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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 1233.PDF
* DECEMBER 25, 1914. Austria, Belgium France, Germany, Great Britain and Russia in the losses which have come to their membership-and offer this tribute to the genius, the daring and fidelity of such brave men of the air whose names have become enrolled upon the Honour List of achievement; and be it further " Resolved : that a copy of these resolutions be forwarded over the signatures of the officers of the Club to each of our sister- clubs of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in token of our fellowship. " With renewed assurances of our distinguished consideration we beg to remain, ' "Yours fraternally, ,_, ., <1XJ TT "AERO CLUB OF AMERICA. (Signed) "HOWARD HUNTINGTON, Secretary. (Signed) "ALAN R. HAWLEY, President." The following letter from five American Aviators was received : " The undersigned American aviators are sending you this little contribution (^7 I6J.) and ask that with it you will buy t/OCHT) cigarettes and forward them, with the best Christmas wishes of the American aviators to the officer* of the Royal Flying Corps who are now on service at the front. (Signed) *• SAMUEL S. PIKRCE, STRVE. MA* t, JOHN D. COOI-KR, TaoM u L B*l imis, and WAITER BMCK." It was decided to divide this kind contribution between the Funds for the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal 1 lying Corps being administered by Mrs. Sueter and Lady Henderson rnipactli Aviators' Certificates Members will rote with gratification that the Club has now issued over one thousand Aviators' Certificates, the number now reached being 1,00a. Christmas Holidays. The Club will be closed from Thursday evening, the 24th in»t., to Monday morning, the 28th inst. 166, Piccadilly. W. B. STEVENSON, Assistant Secretary. DROPPING MILITARY MESSAGES FROM AEROPLANES. ALTHOUGH a considerable variety of ways and means have been devised for the purpose of enabling an aviator to communicate with friendly troops when on reconnaissance flights, no great measure of success can as yet be attri buted to any of these methods. The wireless telegraph, whilst not only feasible but entirely possible, is necessarily of proportionately small range as regards the transmission portion of it, while the reception of messages is, to a large extent, handicapped by the noise of the engine. Various systems of optical telegraphy have been proposed and experimented with, but can hardly be said to have conclusively proved their practicability. In addition to the difficulties of finding means for transmitting messages from an aeroplane with any degree of certainty that they will be picked up, it will often in actual warfare be found advisable to supplement messages FIG.I end and fitted at the top with a lantern shaped cap. Into the lower, pointed end of the cylinder has been pound a certain amount of lead through a passage in which passes the needle, T. The top of this needle is suitably con nected to a small crank lever, which, in turn, engages with the collar, E, on the firing pin, B. The coil spring, K, retains the firing pin, B, in its position, and the two brackets, S, serve as guides. Fitting over the top of the cylinder is a cap, L, the top of which is formed somewhat like a lantern with lour open windows, C. Inside the cap and held by four clamps are the materials for a Bengal fire, which is ignited by the explosion of a cap of mercury fulminate situated in the outer end of the bent tube, U. When the needle, T, strikes the ground it is forced upwards against the action of the spring, thereby pulling down the firing pin, B, by means of the cranic FIG 3 Bv means of the device shown in the above set of sketches messages can be dropped from an aeroplane and aie easily found, as Bengal fire is ignited the moment the device strikes the ground. with sketch maps showing the position of the enemy's troops, guns, &c. This can be accomplished, it is true, by the simple expedient of returning to the base and alighting for the purpose of delivering the message and map, but it may frequently be found desirable to save valuable time by dropping the message without alighting. As a small written message or map would obviously be very apt to be blown away by the wind, it becomes neces sary to enclose it in some form of receptacle which will ensure that it falls at the desired place, and at the same time protect it against damage on striking the ground. A weighted leather pouch is often employed, but a more elaborate apparatus is illustrated in the accompanying sketches This is the invention of the French aviator P»nl Fmrairon who has tested it near Brest, and obtained sufficiently to render the dropping cyl.nder harmless, ana load reSs Tt consists as shown in the illustration yet allow of the impact being hard enough to operate the (Fig 1) of a hollow cylinder pointed towards the lower needle T. 123(3 lever resting on the collar, E. When the crank lever has moved down sufficiently it releases the firing pin, B, which, driven upwards smartly by the spring, R, strikes and ignites the cap of mercury fulminate, from which the fire is transmitted to the materials for the Bengal fire through the bent tube, U. The resulting bright Bengal fire is easily visible not only at night but in the day time as well, and will burn sufficiently long to enable a soldier on the look out to locate its position. Several points in the arrangement of this device are open to criticism, as, for instance, the danger to friendly troops from the high speed at which it descends. This, however, could be remedied by attaching to the c>linder some form of a parachute which would retard the fall sufficiently to render the dropping cylinder harmless, and
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