The Aeroplane
Essay # 1
To fly in the air had been man’s dream for ages. Before 1903, flights in balloons and gliders had been tried successfully. But the first successful aircraft was designed and used by Orville and Wilbur Wright. Since their first flight on December 10, 1903, we have come a long way indeed.
In recent years, technological advancements have brought about great changes in the field of aviation. The earlier aeroplanes were propeller-driven but now they are powered by jet engines. The gentle whirr of the propellers has been replaced by the roar of powerful machinery, and slow-speed aircrafts have given way to supersonic jet planes. Today Concorde carries passengers at over twice the speed of sound.
These days we can listen to music or watch television inside the planes. We can even work on computers, play video games and make long-distance calls. All modern passenger aircrafts have every kind of luxury. There is a lot of competition in this sphere also.
Aeroplanes are indeed a miracle of science. Due to air travel, the world has become a small place. We take just a few hours to reach our destination, where earlier it used to take months.
The Aeroplane
Essay # 2
Nowadays marvellous scientific discoveries come upon us so thick and fast, that we have almost lost the capacity for wonder. Yet although aeroplanes are almost as familiar to us as motor cars, we cannot help stopping and starting whenever an aeroplane, humming like a great bee and flashing in the sun, passes over our heads. And it is well indeed that we should wonder for how marvellous a thing it is that men have conquered the air and can now fly in the sky like birds! And this has been done in our own day; for the invention is so recent that, if people had been told some years ago that we should be flying today, they would have laughed at the prophecy.
The invention of the aeroplane brought about as great a revolution in men’s habits as that of the railway engine and the steam ship a hundred years ago. Then the world shrank in size; for, whereas in the old days of sailing vessels, England was six months away from India, it is now only three weeks away by steamer and railway train. But the size of the world will shrink much more now. Even now, with the jet age on England is only a few hours away. What a difference this has made to trade and commerce, to men’s habits, and their views of things!
So much for times of peace, but it is in the conduct of war that the aeroplane has brought about the greatest revolution. Aeroplanes played an important part in the latter part of the Great War, although when the war began the invention was only a few years old. But when the next war comes, it will be largely a war in the air. Frontiers, fortress, wire-entanglements, the ocean itself, will then be no protection to any country. A fleet of battle aeroplanes, loaded with poisonous gas and tons of high explosive bombs, will be able to wipe out a great city in a few minutes. And then man’s wonderful conquest of the air, that should have been nothing but a blessing, will prove a curse, and his undoing.
