FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0740.PDF
ARMCHAIR 1 By THE Muddled Administration- I AM never at a loss for something to reflect upon when I think of the Aerial Navigation Act of 1913. I have spoken to one or two French pilots whom I happen to know, and have tried to find out from them what our friends in aeronautical circles over the " ditch " think of the whole affair, and so far as I can gather they don't think much about it at all, except to treat it as a big joke. I am quite sure very few of them really know where they may come, and where they may not, and when they want to fly into England, they simply sail over, and come in just where it happens to suit them, which is, perhaps, the best thing to do under the circumstances, as avoiding having to come over here and study the geography of our land before making a flight. What I am afraid of is that some day one of them will really get fined pretty heavily, as a reminder to the others that, in this country, when we make laws they must be obeyed, at any rate up to the time when, realising the silliness of them, we set about altering them. But the visitor to our shores has got little to grumble about, as up to now they have all been treated quite nicely. A little while ago, when Brindejonc came over, he was treated at Bow Street to a little fatherly advice, and told not to do it again, or to be more careful in future, or something of that sort, and now Levasseur has simply blundered in and flown, not over one pro hibited area but over about all we have, in that quarter at any rate. Starting from Meulan, on the Seine, they—he and his passenger—left the French coast at Calais, and taking the long route, flew to Margate and thence to Blackwall, meanwhile passing over all the places they ought not to have done. Arriving at Blackwall they, no doubt, thought how kind the English people were, as the River Police kindly helped them to moor their Nieuport to the police jetty, and took charge of it till after the inevitable appearance at Bow Street, with the inevitable "don't do it again " lecture. The real point is that whilst all this nonsense is going on—to the great joy of our cross- Channel friends—the English industry of waterplane building is being seriously discouraged, although all will admit this is England's most serious thought in the way of aerial defence. The act was designed to protect England from the espionage of foreign airmen; what it really does is to forgive the foreigner, and prevent Englishmen from flying over their own waters. The Daily Mail .£5,000 Round Britain race is due to start on August 16th, but up to now the War Office has not decided as to whether it will allow Southampton Water to be the starting place. Perhaps after somebody or other has visited the spot in the " Enchantress," which has been somewhat neglected lately, we shall get per mission all right, but these things take time—and tape. I do hope that those who are building waterplanes in anticipation of the race, won't find, when finished, that 'hey have no water to place them on, and that they will be giad to sell them cheap to those that have, because that would not look at all well. An organised slump in waterplanes is quite a different thing 'from a slump in wheat. The Problem Solved. I see a Mr. Parsons, of Hull, claims to have solved the problem of aerial navigation, according to the Eastern •'<'<"• A aw Surely we live in a great age, and in one that is full of possibilities and surprises, not to say lEFILECTHONS. DREAMER. rude awakenings. I had thought when I read the other day that Brindejonc had returned to Paris after flying some three thousand miles over practically all the countries of the north-west of Europe, that aerial navigation had been solved before to some extent. Now I am not going to say anything against Mr. Parsons or his invention. Time was, when the world at large thought the late Wilbur Wright was a crank, later the world learnt to appreciate him at his true worth. So Mr. Parsons may have some thing up his sleeve of great importance for all I know to the contrary which, although not being quite able to claim to have completely solved the problem of aerial navigation, may yet be something of importance to the art. He says, according to the paper, that he pursued his studies by watching the crow fly. Now here at least he had a great master. The crow is a most wonderful bird, and if he can make his " combination of ornithoptic and hydro principles" perform anything approaching the slow and easy, though wonderfully accurate flying of these birds, he is on a good thing. " Without going too closely into the matter " (sounds further North than Hull) Mr. Parsons puts it that " by employing the above principles he would get a machine that would rise vertically from the ground, and descend the same way." The latter part of the problem is the one I should advise Mr. Parsons to give most thought to at the present moment. I take it that he means descends vertically, with all due decorum. I have seen one or two machines after this type, that descended vertically all right, but they have mostly been in such a hurry to show off their abilities in this direction, that the exhibition became unseemly. I see Mr. Parsons says he has " been experimenting for some years," and that he "has come to the con clusion that the whole of the plane principle is unstable." Now, reading between the lines, I can plainly see that he is quite aware that navigation, as regards a machine in the air, does not mean the going up and coming down, vertically or otherwise, but being able to really navigate the vessel to places where he wishes to go, and in saying that planes are unstable, there is the hint that he intends to substitute something to replace these, up to now, very necessary adjuncts to a flying machine. To build a machine that will rise vertically into the air is a reasonable proposition, to say nothing of coming down again in the same manner, but to be able to remain aloft and steer a set course without planes of some description, is quite another matter. However, no doubt this is a part of the machine which Mr. Parsons does not wish us " to look too closely into," so I can only hope that some day I may have the pleasure of seeing it fly, and do all that the inventor thinks that it will do, when I shall have much pleasure in raising my hat to a great man and a wonderful machine. The Ubiquitous Aeroplane. It is not often that I read the articles in the daily papers describing the dress worn by the bride in the society weddings that frequently take place in this little town of ours. The other day, however, my eye was caught and held by an announcement that the bride " wore a beautiful dress of aeroplane silk." I believe the description of brides' dresses is confined to the lady journalist, for the simple fact that poor man would get into a most hopeless muddle were he to try to describe to lady readers exactly how the bride was clothed. Personally I know I should make a bash of it,
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
