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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0864.PDF
I/O GHT OCTOBER 7, 1911- THE AVERAGE WEATHER OF OCTOBER. By T. F. MANNING. ALTHOUGH we often have many calm and sunny days in October, its average record shows a great fall from the standard of September. It is the wettest month of the year in London and the south-east (but not in all parts of the country), and, what with the increase of gales and fogs, and the rapidly-diminishing daylight and sunshine, October is not a month to gladden the airman's heart. Fogs are 25 per cent, more numerous than in September, and we have in this month close on ten times as many as in July. The average is five fogs during the month. But, as in September, they appear principally at night and in the morning, and they are not so dense as in November and December. Gales are nearly half again as frequent as in September, although they fall far short of the year's maximum in December and January. There are twice as many gales in October as in June, the second week being generally the stormiest period of the month. Still, the average number of gales for the whole month is not large, only I J, and there is compensation in the curious fact that October is one of the three months which have the largest number of calm days—that is, days on which the velocity of the wind is less than two miles an hour. In this respect the order is—November with the greatest number of calm days, September next, and October third. There are many rainy days, and the rainfall is the highest for the year, three-fifths of an inch more than in September, and double the amount measured in February, the driest month. Thunder is now very rare, being eight times less frequent than in July. The average is one thunderstorm in three years. Hail is still more rare, one fall in six years. But it has left the minimum (which occurs in July and August), and is slowly increasing in frequency. Snowfalls do not become of any account until November. In October we have had only fifteen snowfalls in one hundred years, and most of these occurred during the last week. It has been observed that, as a rule, brisk east winds blow for a few days about the end of the second week, and they are generally followed by a fine quiet period, St. Luke's summer commencing about the eighteenth of the month. In FLIGHT of September 2nd a comparison was made of Sep tember weather with that of October. The following figures show the relation between October average weather, and what we are to expect in the succeeding month :— Table of Weather Phenomena in October. The figures show the numbers of each event in one hundred years. Day. 1 .. 2 .. 3 •• 4 - 5- 6.. 7 » October. Ten years'gales 16 .. fogs 50 n dense fogs 1 ,, thunderstorms 3£ ,., hail-storms if ,, snow-falls ... ... ij ,, rain-days 150 Average rainfall (Greenwich) ... 2*58in. Mean temperature (Greenwich) ... 50*0 Hours of sunshine (Greenwich) ... 93 Degree of humidity (Greenwich)... 85-0 November. 194 52 13 2 H 7 139 2-22 in. 43-S 5° 87-3 THE N Gale s 4 6 5 4 2 4 7 Fogs . 14 18 11 14 •7 10 21 c 0 4 7 3 4 4 2 3 Sno w _ - - - - 1 X § 8 H 4 I a a-S B S£ 54-i 53-8 S3"5 S3'2 S3*o 527 52-5 .5 a! 46 So 40 47 44 60 57 1st week .. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 2nd week .. 15 16 17 18 19 20 ... 21 3rd week .. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4th week .. • 32 . 6 • 7 7 S • 3 . 8 • 5 • 41 . 6 2 . 6 • 3 • 9 . 6 • 5 • 37 • 5 • 3 • 7 . 6 . 6 S 5 • 37 in 14 '5 11 15 19 24 22 120 17 22 18 16 '7 16 19 125 IS 17 14 19 18 11 is 109 27 2 3 4 1 2 7 3 22 7 2 2 2 2 1 2 18 2 5 5 3 3 4 2 24 1 - - - - 1 1 - 2 ~ - - 1 - 1 1 3 - - 5 3 1 - - 1 - 1 1 4 - 6 - - 1 I - 1 1 4 II 3 1 2 3 - - 1 10 4 1 1 - 1 1 1 9 1 - - 1 1 1 1 5 — 52-1 5i7 513 51-0 50-6 5o-3 50-1 — 49'9 49-8 49-6 49-5 49'3 49'o 48-8 — 48 '5 48-2 47'9 47-6 47'4 47-3 47 "2 — 344 54 52 54 55 41 42 52 35° 5° 57 40 44 55 44 5° 34o 52 47 46 46 54 42 49 336 29... 30... 31 - 4 14 3 s is 2 5 » 1 47-0 47 -o 46-8 49 49 36 AERONAUTICS AT By F THE Northampton Polytechnic Institute may fairly claim to be the first technical institute to start aeronautical en gineering work as a part of the regular course of their evening classes. In 1909, shortly after the historic flight of M. Bleriot across the Channel, Dr. Mullineux Walmsley, Principal of the Institute, in conjunction with Mr. C. E. Larrard, A.M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E., the Head of the Mechanical En gineering Department, inaugurated the first series. The interest aroused by this step and the good attendance of students made an enlargement of the course necessary. In the next session in 1910 the course was put under my charge, and the equipment of an aeronautical laboratory was laid out. The course for the new session, which com menced on Monday, September 25th, includes lecture, laboratory, workshop and drawing office work, and there is both an ordinary as well as an advanced section. Of the details of the lectures there is no need to give an extended account, as this is already scheduled in the pro spectus of the Institute, but the advanced portion calls for more detailed comment. In order to better deal with the needs of a specialised branch such as aeronautics, the ad vanced lectures are split up into a series on special subjects, commencing with six lectures on the Design of Aeroplane Supporting Surfaces, on Friday, Octcber 13th, at 7,13 to Whole month 161 502 97 15 17 36 50-0 1,504 ORTHAMPTON INSTITUTE. HANDLEY PAGE. 8.15 p.m., and continuing on succeeding Fridays at the same time. The advanced laboratory work can be taken in conjunction with these lectures. A later series of lectures includes one on Propellers, on the Stability of an Aeroplane, and on the Practical Design of Aeronautical Apparatus. The laboratory is one of the best equipped in this country, There is a large wind tunnel, 6 ft. by 6 ft. in section, and this is available for experimental work on planes and models in an artificial wind blast. The tunnel is all complete with the necessary fans, electrical driving and control gear, and has three delicate balances with which to make measurements* These have been specially designed for this wind tunnel. There is also an experimental stream-line apparatus, by means of which one can see the air flowing round a plane, and thus get a picture of what actually happens when an aeroplane is moving through the air. Amongst some of the other apparatus is a run-way track for finding the speed at which certain planes lift when moving through the air, a piece of apparatus designed by the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Institute. In the workshop part of the course a full-size monoplane is under construction, and a 30-h.p. engine purchased, so that everything is now ready to finish this off this session. 866
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