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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0286.PDF
MAY 22, 1909. OPENING OF THE SPORTING SEASON. THE International Balloon Race organised by the Aero Club of the United Kingdom starts from Hurlingham this afternoon. In a sense this event inaugurates the sporting season of 1909 in respect of aeronautics. It is befitting, too, that lighter-thanair craft, void of any mechanical equipment and drifting at the will of the wind, should alone figure in the competition, because it serves to remind us of the beginning of man's invasion of the realms of mid-air. His conquest has been along two independent lines of research, and by far the most familiar to date has been the exploitation of vessels that are lighter-than-air. Save in point of date, the balloons that will figure in this afternoon's friendly international rivalry will be very little removed from the machines that began to be evolved soon after the days of Montgolfier. Yet the science of human flight has gone forward a great stage during the interval. The Aero Club of the United Kingdom does well in not casting off its old love while in the pursuit of the new. With the magnificent flying ground at Shellbeach its severest critic cannot truthfully contend that the Club is not first by a long way in the practical exploitation of aeroplanes in Britain. No rival body can ask for a hearing on any such line of argument. But, hand in hand with the laudable enterprise at Sheppey, we find the Club working to secure for the pastime of ballooning that popularity which it merits. As sports go it is quite one of the safest, while for variety of experience it is hard to equal. It is almost unique among sports, too, in being absolutely clean and noiseless. A lady need not fret, subject to protection from moisture, about wearing the daintiest frock when she steps into the basket of a balloon, which, once launched in air, is assuredly the completest means of enabling one to gaze on the world we live in as on a strange place. That sense of detach- ment, not bereft of security, which we enjoy when making an aerial voyage by balloon is not the least charming of the many experiences vouchsafed. The day may yet come when the fashionable doctor of Harley Street will prescribe ballooning as a part of the essential course of treatment in connection with rest cures. Nothing can be less exciting or more utterly restful than floating placidly through and above the clouds in fine weather. Such is what we may style the established sport in flight at the moment. As yet the dirigible is not in evidence among us save for military uses, as at Aldershot. But in France it has already been tried with encouraging results, and it is not unlikely that next year there may be formed quite a coterie of users of small dirigibles, with which an entirely different class of sport will be enjoyed. The work which the Aero Club has in hand at Shellbeach is sport of a more strenuous and scientific character. Everything that can be done to render it attractive is being done. The ground is as good as anything available in these islands, and out and away better than a great number of the aeroplane grounds of France. The situation in regard to London must be deemed quite reasonably convenient, for the route by road is very pretty and can be traversed in approximately three hours, while, by catching the boat express train from Victoria, one can be on the flying ground in less time and at very little expense, for the Club has arranged special facilities for members whereby first class return railway tickets available for one month are issued to them for 8s. each ; second class at 6s. 6d., and third class for 5s. Nobody can argue that this is a prohibitive price, especially in view of the fact that the ground is situated in such a bracing spot that if there were no aeroplaning to be seen at all it is good to spend a week-end thereabouts. The Club has been very for- tunate in securing the old-world and picturesque house that was illustrated in last week's issue of FLIGHT, and in having a ground that, apart from being well- nigh ideally suited for aeroplaning, provides facilities for enjoying quite a number of other sports, including golf; and is uncommonly handy for enjoying sea-bathing. Indeed, there are a variety of reasons why during the coming season Sheppey is likely to become a very popular week-end resort among those interested in flight. In a little while we shall have the first essays to win some of the many prizes for performances of flying machines that are open under the auspices of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom. Those of us who are members of the Club are aware already of the bright prospects that are in store there for development in the immediate future of the movement. At the moment the public at large has no guess of all the preparations that are being made, but has merely had a hint from some reported utterances of Messrs. Wilbur and Orville Wright concerning the suitability of the ground. Therefore, in a few weeks time, when accounts of actual flights shall begin to filter through into the daily papers, it will come as something of a surprise to the general public that such extensive and serious prepara- tions have been made for carrying on the movement in the " Isle of Sheep." The enterprise of the Aero Club bears evidence of doing as much as that body can be reasonably expected to do to remove the reproach that in matters of flight we are behindhand in England. We look forward confidently to the opening season to furnish proof in abundance to the general public that at least a section of the British community is very much alive to the reality and possibilities of artificial flight, and, whatever may be said concerning absence of encouragement or facilities, that a body of real sportsmen has succeeded in creating facilities for itself and in making occasions for real progress in the science of using heavier-than-air flying machines. It is over a fortnight since the ground was first soared over by a flying machine. Now that Mr. Moore-Brabazon has got the " Bird of Passage " repaired there is every reason to look confidently forward to his leading the way with a series of fine flights, some of which, it is hoped, will secure for him certain of those prizes which have been offered for achievements well within his known powers of performance. Once start the vogue and there will be no difficulty in keeping it going. A promising feature of the sporting season now opening is that not one particular type of machine alone will be exploited on the grounds of Sheppey, as has been too often the case on French flying grounds, but several sorts of machines will be tried. At the moment at least five varieties are in hand and are expected to be completed within a reasonably short time. That is what we want, for we are only on the threshold of real developments and are merely beginning to learn the first things about flying. Hence the need for variety of enterprise and investigation, not conducted secretly, but in such a manner that effort shall not be wasted and real progress may be made with due speed. The sporting season that is opening is alike the most noteworthy and the brightest of any in the history of Britain. 288
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