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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0424.PDF
f/yCHT] JUNE 4, 1910. PRIZE GIVERS, PRIZE WINNERS, AND THE PUBLIC. A WEEK, has passed since we wrote of the necessity for devising some new basis for the awarding of the richer prizes that still remain to be won by the aviator whose lucky star happens to be for the moment in the ascendant —some new basis which will serve the double purpose of encouraging the development of flying machines and at the same time will continue to rivet public interest during the whole period over which that attention is needed for the firm establishment of the new industry on a sound footing in Great Britain. The week that has elapsed has seen at least one great flight—great, that is, judged by the standard of yesterday, but now become almost commonplace by reason of the comparative ease and facility with which these long point-to-point flights are being performed. We refer, of course, to Mr. Curtiss' exploit in flying from Albany to New York down the course of the great Hudson River, by which he secured within a few hours the very substantial sum of a couple of thousand pounds sterling offered by the New York World to the first flying man to accomplish the journey with not more than two stops for the replenishment of fuel. It is far from our purpose to belittle either the man himself or his performance—we are far too much alive to the genuine services Mr. Curtiss has rendered to the science of flight and to the merit of his latest accomplishment to dream of doing that, and it is at the same time impossible to pretend that a trip through the air such as that which he successfully achieved is not an astonishing performance. But, we would ask, how much farther is the science of flight advanced as an immediate or direct result of his having won this prize ? He has chiefly proved the obvious once more and has incidentally done very well for himself in the process. Frankly, under the conditions which are at present attached to the major prizes which still remain to be won the relation in which the flying man is beginning to stand to the donor of the prize is the simple one of "heads I win, tails you lose," or something very nearly approaching it. Given ordinarily careful, preparation and an average good day for the flight, it is long odds on the aviator being successful in his attempt, even Supposing that his machine has* undergone no process of evolution in the meantime and remains as it is to-day. Admittedly it may be urged that had it not been for the public spirit of those who have offered large money prizes in the past, the aeroplane would have remained the relatively crude affair that it was even two years ago. And, at the same time, it may be granted that in the early days of the science, when the history of the development of the machine was far more in the making that it is to day, the conditions for these large prix ^encouragement could hardly be too simple and elementary. It is the money gained by successful flight that has brought development to the stage at which it- is. Without the large sums of money that have been provided by in dividuals and corporations, the bulk of the successful experimenting that has done so much for the science could not have been carried out, for the plain reason that the experimenters could not, unaided, have faced the financial outlay which their work entailed. But the position how is that the experimenter has caught up with the original type of prize-giver, and the time has there fore come when the latter must give, himself another start if he is not to lapse into the position of being the provider of " soft things " for all who care to come along and pick them up. That aspect of the question would not concern us nearly as much as it does were it not that every thing points to our having reached almost the limit fixed by the present-day conditions of prize competitions in their attractiveness to the public—at any rate to the British public. Perhaps we are inclined to lay more stress than is generally deemed necessary upon this point; but it is one upon which we feel very strongly, believing, as we do, that unless it is possible to fix and hold the attention of the people, aviation must remain nothing but the sport of the few and its development be therefore retarded in no small degree in this country. The daily Press has done much to assist in concentrating public attention on the doings of those who are devoting themselves to flight. Columns of space have been filled with the record of their doings. But now that there is no longer anything wonderful in even a comparative novice making a long cross-country flight, even the Press interest is evaporating in sympathy with what it knows to be the taste of its readers. Take for instance this latest flight of Mr. Curtiss. Had he or any other flying man flown 150 miles across country even a year ago, pages would have been given to the fullest of descriptive reports, and all the dailies would have vied with each other for days beforehand with telegraphic accounts of the preparations for the epoch-making event, portraits of the aviator and his machine, and of his wife and all his relations. Now, these straight-away flights having been relegated to the level of the everyday occurrence, one leading London daily dismisses it in an eight line paragraph; and with hardly an exception no daily paper thinks it worth while to devote even half a column to such an ordinary event. We do not want it to be thought that we are com plaining of this. The fault is not with the newspapers, but with the public for whom they cater, and which has lost interest in these big prize-winning flights simply because they are not having any novelty of condition imported into them. It is those who are deeply concerned in the future of the science and the industry whose obvious duty and policy it should be to devise the ways and means of infusing this interest which is becoming lacking in flight as a popular spectacle. For the technical development of flying the public does not care the proverbial row of pins—though it is of very vital import that this side of the prize-giving problem should be minutely studied by every prospective donor. The most wonderful dis covery or the most marvellous flying achievement will not stir the masses deeply unless it can be made spectacular and of a real sporting interest. Therefore it behoves donors of future prizes to bear in mind this aspect also, if their patronage is to bring forth full fruit in the way of bringing Great Britain to the forefront in the art of airmanship and in the industry of aeroplane manufacture. Future feats should, indeed, lend them selves to effective stage management as well as being epoch-making on sound technical grounds. A couple ot weeks ago we indicated one possible type of contest that would seemingly fulfil these dual requirements in the immediate future, and last week we referred to another interesting suggestion that had been put forward. 422
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