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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0022.PDF
JO GHT JANUARY 8, 1910. Now that the sport of aviation, and therefore the industry of aeroplane manufacture also, is rapidly reaching a comparatively settled stage, and now that a very active season is evidently before us, it is fitting once more to consider the best directions in which to encourage the energy of pioneer pilots for the development of the machines that are destined at an only slightly later stage to bring the sport within the sphere of the bona fide amateur owner. During the past year there have been a considerable number of competitions of one kind and another, and although any type of event, or even, for that matter, every individual flight, is instructive and to that extent useful, it has become evident that in order to cultivate both progress and interest at one and the same time, and to the very best advantage, there is room for the display of some amount of discretion in the selection of the kind of competition that is most calculated to serve these ends. Above all, we think it must be recognised that, at the moment, the aeroplane of to-day is somewhat of a forced growth, in spite of the veritable marvels that can be performed with it. It is useless to deny that, even if the actual art of flying is no longer an altogether uncertain matter, yet the construction of the machines still leaves a good deal to be desired as regards the reduction of the risk that is run by those riding upon them. The regrettable accidents by which Senor Fernandez, and now during the past few days M. Le"on Delagrange, lost their lives only go too surely to prove these points—even though neither the designers nor the actual builders may have been at fault in either of these cases—while the providential escape of M. Santos Dumont on Tuesday last, when his life also was jeopardised by a similar failure of his mount, clearly betokens a lack of sufficient data as to the stresses and strains encountered by each and every part when in mid-air under the conditions that may there prevail, which can only be supplied by the practical experience now in progress. This matter has a definite and immediate bearing upon the subject under review, because so long as any relatively simple breakages are prone to cause these occasional terribly serious accidents, every competition should, so far as possible, be of the best type to yield the utmost additional know ledge to those who virtually place themselves in the position of professionals, and to the factories from which their machines are issuing—besides simply stimulating and maintaining public interest in the new form of loco motion. Otherwise, indeed, it would be difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to justify the toll—relatively small in proportion to the number of aviators now at work— represented by such painful catastrophes as the death of Delagrange. Each pilot, it is true, is constantly experimenting and making his own deductions from the behaviour of his machine, while the experience of each aviator is of benefit to his colleagues in the development and improvement of their machines also. In any event, too, constant work of an invaluable nature is in progress at the various aeroplane factories and workshops. But pilot and factory alike must be given as immediate an incentive as it is possible to offer, and if that rapid progress of the flying machine towards perfection which is so vital a matter just now is to be made, prizes must be offered and competitions must be thrown open in reasonably lavish manner. As to the best form which such competitions can now take it is impossible to regard the various " circuses" that have been held in Europe during the past season as altogether satis factory. It is true they have been useful up to a point, and have served their immediate purpose of edifying a wondering public, but nobody can, we think, contend that they are capable of reaching the limit of utility. Even looking upon them as such, there is certainly ample room for improvement, for it has been said constantly of them that after the first moments of enthusiasm the sight quickly palls. For the goad of aviation, in England especially, we must not on any account allow the spectators at an open meeting to feel that the aeroplane is a toy to amuse them for just so long as they choose to be amused. Such meetings, too, are far from satisfying the main require ments of the day' that we have already mentioned, for there is far too much of the showman business about the whole thing, and far too little of the systematic and scientific experiment. Other very different forms of competition—rendered exceptionally interesting to those taking part by virtue of the monetary prizes attached thereto—have been or ganised, and have either been won or are still open, during the past year or so ; and these are, in our opinion, infinitely preferable from every point of view in rela tionship to the requirements of the time. We refer particularly to those competitions of the Michelin Cup type, wherein a definite performance is required to be made within a specified time, but also to those—and only in lesser degree—in which there is no time limit either within which the actual feat must be performed, or in which there is no fixed prize awarded by the donor for the nearest approach to perfection in some respect within the period fixed. The Michelin Cup, for example, is calculated to encourage enter prise in the most direct and satisfactory fashion possible, for not only was a certain distance of flight prescribed as a minimum below which no performance could qualify for the prize, but interest in the candidates, and their respective attempts for the prize, has not only remained, but the excitement as to the ultimate result for the past year has increased right up to the very last moment, when the most successful competitor carried off the coveted prize, whatever his actual achieve ment might be. There is nothing to be gained by recapitulating the history of the attempts made for this particular cup during the past year, for our present purpose is merely to draw attention to the superior value of such competitions, and to point out how, by en couraging aviators ever to strive to put up better and better performances as each existing " best " attempt for the cup is exceeded, this type of event has a very direct bearing upon the perfection of the aeroplane as a reliable and practical machine. Hence, for the reasons given above, we earnestly hope that those to whom it falls to organise competitions, and those who have the satisfaction of benefiting the cause by offering substantial prizes out of the wealth at their command, will bear in mind the potentialities of com petitions as mediums of speedy progress. Also, we trust everything possible will be done during the year upon which we have just entered to develop that type of event which we have advocated in particular. TS
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