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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0714.PDF
NOVEMBER 13, 1909. THE three first requirements for flight are courage, the means to acquire or build a machine, and the facilities, in the way of suitable ground space, for experiment and practice. Of these, one would be inclined to class the last as the most difficult of discovery, for it would be an insult to our race to doubt that there are plenty of men with the necessary pluck to make successful aviators, while so far as the financial side of the question is concerned, every man who now possesses a pleasure motor car might equally well purchase a flying machine, although it would be idle to suggest at the present stage that the aeroplane will rival the automobile in the ordinary uses of the latter. This elimination, therefore, shows up in relief the almost insurmountable difficulties that certain of our English pioneers have encountered in their efforts to find a smooth and level piece of land, unencumbered by trees and bushes, and void of ditches and similar obstructions, whereon they might practise ''taking-off" and landing when their machines were sufficiently advanced to justify contemplation of the possibility of these movements. The troubles of the pioneer in this direction, however, came to an end when the Aero Club and the Aero- nautical Society secured the use of the Shellbeach ground in the Isle of Sheppey and the Dagenham ground on the mouth of the Thames. At these places, and particularly in Sheppey, the conditions are nearly ideal for the experimenter. He has ample space and adequate accommodation for any imaginable form that his progress may assume ; he need not spend days or weeks in search- ing the country fora manufacturer of those little fitments such as wire-strainers and strut-sockets that must find a place on every aeroplane, for there are well-equipped workshops on the spot. But above all, if he have any novel design that he desires to keep from public knowledge until success or failure be assured, then can his tests be made in absolute secrecy. Still, Shellbeach has its disadvantages, and perhaps the chief of these is its distance from London, which is sufficiently great to entail residence near the ground if much valuable time is not to be wasted in journeying to and fro. There is little need to point out, therefore, that if Sheppey could be transported bodily to a site but a third the distance from the Metropolis, other ad- vantages would be secured. We have no Genie of the Lamp to perform this little operation, so Shellbeach must remain precisely where it is ; but recent developments have given us the next best thing, a permanent flying ground within twenty miles of London. We refer, of course, to the Brooklands Automobile Racing Track, where Paulhan gave Londoners their first sight of an aeroplane in flight a fortnight ago. There is a ready-made aerodrome of compact proportions, and yet with a circumference of nearly three miles, which needs only surface-clearing to adapt it to its new purposes. Paulhan himself considered that for a competent aviator the ground left little to be desired, while even at that time when the preparation of the aerodrome was far from being complete, he thought that there was ample space on which the novice might learn the manipulation of his machine and make his first tentative attempts at flight. Since then the preparation has proceeded apace, and ultimately the interior of the Brooklands motor course will present a fine, flat, smooth and unencumbered space upon and over which either expert or novice may manoeuvre in perfect safety. It will have all the principal qualities that are desirable in a semi-public flying ground, and even though its suitability for a com- petitive aviation meeting or for systematic experimental work, as distinct from the mere demonstration of the art of flying which Paulhan gave, may be a question for the future to decide, it will certainly offer exceptional opportunities for practising the use of aeroplanes. It might appear at first sight that the new Brooklands ground would be in direct opposition to the established site at Shellbeach, but a second consideration shows that this is only so, if at all, to a very limited degree. That con- sideration, however, necessitates a forecast of the future. Upon whom, then, and in what direction must we depend for the development of aviation in the more or less im- mediate future -1 To a certain extent the new sport is analogous to automobilism, and analogy answers the question. In the long-ago days just after the birth of . the motor car, when it had been brought to what was then considered a fairly practical state, certain men, of whom Fournier is a notable example, went around the various countries on demonstration tours. To-day we find Paulhan doing precisely the same thing, and with a similar result—the acquaintance of the public with the new form of locomotion, and the consequent popularisation of the sport. But up to that period in regard to automobilism the only people who took a practical interest in it were the experimenters, who ultimately developed into manufacturers, and just a handful of amateurs who entered into an investigation of the possibilities of mechanical propulsion for pure sport. But when the world at large, by the demonstrations of such as Fournier, had been acquainted with the progress that had been made, then came a host of amateurs who purchased cars and ran them for themselves. So another great world-business came to be built up, and so will the development of aviation take place. We are now at the demonstration stage, but in the coming season the results of the flights at Brooklands, at Blackpool, and at Doncaster will be seen in a sudden rush of orders for aeroplanes. But where are all these machines to be flown ? It is quite unlikely that every person who desires to purchase an aeroplane will care to give his whole time to the flying of it, even though he can afford to do so, for the new race of aeronauts that will soon come into existence will not be com- posed alone of the pioneer element that first made motoring and flying possible. Rather will it consist at first, at least, of people who regard flight as a new form of hobby, calculated to surpass and replate tobogganing at Davos, ski-ing, mountaineering, and similar delightful pastimes. These are the people who will not take the trouble to travel backwards and forwards between Shellbeach and London; nor would the expert experi- mentalist welcome them particularly if they arrived in their tens and hundreds down there. Hence a flying ground near London is essential to the development of the industry, and that requirement is fulfilled by Brook- lands. Brooklands will be used by amateurs and by fledglings who are just learning to flap their wings, so to speak; while Shellbeach and Dagenham will continue to be the place at which manufacturers' experiments may be carried out, and where the scientific investigation of new devices may be made in secrecy. 716
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