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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0767.PDF
OCTOBER 8, 1915. view, and when he landed 1 h. 45 m. later at Villacoublay the two barographs which he had carried registered 6,600 m. and 6,700 m. respectively. M, Nicolieau acted as official observer on behalf of the Aero Club de France, and M. Jules Richard, official judge, after making allow ances for inaccuracies in the working of the altimeters, fixed the height attained by Audemars at 6,540 metres. Whether this really constitutes a world's height record or not is perhaps a debatable point, since the German pilot Oelerich, on a D.F.W. biplane, reached an altitude of 8,150 metres at the Lindenthal Aerodrome, Leipzig, on July 14th, 1914. So far as is known, however, this record was not homologated by the Deutscher Luftschiffcr Verband before the outbreak of war, and therefore one may perhaps be justified in considering Audemars as the present holder of the world's altitude record, although a considerably greater height has undoubtedly been attained by Oelerich. XXX During his flight Audemars suffered severely from the ® ® (/ycRg intense cold existing at such high altitudes, and for some time after his landing he seemed in danger of having his feet frostbitten. It was only after a vigorous treatment that circulation was restored. Nevertheless, Audemars will not long rest satisfied with his achievement, and I shall not be in the least surprised to hear before long that the energetic little man had bettered his present performance. In the next attempt he means to carry a supply of oxygen with the aid of which he should be able to considerably improve his record. M. Edmond Audemars, who was born at Geneva on the 3rd of December, 1882, will perhaps be best remembered in this country for his somewhat sensational flights of the diminutive Santos Dumont " Demoiselle" monoplane, the small size and unusual appearance of which gained for it at the early flying meetings in England the very apt nickname " The Infuriated Grasshopper." Audemars has now for some years been a staunch believer in the capabilities of the MoraneSaulnier monoplane. "^EOLUS." ® ® THOMAS DEVELOPMENTS. DIFFICULT as has been, up to comparatively recently at any rate, the path of our aeroplane constructors, that of our American cousins has been even more so. Not only has their Government utterly failed in the past to realise the importance of developing the fifth arm, but in addition to this lack of encouragement on the part of the Govern ment, there have been other obstacles, with the conse quence that American constructors had the greatest difficulty in obtaining financial backing for developments, as the then existing state of affairs did not warrant any substantial outlay of capital. Bearing this in mind, the way in which American firms, once the demand arose, have set to work with a will and succeeded in no small measure in making up the leeway is highly creditable. An excellent illustration of the case in point is furnished by the Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Co., of Ithaca, N.Y. This firm, which was founded in 1909, had largely to depend upon exhibition flying and school work for its FROM THE ITHACA WORKS OF THOMAS BROTHERS AEROPLANE CO.—1. Fuselage of a Thomas military tractor. 2. A batch of Thomas fuselages ready for the wings. 3. Fuselages ready for shipment. 4. Thomas military tractor going through preliminary tests at the Ithaca flying ground. 767
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