FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0498.PDF
AUGUST 21, 1909. QUADA Est quadam prodire tenus, wrote Horace adding, si non datur ultra. The observation that all may make some progress though it be not allowed them to go beyond a certain point seems to be at once the lesson and the utility of the great event that is about to take place in the flying world. The long anticipated flying machine race meeting that will commence at Rheims to-morrow will illustrate in the story of many of those who will be competing that all may make some progress, though it may be that not all of those who will take part in the really noble events will live to see flying machines brought to commercial perfection, otherwise that stage when they shall be in general use by the community. The meeting itself, however, will be historic for many reasons. It is the first one of quite a number that have been planned that has materialised. Moreover, the number of competitors that will be represented is extraordinary, for at least two score of machines have been engaged, and there will be nearly as many aviators. This fact alone illustrates incidentally that something uncommonly like an industry in aeroplane manufacturing is established already. What is even more remarkable is that a goodly proportion of the competitors are men of a few weeks' experience only in the management of flying machines. If we look to the immediately preceding movement—the motor car one—we find that by comparison the growth of flying on the Continent has been exceedingly rapid, nor, at the rate things have gone ahead here this summer, is there any reason to suppose that we shall be much behind our rivals abroad, for at Sheppey flying has begun in earnest, and the public will begin to hear of doings there at no distant date. It must strike the man in the street as being an extraordinary thing that these machines—which he has been told are mere hobbies and which, he understands, can be relied on for service at rare intervals only—-should have been collected in large numbers, being expected, as a matter of course, to fly on certain days. Only a little while ago, during practice operations at Rheims, a very severe storm occurred that swept nearly everything that was movable off the ground. Yet scarcely had the tempest subsided than the aviators were taking their machines out of the sheds and putting them to practice flights again. We regard this meeting as an event of many aspects. Perhaps the chief of them is that of working towards the achievement of more perfect mechanical locomotion through the regions of mid-air that is being undertaken by those pioneers who will figure at Rheims, and by the many who, though they will not be noticed by the public merely because they will not be handling machines them- selves, are, nevertheless, the founders of this newest and most wonderful achievement that is giving to man a third region for his activities by adding the realms of air to those of land and water. From the historic point of view the meeting will come to be regarded as epoch-making. Hitherto, it has been sufficiently wonderful that a man here and a man there should be able to fly now or anon according to his will and a variety of circumstances combining. From to-morrow we shall realise what tremendous strides have been made, because we shall find that in place of the performances being isolated they are taking place in company, or, as we may say, in a glorious competition, glorious because it represents a deal more than the prizes that are being raced for or the honour of being first, second, or third. It repre- sents the achievement of a new and notable phase for the flying machine, that which comes with the pro- duction of heavier-than-air craft that can be handled not by one particular man, but by well-nigh any man of ordinary physical standard, and that can be relied on to fly with a very appreciable degree of regularity. This combination of efforts that will go by the name of the Rheims Flying Machine Meeting is something the educational value of which cannot be ignored. Panem et tircenses were described by Juvenal as being the only two objects that really interested the Roman people. It is much the same to this day. The winning of our livelihood and the appeal of sport, especially of the racing sort, constitute the two great objects of life to a mighty portion of the public. It is given to a relatively small class to appreciate developments, as it were, through the intellect. The scientific phases of flight, even as the scientific phases of shipping, railway locomotion, telegraphy, telephoning and photography, do not interest one tithe of those who have occasion to enjoy voyaging on the face of the waters, or to travelling in trains, who have need to send urgent written messages long distances in a minimum of time, who wish to speak their thoughts to people miles beyond the reach of the human voice unaided, or who desire to have a faithful and permanent picture of a scene or face. Of the thousands who are flocking into Rheims now probably not one in a hundred understands how men have learnt to fly. But they are going there because they have read of flights having been made, because they think that sufficiently wonderful, and because they would like to be convinced themselves of the possibility of flight by the process of ocular demonstration. They expect that a goodly proportion of the competitors will fail to be successful in their flights, but they also expect, as we expect, that success will attend the efforts of a sufficient number to prove to them and the world that flying is not a matter of mere chance, but something which it is open to all to achieve who care to provide themselves with machines. They will see that those who succeed in flying are not acrobats, as we are constantly told that flying men must be. To the contrary, as they follow the progress of the competitors through their field glasses they will observe how slight, how slow, and how relatively infrequent are the movements each has to make to direct his machine at will. Doubtless it will come in mind to them as they behold the many and very different types of machines represented, and consider the brief experiences of many of the competitors, that already it is quite an easy thing to learn how to plane, provided a good machine is used, and; once accustomed to planing, the system of controlling one machine or another can be picked up quite quickly. For the sake of competitors and visitors alike, it is sincerely to be hoped that the weather conditions at Rheims will be favourable throughout the week, for the value of the meeting is something of far more wide-reaching importance than the furnishing of an occasion to make hotel-keepers busy. If events combine towards success, other meetings in various parts and, let us hope, in Britain, will be pro- moted within the next twelve months. There is nothing like the healthy stimulus of competition to help forward a new movement. It convinces the public, provides them with material for reflection, wins their sympathies, and, by process of example, results in numbers of newcomers being recruited to supplement the work of the pioneers. 500
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
