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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0346.PDF
JUNE 12, 1909. crew. The central dock for Paris will be at Issy, where two large sheds are nearly completed, and there will be four standard routes ; that on the east will be to Nancy, with stations at Meaux and Rheims; to the south-east the terminus will be at Lyons, with stations at Juvisy and Fontainbleau ; to the south west Pau will be the destina- tion, stopping intermediately at Orleans, Tours, and Bordeaux, while to the west Rouen will be reached. Hangars are being erected ar all these places, and in some cases are already complete. No doubt in emergency this fleet of aircraft. would be available for Government purposes at a moment's notice. With regard to fares, M. Rene Quinton, President of the Aerial League, thinks they will vary from £2 to £\ for a trip extending over thirty miles. Dirigibles in U.S.A. THE recent record-breaking flight by Count Zeppelin seems to have aroused a good deal of interest in military circles in the United States, and it is stated that Major Squier has been instructed to prepare a scheme for the aerial defence of the nation. It is suggested that at every 250 miles along the coast airship dep6ts should be established, and the dirigible stationed would have to patrol the zone within a radius of 125 miles. The equipment is also to include vertical searchlights, &c, as well as a number of aeroplanes for maintaining lines of communication. After the last little display in Congress when an appropriation for aeronautics was asked for, it would appear to be problematical as to whether the money will be voted for this big scheme. U.S. Dirigible No. l. QUITE apart from the fact that they are hampered by lack of funds, the U.S. Army Signal Corps have many other difficulties to contend with. They recently inflated their Dirigible No. 1 at Washington, when a heavy thunderstorm sprang up, and blew down the tent which had been erected to receive the dirigible. Also, a bolt of lightning passed through the balloon-shed, going in one door and out the other, fortunately, as the Scientific American says, without igniting the hydrogen or injuring the officers present. Ballooning Across Mont Blanc. ON Whit Monday, the balloon " Helvetia," which, it will be remembered, was declared the winner of the Gordon-Bennett Balloon Race, made a notable perform- ance by sailing across Mont Blanc. At times a speed of 63 miles an hour was obtained, and the balloon landed in the South of France after a trip of 370 miles. The envelope of the "Helvetia"is made of "Continental" material. General Meeting of the Aerial League. THE first annual general meeting of the Aerial League was held at the Carlton Hotel on Monday, when Capt. Cave-Brown-Cave occupied the chair. In pro- posing the adoption of the report, which dealt with the doings of the club since its recent formation, the chair- man suggested that the public should be asked to subscribe ,£50,000 in order to purchase a Zeppelin air- ship which would serve as a model for British engineers to improve upon. Subject to his willingness to serve, Lord Roberts was elected president, and Major-General Arbuthnot, treasurer. Col. H. F. Massy was elected a vice-president. Lectures in E. London. THREE lectures on aeronautics are to be given at the East London College, Mile End Road, by Mr. A. P. Thurston, B.Sc, who was until recently assistant to Sir Hiram Maxim. The first, at which Sir Hiram Maxim will take the chair, on Monday next, 14th inst., will deal with the development of the aeroplane; the second, on Wednesday, 23rd inst., at which Sir C. N. Dalton will preside, will be devoted to balloons, dirigibles and kites ; while the subject of the third lecture, at which Major Baden-Powell will be the chairman, on Wednesday, 30th inst., will be the mechanical principles of flight. The lectures will be illustrated by lantern slides, cine- matograph views of various successful machines, models and experiments. In each case they will commence at 8 p.m., and tickets can be obtained from the Registrar of the college. A Belgian Academy of Flight. THE Aero Club du Hainaut have decided to establish at Mons a school for the study, theoretical and practical, of flight. A course of five lessons, including practical experience in the use of aeroplanes, has been arranged, and will commence as soon as the machines, which have been ordered, can be obtained. The fee for the course has been fixed at 125 francs, and the lectures on theory will be given by MM. A. Bracke and A. Jouveneau, while the practical experiments will be con- ducted by M. A. Scutenaire. A flying ground of about 30 acres in extent for the use of members of the club has been secured at the Castean Camp, and sheds and workshops are now being put up. r I..: ..• HUMOUR FROM AUSTRALIA. MR. WM. MAXWELL, one of our readers in Melbourne, in sending us his subscription for FLIGHT, also encloses a numerous cutting from one of the Australian papers, which we reproduce below, and concludes his letter in the following light vein :— " There ought to be a great future for these skylarks, if developed on the wright lines ; if so, they will come in useful in Australia, as we have no trans-continental railway, and they would do well travelling from the golden Victoria wheatfields to the Westralian goldfields, or in time of war, when all our Breadnoughts are gone, they would be admirable for decamping with far from the maddening crowd." The enclosed cutting reads as follows :— " At, the City Court yesterday morning Wilbur Wright, an aeronaut, was charged with having flown on the wrong side of the sky. A second charge against the defendant of having exceeded the speed laid down in the traffic regulations, was heard at the same time. " Senior-constable Mulhaven gave evidence. He sa;d :—'I was on patrol duty on my parachute, your Worship, near the south-east corner of the southern Cross at 2 o'clock this morning. I saw the defendant approaching from the direction of the Pleiades at the rate of 74.4 miles per hour. He narrowly escaped collision with two bats and a little brown boobook owl. He was on his wrong side of the sky.' "Mr. Purves, who appeared for the defendant, said that his client was an amiable balloonatic, who would not wittingly offend against the regulations. He had swerved somewhat from his course to avoid an ascending soul. " Evidence in support of counsel's statement was given by trw defendant, but the Bench ruled that the defence was not sound in law. Souls had no right-of-way nor other legal rights in mundane courts, and defendant should not have altered his course. Wright was fined KK. with 3.J. 6d. costs." 348
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