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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0152.PDF
MARCH 20, 1909. THE nineteenth of March, 1909, will be a memorable day in the annals of aerial locomotion in Britain. To-day an industry is born. There have been various aero- nautical shows in this country since 1869, on May 25th of which year a great balloon, exhibited at Ashburnham Park, broke free, coming to earth at Bouldon in Buckinghamshire. In the main, former displays in this country have been chiefly remarkable for models dis- played in illustration of various theories. The Show, which the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has organised at Kensington, however, will be re- membered not on account of its theoretical or its purely scientific side, but chiefly by reason of the bringing together of a number of full-scale machines of types with which mechanical flights have actually been made. For this reason it is fitting that a trade organisation as distinct from a sporting or scientific body, such as the Aero Club of the United Kingdom or the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, should be primarily responsible for the promotion of the display. It speaks much for the astute councils that prevail at Maxwell House that a body of men engaged in one industry should have the foresight and the generosity to place their funds at the service of a sister one that cannot be expected to repay for the matter of years to come. The manner in which the motor trade has guaranteed the finances of the current show is something to be remembered to its credit, and the Aero Club of the United Kingdom is to be congratulated on having realised the splendid opportunity that has thus been presented. In the circumstances, it has been rather a privilege than a favour to accord official recognition to the display. Let us hope that it will be the first of a yearly series of an increasingly representative and prosperous character, so that it may come to stand in the helpful position towards the flying movement that the great annual motor car Show does towards mechanical road traction. Whatever its destiny, however, the current enterprise of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is a bright and honourable page in its history which will always redound to its credit. Flight has been very much to the fore during the last fortnight. Mr. Haldane has stated in Parliament that the War Office intends to purchase flying machines from private persons, while the Navy estimates include pro- vision for a dirigible. Whether these enterprises are to be on a suitably extensive scale or not, the fact remains that it is a capital thing to have secured Government recognition of the importance of the subject from the point of view of national defence. During the week, too, the King has paid a visit to Pont Long, by Pau, and, like all who have gone there before him, His Majesty has been amazed and delighted with the marvels that he has seen. A fact fraught with some significance for the future is the visit of Mr. A. J. Balfour to the same field a few weeks previously. The value of enlisting the interest of Cabinet Ministers and ex-Ministers in artificial flight is something not easy to over-estimate in connection with the part which this country should play in its develop- ment. For that reason, too, the presence of the many influential gentlemen who are attending the inaugural luncheon at the Exhibition at Olympia is very welcome. " Wake up, England" is a phrase which the Prince of Wales has made familiar throughout the Empire, and it is sincerely to be hoped that His Royal Highness will see fit to pay a visit to the Aero Exhibition at Olympia, for assuredly such a mark of royal interest will go far towards securing that widespread attention to the subject of aerial locomotion which is the chief object of the show, the purpose of it being mainly an educational one. The current issue of FLIGHT strives to assist in the aim that is responsible for the holding of the Exhibition. In a sixteen - page illustrated supplement, which we present our readers, the story of aerial locomotion is told in a fashion that can be understood by those not possessed of the least liking for mechanics, while the souvenir should be appreciated by the expert as something to which an historic interest is likely to attach, even as it does to these early numbers of the journal itself. While entertaining a healthy horror of aught in the guise of sensational prophesy concerning the future of the flying movement, nevertheless we have absolute faith in it, for could that belief be proven in any more practical fashion than in the launching of a periodical devoted solely to the subject of aerial locomotion ? Even the most ardent sceptic must allow that mechanical flight has now entered into the realm of possible things. And there are reasons for arguing that the time is not far distant when flight will be regarded as among the commonplaces of latter-day life. Perhaps it is not generally realised that the science has been established on a very broad and significant basis. Apart from the hundreds of brilliant minds that are engaged in various parta of the world on the grand work of revealing new, simpler and surer means towards aerial locomotion, the public flights of Messrs. Wright, Farman, Bleriot, Esnault- Pelterie, Moore-Brabazon, and many others have appealed to the minds of practical business men to an extent that has resulted in practically any reasonable amount of money being available for the development of flying machines. Indeed, a large and influential section of the financial world is now fully alive to the tremendous future that is opening up for the flying industry. This establishing of the proposition on a strictly business basis- is not a thing to be held in light esteem. The world moves mainly through the enterprise of practical men,, without whose co-operation genius itself is paralyzed. The Exhibition at Olympia is proof of the fact that the business world is now prepared to support aerial locomotion and on that account it is memorable beyond all other aeronautical displays that have preceded it. Happily, too, the Exhibition is quite as representative a one as any reasonable man could expect, when the inevitable difficulties in the way of organisation and the patent interests which certain pioneers have to study are considered. It remains for the British public to avail' itself of the excellent opportunity that is now afforded it of making acquaintance with flying machines of really- practical sorts. The success that has attended works of fiction dealing with human flight proves that the subject is a fascinating one even to the non-technical public ; hence it should not require much persuasion to cause a. a very large number of people to flock to Olympia during the next week. Of course, it is a pity that actual flights have not been accomplished in this country to the same extent as has obtained in France, for naturally the public learns quickest through its eyes. It is certain, however, that during the coming summer plenty of flight will be made in these Islands, which means incidentally that there can be little doubt concerning the current Aero- Show proving the first of a long and increasingly successful series. 154
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