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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0487.PDF
Mr. S. F. Cody just after arrival at the Hendon Whltsun Meeting on his biplane, with fingers numbed with cold. Mr. Grahame'White is just explaining he also suffers from cold hands, but, needless to add, both know nothing about "cold feet." Oa the right, Mr. Cody in the seat of his machine just before starting a flight. In the final (6 laps), Cody flew by himself, as the Deperdussin •did not start. There was again a little dissatisfaction as regards the handicaps. After the race, Cody took Grahame-White up in the " Grasshopper " for a few circuits. Prensiell then went up on his 35-h.p. Anzani-Bleriot and Hubert took the old Farman in hand but could not get her to lift. Turner was also up with a passenger. It was then about 8 o'clock, and as Prensiell was passing No. 3 pylon, he suddenly dived from about 50 ft. The chassis struck the ground sideways, swinging the machine completely round, smashing the whole of the under part of the machine to matchwood' and hurling the engine fully four feet ahead. Prensiell was helped out of the fuselage and it was found that he had fractured his right leg, so he was removed home in a car. Examination of the machine showed that, as far as could be seen, the warping and rudder control seemed to be in good condition. This brought a rather eventful meeting to a close, and our readers with ourselves will wish most heartily both Mr. Ewen and Mr. Prensiell a speedy recovery. ® ® RECENT ® ® AIRSHIP WORK AT FARNBOROUGH. DURING the past two months a great deal of flying has been carried out at Farnborough with both " Beta " and " Gamma." The feature of the work has been the greatly increased use made of " Gamma " and the improvement in handling her both in the air and on the ground. A large number of alterations have been carried out since the ripping experiment last autumn. The main framework appears to be entirely new, and apparently is of much greater section and strength than before. A pair of wooden skids have been placed under the engines and compartments for the crew, thus raising the floor some two feet off the ground. This has enabled the designers to place the propeller shafts lower and to fix the engines in the centre of the frame instead of on the top as formerly was the case. The only projections now above the framework are the radiator and the heads of the crew. The engines, which can be clearly seen inside the framework from outside, are of the four-cylinder horizontally-opposed type, and •each drives one propeller ; and there is, apparently, no coupling between them ; at any rate some weeks ago the ship landed with only one propeller revolving. The rudder is now balanced, instead of the rather large unbalanced one in use before. The whole of the frame from the engine to the stern is cased in with fabric, and this appears to have had a remarkable steadying • effect on the flight of the ship; pitching and rolling is far less noticeable than it used to be, even in gusty weather. On several of the earlier trips this year it was remarked that the ship sometimes landed with the envelope extremely empty and flabby; this would point to either defective valves or to a lack of power in the fan driving the air into the ballonets. Whatever it was the fault appears now to have been remedied. A very fine flight was carried out last week on Wednesday. A very gusty wind was blowing on the ground from the west averaging probably 18 miles per hour, with gusts up to 25 miles or more ; higher up the clouds .ndicated that a small gale was blowing. " Gamma" was taken out of the shed into the Royal Aircraft Factory enclosure, a grass covered space about 150 yards by 100 yards, with buildings some 90 ft. high on the west, 70 ft. high on the east, 40 ft. trees on the north, and a spiky railing on the south. The ship ascended from this confined space about 7 p.m. with a crew of four on board ; Lieut. Waterlow, pilot in charge, Capt. Maitland steering, a N.C.O. mechanic in charge of the engines, and Capt. Lefroy (of the Wireless Company, R.E.) handling the wireless apparatus. A flight of about twenty minutes was made, of which two minutes was occupied by the return journey with the wind. During the flight the stability and steadiness of the ship was most remarkable, an excellent straight course was maintained and a uniform elevation which appeared to be something under 500 feet. Mr. de Havilland made a remarkable flight in the factory machine about this time, and the behaviour of the two craft was in great contrast, the big one so steady and the little one so buffeted by the wind. The aeroplane made a faultless and thrilling landing on the open common, the airship landed successfully in the confined space of the factory enclosure, where it was subjected to a variety of eddies and cross winds coming round the high buildings until right down on the ground. Between 20 and 30 men sufficed for the landing operations, which were witnessed by a large crowd. A night trip was to have been carried out last week, but the heavy wind and continual rain made it out of the question. It is getting quite common now to see the airship out flying while all the aeroplane sheds are fast closed. Further mooring trials at the mast have been carried out with " Beta," apparently with success. Lieut. Usborne, R.N., who was associated with the Naval airship at Barrow last year, is down here, and has been up as a passenger in both " Beta " and " Gamma." Altogether airship work is looking up considerably and very practical results should be anticipated at the manoeuvres next autumn. PTERODACTYL. 487 C 2
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