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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0717.PDF
SEPTEMBER 3, 1910. late King Edward there a few years ago ; while the number ot people who attended the flying meeting has surpassed the total of those assembled on the occasion of that royal visit. Touching the Organisation. The organisation was something that contained considerably fresh features. Apart from the services of the Irish Constabulary, including a mounted section, there was a detachment of cavalry, which is certainly quite a new feature in flying sport in Britain and which put one in mind of the facilities that are afforded in connec tion with similar enterprises on the Continent. The value of these troops in getting across the field from point to point at any instant on any sort of errand, and for making a way among the crowds of too interested onlookers for an aeroplane to be wheeled from its shed to the starting place or taken back, was matchless. Moreover, to a greater degree than even obtained in Scotland, every man who had an official's badge had to work industriously while he wore that badge. OF course, as it was merely a question of exhibition flights, the management was rendered considerably more simple because there was no starting line to be considered—there were no times to be taken, and so forth. There was, nevertheless, work for over a hundred stewards, whose activities were controlled by the half- dozen members of the committee of management, the top man of the lot, alike in inches and in authority, being of course the unrivalled Mr. Edward White. Concerning the Character of the Course, Neighboured by the Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains, having a belt of big trees round two-thirds of its circumference, and grand stands, lawns and fenced enclosures to mark the rest, with all the ground inside the course intersected by one long hedge and by sundry wire fences bedded in concrete, you may readily judge that, from the point of view of the aeroplanists, even in ideal weather the ground would have been considered utterly impossible for the purpose six months ago. Nor could any save accomplished flyers, using comparatively dependable machines, be allowed on it by responsible persons even at this present stage, for on calm days the proximity of the mountains, and the closer presence of trees and buildings, give all manner of fantastic turns to the wind currents, so that it required all the pilot's ability so to steer his machine that, in the event of the motor failing on a sudden, the aeroplane might be landed without smashing it up in the relatively brief spaces available, without coming in contact with fixed boundaries of some sort. Looked at from the point of view of the demonstration of the science of flight and of the practicability of it to date, therefore, the very adverseness of these conditions gave the exhibition efforts a value which it was impossible for those on the vast plain at Betheny, by Rheims, for example, to possess, because there the situation as to country and so forth is practically ideal. The Flight of the Meeting. The Irish public is therefore heartily to be congratulated on having been afforded the spectacle of genuine aerial navigation, particularly on Tuesday last, when in the afternoon, in an exceedingly strong and gusty wind Mr. Cecil Grace rose on his Farman biplane, head to wind, then fought his way over the finishing straight well out towards the mountains, making leeway and dropping now into the trough then rising on to the crest of the viewless air-waves, which also treacherously attacked him sideways as though in wantonly mischievous mood, causing the machine to roll like a ship in a heavy sea. When he had gone so near the hills that it became needful to turn, he did not come round head to wind but made to the leftward, so that presently he had the wind in his wake, then the biplane seemed suddenly to shoot ahead for, with the following gusts, the rate of travel of course became instantly at least thrice as fast as it had been on the other tack. He continued this way for a mile or more at a speed which must have been at least 60 miles an hour in relation to the land below. Then he made a wide sweep, still over trees, and fought his way once more round the course, the constant activity of his hand at the control lever revealing how in stant and how forceful were the prankish forces of nature that were being pitted against the prowess—one had well-nigh said imperti nence—of man. Just as he came over the heads of the onlookers, the biplane gave a great plunge into the trough of a gust, the spectacle being remarkable, for as the biplane pitched the loudly cheering onlookers evidently thought that it would be impossible to recover her. Their cheers stopping as though some invisible force had instantly muffled every mouth as one. It is strange to behold a vast concourse of people catch the breath as one person, what time their hearts leap with apprehension. Despite the enormous strains that flying in this sort of weather must impose on a machine, the biplane with the clipped under main plane answered to the control of the pilot, who got her away from over the spectators and began putting her up the finishing straight, when he encountered worse gusts on worse. But after passing in front of the Royal box, Mr. Grace was able, by a combination of great skill, fine nerve and good luck, to land her without even touching the fencing. I/UGHTJ Spectators More Than Satisfied. That essay was the finest flight of any on the two days of the meeting, being a demonstration of what aerial navigation really is. It was seconded three hours later, in somewhat better conditions, by Captain Bertram Dickson, who rose up on his older type Farman biplane, flying with relatively little difficulty head to wind. But instead of making for the finishing straight he turned her across the ground inside the racecourse. One at once realised how embarrassing were his conditions, for the side winds now rocked his machine, and the gust's made her pitch in a fashion that certainly afforded a sensational spectacle. The really thrilling moment was when it became obviously unwise to continue further, though he was now over ground where there was comparatively little distance between each of the wire fences. Here his expe rience came to his aid, the alighting being, perhaps, one of the finest that has been witnessed, for to save a smash after touching the ground he had to drop at a very abrupt angle to descend despite the treachery and the strength of the gusts. Captain Dickson has long been known as a fine glider, but he excelled himself on this critical occasion, and not only came down without breaking any thing by impact with the ground but further contrived to prevent his machine running any appreciable distance. " I never came down in such a hurry before " he said, and one can well believe it. As for Mr. Armstrong Drexel, he very wisely refrained from flying on Tuesday, for we may recall how at Lanark he went out several times in winds in which nobody else would fly, and on one of these occasions the little Bleriot monoplane got blown over to such an angle that he thought he would not be able to recover her. On the previous day, however, he flew in extremely picturesque fasbion at heights of between 600 and 1100 feet, the public, as usual, being vastly more fascinated by the spectacle of a monoplane than by the sight of the two-deckers. From the mechanical point of view there is nothing to record as having been learnt at Leopardstown, where it was exceedingly fortunate that at no critical time, in fact not throughout the proceedings, did any engine fail during flight; for though on the opening day Captain Dickson's motor went weakly, that was always from the very outset of his flights, so that he never rose to any appreciable heights. Unquestionably the flyer who most distinguished himself at this first meeting was the Irishman of the trio, Mr. Cecil Grace, who showed how a biplane can fly in really difficult conditions. Some notion of how thoroughly satisfied the onlookers were may be had from a relation of the fact that one old gentleman was so delighted that, though by an error he had been made to pay twice over for the admission of his party to the ground, he called on the committee to congratulate it, saying that he had had such excellent value that he wanted no more than that the meeting should prove a financial success, therefore he would not hear of getting back the money due to him. Striking the Iron while h is Hot. The meeting has, of course, served enormously to increase Irish enthusiasm for the newest and most wonderful of all conceivable modes of locomotion. One of the results that should come from it should be a great increase in the number of members of the Irish Aero Club, the yearly subscription for which is only one guinea and which has decided to become associated ,in the most intimate fashion with the Royal Aero Club, so that members will enjoy every facility of belonging to an organisation that can be recognised internationally. As in the case of the Scottish Aeronautical Society, as the representative of the Royal Aero Club in Ireland the Irish control the sport of aviation in that country under the rules of the International Aeronautical Federation. The Royal Aero Club is to be heartily congratulated on this development. In having sent across Mr. Harold E. Pcrrin, its secretary, it has done more wisely than on many occasions one has in mind, for the breezy personality, the indefatigable industriousness and imperturbable good humour of that enthusiast appealed at once to the sporting Irish tempera ment, Mr. Perrin being taken forthwith to the hearts of our neigh bours across St. George's Channel, who will always have a hearty welcome for him. At the dinner given by the Corinthian Club Mr. Perrin appeared in a new rdle by making a speech which was admirably brief and to the point and which revealed him somewhat in the light of a diplomat whose task was, of course, rendered easier by the happy circumstance that Mr. John Dunville occupies the dual office of being chairman of the Irish Aero Club and a member of the Committee of the Royal Aero Club. In conclusion, it is gratifying that Ireland has been able to hold her first flying meeting thus early in the movement, because such an initial essay must necessarily be conducted over more or less a restricted area, and one presumes that the conclusion is now universal that in 1911 there will be no aerodrome flying meetings, but only point-to-point cross-country events. The organisation at the back of the Irish Aero Club consists, in effect, of the cream of the honorary talent that has been available for, and which has made such a pronounced success of, the series of Irish reliability tours for motor cars. As one who has in large measure been 715
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