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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 1045.PDF
SEPTEMBER 27, 1913. Pemberton Billing in his special Brooklaods Napier car, "Mercury" (to familiars the "Birdcage"), immediately after he had finished his brevet tests. Seated on Mr. Billing's "runabout" Is Mrs. Pemberton Billing. anxiously, and to give her confidence I waved my hand to her, taking my attention off the elevating plane for the moment. The machine, as machines will on right-hand turns, shot up, throwing me back on my seat. The position was rendered more hopeless, undoubtedly, by my grabbing hold of the ' joy stick ' to recover myself, which caused her to stand on her tail. She stopped dead in the air, about 200 ft. up, and then fell about ioo ft. tail first. From the looseness of the control, caused by the machine being stationary, I jumped to the conclusion that the wires were broken, and tried to save the position by throwing all my weight forward, with the result that when about 50 ft. from the ground the machine righted itself and dived head first. This, of course, was not attributable so much to my throwing my weight forward as to the fact that with me also came the joy stick, bringing the elevator down and causing the machine to dive, which immediately tightened up the controls. I instantly realised that I had the control of the machine again, and, thinking I would be disqualified i>r this stunt, saved her from landing about 20 ft. from the ground, climbed up again to 160 ft. and did an extra figure eight to make sure. Then followed a vol ® ® A Speed Record by " Astra-Torres." DURING some speed trials at Farnborough on Friday of last week, the naval " Astra-Torres "^airship, going with and against a 12-mile wird attained a mean speed of 51 "I miles an hour, which, it is. claimed, is a world's record. Among the officers on board were Capt. Masterman and Lieut. Usborne. The " Eta " Completes her Trials. LAST Saturday night saw the new Army airship completing her trials so satisfactorily that she was handed over at once to the R.F.C. in order to take part in the manoeuvres this week. Cruising with and against a 14 mile wind, a mean speed of 42 m.p.h. was main tained, while during the return trip from Basingstoke, Capt. C. M. Waterlow took the airship up to a height of 4,200 ft. Twelve-Hour Voyage by "L2." THE new German naval Zeppelin " L2 " was taken over by the Government on Saturday on the successful conclusion of its 12-hour trip from Friedrichshafen to johannisthal. With 23 persons on board, Capt. Gland being in command, the Zeppelin works were left at 4.20 a.m., and passing by Nuremberg at 8.55 a.m. and Leipzig at I o'clock, Johannisthal was reached at eight minutes past four in the afternoon, a distance of about 700 kiloms. having been covered in the 12 hours. Fleuras Out for 4J Hours. ON Saturday, the French military dirigible started from Paris at 4 a.m. with the object of going to Bordeaux to meet the President, plane landing, and after listening with some impatience to Mr. Barnwell's illuminating and very forcible remarks on right-hand turns, I started off for the last half of the test, which was accomplished most successfully, finishing off with a vol plam' from 100 ft. with the engine cut off, and brought the machine to rest without switching on again, with the elevating plane over the heads ot the observers, thus succeeding in obtaining my pilot's certificate before breakfast on the morning when I had for the first time in my life sat in a flying machine that flew." Of course, it will be remembered by all those who were in aviation in its pioneer days that Mr. P. B. built three machines of his own, and the last attempt he made, when he smashed the machine up, is a matter of record. He dug the engine out of the ground, and did his right arm and leg a lot of good at the time. Afterwards the tracks of the wheels of the machine were examined with a magnifying glass, and it was found that 60 ft. immediately preceding the smash there were no wheel marks in the ground, which we believe constitutes a record for being the first all-British machine to get off the ground. ® ® but on account of the rain and wind it was deemed advisable to return home after reaching Mont-de-Marsan, and the airship was safely docked at 8.30 a.m. Airship Afternoon Tea Parties. DR. ERNST FEIST WOLHEIM, a rich German, gave a novel tea party on Sunday last on the Zeppelin " Sachsen," which he had specially chartered for the occasion, during a cruise of an hour and three quarters' duration from Potsdam. The party included 12 ladies and 8 gentlemen, and tea was served while over the Unter den Linden. New French Military Airship. ON Monday trials were carried out with the Astra airship " Eclaireur Conte " which has been slightly altered since she was originally designed to comply with the requirements of the French military authorities. With M. Henri Capferer in charge she cruised from Issy, to just by Ecquevilly and back in an hour and twenty-five minutes. In the afternoon, M. Deutsch de la Merthe, President of the French Aero Club, was taken with some friends from Issy to his house at Romainville, from which point the airship returned with a following wind in half-an-hour. A Long Cruise by French Military Airship. A REMARKABLY fine cruise was made by the Astra dirigible " Adjudant Vincenot" on Tuesday, when she went from Albi to Issy, a distance of 688 kiloms. (430 miles) the time taken being 10J hours. The airship is fitted with Chauviere propellers. 1071
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