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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0190.PDF
[m HT considerable wind blowing at the time, several flights with passengers were made OTer the surrounding country. Last Saturday, Verrier started offfor Farnborough at 8.30 on a new Maurice Farman, in a wind of about 45 miles an hour, but finding Hi* speed was slow postponed the delivery of machine. Un Monday he left the aerodrome at 9 o'clock, and arrived at tarn- borough some 35 mins. later, at a height of 7,5°° ft- &* descent with the propeller completely stopped was very fine. Capt. Becke, on .1 B.E. biplane, then very kindly flew to Hendon, carrying Verrier as passenger. Verrier then returned with another British- built Maurice Farman to Karnborough. Later he put both machines through the necessary tests in his usual brilliant manner. Blerlot School.—Last week under the instruction of Mr. Jules Teulade, Messrs. H. O'Hagan and W. F. Cooper doing straights. ® ® IT is a pity that Raynham's climb to 15,000 ft., before his great glide from Brooklands to Hendon, was not done under official observation, and had to be repeated. The second time he only reached 14,420 ft. with a passenger on lioard; nevertheless, it was a real good flight, and captures the English altitude record. Chatting with Mr. A. V. Roe at Hendon on Saturday last on things in general, I learnt that the new 100 m.p.h. Avro, which will be shown at Olym- pia, will have a range of speed of 100-35, which is something to be proud of. He also mentioned some - thing about air - anchors, but did not go into details, evidently wishing to "leave a gallop for the avenue." I am therefore looking forward with great interest to the coming Show, and am fully prepared to be sur prised once more by this surprising firm. Only last week I was looking through some old photographs, and found some of Mr. Roe flying hi^ triplane at Lea marshes—some little difference between this and the latest Avro with its staggered planes and neat cowl. " Roe the hopper " was possibly true to some extent in those days—just now he must be hopping with seven-league boots on. XXX It was good to hear from Mr. Birkett that the Slack fund is being very well supported. Those who have not yet sent in their little donation are reminded that it is not too late, and that the modest half-crown will be greatly appreciated from those who would like to subscribe their mite but cannot afford more. Quite a touch of nature was to be seen at Hendon on Saturday, when Sydney Pickles, still on his crutches from the result of his own accident, was found putting down his name as a subscriber to the fund of a less fortunate brother aviator. XXX With a subscription of twenty guineas to the Slack fund the I.C.S. have come along in their usual spirit, and shown that they do not forget their old pupils. Bobby Slack was of course a pupil of theirs, and afterwards flew their Blenot monoplane on a tour of many weeks' dura tion. There are many schools in London, established to teach anything from bioscope operating to poultry farming, but m a good many cases their interest ends with the payment of the fee, and the pupil is got through as quickly as possible, to their, if not his own, satisfaction FEBRUARY 21, 1914- Capt. Burdett, who has proved a very able pupil, passed all trials for his certificate in very good style. W H. Ewen School.— On Tuesday last week, school out at 8 30 *a.m". After test flight by M. Baumann on brevet machine, Lieut. Kinnear did straights and half-circuits. On Wednesday morning M. Baumann made a test flight on brevet machine, but found it too bumpy for school work. Salisbury Plain. Bristol School.—The high winds, accompanied by fog and rain, during the whole week made flying tuition at Salisbury Plain out of the question, the wind at times blowing in gusts of over 40 miles per hour. Much useful instruction was, however, given to pupils in the sheds. ® ® I have spoken to several old pupils of the I.C.S., and one and all have expressed themselves satisfied with the treatment they received, and the thoroughness of the tuition. I have noticed, too, that there is great camaraderie between the wearers of the button, XXX By adding Mont Blanc to its other conquests, the all-conquering aeroplane is proving its utility and the possibilities of flying in a way that should convince the most unbelieving. By the way, I read that Mr. Orville Wright, who, with his brother Wilbur, was the pioneer of aviation in America, does not at the moment think it at all possible for any aeroplane to cross the Atlantic. He says that, in his opinion, there is not at the moment any aero engine capable of the strain of working all out for 17 or 18 hours at a stretch, and that until we get engines capable of this, it is, in his opinion, foolish to attempt the feat. We are bound to lend an ear when such an authority as Mr. Wright talks on aviation, but there have been so many magnificent flights put up lately that one hardly knows what to expect. xxx It is not quite clear to me if M. Jean Ors is claiming for his newly-invented parachute a method whereby a pilot may seek safety in the event of an accident to his aeroplane, or whether it is simply a new sensational stunt. Seeing that M. Ors sat under the aeroplane, and that his parachute was fixed beneath the fuselage, it does not seem to me to go far towards attaining the former, and parachutes have been tried before as a method of descent from aeroplanes. One that promised to be quite effec tive was introduced by Mr. Prenseil and tried at Hendon last year. I have not seen or heard anything of it for a long time now, and am wondering why it was not taken up. The idea was, and it seemed to work well, to discharge the parachute from a cylinder of compressed air situated just behind the pilot. The rope descending from the envelope finished in a belt round the pilot's waist, and the force used was only just sufficient to take the parachute to the extent of the rope length when assuming that an accident had happened and that the machine was falling, the pilot would leave the machine and be suspended in the air. It seemed to me quite good and well worth following up. "WILL O' THE WISP" Wounded Birds * Hmdon 190
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