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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 1129.PDF
Flight, November 20, 1914. First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor : STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 308. (No. 47, Vol. VI.)] NOVEMBER 20, .914. . r^.t££PO] [^BM^ Flight. Editorial Office; 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams: Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1828. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... 15J. od. Abroad aof- od CONTENTS. —*— Editorial Comment: The King and Aviation Aircraft Invasion Scares An American View of Large Dirigibles Aircraft Work at the Front The Parseval-Sigsfeld Kite Balloon The British Air Servioes . The New Wright Biplane Royal Aero Club. Official Notices Aerofoils Arranged in Tandem From the British Flying Gronnds Eddies. By"/Eolus" Firth's Steel for Aeroplanes ... ... ... ... Aircraft and the War Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, M.A PAGl 1129 1129 1130 1130 1131 1132 "33 1134 1134 1136 1:37 "39 1142 1146 EDITORIAL COMMENT. and Aviation. All connected with the aviation movement will have read with considerable pleasure and satisfaction the letter which the King has sent to Mrs. Busk expressing his sincere sympathy with her in the loss she has sustained in the death of her son, Mr. E. T. Busk. His Majesty has for some years taken a very keen interest in the progress that has been made in the world of aviation. In addition to several visits to the Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, a number of our aviators have at different times been invited to Windsor Castle to give demonstra tions of their prowess. The new arm of the naval and military services has already more than " made good," as the Americans say, in the war; and the fact that the King, as is evidenced by the letter above mentioned, closely watches every new departure associated with aviation, should act as a further encouragement to all who are serving their country in the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. It would be interesting, if it were possible, to trace the origin of the various rumours that have been current during the past week or so anent actual visits of hostile aircraft to various parts of this country. Such rumours Aircraft Invasion Scares. have reached us from, among other places, Exeter, Harwich, Sheerness and Dover, and, like the story of the Russian soldiers that passed through England in tens of thousands en route for the front, they have, in some cases, been corroborated by " eye-witnesses"; one, indeed, going so far as to assert that a hostile dirigible had been brought down in this country, but that the fact was being kept an official secret! Although, fortunately, such rumours have so far done nothing more than cause a momentary and local excitement amongst the general public, no good can come of this sort of canard being allowed to spread, and we should like to see a law enforced making the spreading of false news of this kind a punishable offence. While we have always held the view that the dirigible can perform certain useful purposes in war operations, anyone who has followed the history of the Zeppelins or who has watched them manreuvring, cannot help enter taining a feeling of doubt as to their efficiency, beyond bomb-dropping, as fighting machines. Dirigibles of this much-talked-of type are unwieldy, slow to manoeuvre, and require to be handled with considerable care. Moreover, their great length provides a relatively easy target for attacks, while their own offensive capacity is much more limited than the general public has been led to imagine. Indeed, if Zeppelins were the fearsome craft they are so often depicted to be, it is hardly con ceivable that Paris, Ostend and Antwerp would have escaped practically unscathed—so far as war damage is concerned—from the visits of such craft. liven in Belgium, where the bases for operations were compara tively close at hand the air raids were absurdly un successful. In view of these facts, and admitting the possibility of an attempted raid on this country, it is hardly conceivable that they will meet with any greater successs than they have in Belgium or France, the more so seeing that they will have to journey a greater distance from their base and also to take unpleasant chances across the sea. Up to the present the chief evidence that an invasion by air is contemplated by the enemy is the boastful assertions of German newspapers that a fleet of dirigibles, growing day by day, is on the eve of departure for London. When such assertions are compared with the feats hitherto accomplished, it does not appear that there is any serious cause for alarm. Equally doubtful, in our opinion, are these reports of the huge additions recently made to the Zeppelin fleet.
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