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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0107.PDF
FEBRUARY II, 19H. [^JGHT] ROYAL AERO CLUB ANNUAL DINNER. THE success which aviation as an art has attained in the remarkably short period since the first flying on a heavier- than-air machine was recorded, was strikingly reflected in the big gathering of about 300 members and guests at Prince's Restaurant on Tuesday of last week upon the occasion of the annual dinner of the Royal Aero Club of the United King dom. The splendid main room of the Societv of Water- Colour Painters was crowded to its utmost extent by a gathering numbering very many distinguished guests inter ested in this epoch-making revolution ; a very great feature of the entertainment was the number of the fair sex who graced the banquet by their presence. The Duke of Argyll, K.T., presided. The toasts of " The King " and " The Roval Familv " having been very cordially received, the chairman gave the toast of " The Imperial Forces." He applauded the example of Baron de Forest, M. Michelin and others in having en couraged great efforts to advance the industry in the manner in which they had done, but, he said, hitherto prizes had practically been offered only for speed. There was another province which might also be covered. He would like to see prizes offered for stability and safety, without having the question of speed taken so much into consideration. In fact, he would like to see a " fool-proof " machine evolved. He would also like to see some method for the detaching of any aviator from his machine in case of emergency, so as to descend safely to earth by some extraneous device. By this means many of the accidents which had hitherto been recorded might in the future be avoided. Aviation had indeed achieved a marvellous record in the last few years, culminating in the descent a couple of davs before, by a ilyer in America, on to the deck of a warship. He regretted the little encouragement officially given in this country to aeronautics. He hoped it would be possible for the Govern ment to spend a little more monev in the future than they had done up to the present ?nd thereby give the many dis tinguished officers who were prepared and anxious to take up the work a chance to demonstrate their enthusiasm and patriotism in a practical form. His Grace then referred in detail to the remarkable work achieved in aviation by the French Army. He quoted a series of very illuminating reports from the various French Generals which had been issued officially as a result of last year's French Army man oeuvres, in which it had been deemed wise to include this new arm for the service. The same story he thought should be repeated with our British Army. Admiral Sir F. H. Seymour, in replying on behalf of the Navy, was glad to be able to agree that such a practical advantage as had recently been demonstrated of flying from and on to warships was what they wanted, but he thought that such a practice generally would necessarily be very difficult and be dependent largely upon weather conditions and the motion of the ship. He had, however, been even more greatly impressed by the recent achievement of Mr. McCurdy, who had flown nearly 100 miles across seas in the West Indies. It was not so much the actual flight or distance which had impressed him, as the pontoons which he carried on his machine and the use to which he had put them. By this means the practicabilitv of the flying machine for naval purposes was brought much nearer as it became so much safer for those immediately concerned. If it were only possible to control at will the work of the aeroplanes they would undoubtedly then prove of great use to the naval commander. He saw, however, difficulties in regard to the compass, although he confessed he knew little about the actual position when in the air, but these were difficulties which existed and would no doubt be met as the require ments came forward. Major Sir A. Bannerman, Bart., R.E., in charge of the Air Battalion at Farnborough, responded on behalf of the Army, and said that enthusiasm was apt to be dangerous and that the revolution of war by means of the aeroplane, so widely prophesied, was not, in his opinion, in accordance with past experience in other directions. All they would do would be to change the way war was conducted. Reliability was the thing required in the Army, whether it were in men, horses, or any other section. The same would apply to the aerial machine. Only elementary results could be expected for some little time, but even these elementary things must be reliable. He doubted whether the aeroplane was very- far ahead of what it was when Wilbur Wright first flew. (Cries of "Oh! Oh ! ") What was wanted was that the pilot could let go of his steering-wheel and not come crashing down immediatelv. Patience must be their motto. They must walk before they ran. In spite of all the criticism which had been lodged against it, he said that the military air corps was going along steadily although not making very much show, but they were imbued with that sense of patience which he advocated. Mr. Roger Wallace, K.C., then presented the various prizes which had been won during the past year. In present ing the cash prize of ^1,000 attached to the Gordon-Bennett Aviation Trophy, he regretted that Mr. Gordon-Bennett was not present to personally hand over the cheque to Mr. Grahame-White. Mr. Wallace then gave a vHvmi of the origin of the gift up to the date of its being won by Mr. Grahame-White on behalf of the United Kingdom. It was the greatest honour, he said, outside the intrinsic value, that could accrue to any aviation club in the world, and he was proud to present the trophy' to Mr. Grahame-White, as well as the Gold Medal of the Aero Club of France, which he hail hoped Count de la Vaulx would have himself presented. The Count, however, was prevented from attending the dinner owing to his having been seized with influenza on the eve of starting. In addition, he also was glad to announce that the Gold Medal of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom had been conferred upon Mr. Grahame-White, only five other such medals having been up to the present accorded. Mr. Claude Grahame-White, in reply, said that he was only too glad to have been able in a small way to advance aviation in this country and thereby to help uphold its pres tige. He spoke in very complimentary terms of Mr. Cody and his work, of whose perseverance and achievements he was a very great admirer. He also referred incidentally to the great and splendid pioneer work done by Captain Bertram Dickson, Mr. Mortimer Singer and others, a very notable recent success being that of Mr. Tom Sopwith. The latter was the type of aviator we wanted. He was thorough in all he did and he looked to him to help keep the Gordon-Bennett Cup in this country. He hoped to be there himself and between them they might anyway make a big effort to be in the front. He referred with regret to the contrast of our Govern ment and the assistance of torpedo-boats in the encourage ment 'if across-seas flights and that of the United States and Mr. McCurdy's recent flight. They had a large number of aviators in this country willing and able to show the Government what they could do. A.11 they wanted was encouragement and he was waiting the time when he should be called upon to place his organisation at their disposal. It was, he thought, time that more manufacturers in this country woke up to the necessity for constructing a really successful British machine. They must have capital to attain the front place. At the beginning of 1910 there were two Englishmen who could fly. There were now over 50—52 to be accurate—who held the pilot's certificate of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom. He thought the Gordon-Bennett Trophy and the Daily Mail prizes would attract the finest aviators and machines of the world to this country in 1911, and this should be of very great benefit to the British industry. To keep the trophy here meant a lot of hard work and energy and they ought to start at once to prepare. There was not a moment to lose if they meant seriously to keep the trophy here and produce a reliable machine. There were plenty of builders and good flyers, and besides a really reliable British engine it was capital that was mainly wanted. Mr. Roger Wallace, in presenting the cheque for ^4,000, the amount of Baron de Forest's prize, to Mr. Tom Sopwith, thought that the donor, in offering this magnificent reward for an all-British machine, had helped forward the industry more than any other prize presented. Mr. Tom Sopwith, with the same generous spirit which appears to exist in all the flying men, said that in securing the prize he really had very largely his luck to thank as against the terribly bad luck experienced by Mr. Loraine, Mr. Grahame-White, Mr. Ogilvie and others. He certainly thought that thanks were due first to Baron de Forest for his splendid encouragement and next to the Royal Aero Club, who so admirably carried out the details of the com petition. In his opinion British machines were equal to \0[)
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