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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0088.PDF
(/yciHfj BRIGHTON-SHOREHAM QUITE a cheery party assembled at Mr. Harry Preston's popular hotel at Brighton—the " Royal York "—on Saturday evening last, to celebrate the completion of the Brighton-Shoreham Aero Club's successful first year of working, and to provide a hearty send-off to its second. Over fifty guests >at down to an excellent repast, such as the management of the " Royal York " always know how to provide. The chairman of the evening was Mr. Thomas Blair, who took the place of Viscount Curzon, the president of the B.-S. Aero Club. The latter had, unfortunately, to be absent, by reason of political duties. General Arbuthnot, C.B., was also unable to be present, as he had suffered injury in a taxi-cab accident; Colonel Massy was present in his stead. Other notable guests were Sir Theodore and Lady Angier, Mr. Roger Wallace, K.C., and the Mayor and Mayoress of Hove. After the loyal toasts had been given by the Chairman, the toast of " The Navy, Army, and Reserve Forces " was proposed by Sir Theodore V. Angier, in a stirring little speech, in which he drew attention most forcefully to the state in which the country found itself at the present time, and expressed the opinion that our forces were too much subservient to our system of party politics. Col. Massy responded in just the manner that would naturally be expected of one who is such an enthusiast for aviation—and an Irishman withal. In a neatly turned speech he pointed out that, in view of the fact that Germany possessed airships that were capable of maintaining flight for 1,000 miles, carrying a crew of 21 men, it behoved our Government to adequately tackle the matter of aerial defence at once. He drew attention to the quantity of explosives these German craft could carry. Col. Massy then referred to the efforts of the Aerial League to carry to a successful conclusion their Million Shilling Fund. Of the Mayors who had promised to help, he said, the Mayor of I love was one, and besides he had sent a considerable contribution towards the fund. Mr. Roger Wallace, the former chairman of the Royal Aero Club, agreed that the cause of aviation in this country would receive a gTeat impetus if men and women would only take to heart how necessary it was as a part of our system of national defence. Men were giving their lives to the cause of the science, and making great sacrifices on behalf of their country's welfare. ' Mr. Daniel Hill, congratulating the Brighton-Shoreham Aero Club on the good work they had done during their first year, raised his glass to the prosperity of the Club. Mr. G. Arthur Wingfield, the Chairman of the Club Committee, responded. He paid a tribute to the hard work put in by Mr. Henry Gonne, the Club's indefatigable Secretary. It was due largely to his efforts that the Club had made the good progress it had. Despite the bad weather of the past year they had enrolled ® ® QUESTIONS IN PARLIAMENT. IN the House of Commons on the 14th inst., Mr. Toynson-Hicks asked the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the fact that an aeroplane flown by one pilot may be slightly damaged in landing, so that it collapses when flown by another pilot, it is advisable that officers of the Royal Flying Corps, other than those at the Central Flying School, should, in turn, fly one and the same machine ; and whether he will consider the desirability of arranging that each officer shall have a machine allotted specially to him, for the welfare of which he alone is responsible. Col. Seely replied : It is the general custom in the corps for an officer to fly the same machine, but it is not considered advisable to issue any hard and fast rule on the subject. Mr. Joynson-Hicks also asked how many officers of the corps who are classed as " trained military aviators," have had no oppor tunities of practising during the past six weeks, owing to the fact that the machines belonging to the military wing have been in use for the purpose of training officers recently appointed to the corps ; and whether a number of these recently appointed officers have been appointed without having passed their course at the Central Flying School. Col. Seely: The answer to the first part of the question is, None. With regard to the second part, no officers have been recently appointed to the military wing without having graduated at the Central Flying School, but a number of officers who have been selected for the Royal Flying Corps, and on probation, are doing their course with the military wing instead of at the Central Flying School. These officers will go to the Central Flying School in order to graduate, and will not be appointed finally until they have so graduated. This has been done in order to obtain the number of trained officers we require as expeditiously as possible. JANUARY 25, 1913. AERO CLUB DINNER. 200 members, and as a member has the right of conferring on two friends all the rights of membership, the club's roll might be said to consist of 600 members. They had now a club pavilion on the ground, and tennis courts and a croquet lawn were being prepared. Further they had assisted Messrs. A. V. Roe and Co. in establishing a flying school at their aerodrome, and with the pupils that were enrolled there was little doubt of a great deal of flying being done during 1913. Twelve first-class aviators had visited the club grounds, but a their movements were so uncertain it was unfortunate that nothing of the nature of a competition could have been arranged. He spoke of the attitude of the Government towards aviation. He thought that the slowness of advancement of aviation in this country was more due to the lack of interest among the people than to the authorities. Look, he said, at the initiative of the people of Germany, France, and Italy, who had subscribed hundreds of thousands of pounds to be devoted towards the establishment of thorough systems of aerial defence. Even little Italy had raised ,£200,000. And where were we in England? Hopelessly behind, in our usual apathetic state. Apathy, he said, is one of the most infectious diseases. They had formed the club to help cure that disease, and had had to offer unusual benefits to members to induce them to join. Mr. Wingfield mentioned that he had been told by an official of the War Office, and he hoped he was not divulging an official secret, that he regarded the club ground, from the point of view of coast defence, as the best yet existent in Britain. He had pleasure in stating that H.M. Secretary of State had executed an agreement under which the War Office have agreed to pay for the use of the aero drome. Paying a tribute to the young heroes of the air, he expressed the thanks of the committee to the eminent gentlemen who had con sented to act as president and vice-presidents of the club, to the officials for the excellent manner in which the business of the year had been conducted, and to Mr. Harry Preston for his help in the organisation of the dinner. "The Visitors" was proposed by the Mayor o* Hove and responded to by Mrs. W. M. Murison in a humorous speech. Mr. Roger Wallace, K.C., proposed " The Chairman " in a few words, and the proceedings came to a close. A suggestion was made afterwards, backed by Col. Massy, that the club should send a telegram to Lord Northcliffe, the proprietor of the Daily Mail and other newspapers of equal importance, thanking him for the services and support he had rendered to aviation, and expressing a hope that he would, in the near future, through his influential newspaper organisation, promote a national fund to be devoted towards the provision of an adequate British air force. The telegram was forwarded by the club secretary with general approval. ® ® STABILITY DEVICES. ON Wednesday evening next, January 29th, Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman will read a paper on Stability Devices before the Aeronautical Society. The meeting will be held at the Royal United Service Institution at 8.30 p.m. The following is a synopsis of the paper :— 1. Devices for safety, for maintenance of path, and for steadiness of view platform. 2. The shape of streams in eddying air; the size of gusts ; the neglect of vertical gusts. 3. The upper and lower limits of safe spaed devices for main taining the safe speed: the Wright, the Doutre, the Vee, the Stype aeroplanes, speed constancy assisted by screw propulsion, the safety of multiblade propellers, speed maintained by engine control. 4. The symmetrica] aeroplane : Hulbert's device; Gregory's device to balance wing resistances in spite of warping the flaps ; the work of giving rotational acceleration to the aeroplane. 5. Devices for maintaining horizontality : lowering the centre of gravity, pendulum devices ; the pendulum bob restrained by a mimic of the thrust force and of the drag ; pendula for warping ; Gawlett's device ; Schmitt's device. 6. Horizontality while changing course and Dulier's observations on certain pigeons. Horizontality sought by equalising wing pressures, springy wing ribs, Ramel and Bille's device, cross connecting the warps. Equalised wing pressures render the dihedral angle ineffective. Devices to cancel the disturbances due to horizontal side gusts usually aggravate the effect of side slips. 7. Gyroscopes. 8. Fins. 9. General devices. 88
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