FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0495.PDF
MAY 9, 1914. (TOCHT That the aeroplane should figure very largely on the films is but what might be expected owing to the interest taken by the public in flying, and it is more exciting to watch a man drop from an aeroplane on to a moving train than to see him change from one motor to another at full speed. It is, of course, impossible that some of the scenes demanded by an excitement-loving public, could really take place without grave danger of injury to the actors, and so they have to be " pretended " to a great extent. I suppose an aeroplane is somewhat of a difficult beast for the manager of a cine firm to handle and he is liable to overlook small matters of detail which will catch the critical eye and label it as a fake. But surely someone at the "aerodrome" studio might just look to things technical a little. I saw a picture in one of the papers the other day which showed a man drop ping from the bottom wing of a biplane on to a moving train, and the aileron was hanging straight down, with the control wire quite slack. Even in "Through the Clouds," good as it was, there were one or two little things that did not seem to " work." I know it is very difficult but some of the things overlooked are quite bad. XXX Evidently the 200 h.p. Salmson engined Wight sea plane, designed by Mr. Howard Wright, which was shown at the last Olympia Aero Show, has proved even more successful than were its predecessors. Mr. Gordon England tells me that the machine behaves splendidly both in the air and on the sea. With a useful load of 950 lbs., including a wireless set, she climbed to a height of 3,000 ft. in 8| minutes, in spite of the fact that for the first thousand feet or so considerable difficulty was experienced in getting her to climb owing to the peculiar state of the air. According to Mr. England, this machine is as nearly fool-proof as one can reason ably expect a machine to be. In fact, I under stand that directions for handling her are mounted on the dash in front of the pilot, and that if he follows these directions he cannot possibly go wrong. The longitudinal stability of the machine is particularly good, and she flies absolutely on the throttle, so that from the last twenty or thirty feet all that is necessary is to throttle down and the machine will come down gently on an even keel without any bumping whatever. XXX Quite recently cinematograph pictures were taken from the machine, particularly of the effect on the floats when alighting, the operator sitting on the nose of one of the floats. In spite of the weight of the operator and photo graphic apparatus being placed so far out in front and on one side, the machine flew beautifully. Mr. England tells me that the machine gets off the water in seven seconds, and that she has, for a seaplane, the very good speed range of 78-40 miles per hour. I understand that the Navy is particularly well pleased with the machine, and that sufficient orders have been received by Messrs. J. Samuel White and Co. to keep them very busy for a long time to come, whilst it looks as if Foreign Governments will have to bid against each other for first deliveries. XXX It appears that the new Howard Wright double- cambered propeller is very efficient, for it has been found by experiments that for a certain power the diameter of this propeller can be kept much smaller than that of the ordinary type of propeller. xxx Marcel Desoutter, the young pilot who, it will be remembered, had his leg injured in a smash on his monoplane last year, made a cross-country flight from Brooklands to Hendon on Sunday last. Starting from Brooklands at 6.10 p.m., on Lord Edward Grosvenor's Bleriot monoplane, he set his course for Hendon, after first having made one or two preliminary flights round the Brooklands aerodrome. Owing to a slight ground mist he lost his way, however, and came down in a field "Flight" Copyright. Marcel Desoutter, who Is now flying again, about to leave Brooklands on Sunday last for Hendon on Lord Edward Grosvenor's Bl^riot. 495
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
