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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 1118.PDF
cup, at the Eastchurch aerodrome. It was won, somewhat luckily, by Mr. Weymann for America, flying a Nieuport monoplane. Probably with a view to waking up the military interest in aviation as well as from patriotic motives, Mr. Barber in July presented four Valkyries to the Government, two being allotted to the Navy and an equal number to the Army, but we have not heard that a great deal of use has been made of them, although the Navy have theirs in hand now, testing for their adapta bility with floats. The great event of this month was the Daily Mail race round Great Britain, which awakened popular interest in aviation in a manner that nothing else has ever done or could do. It is scarcely exaggeration to say that the whole country went aeroplane mad for nearly a week. From early in the morning until late at night, vast crowds, composed of every class of the community, waited patiently at the principal vantage points along the route, and deemed that the trouble was well repaid by a glimpse of even one of the competitors. The movement owes a debt of gratitude to Lord Northcliffe and his organization which it will take a long time to repay. The start of the race was from Brooklands, and was divided into stages, the first being Hendon, and thence to Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Stirling, Glasgow, Carlisle, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, Salisbury, Brighton and Brooklands, in the order named. It is a matter of ancient history now that the race was won by Lieut. Conneau, under his nom de guerre " Beaumont," with Vedrines close behind and the rest absolutely nowhere. The only others to finish the course were two British aviators, Mr. Valentine and Mr. Cody, who managed to arrive before the official time for closing the competition. August was practically devoid of any momentous happenings to be recorded, but September was quite a busy period in the realms of the air. During this month a new long-distance record was made in France by Fourry, who flew 720 kilometres, remaining in the air for eleven consecutive hours, and this was only beaten by Gobe on Dec. 24, with over 740 kiloms. Garros, at St. Malo, achieved a new altitude record by attaining the astonish ing height of 13,943 feet. In several other directions this was a notable month, for it witnessed the inauguration of the first regular aerial post in the shape of a daily service between Hendon and Windsor. As a demonstra tion it was successful, though the aviators entrusted with the maintenance of the service had to contend with very bad meteorological conditions. September also saw the last big British dirigible, the humorously—though unofficially named " Mayfly," a gas-bag somewhat of the Zeppelin type, constructed at Barrow for the use of the Royal Navy. Defects in design had made themselves manifest, and the trials of the vessel had been postponed from time to time while these were made good. At last all was said to be ready, and the leviathan was towed out of her shed one morning for the purpose of making a trial flight. This, however, never materialised, for the unfortunate vessel, apparently without the least excuse, elected to break in half as she floated on the water. With considerable difficulty the wreck was salved and towed back to the shed, where it probably now lies as a monument of wasted effort and money. At any rate, it has apparently been decided to do nothing further with the vessel, for it is officially known that no effort at repair has been made up to the present. This untoward accident, coming after the wreck of the " Lebaudy," the failure of the " Clement-Bayard," and the conspicuous bad luck that seems to have pursued 11 the dirigible in France and Germany, would appear to seal the doom of this huge type so far as this country is concerned, although it must be noted that much more promising results have during the past few months been obtained both in Germany and France. October was a flat month so far as any important events in Great Britain were concerned, but in France the Government carried out exhaustive trials of aeroplanes' for military use, a sum of ^52,000 having been appropriated for prize money in connection with the tests. In America the Wright Brothers conducted some remarkable experi ments with gliders, the full results of which will probably be seen later on, when the lessons learned have been applied to the power-propelled machine. * * • . . . If the British Government has not risen to Parliament. trie situation, it is not because the necessity of doing something to keep abreast of our Continental rivals has not been impressed upon them in Parliament as well as out. When at last the Government does awake to a sense of its responsibilities, it is to be hoped that the debt under which the members of the Aerial Defence Committee and other far-seeing members of both Houses have laid the country, will not be for gotten. In season and out of season, questions have been showered upon responsible ministers, but always with the same result. The policy has been the favourite one of " Wait and see " so that we have not got very much further. We have already alluded to the Bill which the Government passed in June last, so there is no need to do more than mention it in passing. It can easily be gathered that, officially speaking, the year has been a somewhat barren one. _ . Beyond all doubt, the science of aviation Advancement. rias made enormous strides during the year, and we are rather at a loss to say, specifically, to what this is mainly due. Engines have been much improved, and are now vastly more reliable than they were even a short while ago. In its main lines the aeroplane itself has not departed much from the accepted types of a year ago, though, as is but natural, there has been a progressive improvement in design. For our own part, we should be rather inclined to credit the major part of the advance to the men who fly the machines. Undoubtedly, the aviator at the end of 1911 is a great deal more skilful a pilot than his predecessor of a year ago, and it must be remembered that skill in the teacher ensures skill in the pupil. While 1911 has been a good year for the aeroplane, it cannot be said that it has been equally kind to the big dirigible. While it is true that there have not been the same number of accidents to these unwieldy craft to record that there were during the previous year, it is equally true that nothing like the same attention has been paid to the type, which appears to be somewhat dis credited at the moment. At the same time, it would appear that the Germans have been carrying on careful experiments with dirigibles of a modified Zeppelin type, which have proved extremely successful as all-round craft. It may, therefore, be inadvisable to accept too readily the dictum that the dirigible has no future as a practical aerial vessel. This, however, may be said, that we have been experimenting with dirigibles for years, and that the sum total of success achieved is not a tithe of that attained in the case of the heavier-than-air type in as many months. In any event, the dirigible must always
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