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Slipping The Surly Bonds Of Earth:

William Samuel Henson and the Birth of Aviation

 

by Chris Oakley

 

Part 25

 

 

 

Summary: In the previous chapters of this series, we explored the history of aviation and spaceflight from William Samuel Henson’s first experiments with powered flight during the mid-1840s to the historic Mars landing of 2003 and the establishment of the first permanent lunar outposts. In this final installment, we’ll look ahead to some of the revolutions in aerospace that may be coming our way in the next century .

******

The year 2014 will mark the 170th anniversary of the historic meeting between William Samuel Henson and Queen Victoria that set the stage for the aviation pioneer’s historic flight on board the Icarus. In those 170 years Henson’s invention has evolved from a Jules Verne-inspired curiosity to a keystone of the modern global transportation system, an integral element of commerce, and a key tool in military strategy. That evolution in turn has paved the way for the human race to venture beyond the confines of Earth-- and one day perhaps even beyond the edges of the solar system. At this very minute a new generation of spacecraft is on the drawing boards of aerospace designers all around the world; while these new spaceships may not be constructed for years if at all, their configurations offer a tantalizing hint as to how the future of human space travel may look. Propulsion concepts which were once strictly the province of science fiction writers and theoretical physicists are becoming topics of everyday conversation thanks in part to the innovative work being done at aerospace firms such as Airbus and Boeing Galactic.

Indeed, during the coming decade the question may be less when humanity will start to venture beyond the confines of our solar system than whose names will be on the passenger manifest for that inaugural voyage. Government and private space agencies alike are recruiting volunteers for a new generation of manned missions that for the first time in the history of spaceflight will take human beings beyond Pluto to the stars which, until now, have only been accessible via telescope. The most popular method of propulsion being considered for such missions is the ion drive, which uses electrical ion impulses and can at least in theory be kept going almost indefinitely thanks to the vast multitudes of ion particles which flow throughout the vacuum of deep space. Other possible means of powering interstellar flights include solar sails, energy plasma generators, and so-called “scoop” particle collectors which in theory would gather up bits of sub-atomic matter the same way that solar panels collect and store energy from the sun’s rays. There’s even been talk in some circles of reviving the defunct Project Orion program of the late 1950s which advocated using the force of atomic bomb detonations, or “nuclear pulse propulsion”, to push ships forward into space.

******

Back on Earth, an equally dramatic technological revolution is underway in commercial and defense aviation. In the United States alone there are at least three aerospace design teams at work on creating a new generation of environmentally friendly passenger jets for the world’s major airlines; two of them are on track to enter service by the year 2020. In Europe an Anglo- French aerospace engineering team is busy developing new blends of construction materials to make airframes lighter and therefore easier to assemble and fly. China’s largest civil aviation firm, in a burst of publicity rare for normally tight-lipped business and government organizations in that country, has revealed to the world its plans to revive the long-defunct concept of supersonic passenger jets with a 200-passenger aircraft meant to be capable of traveling at Mach 1.5.

There are even preliminary blueprints in the works for what could be the first generation of V/STOL aircraft made expressly for civilian uses. With the construction of new airports becoming steadily more expensive, commercial air carriers are beginning to see greater merit in utilizing V/STOL technology for transporting cargo as well as passengers; being able to land at any spot on the map, including some that would normally be inaccessible to most forms of air travel, is a useful feature to have when you’re looking for a mode of terrestrial flight that doesn’t require the conventional runway or helipad. One particularly notable example of the growing interest in applying V/STOL technology to civilian aviation is the Dassault 557, an experimental three-engined jet whose creators hope it will become the prototype for a new breed of short-range and medium-range passenger aircraft that can fill the needs of regional airlines more efficiently and affordably than the cumbersome CTOL planes currently used by such carriers.

In the field of military aviation more sophisticated drone aircraft are on the drawing boards at this very minute and the latest breed of manned planes is coming into service with a set of capabilities even the most imaginative science fiction writers would have once had a hard time conceiving. One human-operated tactical fighter that promises to be a game-changer when it goes into service is the Lockheed XF-41 Inferno II, a two-man aircraft whose cockpit boasts the most sophisticated onboard computers of any fighter introduced since the end of the Second World War and whose engine system guarantees the pilot a smooth takeoff from even the roughest airstrips. In a simulated dogfight between an XF-41 prototype and a computer-guided drone, the prototype shot down its designated target less than thirty seconds after making radar contact. While it may carry with it a high price tag, its advocates say it’s well worth every penny. In Britain, the cradle of aviation, new aircraft companies are being established and older firms reinventing themselves in order to keep pace with the ever-growing demands being placed on the aerospace industry as we approach the year 2050. In his most recent public speech, the president of the London-based William Samuel Henson Memorial Foundation told his audience the current era of aerospace research and development is “the most exciting time we as aviation enthusiasts have seen for nearly fifty years or more”, and he may be right. In dozens of countries around the world demand for skilled aerospace workers is approaching an all- time high even in spite of the current global economic downturn; twelve of the top fifty companies listed in this year’s Fortune 500 were connected in one fashion or another with the aerospace industry.

Even in nations faced with severe economic hardship, there are ambitious aviation experiments underway. Zimbabwe, a nation which is plagued not only by economic crisis but also by chronic political unrest, is attempting to produce the world’s first jet engine powered entirely by biofuel. That the Harare government is undertaking such a project in the midst of all of the staggering internal problems facing it is a sign of the allure which a high- prestige aerospace enterprise can have for a country, regardless of whether said country is a tiny regional backwater or a massive global superpower.

******

If William Samuel Henson were alive today, he would no doubt be astonished to see the world-changing effects his invention has had on human civilization in the past century. Even Jules Verne, a literary favorite of Henson’s, would have found it difficult to imagine some of the advances in flight technology we now take for granted. Certainly neither Henson nor Verne-- or for that matter any of their contemporaries --would have dared to imagine the day would come when a human being would jump out of a capsule at the edge of Earth’s atmosphere and achieve the speed of sound during freefall before parachuting to a safe landing. Likewise, the idea of aircraft that could be flown using only the human voice would have at best seemed like a child’s fantasy.

Yet voice-controlled planes are not only a reality today, they are an increasingly important segment of the global aviation industry. Nearly a quarter of all commercial and military planes built in the last five years have had a fly-by-voice capability, and this number is only expected to grow in the next five years. Some of the more daring minds in the aerospace field are working toward a day when even voice commands won’t be necessary-- after decades of being viewed with skepticism or outright ridicule, the idea of aircraft guided by human thought is gaining new traction as neuroscientists work with aerospace engineers to develop new technologies that at least theoretically should enable pilots to fly their aircraft by transmitting neuro-electrical impulses from the brain to the cockpit computer system. Though it will probably take decades to have even the blueprints for such a control panel ready, that’s not stopping commercial or defense aviation bureaus from taking an interest in the concept.

The only constant in the aviation world is change, making it a safe bet that our society will in the next half-century see new ideas in flight which will be every bit as revolutionary from our perspective as the Icarus was from the viewpoint of the Victorian era. And yet the name William Samuel Henson will continue to loom large over everything in the aerospace world, because were it not for him that world might not exist.

 

 

The End

 

            This chapter, and the entire “Slipping the Surly Bonds of Earth” series, are dedicated to the real William Samuel Henson, who unfortunately never got to
            see his dreams of flight realized;

            and Neil Armstrong, who died shortly I began working on the final draft of Part 25.

 

 

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