The Leading Edge [antikvár]

For more than eighty years, aviation has treated us to a never-ending stream of new ideas for protecting-our shores, shrinking distances, and making more homogeneous our world. Each new idea has been the leading edge of a porticular technology —a shining sharp blade cleaving the way to the future, turning older ideas aside. It began with the Wright brothers and goes on at this moment in a host of forms, ranging from the next generation of hypersonic airliners to gossamer-winged human-powered vehicles. Appreciation for the combination of leadership and change is a peculiarly human attribute, calling OS it does for continual improvement and endless competition. In an ideal world, every breakthrough would lead directly to new successes, new profits, and perhaps even happiness for its finder. In fact, however, the leading edge at any moment may not be perceived, may succumb to even newer ideas, or may fail for some time to provide a measurable (and cost-effective) improvement over the old. Still, any genuine leading edge will eventually take its place at the forefront of technology. What Is a Leading Edge? The term leading edge may now be more familiar in science, particularly with reference to computers and electronics, than it ever was in aviation. Here, OPPOSITE: This Curtiss biplane from the Owls Head Transportation Museum has a tricycle landing gear which made ground handling easy but added weight, drag, and lengthened the landing roll. OVERLEAF: By 1911, the basic Wright design had come a long way. Here the Wright EX biplane takes off from Sheepshead Bay, Long Island. it refers to any device or system used in aviation that extends the capability of an aircraft to its farthest limits. The limits can be of any sort: speed, altitude, range, maneuverability, safety, or some combination of these. But there ore human complications to this formula, wonderful diversions from logic or leaps to truth that depend upon the individuals involved. The inventor's personality, for example, is intimately involved in the early success—or perhaps premature failure—of a leading edge, as is the inventor's ability to place the invention in the right context. Another human complication is less evident now than in the first four decades of flight, before test pilots were also trained scientists. In the early years, the pilot factor was as important as the invention, and a negative report from a test pilot could stymie progress for years. Of course, some leading edges led nowhere, being overtaken by other inventions or events. The Inventor or designer enjoyed a golden moment of anticipation about being at the fore, only to find that time or science had passed him by. In looking back, we see that some great ideas occurred too soon—the tricycle gear was thirty-five years early, the !et aircraft thirty—and the aviation world simply waited until the time was right. In other instances, the great idea occurred when the world was waiting for it, as with the structural use of modern composite materials.