History of AirplanesHow do you fire a machine gun through the arc of a spinning propeller? Early in 1915, aviators engaged in the First World War wanted to solve that problem. Obviously, the bullets of the machine gun would smash a propeller to bits. So far in the war, German, French, and British airmen had fired [...]
With a distinctive large spinner, the Morane-Saulnier N looks, at least to the modern eye, better than the Parasol Type L, it met with much less success.
While the Type N was a graceful-looking aircraft, with an advanced, aerodynamic design, it was not easy to fly due to its stiff controls (using wing warping instead [...]
For World War One, the Morane-Saulnier A-1 had very modern lines and was very streamlined; it resembles small airplanes that you can see today at any general aviation airport. 1,210 were produced, but it never made a big impact at the front. Not long after its introduction it was withdrawn to serve as trainers, as [...]
A stream of gasoline burst forth as Gustav Hamel flew over the Thames River on September 20, 1913. The last thing any aviator needed in a wood and cloth monoplane with a barely-covered, hot, sparking, rotary engine a few feet away was gasoline in the cockpit. It was a mortal danger for any pilot, and [...]