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Show DETAILS GAVE i MAM RACE Logan Flyers' Machine Was Last Word In Fine Workmanship DETROIT, Mich.. Dec. 9. Refine-1 men! ol d"( bail and not new or unique design won out when the Curtiss army racer crossed the finish for a world's , rei ord In the Pulitser airplane classic ! hero recently. Lieutenant L. R. Maughn's record ' 'of better than 20C miles per hour, averaged av-eraged for 155 miles around a closed circuit, with 15 sharp turns, and hs unofficial averago of 248 miles per, hour on straightaway, are matters of i aeronautical history. But. few people realize that these records were made With an engine less powerful than th Liberty, and that there were machines In the race whose engines greatly exceeded ex-ceeded the winner's 375 hp. EVERY MM MOULDED j This Is where refinement of detail I came In. according to nviatVon officials offi-cials Every line was moulded to fit the pressure of terrific resistance. Not a, bolt or screw was left to catch the air, and every fitting that held streamlined stream-lined struts and streamlined wires in place was within the wings or fuselage. fuse-lage. Lieutenant Maughns speed was such that a hole In the wing woiuld havi meant ripping off of the cover as If by explosion. The ape. -1 caused him to throw his ship on Its back In an endeavor to circle the pylons py-lons which marked the turns The victory of a biplane was a disappointment dis-appointment to some designers wno believed the day of the monoplane I had come. In the monoplane, tile struts and brace wires are done away with as the single thick wing carries its bracing inside of itself. This eliminates elim-inates an enormous amount of what : -u.ro rs call "parasite resistance However, they believe that when tne , research has been lavished upon the monoplanft that has been given the biplane, bi-plane, living will be well on the wav to the 600-mile an hour pace, which some experts arc promising. CLOSEST TO NATURE The fitting of wings, control surfaces sur-faces etc, of tho Curtis racer can be compared only with the perfection of detail that nature worked In the brook trout, the salmon and th muskclong lit Is the last word in refinement as applied to the manmade biplane. Ad-vancemeht Ad-vancemeht from this point will requlro i ither that the plane be a living creature, crea-ture, or that some entire new and ber-tcr ber-tcr principle of construction be evol -icd. declare officers of aviation societies. so-cieties. mm |