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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0435.PDF
JOLY 24, I909. and grace the pilot and his flyer are jointly able to accomplish. However well patrolled the course may be—and it would be difficult in general to ensure greater conveniences than those with which the French Government backed up Mr. Latham—there is bound to be a certain interval between the descent and the rescue, so that even supposing it is not going to be a matter of life and death, there is always the prospect of considerable discomfort. If the flyer can do nothing else for its pilot, it may at least keep him high and dry while he whiles away the time with a cigarette or takes a few snapshots of his surroundings. Altogether Mr. Latham's flyer was afloat for half-an- hour or more before it was picked up by the steam tug " Calaisien," and Mr. Latham is of the opinion that it would have floated for a couple of hours or so in a calm sea. As a matter of fact, however, the slight swell in the Channel subsequent to his rescue caused a considerable amount of damage to the planes and other less robust parts of the structure. The mere fact that the flyer kept afloat in the water at all, however, is the chief point, for it is a basis of a reliable character from which further developments can be evolved by those who may specially wish to improve this characteristic. The satisfactory accomplishment of a gliding descent from an alti- tude of" 1,000 feet is the outcome of the same qualities which render a machine successful in flight, that is to say, a combination of natural stability and skilful control. The actual contact with the water at full speed must, we should imagine, always be attended by a risk of diving if the machine is not very well managed during the last few lengths of its flight in the air, more especially since the balance of a flyer is not yet considered from the point of view of its buoyancy in water. Mr. Latham's machine, as is only to be expected, was very much down by the head, but its floating position just kept the pilot's seat above water. On the whole it suggests that a great deal is not wanted to make a satisfactory monoplane which shall be quite reasonably safe on calm water, and it is by no means beyond the realms of possibility that there may spring up in consequence a cult of over-water flight among those who are naturally at home in this element: it also suggests a possible phase of gliding by the sea. NATIONAL AIRSHIPS. THE week that is closing has proven highly gratifying to patriots, and especially encouraging to those who have the development of aerial navigation at heart. While the heavier-than-air type of craft has been considerably in evidence among sportsmen on the Continent, at home the first really serious steps towards placing this nation in possession of dirigible aircraft for military uses have teen taken in co-operation with the authorities. On Tuesday the Morning Post was enabled 10 publish the conditions laid down by the War Office as essential to be fulfilled by any airship that could be considered a practical machine for the work of the British Army, either at home or overseas. Those conditions have been ap- proved in detail by the Advisory Committeeof the National Airship Fund, which committee consists of Earl Roberts, Viscount Milner, Lord Charles Beresford, Mr. E. P. Frost, D.L., J.P., President of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain ; Mr. Roger Wallace, K.C., Chairman of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom ; and Colonel H. S. Massy, C. B., President of the Aerial League of the British Empire. It is desirable to refer to the nature of the conditions, which are produced elsewhere in full A very striking object lesson was displayed to the world at the French review of troops at Longchamps on Wednesday oflast week, when, during the march past, as we recorded last week, two of the French balloons—the "Ville de Nancy" and the " Republique "—sailed over the heads of the troops, executing several manoeuvres, and ultimately getting into linemade a "charge" through the air together. Enthusiasm reigned very high amongst the spectators at this demonstration of the most up-to-date form of military development. This historical incident is seen in our photograph above. 437 C 2
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