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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0656.PDF
[pML SEPTEMBER 3, 1915. EDDIES. FROM the land of superlatives comes a report of a feat performed by the well-known American pilot, Art Smith, who, it seems, has got "fed up" with looping the loop several times in succession at night, and by way of a change has devised and carried out a new form of aerial acrobatics. This latest stunt of his, rumour has it, con sists in tracing his name in the sky in old English script so plainly that the blue smoke pencilling was visible for a good many seconds afterwards. Umph ! Seems that Art Smith believes in art for art's sake. For " Art's " sake it is to be hoped the paying public will do ditto. XXX If the report of the San Francisco Chronicle can be trusted, the same pilot, of artistic achievements, evidently has a liking for beautiful sunsets, as well as for Old English script, for that journal states that recently he has flown so high over the town of earthquakes that he saw a sunset at 9 p.m. Unfortunately for the Chronicle reporter, a local astronomer seems to have objected to a mere pilot meddling with his sunsets, and has worked out that "at nine p.m. Pacific standard time on that day, the sun would have been in the Zenith of the place whose latitude is 220 14' N., longitude 1050 E. It would have been on the horizon for all observers on the dividing great circle of a hemisphere whose pole is located at the place just named. It is easy to show that the nearest point on this great circle from San Fran cisco is located at a distance of 1,050 miles in a north-westerly direction; i.e., for an observer above San Francisco to have seen the sun on his horizon at that time of night, he must have been far enough above the earth for his horizon to have been extended to the dis tance named. A simple calculation determines this height to bs 154 miles." Well, I don't pretend to be Flight-Lieut- Edmonds, who is reported to have sunk a transport In the Dardanelles by dropping: a heavy bomb from his aeroplane upon the deck of the vessel on August 12th. able to follow the astronomer in his calculations, but I suppose one must take his word for it, and it would seem that Morris on his Curtiss will be up against an even tougher proposition than the German pilots when he goes for altitude honours. XXX It seems that I was a little previous in my rejoicings last week, with regard to Gilbert having once more ob tained his freedom and made good his escape without the necessity of breaking his word of honour. Gilbert, it appears, had posted a letter to the Swiss authorities with drawing his parole, but whether the usual network of official red tape prevented the letter from reaching its destination within a reasonable time, or whether Gilbert in his anxiety to put foot once more on his native soil, did not make sufficient allowance for the regular grooves of officialdom the world over, is a matter which has to be decided by officialdom. At any rate the fateful letter, it appears, had not been received and notified at the time when he started his escape, and therefore, in the eyes of international martial law, Gilbert broke his parole, how ever unintentionally, and there was but one course open to the French Government, that of sending him back to Switzerland. One cannot but feel sorry for the dashing French pilot, and it is to be presumed that in the future the Swiss authorities will take particular care that he does not inadvertently violate his parole a second time. However, I suppose "it micht ha' been waur." XXX From Athens comes the report that Rear-Admiral Mark Kerr, who, it may be remembered, was lent to the Greek Government as Vice-Admiral commanding the Hellenic Navy two years ago, is returning to England. Admiral Kerr, who, besides being a distinguished officer, is the author of several poems and essays, learned to fly under the tuition of the late Capitaine de Freigate Collyns P. Pizey, during his stay in Greece. The time taken by Admiral Kerr in obtaining his brevet was, if my memory serves me rightly, 88 mins. in the air, of which I think 56 mins. were spent working the dual controls of the Sopwith biplane, the remaining 32 mins. being divided up between three solo flights. xxx Truly this is an age of strange happenings, on land as well as on the sea and in the air, made even more wonderful by the way in which these happenings are at times reported. For instance, looking through an evening paper recently, my eye was attracted by an agency message headed " Albatrosses Fight Aeroplane." The report set forth that " a Russian aeroplane was attacked by three Garman albatrosses, one of which was brought down by machine gun fire, whilst the other two fled." Had the writer of the headline taken the trouble to grasp the message, common sense must have prevailed and told him that the birds, after which the well-known German machines are named, have not yet been successfully nationalised or " militarised"—even by the German martinets. XXX I have always up to now been a staunch believer in carrying a very complete outfit of instruments on an aeroplane. To a pilot who is used to the particular machine he is flying, these are not perhaps so essential, as he will be able to tell by the " feel " of the machine whether everything is going well. If, however, the 656
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