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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0678.PDF
OCTOBER 30, 1909. no reason why there should have been even nominal competitions at Doncaster. The controversy, however, gave to certain individuals the very opportunity they sought for the creaiion of discord. Knowing how easy it is to gain sympathy on the colour of being harshly dealt with or inadequately represented, they pitched a tale nominally apropos of the Doncaster Meeting, but actually not in connection with it at all, for we hold the local authorities at Doncaster to be •entirely innocent in the matter. Anybody who knows the historical facts of aviation at home and abroad will be .aware that statements most unwarrantably opposed to (the facts of the case have been supplied to the Press, and have in all good faith been published by them. Unhappily, the public appreciates very little of what are the needs of this new movement of aviation, and it does •not understand the necessity there is for a unity of purpose between and for the general support of the recog- nised bodies, the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain representing science, the Aero Club of the United Kingdom standing for the sporting and social phases, and the Aerial League of the British Empire representing patriotism and propaganda, all three bodies working in active agreement, and all three constituted on quite a democratic and thoroughly representative basis. For example, anybody can belong to the Aeronautical Society for a yearly subscription of one guinea. Anybody who does not wish to become a member of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom direct can join either the Aero Club League or any local organisation about the country concerned with the sport of aviation. And if that body elects to become associated with the pioneer organisation of the kind it can be represented on the General Council, which is to control the sport, have independent funds at its disposal, and will el set the delegates to the Federation Internationale Aeronautique. Hence, by association, every provincial body secures for its members the right to take part in any competition at home or abroad under International rules, and in addition has representation based on the only fair system, that of representatives on the General Committee in accordance with its membership, so that it is not a case of the Aero Club's securing a position to itself, but on the contrary of its having voluntarily and at the earliest possible moment asked the other aeronautical bodies concerned with sport to collaborate with it on terms of the most advantageous sort to themselves. When it is borne in mind that the average age of the bodies concerned with sport, other than the three bodies named, is something less than three months, no rational person could have expected the thing to have been done more quickly. As a fact, three fifths of the local bodies concerned with the sport of aeronautics have come into force apropos of the Doncaster and of the Blackpool meetings. Lastly, as touching the representative nature of the leading bodies, we find that anybody can become a member of the Aerial League of the British Empire without election, and merely on payment of the subscription. If that does not constitute a democratic and a representative situation, we would like to know what does. In conclusion, we have found that among many unfor- tunate things that have occurred this week, one very fortunate and very notable proof has been afforded the public that the working agreement between those three democratica'ly constituted bodies is no nominal one, but a very rer I and vital one. as has been proven by the joint letter published throughout the Press of the country on behalf cf the Aeronautical Society, the Aero Club, and the Aerial League. We give the text of that letter on another page. We cannot, in the present issue, record the happenings at the meeting which was the occasion for that letter to be written and jointly issued because that meeting does not take place until after we go to press. We shall, however, hope to treat the matter adequately in our next issue, for we feel that at this period in the history of aeronautics light is needed, and needed badly ; hence it is our duty to present the facts and to analyse statements to the best of our ability. From the resolutions that were announced to be put at the Mansion House meeting, it is plain that the object is merely to wrench from the Aero Club and the associated bodies (which can be increased at anytime by the accession of any Club concerned with the sport of aviation throughout the country whether it is at the present disinclined to do so or not) the authority which they now jointly exercise over the sport of aviation as concerning Britons at home and abroad, and foreigners when competing in this country. The statement that the Aero Club assumes the right to control the whole of British aviation and to say who was or who was not to call meetings at the Mansion House or anywhere else, is absolutely and utterly unwarranted by the facts. The calling of meetings is not the purpose of the Aero Club, as has been shown quite clearly in the official letter published broadcast, while the scheme that has been before the provincial bodies for some time proves beyond all doubt that the Aero Club has been only too anxious not to constitute itself a dictator, but to ask that every provincial society shall share that honourable respon- sibility which, in virtue of its being by many years the oldest established body in this country for the promotion or practice of aviation with heavier-than-air and with lighter-than-air machines, it is entitled to, and is anxious not to keep it exclusively any longer than is absolutely necessary. Until local bodies began to spring into being it was not possible to formulate a scheme of association, and even to-day many of those local bodies are expressing the opinion that they are not sufficiently numerous as to their membership to be con- sidered representative even of their district. Even that, however, does not concern the Aero Club, which, by its scheme, is offering association with every advantage of co operation and representation to the smallest and to the largest, to the oldest and to the newest of the organisations in Britain concerned with the spoit of aviation. -i; ,K-• ™-" •" Ecole Superieure d'Aeronautique," SUCH is the title of the Aviation College which is now taking definite shape in Paris, founded by several well-known men. At present the headquarters are at 30, Rue Falguiere, and the lecturers appointed include M. Painleve, who will take as his subject the mechanics of aviation; Commandant Renard, aeronautics; M. Mesnager, resistance of matter; M. Guillaume, instru- ments and dimensions; Commandant Voyer, military aeronautics; Colonel Espitallier, construction. Seven other lecturers are to be appointed to lecture on various subjects, including " Aerial Law." At the conclusion of the year's tuition the pupil will take part in various experiments, and if he passes the examinations will be granted a certificate as a " Bachelor of Aviation." 680
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