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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0252.PDF
[/yGHT MARCH 25, 1911. THIRD INTERNATIONAL AEBO EXHIBITION AT OLYMPIA °° THE EXHIBITORS. 1Q11 FOR obvious reasons, considering the date of issue, it is unfortunately impossible for us to do more this week than make a general rather than a complete reference to the exhibits at Olympia. But even a preliminary look round in advance can be made to divulge some matters of interest, particularly when, as happens to be the case, it is possible to write " British-built "against fourteen of the collective products of the seventeen firms who are down to show aeroplanes. This is something at any rate for the pessimist to cogitate upon, to whom it may also be pointed out that there are other prominent British firms who build successful aero planes and are not represented at all. Why they have taken this attitude of aloofness at a period when a spirit of enthusiasm for general progress should permeate all ranks of this new industry is difficult to explain nor does it seem needful at the moment to inquire. Sufficient interest at any rate attaches to those who have come to the fore, and who are thus doing their best to popularise the movement among the public from whom the industry must directly or indirectly receive the financial support on which alone it can continue to exist. There is not the least doubt in our minds that the prophecy of an uncommonly interesting show must prove to be a true forecast of public opinion on Olympia this year, and we believe that even the man in the street is not so apathetic but that he can awake to a little feeling of personal concern in the frequent evidences at Olympia of what British enter prise and British inventiveness are accomplishing. Some names he will recognise immediately, others have not yet come so much into prominence. Some of the machines, too, will be familiar as belonging to the popular types of the day, as for instance those admirablv-built biplanes of the Farman pattern manufactured in England under the name " Bristol," by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Ltd., of which Sir George White is the Chairman, and those other machines constructed by Messrs. Grahame- White—which firm represents the business activities of that very successful pilot. The E.N.V.-engined Howard Wright biplane, shown by Messrs. Warwick Wright, is superficially of the Farman kincl, but not exactly a copy ; that exhibited by the Royal Aero Club on their stand of honour is the machine with which T. Sopwith carried off the Baron de Forest £4,000 prize by flying from England into Belgium. Its neighbours are the British-built Cody, with which that persevering pioneer won the much-deserved British Michelin Cup last year, and the 100-h.p. Gnome-engined Bleriot monoplane—a French-built machine, with which Grahame-White won the Gordon-Bennett race in America as one of the representatives of England. The pioneer machine of America, the Wright biplane, is also represented on the Royal Aero Club's stand by one of the racing models, which was constructed in America for Mr. Alec Ogilvie, who has from the first been a staunch adherent of the Wrights and is to-day the sole exponent in England of the art of flying their machines. For a British-built and British-designed machine that has come to the fore very much during the last year, visitors should turn to the " tail first " Valkyrie, and will be repaid by a more or less close inspection of some of its constructional details no less than by a study of its uncommon lines. Then there is the Dunne machine, which is a direct attempt to secure automatic stability by wing form, and is the outcome of experiments that in the commencement were shrouded in much mystery, having been conducted for the Government in the wilds of Scotland ; it likewise is of British conception and is British-built. And again among the British contingent are the Blackburn, Sanders, Handley-Page, Humber, and Martin-Handasyde machines, all of which will be familiar to readers of FLIGHT. Nor does this exhaust the list, for Messrs. Mulliner, the first coachbuilders to take up this work in England, are a°-ain exhibiting, and so too are Messrs. W. Cole and Sons —another well-known firm of automobile body builders who have taken up aeroplane construction. Messrs. Pigott Bros, who, as readers of FLIGHT will remember, designed a very uncommon type of machine some time ago, have now pro duced a new model on more conventional lines, and lastly we must mention a peculiar moving-wing machine exhibited by Mr. F. A. Bartelt, Chairman of the Polysulphin Company of Bristol. Of foreign machines, there are only three, besides the G.B. Bleriot and Wright on the Royal Aero Club stand, but they are well known. There is the famous Bleriot mono plane, exhibited by the direct British representatives of this firm, who have their flying school at Hendon. A genuine Farman biplane is seen on the Aeroplane Supply Company's stand and the Breguet is exhibited by Messrs. A. Turner and Co* In the engine section an equally healthy state of affairs, so far as British representation is concerned, exists, for among the exhibitors are Messrs. Green's Motor Patents Syndicate, who built the engine with which Cody won the British Michelin Cup, and the New Engine Company, who have succeeded in evolving one of the most interesting and so far apparently the most successful of two-stroke motors on the market. It was with one of these engines that Alec Ogilvie at one time stood first for the Michelin Prize that Mr. Cody carried off at the eleventh hour. Another aero engine built by one of the greatest motor car firms in this country, or indeed in the world, is the Wolseley, one of which is in almost daily flight at Hendon. The British-built E.N.V. engine which was used by T. Sopwith in the Baron de Forest Prize flight, is not directly exhibited by the makers but can be seen on four or five different aeroplanes in the Show. Also British are the engines shown by the All-British Engine Company, the Webb-Peet rotary engine on Messrs. Weston, Hurlin and Co.'s stand and the Lamplough motor. The famous French Gnome engine can be seen on the Bristol biplanes and can be purchased from the makers of those machines, who are agents for these engines in England. The Renault is represented by the British house of Renault Freres, and the Dansette-Gillet engine, which is now attract ing considerable attention in France, is being shown by the General Aviation Contract Company. Of accessory firms there are any number. Revolution counters, compasses, and other high-class instruments of this character can be obtained from Messrs. S. Smith and Son, the well-known Strand watchmakers. Messrs. Gratze are also showing a combined compass and altitude meter, and Messrs. Henry Hughes and Son are newcomers as instru ment makers. Tools can be bought from Messrs. Melhuish and Messrs. Brown Bros., propellers from Messrs. T. W. K. Clarke, who have their own designs, Messrs. G. W. Goodchild, who sell the Chauviere, the Aeroplane Supplv Company, whose speciality is the " Asco," Messrs. A. V. Roe and Co., C. G. Spencer and Sons, and Weston, Hurlin and Co., who also construct to their own designs. Magnetos are exhibited by Messrs. Simms, whose model is British-built, and the Mossley Hill Motor Car Works, who sell the Gibaud magneto, made in France. Radiators are the speciality of the Motor Radiator Manu facturing Company, the Spiral Tube and Components Com pany, and Messrs. Lamplough. Fabric is supplied by Dunlops, the North British Rubber Company, the New Motor and General Rubber Company, Almagam, Ltd. Rubber springs are also exhibited by Messrs. Almagam, whose speciality is Rubmetal, an oil-resisting com pound that can be used for pipes and connections without fear of deterioration. Lubricating oil is represented by Stern Sonneborn and Messrs. Wakefield,"and there are a number of firms who, in addition to any one speciality, exhibit all manner of small detail pieces of use to the aeroplane constructors and to the owner who does his own repairs. 254
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