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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 1040.PDF
(/nm SEPTEMBER 27, 1913. PEGOUD. UPSIDE DOWN FLYING AT BROOKLANDS. EVERY reader of FLIGHT, we may presume, has either already visited Brooklands to see Pegoud's marvellous feats in the air, or is arranging to do so this Saturday. We are under the necessity of discussing his visit before the event, but the happenings in France give us sufficient excuse for the anticipation of an extraordinary show. Human nature presents itself in many guises, but we venture to think that it does not often evolve a type so utterly full of nerve as Pegoud. We say full of nerve for the very good reason that we mean by that just what most people mean when they say that a man has no nerves at all. There is a fundamental difference between nerve and nerves, and there is an equally fundamental difference between nerve and pluck. then the diagram represents, as near as we can make it do so, what Pegoud may be expected to do against the background of the sky. Of course, these manoeuvres take place at a great altitude, and to a certain extent they are thus witnessed by the spectators from beneath, which tends, naturally, to foreshorten the apparent vertical distances. Also it serves as a reminder that visitors to Brooklands are well advised to take field-glasses with them if they are accustomed to following moving objects in this way. Reverting to Fig. 1, it shows an absolutely vertical dive followed by a " flattening out " upside down. In an ordinary steep glide, the machine is " flattened out" so as to bring the pilot into an upright position ,-•-*, •& FLYIN5 it nel. UPRIGHT*^-—^-~^J^>, DIVING 1 , VERTICALS j. HEADLONG1W FLYING UPSIDE DOWN/ PILOT BENEATH THE AEROPLANE DIVING HEAD FIRST ~=:iF FLYING NORMALLY UPRIGHT ""% -2£ FLYING UPRIGHT FLYING VERTICALLY, UPWARD: ^M FIG. 2. FLYING UPSIDE DOWN It was once said by a great soldier and an equally well- known sportsman, but for the moment we forget his identity, that " pluck took a man into danger, and nerve brought him out again," or words to that effect. It was a true saying anyway, for many a man, and many a woman too, for that matter, has pluck enough to take every sort of risk, but it is only the few who have the nerve to sit tight and keep their eyes open when they get there. There are four definite and distinct feats in Pegoud's repertoire, which he may be expected to perform at Brooklands this week. The first is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig i, and in order to avoid confusion let us explain at once that all these diagrams are drawn in elevation. That is to say, they show the path of flight as it appears from the side of the machine. If this page of FLIGHT is held upright, once more: in his own special feat, however, Pegoud just tucks the head of his Bleriot monoplane underneath him, and flattens out upside down. Having flown upside down for some little distance, he then dives again, and flattens out the right way up. The whole manoeuvre is controlled by the use of the elevator. The second item on the programme is " looping the loop " with the pilot on the outside edge. Pegoud dives as usual in order to gain momentum, tucks the nose of his machine under him as he does for the upside down flying, and keeping his elevator lever well forward, he continues his circle until he comes to the top of the arc, where he is flying level, and right way up once more. This manoeuvre is shown in Fig. 2. The third contortion involves the use of the warp as well as the elevator. Falling vertically head down as 1066 •
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