplane.

Type
The Fourth Louis Bleriot Lecture
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 55 , Issue 485 , May 1951 , pp. 265 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1951

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References

1. Laming, L. (1949). Domaine d'utilisation des moteurs à piston et des turbo-machines en aéronautique. Technique et Science Aéronautiques, No. 2, 1949, Paris.Google Scholar
2. Roy, M. (1949). Evolution passée et future des engines propulsifs. Technique et Science Aéronautiques, No. 5, 1949, Paris.Google Scholar