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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0053.PDF
Flight, January 18, 1913. First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor: STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 212. (No. 3, Vol. V.)] JANUARY 18, 1913. ["Registered at the G.P.O.T ("Weekly, Price 3d. L as a Newspaper. J L Post Free, 3jd. 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 ... 15*. od. Abroad 20s. od. CONTENTS: Editorial Comment: Capitalists, Advance ! Negative Wing Tips for Stability Lieut. Parke's Notebook What has happened to the Report ? Men of Moment in the World of Flight : Claude Grahame-White ... Some Experiences of Flying in Central America. By G. M. Dyott Some Thoughts on Stability and Control. By A. E. Berriman The Collapse of Monoplane Wings. By L. Howard-Flanders Negative Wing Tips and Lateral Stability. By J. H. Hume Rothery The Thames Disaster ... Royal Aero Club. Official Notices From the British Flying Grounds From a Pilot's Notebook Eddies. By " Oiseau Bleu " Hydro-Aeroplanes. By V. E. Johnson, M.A Aeronautical Engines. By A. Graham Clark Foreign Aviation News Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, M.A Correspondence 53 54 ,6 56 55 58 61 63 6., 65 66 66 "9 70 T- K 7(< 78 80 EDITORIAL COMMENT. C 't l" t ^e wou^ draw our readers' attention to Advance \ a letter appearing under the pseudonym " A Believer in Aviation and in England " in our correspondence columns. While the writer of the letter in question desires to remain anonymous, we can at least assure our readers that it originates from a source that should command their respect, and that it presents a true version of the case we have no shadow of doubt. What our correspondent says in his letter is that unless the British section of the movement obtains adequate financial support very speedily, it is in danger of losing several of its best engineers, and that at a time when it most needs their experience and assistance. The really serious part of the situation, to our mind, is that disclosed by the letter in reference to the difficulty that some of the smaller manufacturers are experiencing in financing orders actually in hand. Such a state of affairs is a handicap indeed on British enterprise, and surely it ought not to continue. No one can doubt for a moment that aero planes must increase and multiply with immense rapidity in the near future; and if the year 1913 only evolves a marked advance in the safety of flying, we firmly believe that thereafter the development will outpace all previous records. It is, we are firmly convinced, on the safety of the art that most depends at the present time. Repeated accidents have tended to scare the public, and capital is perhaps more sensitive to a public scare than anything. Without doubt, flying must become less dramatic and more secure if the industry is to receive the financial encouragement that it so well deserves and is to establish itself on a firm footing as a regular and profitable business. In those days the capitalist will be sorry that he did not get in on the ground floor, and the large firms who then begin to think of opening an aviation department will cast their eyes round in vain for engineers with the experience of what not to do. Any day of the week there are always plenty of men with brilliant ideas who are willing to fill vacancies and turn out designs that will keep the factories of the world busy for ages on some thing new, but, as we have been at pains to explain in preceding articles, it is not the original chefd'eeuvre of the inventor that makes the money, except in so far as it serves as a model to be copied in quantity. There are at the present time several engineers of acknowledged experience in aeroplane design and con struction, and it is of first-class importance to England that they should remain in the industry. Their brains and experience, particularly the latter, represent an asset to the country that will be absolutely irreplaceable if they are forced to quit. Even now there are orders enough to justify capital being invested as a business venture quite apart from the question of speculation. The Govern ment is now definitely embarked on the maintenance of a Royal Flying Corps, and it must be self evident to any thinking person that every nation of consequence will of necessity have to keep its aerial army in a state of the highest efficiency. Aeroplanes will be wanted in increasing numbers, and, whether they are perfect or not as machines, they will have to be bought. So soon, however, as the death-roll becomes a less conspicuous feature of the movement, the mere utility of the flying machine will begin to assert itself as a vehicle of potential possibilities to commercial enter prise. We do not suggest that the commerce is likely to
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