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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0982.PDF
|/ycHT Turner on the Caudron, and Verrier on the Maurice Farman. Some excitement was caused at the conclusion of the cross-country race by the arrival of Capt. Fox, R.F.C., and Lieut. Porte on a two- seater BWriot piloted by the former. They had come from Farn- borough, having left there at 4.20 p.m. and arriving in the aerodrome at about 5.30 p.m.; their flying altitude was about 2,500 feet. On landing in the centre of the aerodrome the right wheel caught in a rut and buckled, causing the monoplane to strike the ground with the right wing-tip, with consequent injury to the same, but fortun ately without harm to either pilot or passenger. At the close of the evening, further trials were made with the "G.-W." char-a-banc, Louis Noel making a highly successful flight with two passengers. Several representatives of the Japanese Navy paid a visit to the aerodrome during the afternoon, and besides witnessing the cross country race and exhibition flights, made an inspection of the machines and hangars under the " pilotage" of Mr. Claude SEPTEMBER 13, 1913. Grahame-White. A welcome and notable visitor was also to be seen in Mr. Harry Hawker, who, however, did not fly. On Sunday the weather was much brighter, though still wmdy, and there was, as usual, a very good attendance and display of flying Those who contributed to the afternoons entertainment were —Geo. W. Beatty on the Gyro-Wright, R. H. Carr and Marcus D. Manton on "G.-W." 'buses, P. Marty and Robert Slack on Morane-Saulnier monoplanes, Lewis Turner on the Caudron, and P. Verrier on the Aircraft-Maurice Farman. Noel again brought out the " G.-W." char-a-banc, and made a flight with Mr. W. Law, of the "G.-W." works, as passenger. It was with very great pleasure we saw young Marcel Desoutter at the aero drome again, looking remarkably well and walking about with ease. He seems to have quite recovered from his accident, which deprived him of his left leg, and now he affirms it will not be long before we shall see him in charge of an aerial steed. ® ® ® ® M. PEGOUD'S BLERIOT EXPERIMENTS. THE following valuable and interesting communication upon the above has been received from Mr. Norbert Chereau :— "After reading the 'Corkscrew Twist' in FLIGHT of last week, I am afraid that the idea of the valuable experiments now carried out on the B16riot monoplane by M. Pegoud has not quite been grasped, and although it may be said that ' it is a sensational stunt of an uncommonly daring order,' I would like to add that it has not been done simply with the idea of making a stunt or astonishing the world, but with the set purpose of demonstrating that, should through any cause whatever this monoplane be turned upside down at a good height, the pilot need not lose his head or have the awful sensation that probably all is over, but that on the contrary he has simply to use his controls to come back to the normal position of flight without fear or the thought that the monoplane will not obey immediately, and the pilots, particularly the officers, who were present at the second experiment were most emphatic in their praise of M. Pegoud for having demonstrated this fact, which up to then was recognised both by M. Bleriot and M. Pegoud to be theoretically practical, but had never been attempted before. " I may also add that it was at the instance of M. Pegoud that M. Bleriot consented to let him try this extraordinary feat. M. Bleriot hesitated for a long time, not because he did not think that the monoplane would answer readily enough, and stand the test, but because he had the very natural apprehension that the pilot might lose his nerve when he was upside down, but M. Pegoud felt so sure of himself, and insisted so much that in the end M. Bleriot gave way, and had the machine prepared for him. " This machine was an ordinary Bleriot monoplane of the XI single-seater type built in 1912, the positions and height of the upper cabane being slightly modified, and the bracing of the fixed tail plane reinforced. " Some newspapers, I know, described the feat under all sorts of names, but what actually took place was this: When at a height of 3,300 feet, M. Pegoud deliberately stopped the engine, and put the nose of the monoplane down starting a descent as nearly as possible on the ' vertical,' and when at about 1,600 ft. pulled his ' cloche' and gradually brought the machine on its back without twisting it or making a corkscrew. The machine started then what we might call a very flat vol plant on its back, and continued in STRINGFELLOW MEMORIAL AT CHARD. WE have received a letter from Mr. James Gillingham of Chard, inviting contributions to the fund for keeping in repair and making some improvements to the memorial stone above Stringfellow's tomb in Chard cemetery, and also in respect to a tablet that has been placed over John Stringfellow's residence. We do not need to remind readers of FLIGHT, that John Stringfellow was the first man to make a power driven aeroplane support its own weight. His success was attained with a large model fitted with a very ingenious small steam engine. The first successful trial took place in 1848 with a twin propeller monoplane. It is very fitting and proper that Stringfellow's memory should be suitably recorded at Chard, and present-day aviators who are flying machines so like that which Stringfellow designed will doubtless wish to pay their tribute to this pioneer British designer. The expenses outstanding amount only to about £6 at the present time, but should any surplus accrue from the subscriptions now given it is proposed to mark the site on the down near Chard where Stringfellow and Henson at one time carried on their experiments. Subscriptions may be sent direct to Mr. James Gillingham, Prospect House, Chard, Somerset. that position for about 500 yards coming down gradually mean while. At that moment, the pilot pulled his ' cloche' and the machine assumed again by degrees a vertical position, which it kept for a few seconds only, and gently came back to the ordinary position of flight, after which M. Pegoud indulged in all sorts of twists and stunts before alighting. " This was done on the morning of Sept. 1st at Juvisy, and repeated on Sept. 2nd at the Bleriot ground at Buc. There is consequently no question of centrifugul force helping to keep the man in the machine; on the contrary, the pilot was on the wrong side of the machine for this effect. " It is, therefore, quite clear that he could not have performed this act without the braces, and he did not mention that he could do so. I have made special enquiries on this point. " The new trials that are intended, and may have been carried out by the time this appears, are the reversing of the machine upside down, sideways—i.e., pivoting round the centre line of the +uselage (this might be called the corkscrew) to show that with the perfection of the present controls of the Bl^riot monoplane a ' side slip ' or even ' the capsizing ' of the monoplane at a sufficient height need not be considered as fatal, but that provided the pilot keeps cool, the monoplane can be brought back to its normal position by ordinary manoeuvring of the controls. " Besides the splendid performance of M. Pegoud, who had absolute confidence in his machine, the experiments have proved that the Bleriot monoplane must be very seriously and strongly constructed to go through such hard tests, and that no small part of the achievement is due to M. Bleriot for the design of such a splendid machine. "It is quite possible that the experiments may be repeated with a ' tandem Bleriot,' and already several of those who witnessed the performance of M. Pegoud have offered to accompany him. " It may be also that a little later M. Pegoud might attempt the ' looping the loop,' but that of course is quite another story, and would be performed the reverse way—that is, with the pilot's head toward the centre of the circles to be described by the machine ; but this will be purely a stunt, and will not have the same value as the feat reported above." ® ® ® ® THE CURTISS BOOK. IN view of Mr. Curtiss's visit to Europe, no doubt there will be many of our readers who will make a point of perusing the above- named book, in which Mr. Curtiss, in collaboration with Mr. Augustus Post, has set forth the story of the development of the Curtiss biplane and flying boats, and incidentally the history of Mr. Curtiss, who, before he became associated with Dr. Graham Bell and the Aerial Experiment Association, was a sucessful racing motor cyclist. It may be recalled that the Aerial Experiment Association was made up of Dr. Graham Bell, Lieut. T. Selfridge, who lost his life while flying with Orville Wright, F. W. Baldwin, J. A. D. McCurdy, Glenn Curtiss, and Augustus Post. They built the " White Wing " " Red Wing," and " June Bug " biplanes, which successfully flew, and the last-mentioned, fitted with floats and renamed the " Loon," flew over Lake Keuka in November, 1908, the first recorded flight with a hydro-aeroplane. The book also includes chapters on the Aeroplane for the Army by Capt. Paul W. Beck and the Aeroplane for the Navy by Lieut. T. G. Ellyson, while Hugh Robinson has written a chapter on hydro-aeroplaning. The book is profusely illustrated by photo graphs.— Grant Richards, Ltd. 6s.) IOOS
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