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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 1238.PDF
[/OGHT consiitute an essential and wholly admirable part of the French scheme of organisation." Certainly such a state of things as set forth by the Daily Telegraph's contributor is a deplorable one, and the French Government and the Army are much to be sympathised with in the manner in which corruption and abuse have apparently been allowed to gain access to the ranks of the new arm. However, we will not presume to labour that point. It may well be that the self- righteous critics on this side of the Channel may say that it is as well that there are some things which are done in France which do not find imitation here. Further, we ourselves may be told that our holding up of France as the pattern whereon we should base our own ideas of aerial defence has ceased to be to the point, in the light of these revelations. While there cannot be any getting away from the fact that all these disclosures reflect a great deal of discredit on those concerned with them, there is yet an object-lesson contained in the immediate and drastic action of the Government which may still serve as an example to us. That is the stern determination that, by any means and at all costs, France shall maintain her lead over the countries of the world in this most important and essential branch of military activity. France will make any sacrifice; she will weed out with ruthless hand any thing or person which stands in the way of development, with a true singleness of purpose which is admirable to a degree. Without any lapse into the attitude of the Pharisee, we may say with some amount of proper pride that corruption such as has been disclosed in the article from which we have quoted does not, and cannot, exist in this country, and for that we think that Great Britain is entitled to take pride in herself. But, on the other hand, we are afraid that that singleness of purpose to which we have referred does not exist in the same degree that it does in France. We would that it did. So far as concerns the future of military aviation in France, it may well be that what has happened, and is in ® ® REGINALD NOVEMBER 22, 1913. process of happening, may, after all be for the good of the service. As gold gains in the refining process, so it may be that once France has learned her lesson she may gain materially from this early lesson which has been forced upon her. •t- «• «• In view of statements appearing in the A Word press that another English aviator was „r of. going to attempt upside-down and other Warning. e.^ fljghtg Qn hig m6llot> perhaps it is not out of place to mention here that these flights have been accomplished by both M. Pegoud and Mr. Hucks on monoplanes specially equipped for the purpose. I he fuselage of the machine on which M. Pegoud accomplished all his extraordinary flights was, it is true, an old one with the same motor and landing chassis that were in the machine when first constructed, but this fuselage had been thoroughly overhauled at the Bleriot Works, and the wings, stabiliser, top pylon, cables, warping, etc. modified according to the latest ideas and practice of M. Bleriot for the construction of what he called the " Air-lifeboat." In fact Mr. Hucks, who had previously flown an old 50 Bleriot single-seater and a new 70 and 80 Bleriot tandem, assures us that the stability of this new 50 h.p. type is absolutely marvellous, and far ahead of anything previously tried by him. It therefore follows that any attempt to try these, at present, extraordinary flights, should not be made on an old type of machine without having it thoroughly over hauled and brought up to date by the manufacturers, who are thoroughly conversant with the necessary altera tions, as attempts made under other conditions might end in an accident, and, as it is most probable that the circumstances would not be properly explained in the reports, a great deal of harm would result to the whole aviation movement, and might put a period to a great advance in aerial navigation. Verb. Sap. H. CARIR. PILOT. ALTHOUGH it is true that the date on Carr's pilot's certificate is only June 2nd of this year, regular visitors to Hendon will remember that he has been a "man of moment" just about as long as the London Aerodrome has been open. For away back in the early days he was Mr. Grahame-White's mecanicien, and he has always appeared to have a wonderful power over aero engines— especially the Gnome. At tuning up a refractory motor, Carr could beat the expert French mechanics, and it was seldom indeed that an engine failed to give her best when he swung the pro|>eller. In the course of his duties he had a good deal of flying in the passenger's seat, as he would often take a trip on the machine to make sure that the engine was really in tune. He also accompanied Mr. Grahame-White on several of his journeys, among them being one across the Channel on a waterplane. So that, taken all round, Carr has probably forgotten a great deal more about flying than most pilots know when they qualify for their brevets, and the test flights ® ® Commander Cumming Qualifies. COMMANDER MANSFIELD CUMMING, R.N., a member of the Royal Aero Club, has just returned from the Farman school at Etampes, where he qualified for his aviator's certificate on a Maurice Farman biplane on Monday, November 10th, 1913. Commander Cumming is probably the doyen of pilots, his age being 54 years I264 were little more than a necessary formality to him. During the last few months he has proved himself a very fine biplane pilot by his masterly handling, in all sorts of weather, of the 50 h.p. Grahame-White. It will be remembered that he finished second in the exciting speed handicap which was flown at the Night Flying Meeting at Hendon on November 6th, beating Manton by \ sec, and only failing to catch Noel on the M. Farman by 1 sec. Quite latterly he has been doing a good deal of flying on the Grahame-White five-seater char-a-bancs, and it was on this machine, now fitted with a 100 h.p. Green motor, that he secured the British Empire Michelin Cup No. 1, by flying, with a passenger, for over 15^ laps of the Hendon-Brooklands course, the distance being over 300 miles. Again this week, on the same machine, when trying for the Michelin Cup No. 2, although beaten by the gale which raged on Wednesday, he put up a very fine cross-country flight with a passenger. " THE HAWK." ® ® He does not believe in extreme youth as a necessary or even desirable qualification for the making of a succesful pilot. Mrs. Stocks Leaves Hospital. IT is good news to hear that, on Monday, Mrs. de Beauvoir Stocks was able to leave the Central London Sick A?ylum, Hendon where she has been an inmate since the smash on September 20th '
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