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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0065.PDF
JANUARY 17, 1914. EDDIES. THE persistent bad luck attending Count Zeppelin and his airships, has in no way discouraged the German authorities, and more ships are to be built. The engineers and workmen in the Friedrichshafen factory on lake Constance, are busy constructing five more Zeppelins of various sizes, all of which must be ready by April next. Two of these are intended for the army and two for the navy, the fifth will remain at Friedrichshafen for experimental purposes and passenger carrying. Whether airships will or will not be of such great service as anticipated in any coming warfare remains to be proved, but one cannot help admiring the pluck and persistency shown by the German nation in the face of terrible misfortune. [/yGHT] The Navy have a way of getting hold of good pilots, somehow, and I was reminded of this when I saw that Rainey—or Lieut. Rainey, as I suppose I must call him now —put up his record climb last week; 1,200 feet in 58 seconds with " all aboard "; but then, everybody who saw Rainey at Eastbourne knows Rainey. I have read somewhere that the best way to disable airships will be to get a pilot on a monoplane to fly right into one. It went on to say that of course this meant destruction to the pilot, but that we should have no trouble to find men to do it. Just so ! If Rainey is anywhere about just then—well, I know Rainey. XXX It's a pity aviation cannot boast a few more sportsmen like Frank McClean in its ranks. Possessed of a fair share of the stuff that makes the world go round, and with a huge interest in all that pertains to aviation, either in his own interests or the interests of others, he has probably done more for the advancement of flying than any other single individual. In the very early days he obtained possession of a large tract of land in Sheppey, round about Eastchurch, which he made over to the Royal Aero Club at a mere peppercorn rent as a practice ground. It would not be wrong either, I think, to call him the father of the Navy flyers, for he it was who at his own expense bought and placed machines at the disposal of the Admiralty to enable the first quartette of naval pupils to be trained at Eastchurch, when the Navy had not a single machine for them to learn on. A very reticent man, so far as his own good deeds are concerned, he has done more for aviation than most people are aware of, and there is not much doubt that his recent flight up the Nile is as much in the interests of other people as for his own pleasure; nor must we forget his sister, who is frequently his passenger and companion when flying. The enthusiastic private owner is the man for aviation—would to goodness we had more like him. XXX The capabilities of the pretty little Caudron biplane are just now being shown to advantage in New Zealand, by the flying of J. W. H. Scotland, who it will be remembered came to England to learn flying at the Hall school at Hendon. He took his ticket in good style, and even in his pupil days showed every promise of becoming a first-class pilot; which promise he now appears to be fulfilling. Being in the lucky position of being able to purchase his own machine, he very wisely chose the make on which he learned, and ordered through Ewen, a Caudron, which was built for him by Hewlett and Blondeau, and was everything that he could wish. A good pilot on a good machine, in a country where flying exhibitions are none too plentiful, he should have little difficulty in getting plenty of engagements, which I am sure he will carry out to the satisfaction of all concerned, not excluding himself. XXX There are some things we can do better in England than on the Continent, even in aviation : we don't allow aviators to fly over London, and I am glad of it! I don't at all like the idea that an aeroplane might drop on my head through the roof as I sit writing these notes. Gibert has just had a little mishap whilst flying over Paris, and landed on the roof of a factory. The paper states that no harm was done, except to the roof, and ! I remember once reading the machine, but wait a bit about a lady who brought an action—and won it too, for being nearly run over by a taxicab. The cab did not really touch her, but it was being driven to the common danger, and the lady fell, and claimed damages for shock to the system, or intellectual and moral damage, or some thing of that sort. It's all very well for the pilot to appear at the door smoking a cigarette, and no doubt the roof and the machine can be repaired without much expense, but it is distinctly djsquieting to the nerves, even of a factory girl, to have a ton or so of aeroplane suddenly appear through the roof to the accompaniment of a shower of falling tiles. Suppose he missed the roof and fell on a motor 'bus ? XXX Although I write these notes every week, I know nothing about aeroplanes, as you may already have guessed, in which case this little apology will be unnecessary. I see that yet another inventor is on the track of the uncapsizable aeroplane; in fact he goes further, according to the Daily Express, and claims that he has already invented one that cannot capsize. You know, I really ought by rights to be a millionaire now, because almost everything that has been invented, and has brought fortune to its inventor, I had thought of before, and had seen nothing in if ; you have probably noticed this yourself. You remember, of course, when you used to wrestle with your collar stud, you knew perfectly well that if the head would only take off, you could get it through much easier—but who bothers with these things ? Well, to get back to aeroplanes. This gentleman says he has found that if the stress is put on the undercarriage, and the weight on the wings during flight, the aeroplane will be uncapsizable. There ! and I had thought that this was being done all the time—Ah ! me; when SHALL I wake up ? XXX Several papers have been commenting extensively on the expressions of dissatisfaction made by Mr. B. C. Hucks at Moortown, Leeds. When Pegoud first looped the loop in this country, I took up the position that it was of the utmost importance to aviation from a scientific point of view, but that as a circus performance there was not much in it,
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