FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0269.PDF
MARCH 1912. 1/ycHTj any attempt at out door work all Friday, and instruction had, therefore, to be confined to the hangars. Saturday morning was fine, although somewhat dull, and Gordon England was out early making a flight, Lieut. Ercole accompanying him. England afterwards went with Lieut. Hall, who has just recently joined the school, and Jullerot was out with Lieut. Marshall, another new pupil. Bendall took Lieut. Fielding for a trip, and Prier went for a spin on the Bristol monoplane, Lieut. Antoni being passenger. He quickly rose to fully 2,000 ft., and showed a fine turn of speed. In the afternoon the wind had risen somewhat, but after Hotchkiss had made a circuit, school work was restarted by Jullerot giving tuition flights, whilst Commander Schwann made two solos also did Lieut. Brodigan, Lieut. Wyness Stuart making one flight. Lieut. Head, who just recently took his brevet at the school on the biplane, and is now undergoing a course on the monoplane, was out for two solos. Lieut. Bower was also up for a spin, and Gordon England was up giving tuition flights. Prier carried out a good flight on the monoplane, making several circuits, and attaining a high altitude. Terrific wind and rain put all thought of flying entirely out of the question both on Sunday and Monday. ® ® ® ® AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN. OFFICIAL NOTICES AS SUPPLIED BY THE SECRETARY. Annual General Meeting.—The annual general meeting of the Aeronautical Society will be held on Wednesday, March 27th, 1912, at 8.30 p.m., at the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall, S.W. Mr. Handley Page will give a resume of Eiffel's work as described in the latest edition of his book, " La /Resistance de F.4ir," after the genera/ meeting. A discussion will follow. Members are reminded that their ballot papers must be returned to the Secretary before 12 noon, on Tuesday the 26th inst. Attendances of the Council.—The attendances of members of the Council, out of a total of 16 Council meetings, have been as follows :— A. E. Berriman, 16 ; Griffith Brewer, 8 ; Capt. A. D. Garden, R.E., 9 ; T. W. K. Clarke, 15 ; B. G. Cooper, 16 ; J. W. Dunne, 8 ; John Dunville, o ; J. H. Ledeboer, 11 ; Capt. E. M. Maitland, 4 ; *F. K. McClean , 7 ; Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, o ; Alec Ogilvie, 8 ; Mervyn O'Gorman, 10 ; F. Handley Page, 9; Col. H. E. Rawson, C.B., R.E., 4 ; Col. F. G. Stone, R.A., 2. Council Meeting.—A meeting of the Council was held on Wednesday, March 13th, when there were present :—Mr. A. E. Berriman (in the Chair), Mr. Griffith Brewer, Mr. B. G. Cooper, Mr. J- H. Ledeboer, Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman, Col. H. E. Rawson, and Mr. B. Woodward (Hon. Solicitor). Appointment of Committees.—The following committees have been appointed :—Inventions Committee (which deals with inven tions submitted for the Society's opinion), Mr. T. W. K. Clarke and Mr. B. G. Cooper ; Library Committee (which has charge of the Society's Library and records), Mr. H. F. Lloyd and Mr. Harry Turrill ; Publications Committee (which controls and organises the Society's Publications), Mr. A. E. Berriman, Mr. B. G. Cooper, and Mr. T. H. Ledeboer ; Relations Committee (which treats, when occasion arises, with other aeronautical bodies), Mr. A. E. Berriman, Mr. B. G. Cooper, Mr. F. Handley Page, and Major- Oeneral K. M. Ruck ; representatives on the Royal Aero Club's Committee for the investigation of aeroplane accidents, Mr. A. E. Berriman, Mr. J. H. Ledeboer, and Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman ; repre sentatives on the Parliamentary Committee on Aeronautics, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Mr. Griffith Brewer, and Mr. J. W. Dunne ; representative on 11. M. War Office Technical Reserve Committee, Col. J. D. Fullerton, R.E. ; Research Committee (which conducts the researchiwork of the Society in all its branches). The composition of the Research Committee will be announced next week. Meetings.—A meeting of the Society will be held al the Royal Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi, on Monday, April 15th. at 8.30 p.m., when Mr. T. W. K. Clarke will read a paj>er on " Automatic Stability." Weekly meetings of an informal nature will be held :it the Society's offices, II, Adam Street, Adelphi, on Mondays from 5 p.m. Refreshments can be obtained and the Library and current periodicals will be available for reference as usual. The next informal meeting will be held on Monday, March 25th, when the subject for discussion will be " The Atmospherical Con ditions at Eastchurch Aerodrome," Pilcher Memorial Fund.—The Council beg to acknowledge the following subscriptions :—Amount previously acknowledged, £19 15?. ; Major B. Baden-Powell, £1 if., Col. 11. E. Kawson, io.v. ; W.H.A. $s. ® ® ® ® WHO WAS THE FIRST MAN TO FLY? THIS question has been put to us by a correspondent and like many a simple query it is something of a poser when it comes to making a straightforward reply. In 1893 Maxim's great aeroplane left the rails on which experiments were being made at Baldwin's Park and performed a short flight across the grounds with three men on board. The accidental nature of the occurrence, however, had led many students of aeronautical history to ignore this record. In France, some little while ago, a great fuss was made to support the claims of Ader, who was supposed to have flown 50 metres in 1890 and 300 metres in 1897. More recently, however, statements have been made that cause Ader's light to burn less brilliantly. There is, of course, no doubt about the official claim of Santos Dumont, who made the first public and officially observed flight on October 23rd, 1906, whereby he won the Archdeacon cup for a flight exceeding 25 metres. But, although they have no official record to back them, the Wright brothers, it seems to us, have the best claim to be regarded as the first men to fly, for they attained success in 1903 and before the end of 1904 had achieved a relatively complete mastery of the art. At any rate they were then making flights exceeding 20 miles in length, while nobody else in the world could do more than jump. It was not until January, 1908, that Henry Farman won the Deutsch- Archdeacon prize for the first circular kilometre. When Wilbur Wright at last came to France he demonstrated his skill in the eyes of the world, and as it was well known that he had not been flying for a long time previously, there is no reason to doubt what the Wright brothers themselves have as a matter of fact stated, that they learned to fly and won success in the years above mentioned. It seems to us no more than simple justice that the Wright brothers should have their names definitely associated with the first flight, because nothing that the world is likely to do will ever give them more credit than is their due for the perseverance and sound methods by which they attained their end. It is all very well to refer to such facts as the Maxim, Ader, and Santos Dumont jumps, but surely no serious student of aeronautics can fail to appreciate the fact that by 1892 Lilienthal had already demonstrated by his gliding experiments that the real problem of flight was equilibrium and not merely support. In demonstrating that a steam-driven aeroplane could be made to lift itself off the ground, Maxim showed that so much was possible but he did not prove more than this, and in the light of Lilienthal's work the world was really not much wiser for anything that was subsequently accomplished in aviation until Farman had flown his circular kilometre and the Wrights had publicly demonstrated the real art. ® ® ® ® The Desecration of Windermere! THE aesthetic objectors to the use of Windermere as the locale of hydroplane experiments seem to have received scant satisfaction at the hands of Mr. Ellis Griffith, who received a deputation of the •outraged ones on behalf of the Home Office. He was asked to exercise the powers conferred by the Aerial Navigation Act and to prohibit flying over the lake. In reply he pointed out that as the dangers which the deputation had emphasised were mainly of a contingent and problematical nature, the authorities did not see their way to enforce prohibition. However, they thought that it was a case where regulations might very well be laid down, and they proposed that if there was an aviation school there the hours should be limited from four or five until seven or half-past in the morning, so far as the instruction of pupils was concerned. Mr. Ellis Griffith also informed the deputation that the Home Office had no jurisdiction over hydro-aeroplanes while they were afloat. They were the concern of the Board of Trade until such time as they left the water and rose into the air. Which is more than a little Gilbertian. 269
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
