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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0017.PDF
JANUARY 7, 1911. flying ground to practise on a two-seated Nieuport monoplane. He had attained a fair amount of success in his trial flights, and on the 30th ult. determined to make a final trial with the machine before making his actual essay for the cup. He had flown one or two rounds of the ground in good style, and at a speed of over 100 kiloms. an hour, when it was seen that he was apparently in difficulties with the steering of the machine. He was at this time at a height of 250 ft., and tried to glide down to earth. The machine, however, refused to answer to its helm, and dropped to the ground, the aviator being thrown out and so severely injured that he died the same evening. Previous to his death the French President conferred the Cross of the Legion of Honour on Lieut. Caumont. Laurens Wins the Coupe Deperdussin. Two final attempts to better Laurens' record were made on December 31st, but neither of them was successful. At Douzy, Andre Noel started off in spite of the severe wintry conditions, but after he had covered only about 50 kiloms. in 40 mins. he was obliged to land owing to a frozen carburettor. The second attempt was made at Rheims, where Vidard was flying on the Deperdussin monoplane for 55 kiloms., and is said to have beaten the passenger speed record up to that distance, although no times are as yet available. Some difficulty was experienced apparently in obtaining the services of an official timekeeper, and by the time one arrived it was impossible to beat the Tecord. It will be remembered that the winning flight was made on December 21st at Buc, when Laurens, accompanied by M. Hickel and mounted on his R. E.P. monoplane, completed 100 kiloms. in 1 hr. 16 mins. German Officers' Cross-country Flight. LAST week, leaving Doeberitz on an Aviatik biplane, Lieut. Mackentum, accompanied by Lieut. Fiirster, flew to Magdeburg, a distance of close on 100 miles. Later in the day a second machine also made the same trip. It is, however, impossible to give details, as these trials were conducted secretly by the military authorities. Cattaneo Wins a Prize. USING his Gnome-engined Bleriot, Cattaneo, on the 16th ult., succeeded in flying across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Ayres to Colona, a distance of 55 kiloms. By this trip he won the prize of ^4JOOO recently offered under the special conditions. Blown Out to Sea. WHILE flying his Farman biplane along the sea shore at Genoa •n Monday week, the Italian aviator, Cirri, was caught by a sudden gust of wind and blown out to sea for a distance of about a mile and a. half. Stopping the motor the aviator brought the machine down suddenly to the surface of the water from a height of 150 feet, and lie was picked up by a torpedo boat little the worse for his thrilling adventure. Flying in South Russia. A FINE cross-country flight was made the other day by the Russian aviator, Vasilieff. Starting from Elizabethpol he flew to TifMs, a distance of 126J miles, in an hour and 55 mins. The flight was carried out on a Farman biplane, and the aviator carried a dispatch from the Commandant at Elizabethpol to the Viceroy. He proposes shortly to fly from Tiflis to Vladikavkaz, a distance of 210 miles. Pietroski has announced that he will shortly make an attempt to fly from Sebastopol to Constantinople on his Bleriot mono plane, the distance across the Black Sea being 280 miles. Baron de Cater-s at Calcutta. THE closing days of the Old Year saw a large crowcTassembling at Calcutta to witness flying by Baron de Caters on his biplane and Tyck on the monoplane. Baron de Caters was much sought after for passenger flights, and on the 28th he carried as many as thirty people for short trips, among them being General Mahon. The high flying of Tyck has proved a great attraction, and on Friday of last week he attained a height of 6,500 feet during a twenty minutes' trip. Latham Takes Curtiss for a Trip. DURING a long flight made at Los Angeles on the last day of the old year, Hubert Latham carried Glenn Cuntiss as a passenger on his Antoinette monoplane. Afterwards he took Lieut. J. W. MacClaskey, of the United States Signal Corps, for a short trip. U.S. Government and Aviation. As a result of his recent visit to Europe, Mr. Dickinson, the United States War Secretary, in his annual report to Congress, l/HCHTj M. Laurens and his passenger on his R.E.P. monoplane, with which he won the Deperdussin Prize for monoplanes by a. flight at Buc, on December 21st, of 100 kiloms. in 1 hr. 16 mins., beating all previous records. very strongly recommends that a generous vote of money should be made to provide the Signal Corps with a reasonable number of monoplanes and biplanes for instruction and field work. He states that although the United States was the first nation officially to recognise the aeroplane for military purposes by the tests conducted at Fort Myer in 1908, the aeronautic equipment of the U.S. Army stands very much where it did. It consists simply of one Wright aeroplane, one small practice dirigible balloon, and three small captive balloons, while the trained personnel consists of one lieu tenant and nine enlisted men on duty in connection with aero nautics. There is but one officer, who is a licensed pilot, for three balloons. The War Secretary concludes that, in his judgment, the time has come when it would be wise to remedy this state of affairs, and place the American Army on a similar footing to that of other nations. Death of Moisant and Hoxsey. THE closing day of the Old Year saw the names of two of America's foremost aviators added to the list of victims of dynamic flight, one of the two men being well known here by reason of his exploit in flying from Paris to London last year. At Harahan, on the banks of the Mississippi, not far from New Orleans, Mr. J. B. Moisant set out on a Bleriot monoplane in an attempt for the Michelin Cup, the flight being witnessed by an official representa tive of the Aero Club of America. The accident occurred during a preliminary trial to test the machine, when, after circling the ground twice, the monoplane was seen to dip its head and drop down from a height of 100 ft. The aviator was pitched out of the machine, and, when picked up, was still alive. He was hurried on a special train to New Orleans, but, unfortunately, died before reaching there. As to the cause of the accident nothing is known defi nitely ; but it is pointed out that the position of the course is an extremely dangerous one, owing to the tricky air currents and the gusty winds. Mr. A. Hoxsey, who carried Mr. Roosevelt for a short aerial trip last autumn, was the victim of the second accident, which occurred at Los Angeles while the aviator was attempting to better his height record of the previous Monday. He had gone up to a great height and was descending in a series of spiral glides lor which he was famous, when at a height of about 300 feet the machine was caught by a sudden gust of wind and overturned. In its rush to the earth the machine again turned over twice, but the aviator retained his seat and was apparently killed by the motor falling upon him. Here again the accident was probably caused by the tricky nature of the course, both Latham and Willard having given over flying for the day owing to the prevalence of dangerous air pockets. 17
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