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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0182.PDF
\fjjem aerodromes, or "landing places," as the Report describes them, with sheds for aeroplanes, or airships, and twenty aenal " lighthouses." At the flying ground of Johan- nisthaL, near Berlin, there were made 4,732 flights dunng the month of October last, as compared with 2,537 in the corresponding month of 1912. There were made 36,817 flights at Johannisthal during the year, repre senting a total of 4,096 flying hours, compared with 1,966 hoursin 1912. And so we might go on almost ad infinitum in the detail of figures and increases disclosed by the Report. How does the Endowment work ? Let us quote from an article upon this same Report by the Berlin corres pondent of the Daily Mail, who says : — " The /•'lugspende, though nominally a private enterprise, is officially administered, having been made an adjunct of the Imperial Home Office. The colossal progress in German flying is due primarily to the Endowment's influence. There was tremendous significance in the recent announcement that as Germany now possessed the most important flying records, and a sum of ,£40,000 set aside as bonuses to German record-breakers was already exhausted, no more bonuses would be bestowed, and the Endow ment's remaining funds would henceforth be devoted to more urgent purposes. £15,000 has been distributed between seven air men for distance flights within twenty-four hours, including .£5,000 to Herr Victor Stoeffler for the world's record of 1,350 miles, and ,£3,000 to Herr Schlegel, whose 935-mile non-stop flight outstrips M. Hrindejonc des Moulinais's French record by seventy-two miles. Besides this the Endowment distributed another ,£25,000 in premiums. A reward of £50 was paid to every airman who made a non-stop flight of one hour, with ,£25 extra for every passenger carried overland. For every additional non-stop hour and passenger, another £50 and ,£25, respectively, were given. On the airman who established the German non-stop record of at least six hours a monthly bonus of ,£100 was bestowed, and to airmen who executed the longest cross-country flight of a minimum of 375 miles, including landings, within twenty-four hours, monthly bonuses of £200 were paid. Monthly tonuses could be claimed for a maximum of five months as long as the record-holder's achievements were not out stripped. " Monthly premiums of £200 for the longest cross-country flight were awarded to seven airmen for flights ranging between 312J and '135° miles. Six airmen received monthly awards of ,£100 for non stop flights ranging from 6 hrs. 4 mins. to Bruno Langer's recent record of 14 hrs. 7 mins. " In addition to encouraging and rewarding airmen, the Endow ment has paid annual subsidies of ,£2,000 to numerous aeroplane factories which undertake to train five pilots a year. This not only facilitates the free education of pilots, but helps to put the flying- ® ® ® ® F. W. GOODDEN. IT was about five years ago that F. W. Goodden, having spent three years at practical engineering, decided to become actively connected with aeronautical work. He joined Messrs. C. G. Spencer and Sons, the well-known balloonists, in 1908, and the following year made his first balloon ascent, then going on to parachute descents, giving exhibitions at most of the large towns in the Midlands and the North. This was followed by some experience with airships, and in October, 1910 Goodden left Spencers in order to assist in the con struction of the Willows airship "City of Cardiff" at the Crystal Palace, and he was with Mr. Willows on the craft during its voyage to France on November 4th, 1910 Returning to England in the following January, Goodden settled at Oxford, and after a good deal of The Slack Fund. ® ® raised foTfhe^of,^0"5 re?ived towards the fund being raised tor the aid of the widow and children of the late Robert FEBRUARY 21, 1914. machine industry on a commercial footing. The endowment also maintains a system of free insurance benefits for airmen and for dependents of those killed or incapacitated m service. For bonuses, prizes, training of pilots, benefits, flying competitions, flying stations, scientific purposes, and sundry other forms of promotion, ,£85,000 was disbursed in 1913, leaving £275,000 in the Endow ment's treasury. The budget for 1914 provides for £(>&,000 expenditure, including £15.°°° for a long distance competition, £5,000 for promotion of flying in the Colonies, £11,250 for a motor competition, £6,250 for a naval waterplane competition, and £12,500 for a waterplane station on the Baltic. It is stated that the German Army has at its disposal at least as many qualified " field pilots " as France. The number at the end of 1913, I think, was 650, which is shortly to be increased to a 1,000. The Army has twenty-two aeronautical stations, mostly near frontiers. The Navy had thirty-six waterplanes at the end ot 1913. Tremendous enthusiasm for flying prevails in both services. Aeroplane factories and flying schools can hardly compete with the demand for tuitioD." And while all this is going on in Germany, what are we doing to encourage development ? We have not done so badly, considering the handicaps under which the industry labours. We certainly can claim that we have one or two aeronautical engines comparable to the best of the foreign motors, but in consequence of uncertain demand they are not being made in large numbers. Our machines will compare in design and air-worthiness with the best of those made abroad, but here again production is re stricted by want of encouragement. On the other side of the picture, we have made no answer to the French fund, let alone to the German Endowment. What, for example, has become of the attempt to raise a paltry ^50,000, through the Aerial League's " Million Shillings" fund. Whatever has become of it, the money was not raised, and that in spite of the imposing array of names of municipal and other authorities who were supposed to have lent their influence to it. The appeal fell on deaf ears—apparently the great mass of the public are so apathetic, so wanting in regard for the prestige and even the safety of the nation that they do not assess their stake in the country at the price of a shilling ! It is a sad and a bitter reflection, but there it is. It really seems to us that nothing in the world will serve to awake this type of patriot (!) from his apathy but the realisatien of all that is meant and implied by the German toast " Am Tag." 182 ballooning, including a number of parachute descents, decided to turn his attention to the heavier-than-air type of machine. On New Year's Day, 1912, he set to work to build a monoplane, and, although the only motor available was an old 35 h.p. J.A.P., some very good flying was done in the summer. The venture, un fortunately, had to come to an end owing to lack of funds, and in the following February Goodden joined the Caudron school at Hendon, where he has been since. His fine flying on the Caudron has been so frequently referred to in these pages that it is unnecessary to make any detailed reference to it. It will be seen that Goodden has had a most unique experience, such as prob ably no other pilot in this country, with the exception of Mr. Herbert Spencer, can claim. THE HAWK. © ® Magneto Ignition For Beginners. THERE is appearing in our contemporary the Auto. (Yellow Cover), an elementary explanation of magneto electricity and the action of a magneto, which may be of interest to those readers ot r-LIGHT who are not familiar with the why and wherefore of electrical phenomena, and yet are concerned with magneto ignition in practice The dates upon which the articles appeared were ? „ll Ith' I4th and 2Ist' and these ^ues can be obtained from the Publishers, at 44, St. Martin's Lane, at i\d. each, post free.
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