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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0618.PDF
[/SGHT JULY 15, 1911 SCHOOL AERO CLUB NOTES. By ROBERT P. GRIMMER, General Secretary, British Federation of School Aero Clubs. I WONDER how many of even those who profess an interest in aviation really realise the immense importance of that science. They ignore its probable effects on time and space, on medicine and discovery. They cannot realise the Atlantic crossed in two days, nor the curative properties of an air voyage to an invalid. They fail to understand that aviation is going to open the most remote corners of the earth to the advance of the colonist, and they will not admit that the aeroplane will ever be of practical use in warfare. In short, they judge to-morrow by the limitations of to-day in the same manner as their grandfathers, who asserted that steam-power could never supersede any other means of locomotion. You of the younger generation will witness the triumph of aviation ; you will some day experience such rapid transit as the world has never known; you may even view the navies of the nations transferred to another element. And what is more, you can afford practical help in this glorious conquest of the air, for your gliders and models will not only interest others in aviation, but may also be the means of solving many of those great problems which still confront aero nautical engineers. It is only fiiting that you who will reap the harvest should assist in sowing the seed. For the future of aviation rests with the younger generation. Recently I mentioned the fact that I was prepared to arrange demonstrations of model aeroplane flying at school and other sports, with the object of inculcating enthusiasm for aviation in districts where few or no aeroplanes had yet been seen. This has evoked a great response from all parts of the country, and fully a dozen engagements have been booked by various sports committees. If any similar body desires to introduce into their programme a novel and interesting item, and at the same time to benefit the funds of the Federation, I earnestly beg of them to communicate with me at the earliest possible date. ® ® " I regret to say that we have not done anything this term owing to the great enthusiasm displayed for cricket." This is the kind of letter I have received lately from the secretaries of quite half a dozen school aero clubs—and it is not very encouraging. Be it understood that I have a great admiration for our national sports, but we certainly carry our enthusiasm for them too far. Can we really afford to devote all our leisure to cricket at a time when the boys of France, Germany, Austria, and Russia count their school aero clubs in hundreds ? Cricket and football are admittedly splendid games, but there are occasionally times when one feels as Kipling must have felt when he wrote :— " Still ye returned to your trinkets, Still ye contented your souls, With the flanneled fools at the wickets And the muddied oafs at the goals ! " I quote the following extract from the current number of La Feuille Sportive, a widely read French publication :—" In England the school aero clubs are now united in a federation, which bears the name of the ' British Federation of School Aero Clubs.' The works accomplished already by some clubs, together with the influential patrons of the movement, who are the most celebrated aviators and constructors, go to prove that this association will increase in influence, and make evident its utility. It is from the ranks of the Federation that soon will be recruited the technicians and aviators, of whom England has need." My recent remarks on freak models have brought me a great number of letters, many congratulatory, some almost abusive. I do not retract a single word, and elsewhere will be found my reply to that particular critic whose letter appeared in FLIGHT of last week. CORRESPONDENCE. *.* The name and address of the writer (not necessarily for publication) MUST in all cases accompany letters intended for insertion, or containing queries. Correspondents communicating' with regard to letters which they have read in FLIGHT, would much facilitate ready reference by quoting: the number of each such letter. Mr. Barber's Cross-Country Flight. [1262] I have received a letter from Mr. Clift, whose make ot compass I used during my flight the other day from Shoreham to Hendon, and he has asked me to state that I did not lose my way owing to any defect in the compass. I am unable to state definitely the reason for its leading me astray, but in justice to Mr. Clift I may say that in my opinion the error mos: probably arose from my having made some mistake in adjusting it to the course before starting. I consider Mr. Clift's compass and also his maps to be by far the best yet designed for aerial navigation. I shall continue to use them with confidence, and I think that considerable credit is due to Mr. Clift for his excellent work, which has proved of invaluable service to aviators. I shall be obliged if you will publish this letter, as it is so easy for a wrong impression to become current. West Hendon. H. BARBER. Vortex Principle of Flight. [1263] In continuation of my letter of the 17th ult. (No. 1220), I give below a necessarily short rCsunU of the existing state of knowledge regarding insect flight, in order that those of your readers who may wish to " copy nature " may start their studies on a sound basis. The first men to make any noteworthy studies of the movements of flies' wings were Pettigrew, Marey and Senecal (circa 1869-70). Pettigrew's and Marey's work was published in the International Scientific Series in 1873, and can be seen in the library of the Patent Office or of the Aeronautical Society in London. Senecal, in July, 1870, read a paper which appears in the 5th Annual Report of the Aeronautical Society, pp. 40-51. Pettigrew and Marey both used the optical method of study—a strong light was projected on the moving wing or on a bright speck attached to the tip thereof, thus rendering the path followed visible to the eye. Marey and Senecal used also the tracing method, whereby the wing tip, or a minute bristle attached thereto, is caused to scrape black pigment from a prepared surface. To enable the resulting curve to be easily read, the surface is given a uniform motion past the wing. These three investigators arrived at results in substantial agree ment on the question of the wing orbit. They found that the tip of the wing traces a figure-of-eight path in space, as shown in a diagram representing a fly hovering. (It is unnecessary here to discuss the differences of opinion held by the above investigators on the question of the inclination of the wing to its orbital path, as this point has been elucidated subsequently.) A further important step in the study was accomplished when, in 1903, von Lendenfeld published in Germany some photographs of insects in flight. (These were taken in bright sunlight with an exposure of f^irxr sec) They confirmed the conclusion already arrived at, and completed a chain of evidence which the work of subsequent investigators has served simply to strengthen. Some rematkable photographs have been taken lately, notably by Dr. Lucien Bull, who in November, 1909, and January, 1910, communicated to the Academie des Sciences, Paris, some of the results of his work. These were noticed in many scientific journals, among others, which may be found in the Patent Office, are, La Nature, of April 30th, 1910; Nature, of July 28th, 191O; Scientific American, of July 30th, 1910; Knowledge, of Septem ber 10th, 1910. There has been published this year a very interesting work, entitled, " The Flying Apparatus of the Blow-fly." It is the result of research carried out by Dr. Wolfgang Ritter in the Zoological Laboratory of the German University at Prague, with the assistance of a grant from the Hodgkins Fund of the Smithsonian Institution (America). A copy of this work is in the Aeronautical Society Library, and should be read by all interested in the subject. For a critical examination of it I would refer them to a review by myself which will appear in the forthcoming Aeronautical Journal. Dr. Ritter has obtained some good tracings of the path taken by the wing tip. He observes, page 28 :—" If the fly remains in the same place in the air (hovers), as is frequently observed in the Syrphidse, each tip of the wing describes a figure eight." Mr. Dring's " gadfly " is a syrphus, and it will be interesting to see his reply to this statement of Dr. Ritter's. He will not be able to controvert it by simple opinion or emphatic assertion ; the most rigid evidence alone will serve. In point of fact, there is no room nowadays for opinions or hypotheses concerning the orbit of flies' wings ; the evidence is exact and overwhelming, and shows, as I said before, that they are simply oscillating propellers. It is quite inadmissible to say, as Mr. Dring does, that Marey considered the lemniscus traced by the wing to be compounded of two circles described by the front and rear edges respectively. He did just the reverse, as Mr. Dring would be aware had he consulted Marey's book. It is to be regretted that Mr. Dring's " years of observation and 620
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