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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 1382.PDF
I/UGHT DECEMBER 27, 1913. ARMCHAIR REFLECTIONS, 1913. WELL, here we are, almost at the end ,-of another year, and aviation, which was said to be a passing fad, is still with us, and growing into a strong robust child. Looking back over the year, progress does not at first sight appear to have been very great, but it k not progress that is at fault, it is memory ! Things move so fast in aviation that 1912 seems years ago, and we forget things as they were then. Machines have no doubt improved to some extent, but I think the greatest improvement has been with our pilots, who, even on the old types of machines, fly in winds and bank and spiral in a fashion they would never have dreamed of doing only twelve months ago. Last year we published a photograph of Sidney Pickles banking at an angle of about 30 degrees, and it was thought of such importance that it was reproduced in other papers almost throughout the world—without acknowledgment, mostly; Chevilliard came over this year and made our hair stand on end by bank.ng over the vertical, and now upside-down flying is becoming so common that we hardly take the trouble to look at it; what we shall be doing in another year goodness only knows. It seems but yesterday that the great struggle between Grahame- White and Paulhan to be first to fly to Manchester was taking place; if the same prize were put up to-day, every pilot in England would jump into his machine and get there straightaway. Things seem to point at the moment to England becoming the centre of interest in aviation. There has certainly been more progress in construction in the British-built machine than in those of our cousins across the Channel, and in addition many of the foreign firms are, if not actually moving their works to England, at least about to open branch works here, and fly their machines regularly at English aerodromes, and 1914 should see many types of machines new to our eyes taking part in the weekly racing at Hendon and Brooklands. The Daily Mail have again been generous in providing prizes, and although we may think that this time they have made conditions rather a tall thing, I doubt very much whether they are really any more trying, taking progress into consideration, than they were for the Manchester flight; I remember then wondering if it would ever be done, and the general impression of the public was, I believe, that their money was fairly safe. I shall be greatly surprised if somebody does not scoop up both the Round Britain and American flights next year. Development along the lines of the flying- boat will, I think, be the chief line of progress for next year, and this will probably have the effect of shifting the centre of interest from London to the coast, unless something can be done to use one or other of our largest pieces of water for the purpose of testing. I should much like to see the Welsh Harp used for this purpose, though there seems to be some reason why it cannot. Taking things all round, if the progress of 1914 equals that of 1913, there will be some very startling happenings. Future Aerial Service with Paris It must be nice to be born with an imaginative brain. On second thoughts I am not quite sure whether one is born with it, or whether it is an acquisition of after-life. I have heard of people being born with or without common sense, as the case may be, so no doubt the By THE DREAMER. other is a birthright also, at any rate in the embryo. It is possible, I believe, under some circumstances, to knock common sense into one, but whether the same thing applies to imagination, I don't know. If it is so, I should like to try it, because I should like to be imaginative, and, perhaps, if I got a good smack on the head with a propeller, I might afterwards do a great deal of useful work, which experiment is, I believe, not new. People with imagination can be very entertaining and amusing, and they can imagine what things are going to be like before they mature, whilst we ordinary people have to wait and see. Even with my small amount of brain, I can conceive it as being quite possible that before very long we might have a cross-Channel fleet of airships, and that one will board one's vessel in London, and in a few hours land safely in Paris. Captain Waterlow, in his lecture at the Royal United Service Institution recently gave a very imaginative forecast of an aerial voyage from London to Paris by one of the regular cross-Channel night services of the near future. " The train would leave Charing Cross at five o'clock." That sounds precise; but why start an aerial voyage by train ? That's not much better than the old way, especially as he says the first change would be at Woolwich; surely Hyde Park is large enough to start an airship from. "Passenger weights would be registered at an automatic turnstile, and passengers over 13 st. would have to pay excess fare." Now I can see some fun here. It is bad enough to have to have one's baggage examined by the Customs officers; and although they are as a whole fairly polite, it would need a diplomat, with all the art of a French courtier of the old school, to convey to an irate dowager that she was excess luggage, so to speak; some of them are so touchy about their avoirdupois. " Rising at a slow ten miles per hour, the airship would soon come within sight of the chain of lights installed throughout Europe." To rise at ten miles an hour and call it slow, should make some of our aeroplane constructors sit up and rub their eyes. To climb at, roughly, 1,000 ft. per minute isn't bad, especially if the excess luggage department has been busy. "Mails would be taken on board at Folkestone, by means of a rope lowered from the purser's quarters." Dropping a rope for mails is pretty good in its way ; it reminds me of when I used to let a cardboard box down by a piece of string from the window and pull up my sister's doll—playing cranes, I think we used to call it; and anyway, why not ship the mails in London ? unless this 70 miles an hour airship is going to be beaten by a S.E. & C.R. train in a run to Folke stone. " Paris would be reached about midnight, and a descent made at 500 ft a minute, landing as lightly as a bird." I don't think some of the ladies I spoke about just now would care to descend quite so fast—they would feel like losing some of that excess for which they had paid so dearly to bring over. There would, of course, be a dining saloon and every convenience, and I have imagination enough to imagine it would be very nice. Fish and Flesh. Here are some extracts from a cutting of the Westminster Gazette in reference to the air voyages of Mr. Churchill and Col. Seely :— " We think these Ministerial flights .are thoroughly 1408
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