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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0144.PDF
I/IIGHTI FEBRUARY 8, 1913. WHAT THERE WILL BE TO SEE AT<S IN many ways the Fourth International Aero Show, which will open at Olympia on Friday next week, will constitute a notable landmark in the history of British aviation. Naturally, the keynote of the exhibition will be Progress, and progress of a very marked degree. Much has been achieved during the past twelve months, as the records which have appeared from time to time in the pages of FLIGHT bear eloquent witness, but the comparative interest will undoubtedly be even greater than would appear to the casual thinker, inasmuch as it is not the result of a year's work which will be manifested in design, but of two years—the interval which has elapsed since last an Aero Show was held at Olympia. Another point of interest will lie in the fact that, whereas at former Shows the dirigible almost dominated the exhibition—in point of numbers the aeroplane was first, of course, but four or five dirigibles naturally bulk larger in the eye of the spectator than twenty aeroplanes—on this occasion the heavier-than-air craft have it all their own way, for, save the Army dirigible Delta, there is not a gas-lifted craft in the building. This is a significant sign of the times, and one which we confess we do not view with a great deal of satisfaction, particularly in view of the enormous progress that is being made in dirigible design in Germany and France. However, the purpose of a Show report is to deal with things as they exist within the four walls of the exhibition building. The most gratifying feature of the Show is beyond question the manifestation of official interest in aviation afforded by the exhibit of the Royal Flying Corps. For our fighting services to actively interest themselves in a trade exhibition is unprecedented, so far as our recollection serves us, and must be regarded as the happiest of auguries for the future relations between the State and the industry. We trust we are not guilty of too much optimism in expressing this feeling, but whatever the ultimate result may prove to be we do think that the thought which prompted the official exhibit was an entirely happy one. In thus supporting the Show, our own War Office has followed the lead of France, whose War Department not only provided much of the interest which centred about the recent Aero Show in Paris, but proclaimed its interest from the house-tops—or, to be literal, from every second lamp-post in Paris. However, it matters little how the precedent came to be created. It has been so created, and we are correspondingly thankful. So far as the most noticeable trend of progress is concerned, this, as our readers will gather from the very full descriptions we shall give of the exhibits, will be found in connection with the hydro-aeroplane—a clumsy nomenclature, but the best we have at the moment. Whereas this type of craft had scarcely been evolved at all at the time of the last Aero Show in London, there will be seen next week at least four of these interesting machines, and possibly It would be going too far to say that this type of machine will be the leading one of the future, but there is more. little doubt but that, so far as we as a sea-girt nation are concerned, it is a type to whose development a great deal of attention must and will be paid. At the moment it is the subject of careful experiment at the hands of several of our own leading constructors, while it is by no means being neglected either in France or Germany. Finally, in scientific model work there will be shown a great advance over the crudities of design which were the staple of this side of the aerial science two years ago, and for this we are inclined to take some amount of credit to ourselves. It is a branch in which we have the most profound belief as a stepping-stone to higher things, and one which we shall continue to encourage by all the means in our power. THE MACHINES. The War Office Exhibit. On the space retained for the War Office will be staged two biplanes, a "BE 2" and "a Cody," while suspended from the roof of Olympia will be the Army dirigible "Delta." Of the "BE 2," it may be said that it is one of the two or three most successful machines constructed, which, after all, it is only natural to expect, since the Royal Aircraft Factory have facilities for passenger, ascended to 9,500 ft. over Salisbury Plain on August 12th last. The Cody biplane shown will be the identical machine on which, fitted with a 120-h.p. Austro-Daimler motor, Mr. S. F. Cody won "Flight " Copyright. The "BE 2" British Army biplane. experimenting with devices to be embodied in standard machines such as perhaps no private firm of aeroplane builders possesses. A fair number of these machines are at present in use in the service of the country, and shortly they will be supplemented by many more of the same design that have been ordered from various British firms. The "BE 2," it may be recalled, holds the British height record, obtained when Mr. G. de Havilland, with Major Sykes as " Flight" Copyright. The 120-h.p. Cody biplane. the British Military Aeroplane trials on Salisbury Plain in August, 1912. A machine of unusual interest, for it was with the self-same biplane that Mr. S. F. Cody won the two Michelin competitions of 1911, completed the Daily Mail circuit of Britain, did command flights before the King, and won the speed Michelin of 1912. Altogether, this historic biplane has covered more than 7,000 miles in the air. The Royal Aero Club of the U.K. The exhibit shown directly under the aegis of the Club will consist mainly of models, for the encouragement of which branch of the industry the Club has offered prizes. Since the models will I44
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