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Post by jeffwaynefan on Sept 19, 2004 19:34:59 GMT
In the final published version of The War Of The Worlds of 1898, the narrator (HG) refers briefly about the Martians abilities of flight, from the sighting of the black object in the sky by his Brother during the Thunder Child chapter and the arttilarymans observation of lights in the sky during The Man On Putney Hill. I have been left curious as to why HG decided to leave out from the 1898 chapter The Epilogue what I would have thought to have been a "important" piece from the original PEARSONS MAGAZINE published version in 1897 which talks more about the quest for flight that the Martians so wanted on Earth.
For those that are not familiar with it from the PEARSONS MAGAZINE 1897
"It has often been asked as to why the Martians did not fly immediatley after their arrival. They certainly did use a flying apparatus for several days, but only for brief flights of a score or so of miles, in order to reconnoitre and spread their black powder. The framework found at Kilburn was certainly this flying machine. I never saw this thing flying myself, but my brother, as I have already told in its proper place, had just a glimpse of it. It is hard to believe, seeing their other power, that this was their limit in this direction.
Two things must have prevented the imediate resort to aeronautics. In the first place it must have been impossible to pack the necessary wings into the cylinder by which the Martians came, and in the next the problem of flying in our atmosphere was one they could scarcly calculate in detail upon Mars, since it would be almost impossible for them to estimate the density of our lower air, until they reached it. But these are of course merely suggestions. The fact remains, that they did not fly fifty miles from London all through the war. Had they done so, then the destruction they would have caused must have been infinitely greater than it was, though it could not have averted the end, of course, even by a day"
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Post by Charles on Sept 19, 2004 21:53:08 GMT
This is one of those mysteries we might never solve. We know Wells’ speculations on the idea of flight at this time were not very accurate. “Anticipations” would point out a few years later that he did not consider flight a very real possibility until around 1950, and so perhaps didn’t want to distract the reader again with an exciting (but ‘irrelevant’ in his mind?) detail.
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Post by Tripod on Sept 23, 2004 19:15:25 GMT
The part of a Flying Machine always interested me. But I'm still wondering how this Flying Machine exually looked like. I, myself think it too has a hood for the Martians and does carry a Heat-Ray just like a Fighting Machine.
Tripod
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Post by Curate on Oct 7, 2004 22:56:31 GMT
The narrator describes the flying machine as being 'flat and vast and strange', which always makes me think of a movie style machine sans the heat ray attachment.
There was a painting of the flying machine printed in the original Pearson's magazine ( which is re-printed in the book 'The Complete War of the Worlds' ) but I've always found this depiction to be slightly disappointing. It's a strangely accurate picture of a flying machine considering the era in which it was painted, but it's a bit too boxy and primitive looking to be of Martian origin. I also found the flying machines in the PC game to be disappointing, mainly because they lacked the meanacing appearance of the tripods. Plus, the buggers far too easily blew up the bases I'd spent ages building...
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Post by EvilNerfherder on Oct 7, 2004 23:36:41 GMT
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Post by Curate on Oct 8, 2004 2:10:24 GMT
It appears to be a Warwick Goble illustration, yes. It's in the same style anyway, and it depicts the flying machine discharging black smoke over the countryside.
The machine looks like a flattened out cardboard box - very fragile looking with a cockpit out in front ( connected to the main body by two wires ) and two large wings on each side, one of which resembles a regular aircraft wing, the other being a cross shape.
If you have a copy of the book 'The Complete War of the Worlds', it's on page 155. I've no scanner sadly.
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Post by EvilNerfherder on Oct 8, 2004 11:00:03 GMT
Damn.. don't have the book, alas. Anyone else have this illustration and a scanner or know if it's online anywhere?
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Post by DanMacK on Oct 8, 2004 11:18:22 GMT
. I also found the flying machines in the PC game to be disappointing, mainly because they lacked the meanacing appearance of the tripods. Plus, the buggers far too easily blew up the bases I'd spent ages building... I love the Flying machines in the game. For the very reason you hate them  I always tend to play the Martians, altho I still haven't beaten the game. I'vecome close. My main vendetta is against those damned Ironclads. The Flying machines are handy for taking those suckers out as well. In regards to the Victorian era illustration, I haven't seen it either, but the fighting machines in those Warwick Goble illutrations look interesting. When was "The Complete War of the Worlds" published? |
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Post by Killraven on Oct 8, 2004 12:17:24 GMT
Dan, you need to try and focus your attacks on sectors with shipbuilding factories in them. Blow up the factories and it takes them ages to start building again...  |
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Post by EvilNerfherder on Oct 8, 2004 13:52:49 GMT
I still can't beat the damn Human game.. still keep getting a stalemate situation.  |
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Post by Killraven on Oct 8, 2004 18:33:14 GMT
Give it time Nerfy and keep churning out those units!! Some of the best mining areas are in the south west! |
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Post by Artilleryman on Oct 28, 2004 15:44:29 GMT
I've been away for a while, so sorry I've not been able to contribute to this thread!
The question of the Flying Machine (FgM) has always interested me too, both from the military and technological standpoints.
The technical question provides some clue as the appearance and design of the FgM, as it is - largely - the role of an aircraft which governs its design, and therefore its appearance.
For example, the need for a fighter aircraft to be reasonably fast and very manouverable means that its form will be streamlined, and it will have a sufficiently sized wing area, with correctly sized/shaped/located control surfaces. A transport aircraft will need to be large and carry its cargo inside the fuselage, so it will straight away be less streamlined (and thus slower), bulkier, and require a greater wing area, and more power to propel it.
Here there is some cross-over. If the Martians intended the FgM primarily in a recce role, then its design could conceivebly be quite flimsy, as it would only be required to carry "camera" equipment. A SIGINT capability would not be required, as humans had not yet begun to use radio for communications. However, Wells suggests that it was used in an air-ground strike/attack role, possibly what would now be called Close Air Support or even Battlefield Air Interdiction; in that the FgM was seen to be discharging Black Smoke onto ground targets. This assumes that purely military targets were being hit, otherwise the Martians were effectively "carpet bombing", carrying out what we would refer to as Strategic Air Offensive operations. Another considerations is that the FgM would not necessarily need to be heavily armoured, as anti-aircraft weapons had not been invented, and large calibre guns could not be elevated sufficiently high enough to hit a moving air target. Even if they could, without some form of tracking or accurate sighting system, they would be ineffective. Thus, from the FgM perspective, all the Martians would have to worry about would be (largely inaccurate) small-arms fire.
With the above in mind, the question arises as to whether the FgM was manned (or "Martianed", LoL!), bearing in mind that we now have many Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in operational military service (the US Darkstar, Predator, or the UK Phoenix) and the Americans are actively working on UCAVs (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles). To carry a Martian crew (rounded bulk, larger than a bear?) the FgM must have had a sufficient wing area and powerplant, whereas if it were some form of UCAV, this would reduce the weight, size, and power requirement for the vehicle.
All this presumes that the Martians were using a "conventional" form of flight... Human fixed wing aircraft (i.e. not "rotary wing" helicopters) use an aerofoil wing or "lifting body" design in order to fly in Earth's atmosphere, and the system of propulsion is purely to produce the thrust which is required to over come "drag" (air resistance), and to generate sufficient lift to overcome the weight of the craft. If the Martians were utilising some form of anti-gravity (A/G) technology, then a great deal of the above speculation might have no grounds. A/G would mean that the size and weight of the vehicle would largely be irrelevant (as long as the A/G equipment fitted could generate a sufficiently large A/G field), and the design/appearance of the FgM could be purely functional, with little or no need for aerodynamic considerations, i.e. streamlining or aerofoil wings. The Narrator's description of the FgM being "flat and vast and strange" seems to imply that the design was either some form of lifting body design (using what form of propulsion?), or that A/G technology was being used.
As to why the Martians never flew more than 50 miles or so away from their base, there could be a military reason in that the thrust of their efforts was concentrated in this area, and thus there was no need to venture further - or it could simply have been that the power source (fuel?) for the vehicle was limited, and that as a military resource it had to be used to best effect. Another possibility is that the pilot or operator(s) was killed, or died due to infection later in the campaign. Without the specialist skills needed to operate the craft, perhaps the Martians were faced with the equivilant of a platoon of sqaddies sitting on an Apache helicopter, but with no one to fly it...
Phew! That'll be all from me for now!!
Your comments please...
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Post by Stewymartian on Oct 28, 2004 19:33:56 GMT
I don't think the Martians were using an anti-grav approach to their flying machine. At the end of the book the narrator mentions that although the workings of the heat-ray and constituents of the black smoke remained unknown, he states that the secret of flying had been discovered. It would seem far fetched for the scientists of 1901 to be able to understand an A-G device (especially when they couldn't understand the heat-ray). Also, the Pearson magazine excerpt does mention wings, though these are not explicit in the description of the FgM seen by the narrators brother.
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Post by Artilleryman on Oct 30, 2004 16:35:17 GMT
I think you're right mate, personally I see the FgM design based upon a "lifting body" principle, perhaps with wing(let)s for manouvring and additional stability.
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Post by Solitary Poet on Nov 3, 2004 2:43:01 GMT
I found a picture that depicts Martian Aeronautics!  |
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Post by Thunder Child on Nov 3, 2004 19:54:48 GMT
Those Tom Kidd drawings are really beautifull!!
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Post by Solitary Poet on Nov 3, 2004 20:16:31 GMT
Just in case you mised it.
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Post by Bayne on Nov 6, 2004 4:12:12 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]I prefer the other Tom Kidd flying machine illustration, though I've not seen it on the net anywhere. it shows less detail but catches the text much better for me.
[/glow]
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Post by DanMacK on Nov 6, 2004 5:25:58 GMT
Gorgeous illustration! As far as the Warwick Goble illustration, I found a site that had scans of the original "Cosmopolitan" issues. Below is the original Warwick Goble illustration. The original site I got it from is here.  Enjoy. Regards, Dan M. |
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Post by the Donal on Nov 6, 2004 12:56:30 GMT
I do like the Tom Kidd picture- also, does anyone notice how the legs of these tripods resemble the silhouetted legs on the teaser poster in the New Film section? Hmmm..
Has anyone looked at the Pendragon concept pictures on the drzeus-best site? Understanding the change of setting, its still a cool design for the tripods....
I also like Meinert Hansens matte painting and his work on his fiction science website.
What other good scifi CG sites are there around folks? And especially ones that are not just loads of star trek pictures (can't people leave this alone?!!), but original work?
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I always tend to play the Martians, altho I still haven't beaten the game. I'vecome close.
