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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 1013.PDF
Flight, November 9, 1912. ^ f First Aero Weekly in the World. A Journal devoted to the Interest*, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM No. 202. (No. 45, Vol. IV.)] NOVEMBER 9, 1912. [Registered at the O.P.O.l as a Newspaper. J fWeekly, Prio« 3d L PostFree, 3W. Flight. Editorial Office: 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams: Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1828. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... 15J. ad. Abroad aor. ad. CONTENTS: Editorial Comment ; The Model Aeroplane and its Place in the Movement Men of Moment in the World of Flight: Brig.-Gen. D. C. B. Henderson, B.S.O., C.B., Director of Military Training. Royal Flying Corps ... Hendon First November Meeting Aviation in India. By Ernest Esdaile The Paris Aero Salon Royal Aero Club. Official Notices British Notes of the Week From the British Flying Grounds The N.E.C. Aero Engine Foreign Aviation News Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, M.A Kite and Model Aeroplane Association Correspondence 1013 1015 iox6 1018 roai 1029 io?9 1030 io34 1036 1037 1038 1039 EDITOEUAK* COMMEHT. The Model Aeroplane and its Place in the Movement. In last week's issue of FLIGHT we made brief Editorial reference to the Royal Aero Club's generous offer of prizes to the model section in connection with the Aero Show to be held in February next. It has since occurred to us that the whole subject of the model aeroplane and its development is one that deserves a great deal more attention than is usually bestowed upon it. Not that this idea is one that is new to us—there is earnest of the serious way in which we regard the model in the amount of space we have always devoted to it in FLIGHT and the constant endeavours we have always made to encourage the model movement. There is, however, much more to be said for the model than we ourselves and others interested in the development of aviation have hitherto committed editorially to cold print, whatever we and they may have thought. To begin with, the model aeroplane is emerging rapidly from the stage of the "flying-stick," even if it is not possible to say that it has already left that quite behind. The "flying-stick," as it has been aptly termed, had its uses, even though at its very best it was nothing but a toy. It served to create what we may term a preliminary interest in the problems of mechanical flight in the minds of those who used it merely as an end to simple amusement. Man is essentially a competitive animal, and the " flying-stick " undoubtedly led to the evolution of something better than the simplest form of model flying machine, because it was inevitable, once it had become popular, that its individual users should be impressed with the idea that they must go one better than their neighbours. Thus it started a line of investigation which necessarily resulted in improvement, crude at first, but in its later stages partaking quite of a scientific nature. It led people to realise that the problems of flight were, within reasonable limits, precisely identical whether the machine was a full-powered aeroplane or merely a model driven by an elastic motor ; that the same forces were at work in both cases ; and that if the model was to succeed beyond the limitations possible to the flying-stick, its design must be approached with almost the same care and attention as that of the aeroplane itself. This, we quite admit, is a little exaggerated as a statement of the case, but not so much so as the casual thinker might assume. However, that perhaps may be allowed to pass, inasmuch as it is necessary to thus slightly exaggerate in order that the full significance of the model in its bearing on full-sized design may be fully appreciated. It will scarcely be gainsaid that the model in its latest and most scientific form is really and truly an aeroplane in miniature. Now all this evolution could not obviously have taken place unless those engaged upon the develop ment of the model had been really interested in dynamic flight and its problems. Many, no doubt, fly model machines purely for pastime, but we cannot help thinking that the majority of the adherents of the model section have a deeper interest than that of mere amusement. From that point of view alone the model is an exceedingly valuable adjunct to flight. Times almost without number we have insisted in these columns that it is essential to us as a nation that the man in the street should be educated up to a knowledge of the powers and possibilities of the aeroplane in order that he may be able to take an intelligent view of its bearing upon the problems of national defence. It would be a long road to travel if we had to trust to his individual first-hand acquaintance with actual man-flight, and it is here that we think the scientifically-constructed model must have some little educational value in preparing him for an understanding of the larger aspects of actual flight. True, it may not go very far in this direction, but we do think it has at least something to say.
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