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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 1074.PDF
I/IICHTI THE FICEY FROM Mr. R. Blackburn we have received the following very valuable communications bearing upon this most regrettable disaster, which we very briefly recorded last week. Mr. Blackburn writes:— " With reference to Mr. Oxley's terrible accident, I am enclosing a letter from Mr. Hunt, and after going through all the facts myself, and cansidering the description of the accident by proplc who saw it, there is undoubtedly only one conclusion to be drawn from it. It appears that Oxley was very fond of making sadden and steep descents at a very acute angle, and had lately done a great many of these from moderate heig ts with several of the Aerodrome men as passengers. " You will quite understand that when making one of these steep descents and suddenly flattening the machine out, the strain must be enormous. Although the manoeuvre has been successfully accomplished many times by Oxley, yet there is a height from which velocity at ihe end of the dive would be so great that no machine could possibly stand it. These descend had no doubt given him such self-confidence that neither he nor others seem to have really realised the danger. "The facts are that in this case he did a sudden dive over the town of Filey, from a height of 600 feet. Considering the position from which he staited to descend and the position on the sands where he finally fill, the angle could not have been any other PLANE Outline map of Oxley's flight. than very acute, as the machine was wrecked or.ly about 100 feet from the cliffs side. At this point the cliffs and houses at the top are about 350 feet high. . " It is thought that it was his intention "to dive down in this manner and then flatten out and fly back to the hangars. I think there can be no doubt that this dive was intentionally done, as two or three of the observers saw him distinctly flatten the machine out and plunge, as it were, forward, at the same time the whole 'plane giving a violent tremble and bursting. One of the onlookers saw bits of wood fly from the planes, which seems to point to the con clusion that they were burst. In any case there is no doubt that until within about 50 feet of the ground the machine was quite safe. " I am enclosing a few figures showing to some extent what strain has been brought on the machine, and although I have not cansidered these btfore the accident, I think they are correct approximations and will show the appalling magnitude of the strain on the planes when instantaneously flattened out at the terrific speed which necessarily must be attained after such a dive from that height. '* I shall be very much obliged if others would give their opinions, rs I feel sure that no av'ator realises the danger in this method of descending. " You can imagine what a '.errible gloom this has placed on Filey, I DECEMBER 16, 1911. DISASTER. where Oxley had gained great popularity. He was without doubt a brilliant flyer and had no sense of fear, but unfortunately he cannot have grasped what danger he was running when attempting these dives. " Remarkable to say, I have only learnt since his death that he was in the habit of doing these things, as on every occasion when I have been at Filey he has made more or less normal descents. It seems hard to blame him in such a case, but there is no doubt he was rather fond of giving the onlookers a sensalion, and I have been told on many occasions how people have thought that he was rushing down to his death. "I am relating this purely as it has been related to me so that your readers can form their own opinions, and I believe you will agree with me that a few facts and figures to show the enormous stresses that necessarily must result from such descents are wisely published as a warning to others." Calculations. The following are Mr. Blackburn's calculations referred to in his communication:— Assuming the plane to be diving down from a height of 600 ft., irrespective of any resistance caused by planes, then velocity after descending 550 ft., i.e., 50 ft. from ground when he was seen to level up. V =*y'z<rA = y/2 X 32'2 X 550 = 188'2 ft./sec. 188 2 x6o = gg = J42 m/hr. but the initial velocity = 65 m/hr. .". final velocity = 142 x 65 = 207 rr/hr. In all probability due to resistance caused by angle of planes, the velocity would not be so great but it is certain that it was terrific, but assuming this velocity the pressure per>q ft. per normal plane, i.e. P= 003V2 approx. = -003 (207)'-' = 129 lbs. apprcx. Area of p'anes = 2go sq. ft. .". total pressure on plane5 = 290 x 129 = 37410 lbs. or =167 tons. Again, weight of machine = 1,350 lbs. and effective stress when abruptly flattened out to horizontal. = 2 x 1,300 = 2600 lbs. or = 1 i tons nearly .'. total stress on planes = 18 tons nearly. [Copy of the letter received from Mr. A. Castle Hunt.] On examination of the wreckage of the Blackburn Aeroplane, after the regrettable accident at Filey on December 6th, and after taking into consideration the position of the debris together with the position and height of cliffs and houses, over which the aero plane came in its flight, there is only one conclusion to be arrived at, and having had several flights as passenger in this same machine under similar conditions with the latter, Mr. Oxley as pilot, I fourd that it was his habit of descending with a vol pique at an angle of 65 degrees, which imposes on the machine a terrific strain when the machine is flattened out previously to landing. On my last flight with Mr. Oxley in the above machine he landed from a height of about 250 ft. in the above manner. He aftei wards asked my opinion on his steep descents, I remarked that I admired his flying and the perfect control that he had over the machine, but at the same time I warned him of the extreme danger of such descents if carried out from any great height, as I was certain that an aeroplane of such size and weight as this machine could not possibly stand the strain when flattened out for landing, no matter how strong the machine was built. Unfortunately he did not realise how serious this was, and laughingly replied, " Oh, I always land this way." Further than this, on the evening before the accident, Mr. Ox'ey remarked that if the weather was favourable on the following morning he would make a flight around Filey previous to starting for Leeds to give the district an exhibition of what trick flying he could do. He started away on the morning of the accident, leaving the hangars about 9.40, making a straight flight to Filty, a distance of about 3 miles over the sands at an altitude of 150 ft. Landing at Filey he taxied the machine to turn it round, then flew back towards the hsngars, which he passed at an altitude of 250 ft. Proceeding onwards for about a mile, gaining an altitude of 350 ft.,
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