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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0033.PDF
JANUARY 13, 1916. MR. NOEL PEM: MR. PEMBERTON-BILLING, who is so well known in association with aviation, and to whom further reference is made in our Editorial columns, at the request of an influential committee has decided to contest the vacancy caused in the Mile End Constituency by the succession of the Hon. Harry Lawson to the Peerage. Mr. Pemberton-Billing was experimentally interested in aviation in this country at the same time that the Wright Bros, were endeavouring to solve the problem of heavier-than-air flying in America. He built his first man-lifting glider in this country in 1904. He also founded and edited a monthly review—entirely devoted to aviation—under the name of Aerocraft in the year 1908. Before the war broke out Mr. Pemberton-Billing had a seaplane factory at Southampton, where he has devoted his energies to building experimental machines. After the outbreak of the war he offered his personal services, his machines and his factory to the country, and they were accepted. It is not possible, therefore, to speak in detail of any of the machines Mr. Pemberton-Billing has perfected, as they have now been taken over by the Government. Nor of course can the work actually done by Mr. Pemberton-Billing in the country's Air Service since the outbreak of the war be described at present for similar reasons, but the appreciation of its value was shown, when, on making up his mind to retire from the active service, at least for a time, in order to devote himself to the equally or even more important work of securing the proper development and employment of the country's Air Service, he was promoted to the rank of Squadron-Commander. Mr. Pemberton-Billing naturally makes the formation of a vigorous air policy the plank of the platform on which he stands, and will appeal to the electors of Mile End to return him to the House of Commons as a practical airman. In so doing he points out that while both the Navy and Army are represented in both Houses by soldiers and sailors, as well as practical lay experts, the new and increasingly important Service of the Air is entirely unrepresented. " Nothing," he says, " can better show the evil results of this than the dangerous darkness into which the greatest and busiest city in the world is plunged every night, as being, in the ® ® The Kaiser and a Zeppelin Trip. WRITING under date Jan. 6th, the Morning Post correspondent at Petrograd says :— "The Bourse Gazette contains an interesting and circumstantial account of a flight in a Zeppelin which nearly cost the Emperor "William his life. It has been officially denied in Germany that his Majesty was aboard the ill-fated Zeppelin, but the crew and officers were especially rewarded, according to the Kriegszeituns;, for ' saving the Emperor's life during a flight at the front.' The Zeppelin was 'No. 18,' and sleeping, working, and reception rooms had been specially fitted for his Majesty. Most of the details have been obtained from intercepted letters, from which the Bourse Gazette's correspondent pieces together the following story. The Zeppelin in question was the flagship of the first light squadron of airship ' Dreadnought' cruisers. The observation cabin was fitted in the floor with a window constructed on the principle of binoculars magnifying seventeen times and measuring over a yard across. Among the other novelties were special parachutes to serve the purpose of lifebelts at sea in case of extremity. The Emperor wore pilot's kit. "After several postponements this important flight of the Emperor was finally fixed for a day on which drizzling rain fell. The Zeppelin quickly rose above the clouds into brilliant autumn sunshine, and landed quite regularly at Warsaw, where it was met by an Austrian Archduke and a guard of honour. The Emperor ERTON-BILL1NG. opinion of the present authorities, the only protection against raids by enemy aircraft. This durkness, besides being dangerous to life and detrimental to business, is by no means an effective defence against the danger it is supposed to combat. Place the aerial defence of London in the hands'of practical airmen, and the danger will be met where alone it can be promptly and efficaciously dealt with—that is, in the air. A Government Com mittee of the practical airmen should be formed at once to deal promptly with this and other important matters connected with the Air Service." As a practical aviator who recognises how London can be freed from its present unnecessarily humiliating con ditions, a contention which has been consistently kept in view in " FLIGHT," Mr. Pemberton-Billing holds strong views upon other vexatious legislation, somewhat foreign to the interests with which " FLIGHT" is concerned, which has, from time to time, been recently introduced, frequently to little purpose, and which in most cases has served to occupy the time of our legislators when they should have been employed upon the consideration of matters more vital to the Empire. Few men have had a more active and adventurous life than Mr. Pemberton-Billing. In addition to seeing active service in the present war, he went through the South African Campaign, serving on the staff of General Buller, to say nothing of several Kaffir affairs in earlier days. Essentially an Imperialist, he knows his subject at first hand, having served his country at home and in the Colonies, afloat, ashore, and in the air—as sailor, soldier, in the Colonial Mounted Police, as rough-rider ; in earlier days a boxer of repute and an all-round athlete— and as aviator. One of the most expert of racing motorists, he took the first motor car to South Africa, and founded and edited the first motor paper there. He has raced motor boats, and sailed and steamed nearly every other kind of vessel; has shot big game, is a crack shot, has worked as a labourer in a dozen different ways, in as many parts of the world. " Just to see," as he says, " how the working man works, thinks and lives." The energy which Mr. Pemberton-Billing has for some years bestowed on these and other forms of activity, he now proposes to devote to the forwarding of the Air Policy of Great Britain. And may good luck go with him. ® ® emerged, watch in hand, bidding those present to note how precisely punctual was the airship's arrival. Half an hour later the trip was resumed, apparently towards the fighting front of the German armies. " It was now that things began to go wrong. The engines stopped, and mechanics hastened along the corridors and climbed outside ladders. The Emperor was told that an accident, common enough with Zeppelins, had happened, namely, that one of the screws had broken and was tearing into the aluminium envelope and causing a wastage of gas. This screw was to be changed while moving, and, after it had been isolated, the engines started again for home. Spare screws are always carried. Nevertheless, the repairs seemed to be inadequate and the loss of buoyancy increased beyond normal limits. The airship began to list heavily, and a parachute was prepared for his Majesty's use. The commander of the airship telegraphed to earth and the whole countryside was quickly aroused, cavalry and motors flying in all directions in obedience to the notification to prepare for a descent at any moment and anywhere. "The engines were stopped, and everything having weight was flung overboard, even the officers' swords being jettisoned. But the huge machine continued to fall until, by a great stroke of luck, its anchor caught some trees, and the airship reached the ground without actual disaster. Apart from official recognition by orders and medals, every officer and man concerned received special rewards from the German Emperor personally, and the intercepted letters of pilots contain details of these awards." E Z
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