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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0079.PDF
JANUARY 27, 1912. [/JJCHT time of flight, to the same scale as the velocities (in our case 200 ft./secs., marked "3000"on the pillar). The sight would now be quite correct, if the aeroplane was in strictly horizontal flight at the time of letting go. To allow for this not always being so the height pillar must be pivoted at its heel •with a ball and socket joint, and the system below this joint weighted and counterbalanced, so as to always swing vertical. To be quite correct, the aero bar should be reset as the inclination varies, but for small alterations the error caused by neglect of this would be inconsiderable. The first bomb let go will probably miss the target, due to errors of estimation of wind, e.f.c. Suppose it to fall 300 ft. S.W. of the target. It is not possible to tell whether this 300 ft. is caused by an error of wind, enemy speed, height, e.v.c. The aeroplane should ® ® AEROPLANE GENERAL RUCK'S suggestion at the last meeting of the Aeronautical Society, that science owed it to humanity to leave no stone unturned to try and mitigate the danger of flying by a more complete under standing of the nature and causes of aeroplane accidents, touches a principle that deserves the strongest support. In the preliminary Statistical Table of the Victims of Flying Accidents. Automobil-Welt., December 13th, 1911.) turn round and attack again on the same course, letting go another 300 ft. N.E. of the last let-go position. A "spot bar" might be substituted for the foresight, a similar bar to the enemy bar; its adjustment in our case would be 5— ft./secs. = .20 ft./secs. the bar pointing S.W. But a system of analysing "spots," and discovering what errors of sight setting they were due to, would be much better, as the setting of the spot bar would be only good for one course of the aeroplane. It should be noticed that the speed and course of the aeroplane over the ground is denoted by a horizontal line joining a point below and abaft the rear sight to the pivot of the enemy bar. With the "ideal" bomb before mentioned this line would join a point directly below the rear sight to the pivot. This may be used as a rough check on the setting of the sight. ® ® ACCIDENTS. stages of an investigation all reliable statistics are helpful and we publish below, with acknowledgments to our contemporary the Autotnobil- Welt, a tabular analysis of aeroplane accidents, which they have compiled and which we have slightly amended in regard to British Machines. The 93 fatal accidents occurred with (In two cases type was unknown) Per Cent, of Victims Killed in Flying Alone. LWith Passenger. 81 19 12 Passenger Flights ended Fatally for • Pilot and Passenger. 7 Pilot ! Passenger only. I only. 3 2 In 12 Passenger Flights were Killed Pilots. 10 Passengers. 9 No. of Flights Terminating Fatally. • 93 No. of Aviators Killed who had Not Pilot Certificates. 16* Monoplanes Name ... Total 38 IS Bleriot. Antoinette. Nieuport. 2 R.E.P. 2 Valkyrie. -I each- Dorner, Deperdussin, Lilienthal.t Leforestier, Moisant, Oertz, Pietschker, Pilcher,+ Pischoff, Poulain, Queen, Russijan, Sommer, Wiesenbach. Biplanes Name ... Total 52 10 H. Farman. 8 Wright. 5 I 4 Sommer. Aviatik. 4 Curtiss. 3 Savary. 2 Voisin. 2 Curtiss copies. -I each- Albatros, Astra, Baldwin, Bristol, British Army, Breguet, Caudron, M. Farman, Fernandez, Hartle, I.A.M.C., Liere, L.V.G., Marra, Short (Grace). Countries ran 1* H 1 0 111.' ! < a <v E O T3 a "5b c W X -< ium . _M m and . oil K f, & 3R _) aria . SP pa Per cent, of victims belonged to ... Country of origin of machine No. and country where accidents occurred 34 .S3 32 15 12 16 IS 14 14 a •a is II Si America. Italy. England. Germany. Russia. France. Ratio of No. killed to No. of holders of pilot certificates § 12 (35D 7 (45*) 9 (not) " (135J) 3 (55*) f 27 (yx>t) = 34*3 per cent. = 15-5 per cent. = 8'2 per cent. [ = 8-14 per cent.) = 5'45 per cent. | = 5'4 per cent. * Including 3 killed on gliders. t Gliders. $ The figures in brackets give the number of certificated pilots up to the end of October, 1911. § Those who were killed while flying without pilot's certificate, or as a passenger, or in glider experiments, have been •omitted. Their numbers are : France, 7 ; Germany, 4 ; America, 3 ; England, 3 ; Rjssia, 2 ; Italy, I. ® ® ® ® AEROPLANES.—" CONDITIONAL CONTRABAND" ONLY. DEALING with the seizure of the French liner " Carthage " by reason of its having on board an aeroplane, the property of M. Duval of the Duval-Obre Aviation Tour, the Law Journal says :— " The Italians seem to have offended again, against one of the articles of the Declaration of London (which is accepted by both belligerents in the Tripoli war), in seizing a French vessel trans porting aeroplanes for the carriage of contraband. The vessel was bound for the neutral territory of Tunis, and by Article 25 of the Declaration balloons and flying machines, and their component parts fall within the category of conditional contraband ; while by Article 35 "conditional contraband" is not liable to capture except when found on board a vessel bound for territory belonging to or occupied by the enemy, and when it is not to be discharged at an intervening neutral port. The captors would appear to have assumed that the aeroplanes were destined for the Turkish forces, but while they might legitimately have acted upon this suspicion and seized the vessel carrying them, had they been in the class of absolute contraband, they were precluded by the Declaration from such action in regard to goods which were only conditionally contraband. .... But, as the law stands at present, flying machines may only be treated by a belligerent as contraband when they are consigned to the enemy's country, and when they are shown to be destined for the use of the armed forces of the enemy. Neither of the requisite conditions was present in the case of the Italian seizure, and the French shippers and shipowners would seem to be entitled to com pensation for the wrongful detention. If the Italians desire to include aeroplanes in the class of absolute contraband, they must give proper notification to neutral Powers ; but seeing that such machines can hardly be represented as ' articles exclusively used for war,* neutrals might reasonably object to the notification." From the fact that the Italians have since given up the aeroplane it would seem they have recognised the situation in this light. 79 c 2
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