Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Saturday 8 October 1910, page 18


AUSTRALIAN BIPLANE'.

-A.

'SUCCESSFUL TRIAIS.

With his own hands Mr. J R Duigan, of Spring Plains, about 25 miles from Kyne- ton, has built a biplane. Fitting it with in Australian-made engine he has made some successful trials. As the business of aviation must be learned carefully, and as one error may cost the beginner his life these trials have as yet extended over dis-tances of only a few hundred yards. Mr Duigan is learning to navigate the machine     in a cultivation paddock on his father's holding. The timber closes in upon the paddock, and he has not a great deal of open space. And before he flies over the

timber he wants too how to circle and how to alight without damage.

The machine is about 35 ft long from the front edge of the main planes to the tip of the rudder. A diamond-shape plane bal-

ances it at the rear. Behind the motor and the driver is an 8 ft. 6 in. propeller, driven by a 25 h.p. four cylinder- engine built by Mr Tilley, of Melboiune. The main planes measure 25 ft. from tip to tip. At the ends of these planes two smaller surfaces, de-

pressed or elevated by the foot of the driver, act in the same minner as the feathering tips of the Wright biplane.

Two weeks ago the first trials were made

and the machine rose easily from the ground and skimmed for a distance of about 100 yards. Bad weather interfered with the trials until thursday morning, when a suc-cessful flight of a few hundred yards was accomplished. These short flights are the first made by an Australian in an Austra- lian machine. They will probably be ex-tended as the aviator gains knowledge and confidence, for several experts who have seen the machine say that it compares very favourably with those upon which long flights are at present being made in Eu-rope.