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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0285.PDF
APRIL 23, 1915. L/B.IQHTI EDDIES. THE dangers of flying, which have always been greatly •exaggerated by the uninitiated, are rapidly decreasing, and there is at least one instance on record of a man who is inclined to envy the aviator his elevated position of security. The man in question is an artist found by Professor Pares, the authorised correspondent at Russian Headquarters, who describes his meeting with this artist: " On one of these scouting expeditions I found a man of the most quaint simplicity, an artist, who sat down between the lines and sketched the enemy's positions. He described with an impersonal unconcern how the bullets passed him. ' But what do you do when .you have finished ?' I asked. ' Oh, I go on to another position.' ' But, surely, it is very dangerous work ? ' 'Yes, I suppose there are about ninety-nine chances in a hundred of my getting killed, but I haven't any children. I should rather like, however, to do the work from an aeroplane; I think that would be safer.' " XXX With the exception of one or two enthusiasts who are reported to have been for the last couple of years, using flying boats for the daily trip from their country homes to their City offices, New York business men have not so far taken to this means of locomotion. It looks, however, as if the coming summer may see a great in crease in the number of New Yorkers who will avail themselves of this rapid and comparatively safe form of travel. Already several members of the Aero Club have ordered and many others are contemplating the purchase of flying boats for running between Long Island Sound and New York City. For their convenience, the Aero Club of America has officially adopted the suggestion of the Automobile Club of America to make the East River at 72nd Street, New York, its principal landing station, where the Automobile Club has recently opened a garage and club rooms. Here supplies of motor parts, oil and petrol can be obtained at any hour of the day or night. People arriving by air in the morning can take their motors from the garage to their business premises, and on returning in the evening the motor can be left at the garage, and the rest of the return journey made by air. It will, therefore, be possible for New York business men to live at, say, Newport, and come up to the City every day, as the distance is only about 150 miles, or, in other words, little over a two hours' flight on a fair day. As the starting and alighting place is fairly sheltered, and the trip can be made over the water throughout, there should be few days during the summer months when the weather would be likely to prevent the journey. XXX A very unsettled existence is that of the German Aviatik works, which were, as related in " Eddies " at the time, shifted from Mulhouse to Freiburg owing to fear of damage by the Allies. Whether our pilots have found out the location of the works at Freiburg and have been making it too hot there, I am hardly in a position to disclose, but somebody has evidently been causing uneasiness, for according to the Strassburger Post it is contemplated removing the Aviatik works to a central German town. Ah, well, some of our machines have an extensive radius of action. The flying ground at Johannisthal has always had a bad reputation for accidents, and the frequency with which these occur does not appear to have diminished since the outbreak of war. Hardly a week passes without some serious accident, a large proportion ter minating fatally. In October, volunteer pilot Post and a pupil Silberhorn both met their deaths. A third pilot, Hoffmann, was also killed in a fall from a height of 1,000 metres, while his passenger Lieut. Santen only received slight injuries. On November 3rd, the naval pilots Trost and Klette were making a practice flight, and had to make a forced landing owing to engine trouble. Tlu machine fell from a considerable height, and both occu pants were killed. Again, two aviators whose names are not stated fell with their biplane in the early part of December, and received severe injuries. On January 26th two military biplanes collided in the air, one of which had only the pilot on board, while the other was carrying a passenger. All three were killed. The names of the pilots were H. Konrad and G. E. Miiller, and the passenger was W. Bohme. Naturally at Christie's last week, many of the habitats were amongst the crowds which thronged the famous King Street Auction Rooms. But by far the greater proportion were somewhat foreign to their surroundings, which was hardly to be wondered at. It is not every day that such an unique series of lots are disposed of, as the " book of the words " set forth for competition, in deserving support of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England—to be exact as to title. Unique most assuredly were many of the gifts which had been gathered together from sym pathisers with the troubles of their country, and one pathetic donation was closely associated with the Flying cause—to wit, a couple of potato-rings, which belonged to Samuel Pepys Cockerell, of the Royal Flying Corps. These had been a contribution from his parents, who presented the rings to the cause in memory of their son, who met his death in Egypt in the service of his country. xxx And their appearance was a goodly help to the cause, for the first went to a pocket bid of the auctioneers of 500 guineas, and the same sum for the second kept the two together with one buyer—Lord Newlands. What their real value might be did not emerge, and presently it transpired that the treasures had been given back to the family of the dead man, so that in time, maybe, they will be again forthcoming for some other good cause. But it was a. pretty way of Ix)rd Newlands of sub scribing 1,000 guineas to the Fund. It would, indeed, be a bit of luck if there were a few Lord Newlands, com bined with potato-rings, in connection with the Flying Services Fund. xxx Maybe a potato-ring is an unknown quantity with many of my readers. By way of satisfying curiosity in advance as to the nature of these treasured relics, the potato-ring is a pierced shallow bucket of silver-work, formerly used in Ireland as a stand for a dish, so called from the erroneous belief that its purpose was to hold in position a heap of potatoes on the table. " ^EOLUS." 285
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