Painleve and the Postman

A Paris rural postman from the excessively mountainous Department of Drome succeeded last week in interesting M. Paul Painleve, thrice Premier of France and now Minister of War, in a model of a unique new type of airplane.

Postman M. Ernest Dole described his invention as follows: "My secrets I will confide only to M. Painleve. But I have here a photograph of my model in flight. . . . Observe that it has wings. They are used only to stabilize and control it, as it ascends from or returns to the earth. ... It flies not by means of a propeller, but by a device which sucks in the air and then expels it explosively with a force much greater than the 'wind' created by a propeller. . . . Thus there is no 'motor,' no 'engine,' only the device which creates by explosive means a continuous thrust of air. . . .

"My airplane will fly forward or backward. . . . If the power fails, its wings act as a parachute and enable it to descend in safety to the ground. . . . I have labored seven years, with only the capital which my wife and I could save. . . . She helped by working as a schoolteacher. . . . Now I think that M. Painleve will help me with my great invention. . . ."

Aeronautical experts opined that Postman Dole had been well advised to seek out M. Painleve with his model. Statesman Painleve is known among the little circle of the mathematically learned as a veritable genius for abstruse calculation, and he has long employed that faculty in toying with the difficult problems of aerodynamics. Intrepid, he was the first Frenchman to fly with Wilbur Wright. Since the early days of that adventure he has kept a firm grip upon both the practice and the theory of aeronautics.