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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0796.PDF
JjJGHT SEPTEMBER 16, 1911. INAUGURATION OF THE FIRST AERIAL POST OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. LAST Saturday was one of those occasions on which the London Aerodrome awakens out of its customary worka-day existence and appearance and assumes a gala-day aspect. Thousands must have directed their steps to Hendon, for not only were the enclosures comfortably filled but the slopes overlooking the aerodrome served as natural grand stands to those who were content to witness the in auguration of the First Aerial Mail from a distance. For such a crowd to assemble when the chances of seeing flying were remote was a sure indication of the interest that has been aroused in the public miDd by the aeroplane post conceived by Capt. W, G. Wind ham, and engineered, with the assistance of the Postmaster-General, by him and Mr. D, Lewis Poole. At the aeroorome on Friday evening there was an enormous demand for the special post-cards and envelopes and many people sallii d out from town in taxicabs to post their missives a1 the special box provided on the ground in the hope that their communications would be amongst the first batch delivered to Wkd>or by aeroplane. The weather conditions were far from being suitable for the occasion and many c f those who had extensive aerodrome experience volunteered the opinion that the mails would not be delivered to Windsor that day. M. Salmet, however, proved the possibility of flying, at least on a fast monoplane, by bringing out his Gnome- Bldriot and performing many figures of eight in the gusty wind. His struggle with the wind was thoroughly appreciated by the crowd and did much to sustain interest, a task with which the military band had previously been entrusted. At half-past four Greswell's machine, " Atrial Mail No. 1," was THE FIRST AERIAL POST OF THE U.K.—Mr. Gustav Hamel receiving officially From the postman the first bag of letters at Hendon for conveyance to Windsor Castle on his Bleriot monoplane. In the centre is Capt. Windham, who is the originator and chief organiser of this service, as well as of the aerial post which was established recently for a short period in India. wheeled from its hangar to the front of the Committee enclosure where Gustav Hamel, ,who had volunteered to pilot it, took delivery of the first mail bag and stowed it away on the machine, after having been presented, together with the other aviator-post men, with medals by Mrs. Grahame-White to commemorate the occasion. Hamel made his departure at 4.55 amidst a scene of great enthu siasm, and rising to 500 ft. was soon out of sight, travelling at a tremendous speed in the following wind. Considering its gusty nature Hamel kept his Bleriot extraordinarily steady and seemed quite at home in the disturbed element. Soon after his departure Silmet made another flight on his Gnome-B16riot. Meanwhile Hamel had made a swift journey to Windsor where he landed at 5.8 p.m. in a meadow on the Royal farm close to the predetermined spot, after having maintained a speed over the 19 miles of some thing in the neighb •urhood of 105 miles an hour. The mail ba^, whicn contained messages for His Majesty the King and many of his regal kinsmen abroad, was taken from him and delivered by Mr. A. T. Avard, the Windsor Postmaster, to a postman mounted on a bicycle—now a rather more prosaic form of locomotion—for conveyance to the local post office. On the ground Mr. Hamel was received by the Mayor, of Windsor, Sir Frederick Dyson. Of the two biplanes that were to have made the trip to Windsor only one appeared. It was Hubert, who, as game as usual, was determined to fly his Farman round the aerodrome even if he fought shy of a cross-country flight under such exacting conditions. He was blown about a good deal and one could see that he was^ having a busier time than would be relished by most pilots. Harr el's return to Hendon was spectacular in the extreme. He appeared above the aerodrome at a height of 2,oco ft., and, cutting off his engine, made a magnificent spiral glide to earth. Naturally everyone was anxious to congratulate him on his splendid achievement, and a wild rush was made to his machine. Congratulations, Hamel evidently thinks, are necessary evils that one has to put up with on such occasions; but when he noticed an ominous determinatiun, on the part of his admirers to "chair"him, he lost little time in making for the refuge his hargar would have afforded him. He was, however, " collared" on the way, and forcibly chaired by his enthusiastic friends, who kept him shoulder high until a photographer had taken an indelible record of the episode. A painful incident marred the resumption of the Aerial Post service on Monday last. The three pilots of the Grahame-White Co., Greswell, Hubert, and Driver, had made preparations to fly over to Windsor with a further delivery of mails. Greswell on his Bleriot and Driver on one of Grahame-White's Farman machines got away with their supplies of mails soon after 6.30 a.m. Hubert, who was to have followed them, was not so successful, for as he was making a circuit, preliminary to striking out for Windsor, a gust struck him and he came heavily to earth in an effort to restore his balance. The military machine that he was flying has been a bile noir amongst Grahame-White's pilots, and although Hubert possessed a detp-rooted hatred for it, on the score that it was extraordinarily sluggish in answering to the controls, he was always more or less " dared " into flying it. Hubert had had two previous accidents on the same machine, and while the writer was helping to nurse him out of the slight brain concussion caused by his last accident, he s« ore that he would never fly the machine again unless the weather conditions were as near perfect as possible. Poor Hubert would have hated to have seen his fellow pilots get away to Windsor without making some attempt to follow, although he knew full well by experience that his machine was much less suitable for wind-flying than theirs were. His accident was the result, for by the time he was ready to start, the wind had risen, and, in making his first circuit, the machine was caught in a nasty gust, and failing to respond to Hubert's lever movements, was dashed to the ground. He was considerably bruised, and suffered serious injury to both his legs. We are sure our readers will join with us in wishing him a rapid recovery. Greswell and Driver made good passages to Windsor, where they delivered between them six bags of corre spondence. Through a defect in his engine Greswell was unable to- return to Hendon, and Driver mistaking his return course, 798
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