The Problem of the Spin: The Present Position Reached by Investigators on the Subject

WE conclude in this issue the very exhaustive study of spinning contributed by Messrs. Irving and Stephens to that gold mine of scientific information—the transactions of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Partly for reasons of space we have omitted a number of diagrams and a passage containing the highly theoretical reasons of the authors for coming to the conclusion they have in regard to the effect of stagger. Even had these been retained, we do not think we are belittling the intelligence or knowledge of our readers by saying that there are probably few of them who would have benefited—and they can turn to the Society's Journal, when the paper appears there, for the missing details. The calculation of the balances of forces and moments in a spin has become, almost more than any other branch of aeronautical studies, an extremely abstruse matter which very few except those dealing with the matter almost daily, and with, therefore, full knowledge and experience of it, can hope to comprehend fully. We venture to say that the paper loses little if any of its value or interest for the general reader from these excisions. Speaking for ourselves we do not find that the authors' argument loses any of its continuity.