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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0846.PDF
0HGHf OCTOBER 15, 1910. ROUND-ABOUT FRENCH NOTES. By OISEAU. ON Saturday last Messrs. de Lesseps, Latham, Aubrun, and Simon sailed from Le Havre on the " La Lorraine " for New York to take part in various aerial contests during the next month, chief of which is the Coupe Gordon-Bennett. It is understood that the vacant place in the French team will be filled by M. Aubrun, who will thus be again in competition with his opponent of the Circuit de l'Est. The French are confident that provided nothing unforeseen happens to the machines the cup will be taken by either M. Leblanc or M. Aubrun, both of whom are flying in the new 100-h.p. Gnome-engined Bleriot. Beautiful in construction and perfect in flight though the Antoinette may be, it is outclassed as to speed by the Bleriot, even allowing the accuracy of the reports of the speeds attained by M. Latham last week on the 100-h.p. 16-cyl. Antoinette he is taking to America. The results will doubtless be more interesting than the Circuit de l'Est, as all the competitors have had an equal chance of preparing for the race and a larger time for such preparation. There are conflicting accounts of the cause of the accident to the two Moranes in their attempt to fly to the summit of the Puy-de- Dome last week, but I should certainly prefer to accept the pilot's own version to that of any interested outsider. He says that one of the gauchissement wires broke, and made it impossible for him to control the machine. This accident provides an argument against excessive increase of speed in the present stage of aviation. Had M. Morane been piloting a slower machine with a greater wing curvature he might, by the ordinary process of steering, have regained his lateral balance after the fashion of the cellular type Voisin. The great speed at which he was flying made this manoeuvre quite impossible. However, one is glad to be able to say that both the_ brothers show every sign of recovering completely from their accident, though I am afraid their flying career is at an end. As one of the leading London papers has quoted a paragraph of mine dealing with the necessity of caution in doing business in France, and as I am afraid it might be misread into a condemnation of French business methods in general, I should like to qualify it a little. In every country there is a class that has its own subtle methods of extracting money from the guileless fereigner, and it is of that class I wrote. I should not like it to be thought for one moment that I was giving my opinion of the Frenchman as a class. FOREIGN The Mishap to the Morane Bros. IN our last issue we were just able to mention the abortive attempt by Leon Morane, accompanied by his brother, to fly from Issy to the Puy - de - Dome. Although both the brothers were seriously injured, they were not so bad as at first reported, and the latest advices from the hospital state that they are now out of danger and progressing satisfactorily. Leon Morane had his right leg One hears so many stories in England of how Englishmen intending to fly have been deterred in every way by the unsportsmanlike French. It is said that delivery of any engine or spare part is delayed con siderably when it is known that the purchaser is English, and that the Frenchman is always given the precedence in matters of urgency. Nothing is, perhaps, less true than this statement. To quote my own experience, I can only say that, during a stay of many months in France, I have been treated with the utmost courtesy and have had every facility placed in my way by the French sportsman. The success of an Englishman in France is always treated with enthusiasm by the French people, high and low, and I have found here a much warmer appreciation of the virtues of the English than I am afraid my countrymen have of the French. The performances of English aviators are looked on quite dispassionately here, and are admired without one touch of jealousy. When Drexel created a new height record at Lanark he was honoured by headlines in the Parisian papers quite as large as those relating the feats of Latham or Morane, and perhaps that is the best method of judging public opinion. On Saturday of this week the second Salon de l'Aviation opens in the Grand Palais, but this year it is the exhibition of a science with records to look back upon, as well as a hopeful future. For the first time, constructors will be able to relate calmly what they have done, and it will not be quite so necessary to ask the aid of a wonderful imagination in telling the prospective client of the things to come. The progress in the brief period of two years between the two Salons has been astonishingly rapid. The man with the hand of scorn will have no place this year, for the day is now gone when feeble jokes on the impossible nature of mechanical flight can be popular. More rapidly than any other means of artificial traction has the aeroplane come to a firm position. Methods of construction may still be imperfect, engines may still be unsatisfac tory, but the main principle is right, and the roads of advancement are clearly defined. As the Salon is so close, I shall leave the descriptions of three new engines, the Rossell-Peugeot, the Velox, and the Lemale, to my Show report. I hope to be able to give some particulars shortlv of Mr. Henry Farman's experiment with a monoplane type of machine. broken in two places, while his brother sustained a fracture of the left leg and dislocation of the hip. Up to the present the cause of the accident has not been definitely discovered, but Leon Morane gives it as his opinion that one of the steering wires broke, while Mons. Bleriot himself, after examining the machine, stated that he thought the accident had been caused by a spare tin of petrol shifting its position and jamming one of the wires. Start of M. Leon Morane and his brother from Issy last week on the 100-h.p. Gnome-englned Bleriot for the Micbelin Prize, which ended in the serious accident soon after the start. Note the four assistants on the ground helping to hold back this very powerful flyer. 844
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