Attempts have also been made with the aeroplane to
alight on and to take flight from the deck of a warship. Toward
the end of 1910 Aviator Ely flew to land from the
cruiser Birmingham, and in January, 1911, he flew from land
and alighted on the cruiser Pennsylvania. But in these cases
special arrangements were made which would be hardly practicable
in a time of actual war.
In November, 1911, a test was made at Newport, R. I., by
Lieut. Rodgers, of the navy, of a "hydro-areoplane" as an
auxiliary to a battleship. The idea of the test was to alight
alongside of the ship, hoist the machine aboard, put out to sea
and launch the machine again with the use of a crane. Lieut.
Rodgers came down smoothly alongside the Ohio, his machine
was easily drawn aboard with a crane, and the Ohio steamed
down to the open sea, where it was blowing half a gale. But,
owing to the misjudgment of the ship's headway, one of the
wings of the machine when it struck the water after being
released from the crane, went under the water and was
snapped off. Lieut. Rodgers was convinced that this method
was too risky and that some other must be devised.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
GLOSSARY OF AERONAUTICAL TERMS.
Aerodrome.--Literally a machine that runs in the air.
Aerofoil.
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