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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0793.PDF
JULY 26, 1913. [/OGHTJ The Roved £Iero Clu of th& Uixited Kizxgdoi 3« OFFICIAL MOTICHS TO MEMBERS BEE Hydro-Aeroplane Race at Cowes. SIR THOMAS LIPTON has kindly presented to the Royal Aero Club a trophy of the value of one hundred guineas to be raced for at Cowes, on the Wednesday of Cowes week, viz. :—August 6th, 1913. The Royal Yacht Squadron, who have been communicated with on the matter, have suggested that the race should start after 4 p.m., by which time the Yacht Racing for the day would probably be over, thus allowing a large number of spectators to view the race. The race will be open to Hydro-aeroplanes, and will be over a course of about 60 miles in the vicinity of Cowes. The race will be flown on handicap, and entries must be sent to the Royal Aero Club on or before Saturday, August 2nd, 1913, accompanied by an Entrance Fee of one guinea. Daily Mail £5,000 Prize: Circuit of Great Britain. The Contest for the Daily Mail ^5,000 Prize will start from Southampton Water on Saturday, August 16th, 1913. The following entries have so far been received :— 1. T. O. M. Sop with 3. James Radley 2. S. F. Cody 4. "F. K. McClean Late entries can be made up to August 1st, 1913. The Royal Motor Yacht Club has kindly promised to extend Honorary Membership of their Club to all Members of the Royal Aero Club for that day. The Headquarters of the Royal Motor Yacht Club is the " Enchantress," which is moored in Southampton Water off Netley Hospital. It is proposed to start the race in close proximity to the " Enchantress." Members desirous of witnessing the start from the " Enchantress" are requested to communicate with the Secretary of the Royal Aero Club. It is hoped in the next issue to deal more fully with these arrangements. Competitions Committee. A meeting of the Competitions Committee was held on Monday, the 21st inst.,when there were present: Col. H. C. L. Holden, C.B., F.R.S., in the Chair, Mr. Griffith Brewer, Mr. Ernest C. Bucknall, Mr. G. B. Cockburn, Mr. Alec Ogilvie, and the Secretary. Gordon-Bennett Aviation Race, 1914.—The question of the minimum speed for this Contest was considered, and Mr. Griffith Brewer was authorised to lay the views of the Club before the Sub- Committee meeting in Paris on the 23rd inst. Daily Mail £5,000 Prize: Circuit of Great Britain.— The Secretary reported that the Admiralty had kindly offered the Club the use of their sheds at the Naval Air Station at Calshot Castle for the competing machines in this race. It was decided to accept this offer, and a unanimous vote of thanks was passed to the Admiralty for this generous assistance. Mr. G. B. Cockburn and Mr. Perrin were appointed to visit Southampton on Wednesday, the 23rd inst., with the officials of the Admiralty, to go into the necessary details. The question of the other Controls was also considered. Public Safety and Accidents Investiffation Committee. A meeting of the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee was held on Monday, the 21st inst., at 8.30 p.m., at the Royal Automobile Club (by kind permission), when there were present :—Col. H. C. L. Holden, C.B., F.R.S., in the Chair, Mr. A. E. Berriman, Eng. Lieut. E. F. Briggs, R.N., Mr. G. B. Cockburn, Mr. F. K. McClean, Mr. W. O. Manning, Mr. Alec Ogilvie, Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman, C.B., Major General R. M. Ruck, C.B., R.E., and the Secretary. Salisbury Plain Accident.—The Committee proceeded to enquire into the fatal accident to Major A. W. Hewetson, on a Bristol Monoplane, at Lark Hill, Salisbury Plain, on the 17th inst. The report of the Club's representatives, who were on the spot within a few hours of the occurrence, was received. This report included the evidence of eye-witnesses. The report of the Committee was drafted and ordered to be submitted to the Executive Committee at its meeting on the 29th inst. 166, Piccadilly, W. HAROLD E. PERRIN, Secretary. THE NAVY AND AVIATION. IN the course of the debate on the Navy Estimates in the House of Commons on Thursday of last week, Mr. A. Lee said that in the speech of the First Lord of the Admiralty, which was largely taken up with the question of the use of oil fuel, the subject of air defence was not touched on at all. That must be, he thought, largely because the right hon. gentleman recognised how unsatisfactory the position was. He did not know that the First Lord was altogether to blame. No doubt the right hon. gentleman was doing what he could. But the neglect of the Admiralty in the past of this great problem was unaccountable. He hoped the right hon. gentlemen would decide soon what aircraft were to be called. He would suggest that a Navy aeroplane might be called an airboat and a dirigible an airship. Mr. Churchill said they had decided to call naval hydro-aeroplanes seaplanes and the ordinary school-machine, the ordinary aeroplanes which they used, simply planes. Mr. Lee: The right hon. gentleman had promised 75 seaplanes and 75 pilots for the naval manoeuvres in July. Had he got them ? Mr. Churchill stated that he had the pilots, but that some of the machines had been delayed in delivery. Mr. Lee wished to know whether a really adequate supply of seaplanes were taking part in the naval manoeuvres, and he hoped that progress was being made with the chain of seaplane stations round the coast. The airship harbours were, however, much more important, and would cost very much more. The Admiralty should look ahead and make these airship harbours sufficiently large. In the provision of airships lamentably slow progress has been made. He was unwilling to believe that the reason for this which was given by the First Lord in March was the real reason, because it was so contrary to the spirit of the British Navy that an enterprise should be abandoned for two years in consequence of a single accident such as occurred in the case of the " Mayfly." He thought the real reason was the innate conservatism of the naval mind. At any rate, we had got to get on. These early failures and mistakes were inevitable. The right hon. gentleman had told them that it was only in the last twelve months that the Germans had begun to benefit from their many years of experiment. That was all the more reason why we should start ploughing the same long furrow without delay. The right hon. gentleman has stated that we wert to have long range airships of the largest type, but so far as they knew he had only proposed to import two foreign specimens for trial. The creation of an air fleet was one of the most urgent and vital needs of the Navy. He wished that the present naval manoeuvres were a test of what would happen in war if the " Blue " fleet was unprovided with aircraft while the " Red '' fleet had a proper complement of such craft. If such a test were carried out lessons would be learned which would bring home the necessity of providing adequate equipment in this respect. In regard to the questions of oil and air, the charge which could be brought against the board of Admiralty was that they had shown lack of foresight in not dealing with the matter early enough. Mr. Ramsay Macdonald: A good deal had been said about aircraft. On March 29th, 1912, a certain British airship building company issued a prospectus which said that the requirements of the British Empire ought to be much greater than those of other countries, and that it was estimated that within two years at least a thousand machines of all types would be required. What happened ? Shareholders invested on the strength of these promises, and within the next year or two if the ships were not required pressure would be brought to bear from one side of the House or the other, and explanations would be demanded. It was no longer a question of strategy, of Imperial need, or of necessity. It was a question of profit on the part of thousands of disappointed people. The Chairman of the firm, Admiral Sir E. R. Fremantle, patron of the Aerial League of the British Empire, and a member of the expert Advisory Committee of the Navy League, seconded a resolution at the annual meeting of the Navy League, declaring that the League should insist on immediate steps being taken by the Government in all conditions, and at any cost, to make adequate preparations for aerial defence. Mr. J. Pretyman said the First Lord must know that there was great and justifiable anxiety in the couitry as to the position which we now occupied in regard to aerial defence. We were considerably more behind in the matter of aerial equipment than we ever were in the matter of submarines. The vital question was not so much the actual possession of midlines as of practised crews to man them. 819
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