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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0873.PDF
OCTOBER 7, 1911. [pjGHT] BRISTOL FLYING SCHOOL. LAST month we gave a summary of the previous month's work got through at the Bristol schools, and as showing the steady progress being made it made interesting reading. The resume which we now publish up to September 30th is no less instructive. From August 26th till September 30th the following pupils passed the tests for their aviators' certificates :— Name. School. Date of Joining. Passing. Time occu pied. Lieut. Clarke Hall, R.N. ... Salisbury... Mr. S. P. Cockerell ... ,, Mr. E. Harrison (Victoria) „ Mr. W. E Gibson „ Naval Cadet R. F. Wheeler Mr. J. Brereton B'ooklands Lieut. WynessStuart(R.F.A). Sah-bury... Capt. F. W. Richey... ~\ iBrooklands Capt. Steele Hutche- | g •£ Salisbury... son J- '-5 E Lieut. C. N. L. I .2 < • „ Newall J -" Aug. »1 >» »» )» May luly Sept. tt Aug. 19 14 4 7 8 14 4 4 1 21 Aug. 26 Sept. 1 1 1 9 12 25 25 27 28 0 4 0 4 4 O* 2i 0 5 * Was away for about three months during the period mentioned. t Was away for about three weeks between the dates mentioned. + This officer's tuition was interrupted for about two weeks. Total certificates for the month, 10; average time occupied, 3 weeks 3 days. THE WRIGHT ® BROS. ® AN WILBUR WRIGHT and his brother have, it appears, gone off to their North Carolina sand dunes again, there to experiment for what purpose it may safely be said that no one beyond their immediate entourage is accurately aware. According to the cabled reports, they would appear to be engaged in a flapping wing machine of sorts, and to be paying particular attention to the art of soaring as differentiated from the art of gliding, with which they began their practical experi ments in flight. As usual in such matters, there are vague rumours of flying without mechanical power, which, in the way it is generally expressed, is sheer nonsense. Observations of bird flight indicate that certain soaring species exercise very little muscular energy even though they may remain aloft for hours, but it is equally well known that this erstwhile mystery hnds its solution in what Langley described as " the internal work of the wind." Where there are pulsations in the atmosphere or air currents with an upward trend, it is possible to extract energy from the motion of this invisible sea. If ® ® JOHANNISTHAL ENTHUSIASM at the work put in by the aviators day by day at the meeting on Tuesday of last week in no way abated. The visitors were well rewarded, as although a very dangerous wind was driving, several of the avi ttors executed some splendid flights. The longest was by Herr Wit'e, who was up for 1 hr. 23 mins. on an ol 1 Wright machine fitted with an ancient 35-h p. motor. At the finish motor complications compelled him to land ; and it was perhaps bv a stroke of fortune that this was so, as after coming down it was dis covered that one of the planes was broken. At times his banking was alarming, even if the machine had been one of the latest type. Capt. Englehart, on his " Baby " Wright, did not remain up more than I3mins., but Herr Hoffmann, on a 100-h.p. Harlan monoplane, fought against the elements for 1 hr. 5 mins., when he descended owing io a slackened wire. Pietscher made a steady flight, climbing to about 250 metres, whilst Miss Beese contented herself with travelling with Herr Hirth as passenger. The public attendance was greater than ever on Wednesday of last week, although the flying was not so remarkable as on the previous day. Miss Beese was a leader, flying for 2 hrs. 21 mins., Capt. Englehart putting up some fine performances on his German-built Baby Wright aeroplane fitted with a Daimler motor. The long-distance flyers were all in keen competiiion again, Suvelack, Hoffmann, Pietscher, Jahnow, and Miss Beese being all within close figures at the finish. The number of machines at times in the air was quite startling, and once It should be borne in mind that in many cases the pupils might have passed their tests sooner, but were purposely held back from doing so until they had had ample oppor tunities for practice. The same remark applies to the thirteen pupils still under instruction, most of whom are quite ready to pass their tests but are being thoroughly instructed in every brand) of the science before they do so. These gentlemen are :— Mr. O. S. Mellersh Lieut. Balder, R.N. Lieut. E. G. K. Cross Mr. H. H. Slater Lieut. Joseph, R.N. Lieut. A. F. A. Hooper Mr. E. Pitman Lieut. R. J. Watts Major R. L. Benwell Mr. L. E. Petavel Lieut. E. j. Strover Mr. R. Smith Barry Mr. Z. V. Lee (Chinese Government pupil) It will be seen that of the ten pupils who passed their tests during the month, six were officers of the Services, and that of the thirteen still remaining under instruction, no fewer than seven are officers of either the Navy or the Army. The result of the month's work is distinctly satisfactory, especially as the weather was more unsettled than that of the preceding month, with the result^that flying was not possible so often. It is very gratifying to find so many Service officers taking such a keen interest in aviation as to take tuition at their own expense, and the Bristol Company has every reason to congratulate itself upon the success which has attended its progressive policy in tuition methods, as evidenced by the efficient equipment, expert instructional staff and the thorough organisation which are to be found at the flying schools at Salisbury Plain and Brooklands. ® ® D THEIR EXPERIMENTS. the energy is adequate, it will support an aeroplane, and extended flight would be possible so long as the essential conditions prevailed. Meteorology teaches us that the air is never still, and that no wind is uniform, hence the plausibility of soar ing flight has at least so much support ; but is the evidence of a universally soarable atmosphere adequate to support the notion that soaring flight could take place any where and at any time ? Remember, soaring birds are only really common in certain places, and remember also that all birds that soar have at least the latent power to flap their wings, in other words, to fly. Those who are reading the particularly interesting and instructive articles on bird flight by Dr. Hankin will find a mine of information on this very question of soarability of the atmosphere, and if indeed the Wright Brothers are experimenting along these lines, then this series seems singularly opportune, for there is no doubt it forms the most complete study of bird habits in the air that has yet been written. ® ® FLYING WEEK. or twice something near a scrape was feared, one of the aeroplanes —Miss Beese's—just missing collision with the Parseval airship, which was cruising above, whilst Capt. Englehart and Suvelack had a narrow squeak when passing each other. Daring the djy Prince Sigi<mund of Prussia was an interested spectator of the flying, whilst General v >n Heeringt-n, the Minister of War, was also a close attendant. S >me remarkable evolutions were carried out for I'rince Sigismund's special deleciation by Hirth on a i20-h.p. Daimler- Tauber monoplane and Jeannin on a 100-h.p. Avidtik. Thursday almost a tempest was blowing, and rain pouring down in lorrrnts at tinus. Wine put in a flight of 1 hr. 23 mins. ; Hoffman, 1 hr. 5 mins. ; Suvelack, 57 mins. ; Pietscher, I hr. 6 mins. ; Schauenburg, 49 mins. ; and Capt. Englehart, 47 mins. Miss Beese was very popular, carrying a passenger several circuits of the aerodrome. Saturday a complete change came over the weather, and some excellent flights were put in during the day. Hiuh, with Miss Beese as passenger, created a new German altitude record with 2,475 metres, being up for 30 mins. This record hitherto has stood to the credit of Schoendel with 1,680 metres, he, it will be remem bered, coming to a tragic end at the finish of his essay. Pielscher, with two passengers, was flying for 2h. 19m., another German record, whilst Witte was in the air for 2h. 10m., Gruhlich lh. 34m., Schwandt ih. 26m., and Oerlich ih. 16m. 875
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