Eve Of The War
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Wells' Flying Saucer
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Author:  Alland [ Sat Jul 16, 2005 2:44 am ]
Post subject:  Wells' Flying Saucer
H.G. Wells may have been even more of a prophet than we give him credit for. Remember the brief descriptions of the Martians' flying machine---round, flat, and broad---? Sound familiar? That's not just any spaceship; it's a literal flying saucer, just as have been constantly reported from 1947 on. And yet WOTW came out just before the turn of the century.

Coincidence? I don't know. I've done a lot of research into the UFO phenomenon, and there HAVE been a few reports of disclike objects seen in the sky, mostly reported to be oddly-behaving meteors and fireballs. The works of researchers like Charles Fort are dotted with such accounts. Jules Verne read of "mystery airship" reports and the like; they were the inspiration for his two "Robur" novels, "Robur the Conqueror" and "Master of the World". Would it be so hard to believe that Wells did the same thing? Any thoughts on this?
Author:  Loz [ Sat Jul 16, 2005 10:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wells' Flying Saucer
Alland wrote:
H.G. Wells may have been even more of a prophet than we give him credit for. Remember the brief descriptions of the Martians' flying machine---round, flat, and broad---? Sound familiar? That's not just any spaceship; it's a literal flying saucer, just as have been constantly reported from 1947 on. And yet WOTW came out just before the turn of the century.

Coincidence? I don't know. I've done a lot of research into the UFO phenomenon, and there HAVE been a few reports of disclike objects seen in the sky, mostly reported to be oddly-behaving meteors and fireballs. The works of researchers like Charles Fort are dotted with such accounts. Jules Verne read of "mystery airship" reports and the like; they were the inspiration for his two "Robur" novels, "Robur the Conqueror" and "Master of the World". Would it be so hard to believe that Wells did the same thing? Any thoughts on this?


Wells does not descripe it as round as the quote from the book below shows.
The sun sank into grey clouds, the sky flushed and darkened, the evening star trembled into sight. It was deep twilight when the captain cried out and pointed. My brother strained his eyes. Something rushed up into the sky out of the greyness — rushed slantingly upward and very swiftly into the luminous clearness above the clouds in the western sky; something flat and broad, and very large, that swept round in a vast curve, grew smaller, sank slowly, and vanished again into the grey mystery of the night. And as it flew it rained down darkness upon the land.



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Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Sat Jul 16, 2005 6:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Wells' Flying Saucer
Alland wrote:
H.G. Wells may have been even more of a prophet than we give him credit for. Remember the brief descriptions of the Martians' flying machine---round, flat, and broad---? Sound familiar? That's not just any spaceship; it's a literal flying saucer, just as have been constantly reported from 1947 on. And yet WOTW came out just before the turn of the century.?

Here's another quote. From Chaper 8 'Dead London'.
Quote:
A multitude of dogs, I could hear, fought over the bodies that lay darkly in the depth of the pit, far below me. Across the pit on its farther lip, flat and vast and strange, lay the great flying-machine with which they had been experimenting upon our denser atmosphere when decay and death arrested them.
No nothing about round :a009: had it been saucer shaped, I'm sure Wells would have said :-k
Author:  morrisvan [ Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:39 pm ]
Post subject: 
Has anyone seen Warwick Globe's original illustration? The Flying Machine is a cross between a box-kite and the Wright Brothers Flyer. Considering the atmosphere on Mars the Martians may have needed a different design than a saucer.

Mind you Wells' descriptions of technology are always vague: the Time Machine for instance, while the Martian's Handling Machine is described as crab-like.
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:01 pm ]
Post subject: 
morrisvan wrote:
Has anyone seen Warwick Globe's original illustration? The Flying Machine is a cross between a box-kite and the Wright Brothers Flyer. Considering the atmosphere on Mars the Martians may have needed a different design than a saucer.

I found this picture of the flying machine by Warwick Globe, on 'bondle.co.uk' in an article about Maxim's flyer, one of the very early aeroplanes.
'The first flight was conducted in front of many spectators including personal friends invited by Sir Hiram, specifically the Prince of Wales, Rudyard Kipling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but most importantly, H G Wells who used Maxim and his flying machine as the basis for his short story "Argonauts of the Air" (1895), the inventor of the flying machine in this story is called 'Monson'. In addition, in 1897, Well's Science Fiction masterpiece "The War of the Worlds" depicts a Martian flying machine which bears uncanny resemblance to Maxim's flyer.'
morrisvan wrote:
Mind you Wells' descriptions of technology are always vague: the Time Machine for instance, while the Martian's Handling Machine is described as crab-like

I think Wells' lack of description is one of the best things, it allows the Artist more freedom :D
Author:  McTodd [ Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:35 pm ]
Post subject: 
Ah, you've unearthed one of my hobbyhorses, Lonesome! Warwick Goble certainly did base his illustration of the Martian flyer on Hiram Maxim's extraordinary flying machine of 1894 (though Wells' description is sufficiently vague as to imply no direct influence), and Wells undoubtedly did base Monson on Maxim (and exacted a form of revenge on Imperial College for not allowing him to complete his degree by having Monson's first flight end in tragedy when his flying machine crashes into the tower of Imperial College, smashing it to pieces).

Here is a photo of Maxim's flying machine seen from the port side (the 'nose' of the craft is on the left):

Image

Maxim came closest to powered flight before the Wright brothers (his monster steam plane, with a wingspan slightly greater than that of a Lancaster bomber, actually did take off under its own power, but wasn't steered so fails to count as a proper flight). More information on Maxim and his machine can be found here:

http://www.flyingmachines.org/maxim.html

And here:

http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/maxim.html
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:26 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yes there's very little doubt as to where Warwick Goble took his design from.
Did Wells have any say in the designs of the Fighting Machines or the Flying Machine for the Pearson Magazine? I've heard he didn't like Warwick Goble designs. :-k
Author:  Yuri2356 [ Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
Lonesome Crow wrote:
Yes there's very little doubt as to where Warwick Goble took his design from.
Did Wells have any say in the designs of the Fighting Machines or the Flying Machine for the Pearson Magazine? I've heard he didn't like Warwick Goble designs. :-k

I'd say he didn't, since he added a passage to the novel version which derided the attempts of a certain artist to depict Martian machinery.
Author:  morrisvan [ Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:19 pm ]
Post subject: 
Thanks Lonesome and McTodd. I was doing some research into powered flight before the Wright Brothers earlier this year and I clean forgot about Maxim's machine. Looking at the picture it certainly resembiles Globe's picture

It might be worth a serious look at how aviation crops up in Wells' work. As well as "Argonauts of the Air" and "WoTW" there are also the short stories: "My First Aeroplane"and "The Flying Man" - whose character makes a parachute from a tent - "The War in the Air" of course, but also "When the Sleeper Wakes" whose Rip Van Winkle type hero, Graham, learns how to fly, and climaxes wih an air battle. "Tono-Bungay" where it's narrator, George Ponderevo" is building his own aeroplane, and "Things to Come" with "Wings over The World."
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