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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0420.PDF
-J.IGHT MAY II, 1912. The Royal &ero Clu^ . of the United Kix\gdoi ZSH OFFICIAL /NOTICES TO MEMBERS NOTICE is hereby given that a Special General Meeting of the Club will be held at 166, Piccadilly, London, W., on Tuesday, 14th day of May, 1912, at 4.30 p.m. AGENDA. To elect Mr. Roger W. Wallace, K.C., a Vice-President of the Club. 166, Piccadilly, London, W. 4th May, 1912. By order of the Committee, H. E. PERRIN, Secretary. Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee. A meeting of the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee was held on Tuesday, the 7th inst., when there were present:—Col. 11. C. L. llolden, C.B., F.R.S. (in the Chair), Mr. A. E. Berriman, Mr. G. P.. Cockburn, Capt. J. D. B. Fulton, R.F.A., Mr. F. K. McClean, Mr. W. O. Manning, Mr. Alec Ogilvie, Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman, Major-Gen. R. M. Ruck, R.E., and the Secretary. A letter from the Duke of Argyll suggesting that the Club should encourage the invention of some means of minimising aviation accidents was read and its consideration was deferred. It was decided to issue notices to all Flying Grounds :— 1. Soliciting the co-operation of aviators in preventing dan gerous Hying, and 2. Arranging for systematical reports by experts on all accidents. It was decided to appoint Club Officials at the various centres to inquire into and report on all accidents, and the Committee will be glad to receive offers of assistance from experts and those with technical knowledge, who need not necessarily be members of the Club. A list of the Club ' )ffieials appointed will be published at an early date. The Committee considered the drawing up of a series of questions relating to accidents ; particulars of these questions will be issued as early as possible. ® ® The Committee will meet on Tuesday, the 21st inst., when full reports of recent accidents in this country will be dealt with. Competitions Committee. A meeting of the Competitions Committee was held on Tuesday, the 7th inst., when there were present:—Col. H. C. L. Holden, C.B., F.R.S. (in the Chair), Mr. G. B. Cockburn, Capt. A. E. Davidson, R.E., Prof. A. K. Huntington, Major F. Lindsay Lloyd, Mr. N. C. Neill, Mr. Alec Ogilvie, Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman, and the Secretary'. _ The question of passing in races confined to Flying Grounds was under discussion. Mr. G. Hamel attended before the Committee and explained his views. It was decided to have a further meeting on the 14th inst., at which several prominent aviators will be invited to attend and assist the Committee. Presentations to Library. Sir David Salomons has very kindly presented to the Library a copy of "La Minerve, Vaisseau Aerien," by Robertson, first published in 1804. Mr. Patrick Y. Alexander has very kindly presented to the Library a copy of " The Structure of the Atmosphere in Clear Weather," by C. J. P. Cave, M. A., and also a copy of " Forecasting Weather," by Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S., Sc.D. Dover Aero Club. The Dover Aero Club is now associated with the Royal Aero Club. This Club has its own Flying Ground at Whitfield, about two miles outside Dover ; the ground afiords an excellent alighting place for cross-Channel flights. There are already two excellen: sheds erected, and full particulars as to rents, &c., can be obtained from the Secretary, Capt. W. P. Marley, II, Marine Parade, Dover. 166, Piccadilly. HAROLD E. PERRIN, Secretary. ® ® E. H. EWEN'S CROSS-CHANNEL FLIGHT. TIMES were when aeroplanes, to be supplied from the Continent and delivered in London, were stowed in mammoth cases and conveyed by train, by boat, and by horse vehicle to their destination, very often getting most unaccountably lost or bent in the process. Nowadays, when quick and sure delivery is required, it is nothing out of the way to fly them over to their very hangar's door. Ewen's flight on his newly acquired Caudron monoplane from Crotoy to Chatham was an illustration of this, although unfortunately he was prevented from completing the flight by a black fog. It was for no cross-Channel distinction that he started on his monoplane for London, although, if successful, he knew he would earn it. It was simply that he had bought a machine at Crotoy and wanted to take it to his headquarters at liendon as quickly as he could and with as little expense as he need incur, that he flew it over. As for the machine itself, details can be gathered elsewhere in this issue. The machine was not completed until Wednesday last, and M soon as it had left the works, and had been tested in flight by M. Rene Caudron, Ewen installed himself in the pilot's seat to see what he could do on his new mount. Two practice flights he made on Wednesday, and a third on Thursday morning, during which nips he had accumulated sufficient confidence in its control to decide attempting the trip to London. Two and a-half hours before the start, M. Rene Caudron and Ewen's friend Ramsay set off in the former's car for Cap Grisnez, where Ewen had arranged to land preparatory to making across the Channel. During the necessary wait before the commencement of the flight, Ewen assures us he was most cordially entertained by the military pilots stationed at the ( .tmhon school. At 9.32, notwithstanding that the wind was registering 22 miles per "hour and showing prospects of increasing, with a slight mist driving up, he rose from the Crotoy aerodrome, quickly mounting to 2,000 ft, and got well away in the direction of Calais. With a following wind at that velocity, and with a machine whose natural flying speed is something over So miles an hour, Boulogne was very quickly reached. Here his real difficulties began, for as soon as the town hove in sight, fog banks were encountered, and as meanwhile he was being tossed about by the wind in none too comfortable a fashion, he confesses to having rather undesirable recollections of that period of the trip. Some time later, figuring that he should be near the point at which he had decided to land, he came down to about 300 feet. Here it was clear and he found himself over the sea with .the semaphore station and the formidable cliffs of Cap Grisnez beneath him. The curious air currents they set up gave him trouble, and after a busy minute or two he landed safely at 10.5, having covered some fifty miles in 33 minutes. Ewen's opinion of Cap Grisnez as a landing place, an opinion that will undoubtedly be useful to those pilots intending passing in that direction, is that it is unsafe to approach in anything of a wind at a less altitude than 2,000 feet. However, he was afforded a good reception, for it was the first time that an aeroplane had landed at that particular spot, although naturally many machines had passed overhead. He met his friends and had lunch with them. Towards half-past three the atmosphere cleared sufficiently to render the sea visible for some eight miles, and, hearing from Dover that the English coast was similarly fairly clear, a restart was decided upon. At 5.30 he took the machine up to 3,500 ft., and passed over the semaphore station in the Dover direction. Mid-channel reached, he ran into thick fog, and at the worst possible moment, his compass, borrowed in France, began "doing circles." Continuing on, the fog cleared somewhat, and he realised he was driving right out of his course, for the sun, instead of being to his left hand, was directly behind him. He changed his course and continued on, but it was some considerable time before he had the relief of sighting the English coast. The coast was struck a mile or two to the east of Dover, and being caught in a heavy gust and having his map blow away, he had to land where he fortun ately recovered the precious document. It was then getting too late in the evening to proceed, so a halt had to be called. Next morning a start was made under bad conditions at 6.30, and Chatham reached with little incident three-quarters of an hour later. Here rain, wind, and a black fog conspired together to bring the flight to an end, and as Ewen wanted the machine for Saturday's competitions at Hendon, and could not afford to wait the whim of the weather to complete the trip, he had to commit it to the care of the railway authorities. 420
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