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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0013.PDF
JANUARY 4, 1917. enthusiastic work which has so far carried the Club to BE the plots and situations in up-to-date and future works of fiction ever so weird and uncanny, apparently, it will be a bold critic who will dare to " call " the author. In the award of honours stories there are sufficient facts to found a thousand chapters in as many novels. Yet official language is not as a rule classed as leaning toward the unduly senstt- tional side. Perhaps one of the most remarkable " incidents " so far recorded is to be found in a letter of the late Captain Bolcke, the famous German pilot, which is published in the book of his Field Reports in Germany. In describing a fight between German and English air squadrons near B , on September 27th, he says :—" My antagonist tried to get away, but I stuck to him (apparently firing all the time at point-blank range). But I couldn't help admiring his endur- ance. I must have settled him long ago, but round and round he kept on flying as well as ever. It was too much to stomach. 1 said to myself, ' The fellow's dead long ago, but the 'plane keeps on the level because he's got rubber bands keeping the steering-gear right.' So I flew close in and there I saw the Englishman slightly toppled over to the side sitting at his wheel stone dead." THE number of the machine, as noted by Bolcke, was 7.495- NOTHING like a variation in mount occasionally for a good jockey. Hence the joining up to the R.F.C. of Joe Childs, the highly successful jockey in England last season, is to be welcomed. We wish him well in his desire to ride the wind as a change to his favourite hay mobile practice. IN the New Year's Honours list, amongst those who have" more than deserved their inclusion, is Major-General Trenchard, the Commander of the R.F.C. His portion of the unparalleled work of our C.Os. at the front has still to be recorded. It should make glorious history to be attached to the development of aviation. WHAT will he do with it ? That's the question which crosses the mind of most of us when we remember that Lord Michelham is anxious to present a couple out of the ten ,£1,000 prizes which he so generously offered to airmen who destroyed Zepps. on this side of the " German " Ocean ; but he mustn't, according to Service etiquette. We do not in the least quarrel with the Army regulation, which, in discouraging civil rewards for deeds performed in the ordinary course of duty, has but the attaining of the highest individual efficiency in mind. In this instance it is perhaps a bit rough on the two D.S.Os. who were just too late to get outside the new regulations. But the question still remains, what will Lord Michelham do with the beastly /10,000 which,he, no doubt in his own mind, now holds but as a trustee for some- body. We would suggest that he might easily find a way out of his quandary and do a really noble action at the same time. Add that goodly sum to the Royal Flying Services Fund, which has the highest official support and is entirely adminis- tered by the Royal Aero Club, free of all working expenses, for the benefit of officers and men of the Flying Services, who are incapacitated on active service, and for the widows and dependants of those who are killed. MAY this suggestion commend'"'itself to Lord Michelham, and we feel sure no one would more heartily applaud such an outcome of the original offer than 2nd Lieutenant Sowrey, D.S.O., and 2nd Lieut. W. J. Tempest, D.S,Q. In a way the original object could still be attained by associating with the gift the deeds of the two D.S.Os. ih question. It would be a gratification to them for all time to know that through their efforts they had been the means of directly lw*nenti«g brother aviators or their kin, who had been less tortutwt* than themselves. A little informal " presentation " function at the new House of the Royal Aero Club in Clifford Street might be an appropriate final setting to this magnificent effort, for the moment without a resting place. WHAT'S the verdict. Lord Michclham ? 5VVv.* * A CHANCE offers to obtain souvenirs, or relics, of what you will, of past doings at the R.A.F. by seekers after such historical trifles. Tenders are to be invited at an early date by Messrs. Home and Co., of 85, Gresham Street, E.C., for "a quantity of obsolete aircraft fittings and parts of aeroplanes, ftc.,v* from the Royal Aircraft Factory. There's a-walth of possibilities in that •• &c." I i&J TEN YEARS AGO. Excerpts from the " Auto." (" FLIGHT'S " precursor and ustrr Journal) of January, 1907. " FUGHT " was Jouitdid in 1908. COUNT DE LA VAULX'S EXPERIMENTS. Count de la Vaulx went out with his airship for practically the first time on Christmas Day. It was oary a trial ascent for the purpose of testing various parts of the machine, and only some three-quarters of an hour was spent in evolutions; at the end of the guide-rope. On the 28th hi* again went out at Sartrouville from M. Dcutsch's shed, and at about 4 o'clock the airship was taken out on to the Montesson Plain. Some men who were holding the guide-rope after the propeller was already revolving at high speed caused the airship to cannon against the ground, the surface of which was frozen so hard that two of the tubes of the car were broken. These tubes were repaired, and on the following day Count dc la Vaulx went out again, but the^eold was too severe for any extended operations. AN ITALIAN NAVIGABLE BALLOON. Signer Raffaele Ronco, a young Genoene musician, tteeihH to be a universal genius, as he has not only composted au opera, but has invented an airship as well, of the navigable balloon type, which it is said proves itself to possets very remarkable qualities in the case of experiments recently carried out at the military grounds at Genoa. Signor Ronco is understood to have made inventions relating to submarines which are regarded as of great value by the Italian Admiralty. TESTS OF THE VUIA AEROPLANE. M. Vuia has introduced several improvements in his aero- plane, notably a new propeller, the diameter of which is i'8o mm. It weighs only 5 kilogs., as compared with nearly 9 kilogs., the weight of its predecessor, and the pall it develops is said to be 12 per cent, more than the former one. The whole machine also weighs 9 kilogs. less than when the last experiments were made . . . M. Vuia took the machine out one day last month at Bagatelle, and carried out tw<> determined attempts at flight in the presence of M. Erncnt Archdeacon, M. Georges Juchmes, the celebrated pilot of the Lcbaudy airships, and others. At the first attempt the aeroplane did not develop sufficient speed along the grpund to rise inthe air, but on the second occasion at midday the machine moved very much better, getting un a good speed of some 40 kilom.s. an hour, the wheels actually lifting about 1 ft. clean off the ground, and accomplishing a little flight, or rather jump, of some 6 metres. The inlet and exhaust sides of the 100 h.p. Fiat aero engine, manufactured at Turin, which is extensively used in Italy. ,„...,. 13 •- -'-.-: •- '
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