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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0894.PDF
(70 GHT AUGUST 23, 1913. industry. Of that excellent spirit we have had out standing illustrations during the past week in connection with the Daily Mail Race. First, there was the matter of Mr. Hawker's illness and the voluntary surrender of Messrs. Short of their call on the services of Mr. Pickles in order that the latter might continue the flight so auspiciously begun by the original pilot of the Sop- with machine. Not only did they relinquish their lien on Mr. Pickles' services, but Mr. Short and Mr. McClean actually went to considerable trouble to see that their own pilot got down to Yarmouth to con tinue the flight on the rival machine. Looked at from the sordid standpoint of mere commercialism, the failure of Mr. Hawker was a good thing for the others, since it gave them an excellent chance of getting things right and making their own start on something like level terms. But, rather than accept the advantage which the luck of the game had placed in their hands, they actually took all the trouble possible to negative it, and to give the advantage to their competitor. Doubtless the cynical person will say that it may be magnificent, but that it is not war. That may be true, but we prefer the magnificent in this case. Then, as is well known, Messrs. Short Bros, have had considerable difficulty in getting their Green engine to develop its full power. So great, indeed, that at the moment of writing it is not even certain that Mr. McClean will ibe able to make a start during the present week. Here the fates were playing into Mr. Sopwith's hands, and anyone with less of the feelings of the true sportsman would have been content to look on with grim amuse ment at the difficulties of his rivals. Not so in this case, however, for Mr. Sopwith at once came to the rescue with the offer of assistance in the shape of the special radiator which he had found to act best in conjunction with this type of motor. There is no need to utter platitudes in connection with these most pleasing incidents of the great race- in themselves. -the records are quite eloquent enough ® ® I C. PILOT-CONSTRUCTOR. We fear that some of our readers occasion- The Use ajjy fan to pay very much attention to the «Th s+rino- "details of what they read, because often we g" have letters that raise points directly answered in the articles to which they relate. Our article on the " Use of the String" is a case in point. We have had several letters from correspondents merely drawing attention to the possible adverse influence of the propeller draught. One correspondent in par ticular explains to us at some length the fact that a propeller draught exists when the machine is in flight. Now in the article itself we endeavoured to make it very clear that we dealt with this question of the use of a string on a tractor machine, and pointed out that Lieut. Briggs had informed us that his experiments with the string on a tractor had been very satisfactory. On the strength of that evidence we suggested that other pilots should investigate the matter for themselves. We, like the correspondents who have written to us, supposed that the propeller draught might vitiate the utility of the string on a tractor machine. It was solely for this reason that we delayed so long in writing about a subject that has always been very much to the fore in our mind, and we said so. It is also a matter for consideration that if the slip stream of a propeller is in the order of 20 per cent., the draught will only be 14 miles an hour greater than the relative wind over the rest of the machine when the machine is flying at 70 miles an hour. It is the veering of the 70-mile-an-hour relative wind that is the import ant matter, and it is, after all, quite reasonable to suppose that the string would be sensitive to its influence notwith standing the locally higher air-stream in which the string itself is flying. ® ® MR. COMPTON PATERSON, who has just founded a flying school for the instruction of officers and others at Kimberley, in South Africa, and whose portrait we publish this week, initiated himself into the mysteries of aviation in the early part of 1910. In that year he designed and constructed a biplane, somewhat on Curtiss lines, which he proceeded to test on the seashore at Fresjjfield, near Liverpool. Moreover, he was successful to the extent of flying straights of about half a mile after a very short practice, and rapidly became a proficient pilot of the machine, although he did not secure his certificate until December, 1910, mainly owing to the difficulty of having the qualifying flights witnessed by an official observer. The aerodrome at Freshfield was established by Compton Paterson, who afterwards came to London, and put in some time with the Grahame- White Aviation Co. at Hendon, before making arrange ments for a South African tour. It was in December, 1911, that he landed at Cape Town with one of his own biplanes fitted with a 50 h.p. Gnome. Flying demonstrations were given at Kenilworth race course, near Cape Town, and subsequently at the Green Point © ® An LCS. "Entente Cordlale" Race. IF any encouragement were needed for the flying of aeroplanes between the British and French capitals it would surely be provided by a prize of £700, which has been deposited with the Royal Aero Club by the International Correspondence Schools to be cycle track. These exhibitions extended through the Christmas holidays of that year. Among his experiences was a mishap which might have had very serious con sequences, the fabric on the tail of his machine bursting at an altitude of something like 40 ft. The machine did not immediately fall, but first climbed at an ever- increasing angle for another 20 ft., when it turned over and crashed to the ground upside down. The pilot escaped without serious injury, and in a few weeks was at work repairing the wreck. From Cape Town, Paterson went to Johannesburg, where he flew during February and March of 1911, and Kimberley was visited in April. So successful was the general effect of his work, that the Cape Town Corporation decided to ask him to give a hydro-aeroplane demonstra tion, for which purpose Paterson had to design and have suitable floats made locally. As a result of this tour, the people of South Africa have been fairly well stirred up to a realisation of the possibilities of the aeroplane, and Paterson himself has succeeded in establishing the nucleus of an industrial interest in the furtherance of the movement. » THE HAWK " ® ® awarded in a race from Paris to London on September 13th next, open to British and French pilots only. It is proposed that the race should finish at Hendon. Actual conditions and details are now being considered by the Royal Aero Club, but pilots wishing to enter may send in their names at once to the Club. 920
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