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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0539.PDF
JUNE 15, 1912. (/j]GHf) THE KING AND AVIATION. RANELAGH CLUB, on the afternoon of last Tuesday, was the setting for another demonstration of the practical interest that His Majesty King Qeorge V is graciously taking in the progress of aviation. There, after a display of piloting worthy of his reputation of being one of the most popular of our British pilots, Gustav Hamel was presented to the King by Sir Sidney Greville. It had been arranged that Hamel, flying his new 70-h.p. two-seater Bleriot monoplane, with Capt. Mark Kerr, R.N., as passenger, should arrive on the famous polo ground at a quarter to five. He kept well to schedule time, for he came in sight at the moment when Their Majesties and Princess Mary drove into the club grounds in the Royal car. Hamel appeared at about 3,000 ft. up. Ten minutes had elapsed since his start from Ilendon. Landing there on the polo grounds is not an exceptionally easy matter at any time, for trees and buildings are numerous, the turf is very smooth and " fast," and the two greens convenient for landing are terminated by, in the case of the first green, a steep bank some 8 ft. in height, and in the case of the second a neat little hangar that was erected some two years ago to accommodate Grahame-White's machine when he was giving his splendid exhibitions there. The wind, too, as on Tuesday last, was also to be reckoned with. Hamel made a wide circuit over Barnes Common, returned and flew over the Club grounds, manoeuvred at the far <md in preparation for alighting, and landed neatly. Before the machine came to rest both Hamel and his passenger were standing up in the machine changing their flying kit for something more suitable to the environment at Ranelagh. His Majesty had meanwhile proceeded to the Royal pavilion by the main polo ground, where the finals for the Aldershot day contests were in progress. Soon after six o'clock, the ground was cleared and Hamel, rising from the adjacent green, interested the King by a series of spectacular evolutions. For fifteen minutes he held the spectators spellbound, then alighted, touching ground just in front of the Royal pavilion and coming to rest further on. He was summoned by the King, who congratulated him and conversed with him for some few minutes on matters aeronautic. ® ® ® ® ASM J£I,OOO for an aviator ! It sounds rather a lot of money to pay for a pilot these days, but, nevertheless, that was the fee that Mr. H. Barlow, the donor of the cash prizes in connection with the Aerial Derby, paid the Grahame-White Aviation Co. for the release of that excellent pilot, B. C. Hucks, from his six months' contract with them. Evidently Mr. Barlow is not going to let any doubt exist about his taking up aviation. He has bought over from Grahame-White his 70-h.p. two-seater Nieuport and the 50-h.p. Gnome "Baby." Besides that he recently went to Paris with I lucks and gave an order for a new two-seater Bleriot. Then there may be another monoplane coming along to take the engine from the " Baby." • » They reckon on staying here in England for the rest of the flying season to pick up their share of any piizes going and then to ship the whole lot to Australia. Certainly, with such a stud of machines and such a pilot as Hucks, there ought to be somethin' doin'. quite a Gnome look about it, and the workmanship looks lo be quite up to Gnome standard, not at all a bad standard to go by. Although like that engine, in being of the radial seven-cylinder variety, it differs by not being a rotary, and by having a geared down drive. It is designed to give 60-h.p. at a normal speed of 1,200 revs, per minute. One great point it has—that it fits standard Gnome mountings. Altogether it looks like a particularly good job. Let us hope it will more than fulfil its present great promise of success—for we should all dearly love to see less foreign engines about and more Isaacsons, Greens, N.E.C.s, A.B.C.s, and Dormans. It is quite a good thing for aviation that individual members of the Commons should interest themselves in aviation as Mr. H. C. Lane-Fox, M.P. for the West Riding of Yorkshire, has been doing at Salisbury quite recently. There he has been flying with Gordon England on Bristol planes, and has expressed himself as not only highly delighted with his experience, but as considerably enlightened as to the value of an aeroplane for military use. A friend of mine who has just returned from a visit to some of the larger French flying grounds tells that the Deutsch de la Meurthe Bleriot berline is flying quite strongly at Etampes. It, perhaps, will be remembered that just about the time when the show was being held in Paris, sundry rumours were flying around that the machine flew all right with the pilot alone on board but couldn't for the life of it lift one passenger let alone four. Whether the rumour was true or not I shouldn't like to say. any rate it is doing good stunts now. At The 100-h.p. Gnome, with which it was originally equipped, has been replaced, apparently, by one of 140-h.p. Now the machine goes out in all winds, not seeming to mind them a bit. Besides it has been carrying about 300 kilos, of lead ballast. Cody, I hear, is building a monoplane, after having championed the cause of the biplane for so long. He is, nevertheless, still remaining true to his thirst for power, for he is installing an Austro- Daimler motor of 125-h.p., driving a Chauviere propeller, geared down 50 per cent. The body, in section, is to be star-shaped, a form of design on which the shape of other sections of the machine are being based. We are all awaiting further news with considerable interest. + • • That reminds me that another of our well-known constructors is after much higher power. He was not long ago looking out for a pair of 250-h.p. engines to stick on a hydro-aeroplane. I wonder if he has hit on them yet. Isaacson has turned out a totally new aero engine. In its appear ance it is quite different from his last type. The present one has It seems that the new Ilanriot monoplanes are getting right ahead down Kheims way. They have now six different types of the new machine flying, and one extra, an all-metal monoplane, is in preparation. The latest 'bus to leave the works is a three-seater, equipped with one of the new 12 litre 80-h.p. Gnome engines. On it Bielovucie carried out very promising tests as recently as Thursday week, rising to 1,200 ft. in 4J mins., and that with an extra load on board of nearly 700 lbs. in the form of two passengers and ballast. From the photographs I have seen of this new machine the cockpit appears to be exceptionally roomy, and certainly looks like being able to accommodate five including the pilot. Mr. Maurice Ducrocq, their concessionaire over here in England, figures on entering two of these new three-seaters for the military trials. They will probably have Gnome enginesof 100-h.p. in place of the new 80-h.p. that is being used at Kheims. Sippe will undoubtedly pilot one, and there is quite a chance of Bielovucie coming over to fly the other. Bielovucie, or " Bielo," as he is affectionately known in French flying circles, was an old Voisin man, first coming into prominence by virtue of his long flight between Paris and Bordeaux. From a biplane he was converted to the mono., and has since been doing a lot of work on the Deperdussin. Now he is with Hanriots, and up to the present he is the only one that has flown the new three-seater. His style of flying, so I am told, is very reminiscent of Weymann, for he gets up to all the little tricks of that master pilot and includes just a few of his own invention. In trying out a new machine, he does not content himself with straight ahead flying. He does Dutch rolls and switchbacks and bangs the machine about in the air a bit, just to see that everything is all there. " OISEAU BLEU." 539
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