KRONFELD ON GLIDING AND SOARING.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

SPEEDIER PROGRESS
IN the history of flying we find that the deterrent effect
produced by the sacrifice made by one man for the
common good is only an apparent one. In reality the
valiant, resolute spirit of humanity says : " Now less than
ever will we yield." Consequently those who followed
Lilienthal put all their strength and energy into the work
they did.
Percy Pilcher, who may be rightly termed a direct follower
of Lilienthal, was an engineer and a lecturer at Glasgow
University. In 1895 he built a machine from his own
designs, which show that he took pains to follow in Lilienthal's
steps. He had endeavoured to acquire a correct
conception of the machines and methods of his great
teacher from reports appearing in newspapers and journals
that were often exaggerated and incorrect.
His first apparatus had a surface of one hundred and fifty
square feet and weighed fifty-five pounds, but his experiments
made little progress. At last, however, he set out
for Germany and visited Lilienthal in his workshop. In
the master's well-developed machine he made several
gliding flights and waxed enthusiastic over what he saw
and learnt.
When he returned home, he set to work with renewed
energy, and on one of his first efforts he was lifted by an
upward gust to a height of twelve feet above his starting
point and remained twenty seconds in the air. He subsequently
carried out numerous gliding flights, in which he
covered distances of from fifty to four hundred feet after
launching himself into the air from heights varying from
seven to twenty feet. But his machine was too light of
build, and its wings were frequently damaged in rough
landings.
He therefore constructed a stronger machine, but its
steering gave him trouble, though he was the first to
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