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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0160.PDF
r^jGwj and appointed to the "President," additional, for R.N.A.S. Feb. 22tld. The following was announced by the Admiralty on the 27th ult. :— Lieut.-Commander H. Finch-Dawson to the "President," addi tional, for (N) duties in the R.N.A.S. A. Ogilvie entered as Squadron-Commander, for temporary service, with seniority Feb. 19th, and appointed to the " President," additional, for R.N.A.S. To date Feb. 19th. The following was announced by the Admiralty on the 1st inst.:— (;. H. Beard and R. C. Hardstaff entered as Probationary Flight Sub-Lieutenants for temporary service, and appointed to the " President," additional, for R.N.A.S. To date Feb. 27th. H. Thompson granted a temporary commission as Lieutenant, R.N.V. R., with seniority of Feb. 28th, and appointed to "President," additional, for R.N.A.S. N. H. Terry has been granted a temporary commission as Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.V.R., with seniority of Feb. 28th, and appointed to R.N.A.S. The following appeared in the London Gazette of the 2nd inst.:— Royal Naval Division.—Temporary Lieut. J. F. Hay, R.M., transferred to Royal Naval Air Service as Probationary Flight Sub- Lieutenant. Dated Feb. 10th, 1915. Royal Flvlng Corps (Military Wing). THE following appeared in a supplement to the London Gazette issued on the 24th ult.:— The following appointments are made : Flying Officers : Temporaty Lieut. M. L. Braithwaite, R.A., and Lieut. W. B. Hargrave, 5th Batt. Suffolk Regt., Territorial Force. Feb. 12th, 1915. ® ® MARCH 5, 1915. Special Reserve. Supplementary to Regular Corps.—Second Lieut, (on probation) Richard H. Collier is confirmed in his rank. James D. Latta to be Second Lieutenant (on probation). Feb. 9th, 1015- The following non-commissioned officer to be Second Lieutenant for service in the field :— Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt.).—1st Class Air-Mechanic Arthur F. Quinlan, from Royal Flying Corps. Feb. ioih, 1915. The following appeared in a supplement to the London Gazette issued on the 25th ult.:— The following appointments are made : Adjutant (graded, as a Flight - Commander) : Capt. Hon. John D. Boyle, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own). Feb. 3rd, 1915. Flying Officers to be J light-Commanders; Feb. 16th, 1915: Lieut. E. N. Fuller, .Special Reserve, and to be temporary Captain ; Second Li;ut. L. A. Strange, Dorsetshire Regt., and to be tem porary Captain ; Capt. F. B. Binney, R.A. ; Capt. L. W. B. Ree?, R.A. ; Capt. J. D. G. Sanders, R.A. Flying Officer: Capt. John C. Halahan, Reserve of Officers. Feb. 17th, 1915. The following appeared in the London Gazette issued on the 26th ult. :— The following appointments are made : Flight-Commander: Second Lieut, (temporary Capt.) F. C. Jenkins, Special Reserve, a Flying Officer. Feb. 17th, 1915. Special Reserve. Supplementary to Regular Corps.—To be Second Lieutenants (on probation): Tom V. Smith; Feb. 1st, 1915. John W. Griffith; Feb. 16th, 1915. ® ® A FRIEND of mine tells me that according to a German paper a fire broke out during a thunderstorm at the sheds of the Lilienthal flying ground at Neustadt. All the sheds were burnt down to the ground, and several mono- and bi-planes belonging to local firms were destroyed. A petrol depot with about 600 litres of petrol, which was only 50 metres from the burning sheds, curiously remained intact. XXX From Sweden I hear that a new Swedish aviation motor has lately been arousing great interest in that country. It has been designed by a Stockholm engineer, Mr. Linel. If the new motor comes anywhere near the expectations of its designer, it will in all probability have great effect on the future development of aviation, for it is stated to weigh only slightly over a pound per horse-power. Two motors have been built, one of 100 h.p. and one of 50 h.p., but no particulars of design or construction are at present available. XX X I take the liberty of drawing the attention of our military authorities to the following cutting from the A7ew York World:— " At the military camp at Vizzola, Ticino, Italy, the authorities have been experimenting with a new biplane whose inventor is not known, though it is supposed that pilot Pensuti, who has been taking it up during the ex periments, is responsible for its construction. It is larger than any other aeroplane in Italy, measuring 70 ft. from wing to wing, and has 300 h.p. distributed among three rotary motors, so placed that the pilot can repair any two while the 'plane is in motion. There are armoured seats for three men, and a 4-in. gun. (Steady, boys, steady !) The machine went up a mile and a quarter with complete success recently. It is able to stay in the air 25 hours, and can carry a cargo weighing about a ton. Its average speed is 125 miles per hour." This ought to be quite a handy little tabloid 'bus to have round the house, and it is to be hoped that our military authorities will lose no time in acquiring a dozen or so. When a new machine makes its first appearance at any of our aerodromes, it has always been, and probably always will be, the subject of criticism by the aerodrome habitues, who are as a rule very apt at querying generally and more particularly any special departures. One thinks she is " horribly under-powered," another is quite certain that " her centre of gravity is too far back" or that her tail plane, if she be fitted with one, is set at the wrong angle, and so on ad infinitum. Not that there is any malice in the criticism ; it is more often used as a means for "ragging" the designer. Arriving at the Hendon aerodrome the other day, a short time after the new Grahame-White tractor had been showing its form, I firmly expected to hear a lot of the usual yarns about the performance of the 'bus. I was quite surprised to be unable to find in the whole place anybody who had discovered anything to find fault with in her performance. It must not be inferred, of course, that I expected any thing to be wrong with the 'bus, but I did expect there would for sure be things said, and, as a fact, I did, but it was nothing but praise. In fact, the splendid behaviour of the latest product of the G.-W. firm was the topic of conversation in all the sheds. I am not in possession of actual figures, but people who are old hands at judging velocities state that the speed of this new Grahame-White machine must be over 90 miles per hour, and that she lands at between 30 and 35 miles. One thing should be noted in this connection, that Flight Commander C. Grahame-White was the man at the helm, and his experienced piloting would go a long way towards getting the best results possible out of the 'bus. As flown recently, the chassis fitted was of the very simplest imaginable type, consisting of two V's of steel tubes, with the axle mounted rigidly, so that no other springing was provided than that furnished by the large diameter Palmer tyres. While this type of chassis is very strong and offers a minimum of resistance, and is quite good enough for landing on the smooth ground of an aerodrome, it is hardly adequate for military purposes, where landings have to be effected on any sort of soil, and I understand that a new type of chassis will be fitted 160
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