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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 1217.PDF
Flight, December 28, 1912. First Aero Weekly in the World. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Profress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 209. (No. 68. Vol. IV.)] DECEMBER 28, 1912. ("Registered at the G.P.O. L u ft Newspaper. rroekly. Prion 8d. Post Free. Sid. Editorial Office: 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams: Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1828. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... 15s. od. Abroad 70s. od. CONTENTS: Editorial Comment: The Progress of Flight in 1912 The Year in Detail General Advancement The Government Attitude Men of Moment in the World of Flight: Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman, Superintendent Royal Aircraft Factory The Wembley Disaster Some German Machines. By " G. B." The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom. From the British Flying Grounds Foreign Aviation News Testing a 100-h.p. Monoplane. By Sidney V. Sippe.. From the Four Winds Models Correspondence Official Notices ... I'AliK X2O0. I-'i jQ 1214 I .'If. 1211 1217 I2l8 1231 1223 1226 1227 1228 I230 '233 OMTOBUAL COMMENT. The Progress of Flight in 1912. Year by year the task of reviewing the progress of aviation becomes more and more difficult, not from want of the necessary material to make a story, but because there is so much doing that the sifting process becomes so intensely difficult that the historian is almost tempted to give up his work in sheer despair of his ability to preserve the due proportion of things. Matters that a year ago would have been regarded as of primary importance have, by the end of December, dropped to the level of the common-place. A very little time ago a hundred miles' cross-country flight would have deserved a special paragraph all to itself in such a review as we are accustomed to give of the doings of the year. Now the mention of one of three times that distance would almost cause the critical to raise their eyebrows in astonishment that we should think it of any importance. Naturally this is all to the good of the movement, inasmuch as it predicates extra ordinary progress in design and accomplishment, and we trust that for many years to come we may be able to sit down to our self-imposed task with this same sense of the impossibility of doing adequate justice to the progress of the year. Taken all round, the year 1912 has been a notable one in the aviation world, and much progress has been made in every direction, and it may be said, without fear of contradiction, that constructionally the aeroplane has made enormous advances. That is fully indicated by the records of flight achieved, not only in respect of duration records, but of useful work accomplished through the medium of the aeroplane and the dirigible, all of which will fall to be noted later on. Once again we find our task tinged with sadness, for although we, in common with all connected with or interested in the great aviation movement, must realise that for years to come the air must take its toll of human victims, and though we know that those who have sacrificed themselves on what they conceive to be the altar of duty, we should be something less than human did we not feel a sense of personal loss when we cast back over the history of the year and think of those who have gone from among us. And 1912 has been singularly unkind to the British section of the movement. It is true that we have not been called upon to pay the heavy price that has been exacted from our friends on the other side of the Channel, but nevertheless, our death roll has been a heavy enough one, and accident has removed some of our most brilliant flyers—but it must be that we pay the price of progress, and we have at least this consolation that those who have paid it, even at the cost of life, would not have us mourn unduly for them. During the year many notable things have happened with regard to military aviation, both at home and abroad. Unfortunately, it has to be recoroed that even now we do not in this country appear to recognise the essential need that is upon us to put our aerial house in order lest untoward things should happen to us. Much good missionary work has been done, and in this con nection we should be doing less than justice did we not refer in passing to the public spirit manifested by Lord Northcliffe and his colleagues of the Daily Mail, who have devoted much money and energy to the endeavour to bring home to the nation the need for an adequate aerial fleet. The thanks of the whole community in general and of those more intimately identified with the movement in particular are due to them for their efforts. Taking the year month by month, as has Year ]°een our custom °f °^» January was an in Detail, exceedingly quiet month. Bad weather prevailed during the whole month and consequently no notable flights or achievements were chronicled either at home or abroad. During February, B 2
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