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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0169.PDF
flatter angle with the horizontal than would be prudent with rigid planes, thus obtaining higher speeds and, probablv, increased supporting power, E. W. YOUNG. All-British Encouragement. [1078] With reference to your article in FLIGHT, December 1 7th, may I draw your attention to the passage in Blackwood's Magazine for February under the name of T. F. Farman :— " Those aerial voyages . . . demonstrated the necessity for at once providing landing places and shelter for aerial craft in the vicinity of large towns ... An association has been constituted ... to encourage provincial aero clubs, private industry and municipalities to make prepara tions to receive aerial visitors. What is required at the gate of every large town is a convenient landing place with adjoining sheds for the touring aeroplanes. . . . " In a comparatively short time aerial ports mav become a paying concern because the aerial craft will be called on to pay dues in the same way as ships entering harbours—." Such harbours might be initiated with the Daily Mail prize tour, and assistance towards this end by the national bodies is to be expected. Will you help, sir, by giving it publicity. MERVYN O'GORMAN. Pendulum Stability. [1079] With regard to the letter of Mr. Buckwell which appears in your last issue, he makes a number of sweeping statements without giving his authority, and which state ments I have every reason to believe are inconsistent with facts. He says that Planes Limited's invention was " dis covered and found wanting by Bleriot, Saulnier and Farman (monoplane) long before this firm was heard of." This may or may not be true, but as Planes Limited's patents date back to 1906, and the Company was not formed until a year ago, his statement, even if it be true, is entirely beside the point, and as one statement is just as good as another until it be refuted, I state that to the best of my knowledge and belief, after very carefully watching the matter for several years as the Patent Agent of Planes Limited and of their predecessors, none of these eminent firms mentioned have ever published any experiments on the subject nor has there appeared anything in the flight journals or any of the shows which would indicate that any of these three firms have made a flying machine with the weight of the man, engine and stores suspended flexibly from the planes and have " found it wanting." If there is any truth in his assertion, I think he is bound to produce his evidence, otherwise his statements must be taken as random ones not based on fact. It is easy to sav that machines of this type were notoriously difficult to handle, but Planes Limited's machine is the only aeroplane that in the whole history of the. art has been able to fly for a mile or thereabouts without the aviator once touching the handle, and unless the machine had not been wonderfully automatically balanced by its peculiar con struction and remarkably easy to handle, this could not be done; yet we have the witness of Mr. Fenwick, the Royal Aero Club pilot, and of others watching him as far as they could, that this feat was accomplished. I am aware that among the patents there are many instances of attempts at designing machines on the pendulum principle, which have all proved abortive through obvious scientific faults in their construction and design, but this does not detract in the slightest from the legal novelty and patentability of a success ful invention such as Planes Limited's patent self-balancing aeroplane has proved to be, bv manv scores of miles of success ful flight. W. P. THOMPSON, M.I.Mech.E., Liverpool. Chartered Patent Agent. Aircraft Instead of Airships. [1080] The title of my paper to be read at 8 o'clock on March 8th, before the Inst. Autom. Engrs., at Storey's Gate, S.W.. should be altered from " Problems Relating to Airships," to " Problems Relating to Aircraft," for the former word has now become recognised as applying solely to dirigibles, and the larger portion of the lecture deals with aeroplanes and their stability, MERVYN O'GORMAN. MODELS. Model Monoplane. [1081] I enclose a photo of a monoplane that I have built to my own design, and hope that it may be of some interest to your readers. It is built of hickory, but has a propeller of Brazil wood. I finished the model last August, and feel quite confident that if it had an engine it would be a success. The span is 9 ft. 8 ins., and the length 7 ft. If any of your readers would like to see it I should be pleased to show it to them. Haylings Road, Leiston, Suffolk. J. BOWMAN. School Aero Clubs and their Models. [1082] I enclose a photograph of the most efficient model aeroplane we have produced up to the present. The •' Mann " monoplane, No. 25, has held the air for 55 sees., covering in that time a distance of close on a quarter of a mile. This latter was very carefully measured and several observers estimated the distance as being considerably more. Another flight was actually well over the quarter mile accord ing to our measurements. Permit me to direct your attention to the spread of the school aero club movement in France. The article tbit 1 contributed to FLIGHT some time since was favourably reviewed by M. Gach in L'Aero, and M. Gach informs me that in consequence of this review numerous French schools are forming " aero-clubs scolaires." The current number of La Feuille Sportive contains an article on school aero clubs in which I am referred to as •' le secretaire general de la Federation Britannique des Aero Clubs Scolaires, une Federation puissante d'oii sortiront demain les triomphateurs de l'air." There is, as far as I know, no such organisation as " The British Federation of School Aero Clubs," and I can only put down the " from which go forth to-morrow the conquerors of the air " to Gallic sarcasm. Still, I ear that 171
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