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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0169.PDF
MARCH 27, 1909. THE FIRST BRITISH AERO SHOW. THE First British Aero Show organised by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, supported by the Aero Club, which opened on Friday, March 19th, and closes to-day, Saturday, the 27th instant, has in no way belied our prognostications of its interest and importance. It is a real show from end to end, and, having regard to the fact that it is the first of its kind in this country and is being held within but a few months of the daybreak of the new era, it is a most extraordinarily fine exhibition of flight. That most visitors to Olympia hold this view is con- firmed by the one or two marked exceptions which may at times be overheard while strolling along the gangways. They are expressed by the sort of person who is dis- contented on the slightest provocation, and who, more- over, seems to have a woeful lack of mental ability where- with to form a judgment. What, we would ask, do such as these expect ? And under what conceivable condi- tions could they have been induced to accord approval which would be of any worth whatever ? Do they want more machines, or do they want flyers which are not there ? Olympia is a large hall and it is well filled ; and, besides, it would be difficult to believe that the malcon- tents could appreciate other models if their wish were to be gratified. There is, it is true, much cause for disappointment that the first British show should be without a Wright flyer, but we cannot conceive that its absence makes the other machines less interesting, or that those who think them so on this account would be able to look upon a Wright with any real appreciation. One or two have been heard to say that the show was not as good as that at Paris, and it is true that there are not the same number of machines on view. But what there are, are more attractively arranged; and the show itself is more obviously related to flight than was the first Paris Aero Salon, in which the effect was spoiled by the occupation of the Grand Nef by industrial vehicles. There are at Olympia 11 full-sized flyers, while at Paris there were 16, including Ader's "Avion," from the Arts and Metiers Museum, and Santos Dumont's " La Demoiselle," which was hung out of sight. Besides the Wright, the only other flyers which were at Paris and are not at Olympia are the Bleriot, Antoinette, Vendome, Clement, Kapferer, and Lejeune. Voisin's machines are well represented, for not only is Mr. Moore - Brabazon's own "Bird of Passage" on view, with its Issy mud-stained wheels, but Messrs. Simms (the Voisin concessionaires in this country) show a similar model, and the Mass Cars exhibit a Dela- grange, which is of the same make. There is also the R.E.P. monoplane, which is shown by Messrs. Bessler - Waechter, and it is well that the show is not without a successful model of that pattern, although it lacks the Bleriot and the Antoinette, which, of late, have been more particularly successful. Two other machines from France are the Breguet and one built by Pischoff for Captain Windham, who has entered the commercial side of the business. The Breguet, shown by Mr. Stenbury,. is a biplane of quite a different type to the machine exhibited in Paris ; the same remark applies, moreover, to the Pischoff. Where the present show gives so much cause for especial satisfaction is in the presence of the British section, and the high standard of workmanship which it has set. Short Brothers and Howard Wright show biplanes built in wood and steel respectively, and each is unquestionably a first-class example of careful con- struction. The same can be said of Messrs. Lamplough's work, although the machine is unfinished; and we trust that Messrs. Handley Page, who are not now represented by anything that they have done themselves, will follow " Flight" Copyright Photo. AERO SHOW AT OLYMPIA.—Mr. Moore-Brabazon's " Bird of Passage," the actual Voisin flyer withwhich he has been making successful experiments in France. The engine now fitted on this machine is an 8-cylinder E.N.V. 171 c
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