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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 1057.PDF
Flight, October 4, 1913. Founder and Editor: STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN No. 249. (No. 40, Vol. "V.)] OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OCTOBER 4, 1913. OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. fRegistered at the G.P.O.T [Weekly, Prioe 8d. L as a Newspaper. J |_ Poat Tree, 8|d. Flight. Editorial Office: 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams: Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1828. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... 15X. od. Abroad aot. ad. CONTENTS. Editorial Comment: The King and Military Aviation Pegoud—and Others Men of Moment in the World of Flight: M. E. Pegoud and M. Louis Bleriot Pegoud and his Flights Aeroplane Types: The Sykorsky Biplane Royal Aero Club : Official Notices Natural Flight The First International Air Contest at Hendon ... ... ... From the British Flying Grounds The Wight Seaplane Armchair Reflections. By The Dreamer Prohibited Areas in Germany ... ... ... ... ... ... ... British Notes of the Week Foreign Aviation News The Rheims Meeting and Gordon-Bennett Trophy Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, MA Model Clubs. Diary and Monthly Reports Correspondence PAGE 1083 1083 ro85 1090 1092 1004 1096 1098 1099 1100 not 1102 1103 T105 nc6 1108 The King and Military Aviation. While we should be the very first to deprecate the use of the name of His Majesty the King in order to give weight to the enunciation of a line of argument, we nevertheless cannot refrain from ex pressing our satisfaction at the note struck by His Majesty when addressing the conference called by the Chief of the General Staff at the conclusion of the recent Army manoeuvres. " I am glad to notice a considerable increase in the number of aircraft as compared with last year, and to note that efforts are being made to widen the scope of the Royal Flying Corps and to enable it to gain experience in working in close connection with mobile troops." The words were not many, but they are significant of the deeply observant interest which His Majesty takes in all matters connected with the defence of these realms. From them we gather that King George has a full appreciation of the immense potential value of air craft and the enormous influence they must possess on the destinies of the wars of the future. It needs hardly saying that such a realisation on the part of the Sovereign must mean that his advisers have become imbued with the same convictions, and thus we get to the point at which it is possible to express more faith in the future of British military aviation than we have been able to feel hitherto. Not that we are able to feel that the authorities are doing all that might be done. In our judgment they are not, for there can be no question but that, great as has been the progress of the current year, we are still a very long way behind our rivals in the air. Still, it is inevitably a long road from realisation to accomplishment, but if there is realisation at last, then it can be said that we are getting within sight of the other. In other words, if the military authori ties have at last awakened to a full appreciation of the fact that without aircraft, and aircraft in sufficient num bers, an army in the field is no better than a mole, groping in underground darkness, then we have certainly proceeded over a long stage of the road whose goal is efficiency. For whatever may be our opinions as to the ultra-conservative mental processes of the authorities, which prevent them from reaching conclusions until long after the proposition has been accepted by others, we have at least that measure of faith in them which impels us to believe that directness of purpose characterises their methods when once the decision has been reached. Therefore, we feel more hopeful for the future. • • * p . . For the past week the whole world has Others. been talking of nothing but Pegoud and his wonderful flying. That is scarcely to be wondered at when we consider that he has been doing things in the air which were commonly believed, even by accomplished aviators, to be utterly impossible. He has disproved many accepted theories, and has demonstrated that others were correct in their application. Moreover, he has been the first to perform certain feats which were undoubtedly dangerous when regarded in the light of the knowledge we possessed before he showed that there was actually no danger in them provided always that nothing happened to the machine or the nerves of the aviator. Secure in his confidence in himself and his machine, he has done what almost any practised aviator would have told him meant a short way to suicide. What he has really done is to prove that the aeroplane, provided its controller has nerve and knowledge enough to know when B %
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