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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0009.PDF
anniversary of FLIGHT. January ist of last year, saw our first issue upon the bookstalls throughout the Kingdom —not to mention further afield also—and such has been the reception accorded to the journal from the very commencement that we have every reason to be pleased and proud of the result. As a weekly journal, and as the official organ of the Aero Club, we have always endea voured both to place the latest news before our readers in the most presentable form, and to further the cause of aviation in an absolutely independent spirit by every means within our power. Such, too, we need scarcely say, form the basis of our policy for the year 1910, during which time it will ever be our sincere endeavour to make FLIGHT more and more useful each week to everyone interested from any point of view whatsoever in the marvellous new industry that we represent. <•>•«•«•» The events of the year have followed so The Unbroken cjose]y one Up0n another that even now it of Events. 's almost impossible to view them in their true perspective, or to judge of the rela tive importance of each, since even their chronological sequence is apt to be somewhat confusing. To begin right at the commencement, on January ist, 1909, the world's record for distance was held by Wilbur Wright for 998 kiloms., or 62 miles 3 furlongs. It is neither necessary nor desirable to recapitulate the progressive advance of the duration record here; suffice it to say that Farman is now the world's record holder, with a flight lasting 4I1. 17m. 35s., in which he is officially credited with having travelled 137^ miles, although the actual distance was undoubtedly much greater. An important stage in the progress of flight, so far as this country is concerned, was marked by the holding of the International Aeronautic Conference in London from January nth to 13th, while the same month was also noteworthy on account of the formation of the Aerial League, by which the importance of the problem of national defence against aerial attacks was brought pro minently before the public for the first time. Quite early in the year considerable success attended Mr. Moore-Brabazon in his trials of his Voisin machine at Chalons, while towards the end of February the British Army flyer foreshadowed its subsequent attain ments by making a " hop" of some 400 yards at Aldershot. At about the same time, the first real step towards the facilitation of experiment in Britain was made when the Aero Club of the United Kingdom acquired the Sheilbeach flying ground at Sheppey. One of the principal hindrances to progress in this country— the lack of a suitable ground—was thus removed, and the way paved for the splendid results that have been made recently by Mr. Rolls and others in the island. An advance of even greater importance was made in March, when the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders held the first British Aero Exhibition at Olympia, while the awakening of official interest, which eventually took shape in the formation of the Government Advisory Committee to prosecute aerial research, was indicated by various " questions" in Parliament as to the large amount of money that had been spent by France and Germany in comparison with Britain's small outlay in connection with aeronautics. In the same connection, it is interesting to remember that shortly after the period of which we write—at the beginning of May, to be precise, and soon after the formation of the " Flight Office "—the French Govern ment not only set aside 100,000 francs for the encourage ment of aviation, as distinct from allotments for the maintenance of dirigibles, but made a grant of 43,000 francs, or about ^1,700, to the Aero Club de France for the same purpose. In mentioning this grant at the present juncture we have temporarily ignored the sequence of events, for the performance of the Zeppelin airship, on March 13th, in ascending to a height of 5,640 ft. and descending safely to earth by the use of the elevating planes alone, showed conclusively that there is a distinct connection between the heavier-than-air and the lighter-than air types of craft, and that it would be as well, for military purposes at all events, to consider the two types conjointly. It should be recalled here, too, that shortly after this notable experiment the same vessel set out upon an unusually ambitious voyage, the success of which, although marred by the final wreckage of the airship, gave the world a new insight into the practic ability of the dirigible balloon. The vessel was in the air continuously from Saturday evening until Monday morning, covering some 940 miles, and the journey was only concluded then by collision with a tree, and the wreck of the airship, at Goppingen. The month of May saw an actual race between dirigible balloons, for a contest resulting in a dead heat was held over Berlin between " Gross II " and " Parseval II." It is interest ing to note, as showing the great importance which was attached at that time to aerial navigation by the inhabitants of other countries than our own, that the Aerial League of Gotha (Germany), as a result of an appeal for funds to construct an airship dock at Gotha, collected over ^5,000 in one week. Turning again for a moment to notable achievements by the leading aviators, June 12th saw the first instance in which an aeroplane had carried two passengers in addition to its pilot. It is customary to regard Farman's double passenger-carrying performance at the Rheims meeting in this light, but it was only a record in the matter of length of flight under these conditions, for Bleriot carried MM. Dumont and Fournier a distance of 300 metres at Issy on June 12th, and Jean Gobron also took two passengers aloft at Chalons on July 2nd. After the opening of the Frankfort Exhi- The Channel bition, the next event of consequence was Flight. again contributed by Bleriot, who, after many years of experiment and disappoint ment, at last proved that he had hit upon a sound design by flying 25 miles across country, from Etampes to La Croix-Biquet, near Orleans. It was doubtless this fine achievement, combined with the fact of Latham's prepara tions at Sangatte, that suggested to him the possibility of flying the Channel, but in any case it is a matter of history that after Latham's first failure on July 19th, Bleriot quietly put in an appearance, and carried off the prize at the first attempt on July 25th. Latham's bad luck in getting within a few miles of the coast, and yet failing to reach the goal two days after Bleriot's success, is also sufficiently fresh in our memories to need no further comment. In the meantime Farman and Paulhan, at Chalons and Douai respectively, were making history in their different ways, and the latter, on July 18th, succeeded in wresting from Wilbur Wright the height record by flying well above the marking balloons to an estimated altitude of 490 feet. The extent to which France realised the importance of the work then being carried on by her aviators was once again evidenced by the decoration of MM. Bleriot, Delagrange, Levavasseur, Archdeacon, and
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