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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0462.PDF
JULY 31, 1909. AVIATION NEWS OF THE Orville Wright Flies for an Hour with Lieut. Lahm. ON Thursday of last week Orville Wright at Fort Myer made two good flights, and during the second a speed of 54^ miles an hour was obtained. On Saturday last, in the course of a twenty minutes' flight with and against the wind, an average speed of 47 miles an hour was attained. He was to have taken up Lieut. Lahm, the well-known American aeronant, but a slight accident to one of the landing skids entailed a postponement of this trip. By cable we learn that the first of the official tests was made on Tuesday last. The conditions imposed were that the machine should remain in the air for an hour carrying two persons. Shortly after half past six on Tuesday afternoon, Orville Wright announced that he was ready and Lieut. Lahm was invited to take the passenger's seat. A few minutes after the trigger was pulled and the flyer glided down the starting rail and commenced its flight, just as President Taft arrived on the ground to witness the flight. Altogether Orville Wright circled round the ground sixty-six times, during which it is estimated that he covered about 45 miles, the exact time occupied being ih. 12m. 40s. For the first two or three circuits a fairly constant altitude of between 50 ft. and 60 ft. was maintained, but later the height varied considerably. Needless to say on coming to earth Orville Wright received a great ovation from the crowd who had watched the flight. ,..,^>U:' Sommer, French Record'Holder. ON Thursday, the 22nd inst, at Chalons, Sommer slightly bettered his record of the previous Sunday by flying on his Farman biplane for ih. 5m. 30s. He also made a flight lasting 38 mins. On Wednesday last he succeeded Mr. Henry Farman as the French record- holder by flying for half-a-minute longer than the last record. His flight, on a Farman machine, lasted for ih. 23m. 30s. Activity at Chalons. A VERY active band of experimenters are busily at work at the present time gradually getting themselves accustomed to travelling through the air. On the 21st inst., M. A. Fournier had his Voisin biplane out and made six flights, each time making two complete circuits •of the parade ground, a distance of about 6 kiloms. M. Colliex was also experimenting with his Voisin machine and flew round the ground once, and Capt. Burgeat on his Antoinette monoplane flew for a distance of about 600 metres. During the evening of the same •day, Henry Farman and Mr. Cockburn made several flights on the Farman machine. After Farman had made a couple of solo trips and Mr. Cockburn had flown four times by himself, Mr. Farman took up Mr. Cockburn for a flight. The next day Mr. Farman was aloft for about 15 mins., during which he made an excursion across •country in the direction of Vadenay. Mr. Cockburn was also practising, and made a flight of about 11 kiloms. in length. the neighbourhood. Large crowds of people gathered on the flying ground in order to witness the flying during the afternoon, when suddenly rain began to fall. In a few moments a terrific storm was in progress, accom- panied by thunder and lightning. The grand stand was blown over and the aeroplanes of MM. Tissandier, Paulhan, Zipfel and Capt. Ferber were considerably damaged. During the week, the only two aviators who met with any success in the competitions were Tissandier and Paulhan. The former secured the Grand Prix de Vichy, his best time for the 20 kiloms. being 22 mins. 55 sees., while Paulhan was awarded the Prix de la Traversee de l'Allier, his time for 25 kiloms., including two crossings of the Allier river, being 5 mins. 1 sec, beating Tissandier by I sec. On Friday of last week M. Paulhan had rather an exciting experience during an attempt for the Allier prize. Apparently, something went wrong with the biplane, for it commenced to descend, and eventually landed on a small island in the middle of the river. Both the aviator and the machine were safely rescued, and a little later M. Paulhan made a short flight. On the previous day, the spectators witnessed an unusual sight, for while M. Tissandier was making his winning flight on his Wright machine for the Grand Prix de Vichy, M. Paulhan commenced a flight on his Voisin apparatus and the two flyers had a race for two or three rounds of the course. Naturally, this roused the enthusiasm of the onlookers to a high pitch. Later, on the same day, M. Tissandier arranged to make a flight with M. Rene Gasnier as passenger, but the starting rail fouled the rudder just as the machine rose in the air, causing it to fall, with the result that one of the propellers and the runners were damaged. On Saturday last, Capt. Ferber made some attempts at flight, but could not get his engine to work properly, and so did nothing better than a few " hops " of about 50 metres in length. It was on Saturday that M. Paulhan made his winning flight for the Allier prize. The Hennessy prize : for the machine which was in the air for the longest time at the meeting was won by M. Tissandier, his flights totalling to 1 hour 23 mins., while Paulhan's total was lh. 21m. 58fs. The prize for the best time over one circuit of r666 kiloms. was won by M. Tissandier in 1 min. 52 sees., M. Paulhan's being second with 2 mins. 19 sees. — ... • Flight on Seven Days a Week. FROM the end of September Mr. Latham it is stated is going to attempt for the ensuing month the feat of flying seven days a week regularly in order to demonstrate the practical value of the modern machine. A Wright Flyer in Holland. M. LEFEVRE, who has obtained delivery of one of the Wright flyers, has been successfully experimenting with it in the neighbourhood of The Hague. No very lengthy flights have been made up to the present, the longest being about 3J kiloms., during which the aviator flew over woods and across country. A Cyclone Ends Vichy Meeting. Funds for Aeronautical Research. THE aviation meeting which had been held during INCLUDED in the Civil Service Estimates for 1909-10, the past week at Vichy was perforce brought to an abrupt was a sum of ,£57,964 for scientific investigation, &c, termination on Sunday last by a cyclone which visited of which ^13,000 was allocated to the Royal Society. 464
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