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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0008.PDF
B ICHT- JANI'ARY t, 1910. ONE YEAR or IS/ A 1909 INC AND OF RETROSPECT. 6* FLIGHT. »9 LOOKING back over the year that has passed, everyone must realise that 1909 will go down to history as the year above all others which saw the development of the heavier-than-air machine that any intelligent and mode rately athletic man could very soon master, from a more or less experimental freak, needing the master hand of a Wright or a Farman to make it perform the miraculous. The year has indeed seen many events in the aero nautical world that may without any exaggeration at all be termed literally epoch-making; for the phenomenal progress that has been made has easily outshone the rapidity with which the automobile, or any other revolu tionising development, first sprang into fame. Record upon record for duration in the air, for speed, for distance, and for height have followed closely one upon another, only to be broken within the next few days or hours. Bleriot triumphantly crossed the Channel on a mono plane, while later Count Lambert made an almost equally sensational trip over Paris and around the Eiffel Tower on a Wright biplane ; and where at the beginning of the twelve months the number of confident flyers and their machines could almost be reckoned on the fingers of one hand, to-day their number must run well into three figures. Perhaps the most important outcome of the year's work, apart from the essential progress that has been made in every direction, is the great awakening of public and official interest in the new means of loco motion and its applications, if not to all the needs of modern life, at least to the requirements of sport and warfare. Largely, we, in this country, have to thank the Society of Motor Manufacturers for the enormous impetus directly attributable to the Exhibition organised by them, in conjunction with the Aero Club, at Olympia in March. And it is satisfactory to remember that the British Government, if it has not done quite all that we might have wished, has at length—urged forward doubtless largely by the Parliamentary Aerial Defence Committee —made a start by way of stimulating theoretical research and practical experiment in an official manner. Although it cannot be claimed to be the result of this official activity, at least one all-British flying machine has become an accomplished fact, and famous at that, within the period under review, for the late Army aeroplane, now the personal property of Mr. Cody, has shown itself capable of efficient flight. In addition, too, Mr. J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon and Mr. A. V. Roe have each achieved striking results on home-designed and constructed machines ; while the Hon.C. S. Rolls, Mr. Frank McClean, and Mr. A. Ogilvie, amongst others, have made notable headway as pilots; and a number of British manu facturing firms have made good starts in establishing themselves in readiness to cope with the new industry. It is useless to deny that Britain is still behind France, but the leeway is steadily being made up, and there is a small army of experimenters in different parts of the country who may at any time surprise the world by attaining the success for which they have long been striving. The coming year is likely to see quite as remarkable results in regard to British aviation—as an actual sport, practised by the amateur owner—as the past season has seen in respect of general progress of a technical and experimental character. The advent of competitive flying which was instituted after the opening of the Juvisy aerodrome, and at the subsequent meetings at Rheims and elsewhere, brought the matter of International organisation and national representation to a head much sooner than would other wise have been the case in the ordinary course of events, and hence the year has been particularly noteworthy for the premature growth, but fortunately also for the sutrmary disposal of those initial difficulties of rivalry and mischief-making which may ever be looked upon as incidental to the commencement of any very far-reaching movement. It was, perhaps, inevitable that these troubles should arise at some time in the early history of aviation—that newcomers into the sphere of work should endeavour to oust those who had borne the brunt of battle for many years, and who had quietly prepared the way in readiness for the long-looked-for successes of experimenters. But, that being so, Britain is indeed happy to have shaken off its over-enthusiastic " pre- te iders" so quickly and so easily, for the internal discord purposely caused by them, to gain their own unreasonable and selfish ends, must necessarily cor stitute an unwelcome hindrance to development. Foitunately, it may be claimed that flight in Great Britain is now quickly assuming a settled condition so far as national and international representation and organisa tion are concerned ; and the policy of democratic unifi cation that we have so consistently advocated, and that was put into practical effect by the agreement between the Aero Club, the Aeronautical Society, and the Aerial League, has been fully justified. There is little need to recall the fact that the Aero Club's attitude in regard to unauthorised meetings was fully upheld by the French Club, and that the British organisation's status as the sole representative of the International Federation was confirmed—if confirmation were needed—for the dis qualification of the French aviators at Doncaster, and the events which led to it are still recent in our readers' minds. Further contretemps of this kind are, moreover, hardly likely to ari-e in the coming year, for not only is it the intention of the Federation to definitely settle upon a limited calendar of events for 1910, thereby pre-defining the exact attitude of the International organisation in regard to unauthorised events in their various countries, but stringent regulations are being introduced for International recognition whereby no future flight meetings of the money-making "circus " kind will receive the sanction—or indeed anything but the uncompro mising opposition—of representative Aviation. Needless to say, therefore, the principal inducement to the stirring- up of dissension within the camp will henceforth be mercifully absent. Passing reference must of necessity be made to the toll which has been extracted from humanity for the rapid developments of the year. But while one must deplore the catastrophes that resulted in the deaths of poor Lefebvre, Ferber, Fernandez, and the crew of the ill-fated military dirigible " Republique," one is glad that it is possible to say that those lives were given in a worthy cause. Those names will be recorded in the book of history as the names of martyrs to the interests of a beneficial science, and their heroic sacrifices will live revered in the memory of mankind as the names of Lilienthal and Pilcher live to-day. As a conclusion to this preliminary summary, we may mention that the present issue marks the first general 2
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