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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0293.PDF
ceeded in reaching home, is a question that remains unanswered officially up to the time of going to press. Quite possibly it will never be answered. But at any rate there does not appear to be any doubt that at least some of the bombs found their mark, and all credit is due to Lieut. Brandon for his plucky deed. As so many others of our best pilots, Lieut. Brandon hails from New Zealand, where, before the war, he was practising at the bar. While in his native country Lieut. Brandon chanced one day to see an advertisement of the Hall flying school—" FLIGHT " has a very large circulation in (/OGHT New Zealand. He wrote immediately and was accepted, and joined up in August of last year. In less than two n onths—seven weeks to be exact—he obtained his " ticket," and a very good one it was too. During the altitude test he had the unpleasant experience of losing himself in the fog, and instead of landing on the aero drome he came down somewhere out Edgware way, making a perfect landing in a field. Bracketed con gratulations to Lieutenant Brandon on his achievement and the Hall school on having turned out a Zeppelin " strafer." jEOLU*. ® ® ® ® FLYING AT HENDON. THINGS appear to be brightening up at Hendon, and we may look forward to having some pleasant week-ends at the aerodrome, free from mud and with plenty of flying and visitors. Last Saturday and Sunday fine spring weather brought up quite a number, but for some reason or the other advantage was not taken of this state of affairs in putting up a show of flying worthy of the occasion. Perhaps it was because the powers-that-be were taken by surprise, and were not prepared for such fine flying weather and a decent "gate." However, the flying that did take place was both varied and interesting, so the visitors were hardly disappointed. The renovated refreshment pavilion in the paddock was much appreciated, and was well patronised. The scheme of decoration adopted—dark oak panelling, white walls, and red-tile floorcloth—is pleasant and effective. Another popular " side-show " consisted of the blizzard strafed hangars and their contents. To look at the wreckage one can ® ® hardly believe that the wind alone was responsible and not Zeps. ! Several passenger and exhibition flights, on 60 h.p. G.-W. 'buses, were made by Marcus I). Manton, C. Pashley, J. S. K. Winter, B. F. Hale, and M. Osipenko. The last-named pilot made a test flight on one of the G.-W. 'buses fitted with a 60 h.p. Green engine. Some service machines were out, a B.E. 2c, an F.E. something- or-other, a De Havilland scout, and a twin engined Caudron. A certain amount of school work was also put in, the L. and P. School having retrieved one of their 'buses from the strafed hangars. Some of the Hall pupils got in some practice. Exhibition flights were also made by R. Kenworthy on a 50 h.p. Beatty-Wright biplane. On Sunday it was somewhat windy, and most of the previous day's pilots were out giving exhibitions. Many old friends, mostly in khaki or navy-blue, were to be seen on both Saturday and Sunday. ® t* THE AIRMAN. HIGHER than the steeple-top, Shrieking, humming over trees, Up above the land and sea, Flies the airman blythe and free. Prf The Latest Curtiss Flying Boat. MR. HENRY WOODHOUSE, a Governor of the Aero Club of America, who has just returned from an inspection of one of the latest Curtiss flying boats, gives the following account of the 15-ton cruiser:— " This giant flying yacht without its wings looks not unlike a whale wilh windows and extending fins on the fore part of the body. The body without the rear rudders is 55 ft. long. At the widest point the hull is 10 ft. wide. On each side of the body there are fin-like planes extending out 5 ft., and about 15 ft. long, which will, when the machine is driven at a certain speed, make it possible to rise freely from the waves. "I went inside of the hull and stood in each of the three com partments, or cabins. The main cabin is 19 feet long, S feet wide, and 7 feet from floor to ceiling. In the pilot house there were six men working. Over the boat body is a cabin fitted wilh windows, forming an enclosed pilot house. There is a false keel with bilge pumps; and three water-tight compartments at the stern and two at the bow—to prevent sinking if there should be punctures. " I saw the wings of this giant flying boat assembled in another department. Being a triplane, there were three wings superposed, about 133 feet over all, with substantial struts between tbem. Elsewhere I saw the making of the four motors of 250 horse-power each, which are to drive large propellers. These motors are 12 cylinder Curtiss and made in the Curtiss motor factory at Buffalo. These motors are mounted between the planes, where they are easily accessible to the mechanics who will attend to them while the aeroplane is in the air. An additional motor of So h.p. will operate a screw propeller to use when the machine goes in and out of small harbours, to stop it by reversing of propeller, and other purposes for which it is unnecessary to set the large motors going. When on the water this machine is like a yacht and is piloted in a similar way, being controlled by a water rudder ; when on the air it is con trolled as aeroplanes are, with vertical and horizontal rudders. Hurrying on with bombs to drop, Banking, warping, cloudward flees., Sweeping, bui/.ing, like the l>ee, Onward to—eternity !—U. K. W. 9 & " The weight of the machine complete will be about 20,000 lbs. Besides the weight it will lift about five tons of fuel, passengers and useful loads. " It could easily carry four men and supplies and the fuel neces sary for crossing the Atlantic—which it could do in about thirty hours. " This means that before another year has gone by there will be a flying yacht twice as large as this one constructed, (ilenn 11. Curtiss, who has always started on improvements as soon as a type was under construction, believes that there is no limit to the size of an aeroplane, and, given the opportunity, he will start building a small air liner with a wing span of 300 ft., capable of carrying twenty people across the Atlantic, or fifty people on a l.ooomilc cruise." The Trans-Atlantic Flight. " MR. JOHN WANAMAKBk, the millionaire merchant, of Phila delphia, in a letter to the Aero Club of America has announced his intention to attempt a Trans-Atlantic flight in a heavier-than-air machine next June,'' according to the Daily 7~e/ej?ra/>h's correspon dent in New York. " Mr. Wanamaker, it will be remembered, intended to make an effort in the summer of 1914 with Lieutenant John Porte, R.N., now Commander, as navigator, when the European war stopped his plans. The new machine with which Mr. Waramaker hopes to cross the ocean in one flight is now licing constructed by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company. It will be a seaplane of huge proportions, and will have ten times the power of the old America. Although no details of the new machine are yet published, it is known it will be equipped with six 12-cylinder motors of 300 horse-power each, and will probably be able to make 100 miles an hour, with a crew of fix and a full load. It is expected the flight, the object of which will be to make a ' purely scientific test of aeronautical power,' will take about thirty hours." 293
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