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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0110.PDF
wonderfully lucky in having the finest material in the world to work on both for instructors and pupils. The English- man may be conservative, but he is certainly the finest pilot in the world ; the value of all the old British characteristics which made us masters of the sea is intensified in the air, and they will make us masters of the air yet, in spite of our politics and our system of government, and all the many obstructions to progress which will assuredly spring up as soon as peace is declared. War has been the making of British aviation, and we must look to it that we preserve and develop l he fruits of this war so far as aviation is concerned. Now by technical training in the air 1 mean instruction in flying pure and simple, without any direct reference to its military uses. During peace a good many pilots learned to fly by tlie light of nature They were just put into a machine and ui.uk; to tiixi about on the ground until they knew the controls, and then pushed off into the air, and left to'take their chance — a thrilling moment both for themselves and their instructors. .Now 1 think it is fairly well established that dual control is an absolute necessity. It gets the pupil into proper habits in the early stages of his training, and this he cannot really dispense with unless lie is a heaven-born genius who takes to the air as a duck does to water, and there are certainly some men who seem to require no training at all. The most difficult part of flying is landing. " The stereotyped method of starting instruction is on a .Uaurice-Farman, with dual control, up and down ' straights,' gradually giving the pupil more and more control until he lands properly. In fact nearly the whole art of flying lies in landing, ami a man who lands well under any conditions will certainly be able to do anything else in the air well on his own, given a sound nerve. After the first few solos on ;ui easy type of machine, the pupil usually returns to dual control on a faster and more efficient machine—after many and wearisome circuits and landing with dual control, he is sent off on his first cross-country flight, another really thrilling experience. Before being allowed to do, this, how- ever, a pupil should be able to land within a marked chalk circle with his engine stopped from any height, and to have practised landing slowly over obstacles. " 1 Hiring this period of training one of the great bones of contention used to be the advisability of training a pupil to fly LMT means of his instruments as opposed to balance. Instru- ments used to be unreliable. Instruments of late have become more and more reliable, and personally 1 am the greatest believer in using them for training. After a little experience with instruments, as a guide, any intelligent man will find himself working without them instinctively, and the\- will have tided him over many dangers in the early stages. FELSRUAKY I, 1917. " 1 have already talked about stability, and I think the day will come when an unstable machine will be looked upon as impossible. Another vejy interesting point is the value of air experience as a passenger before learning to fly. I used alwa3rs to be of opinion that a large amount of passenger flying would almost teach a man to fly before he was asked to touch the controls at all, but 1 have been somewhat dis- appointed in actual results. " Well, once the ice is broken by the first few cross-country flights, progress becomes rapid, and the pupil soon begins to really handle his machine in the air, and to. practise real aerial gymnastics, such as steep spirals, loops, tail-slides, and so on. Then slowly the air habit begins to grow on the man, if he is ever going to be any good, and experience— and nothing else—makes it possible to land almost any- where in a bad country with the engines stopped dead, and to drop down faultlessly on to a strange landing-place without any indication of the direction of the wind or the slope of the ground, and to manoeuvre round and over stornisp^and find your way regardless of weather. As the pupil goes on the best form of training is to force' him to fly in really bad weather. There is nothing which gives so much confidence as a successful bout with a nasty day. Weather has extraordin- arily little real effect on flying so long as it is sufficiently clear to see ; fog and very heavy rain are the two really undefeatable factors in aviation. The war has taught us to laugh at weather. It is only four years ago that ' bumps ' were looked upon with the deepest reverence and respect, and there were certain crossings over the rivers and hills around Salisbury Plain which were usually avoided except by the boldest. To-day, however, no one ever thinks of them, and yet almost exactly the same machines are being used for preliminary training as were being used then. It is a very good example of the wonderful growth of confidence in the last few years, which has done much to push on the progress of aviation. " On the whole flying itself is so easy that pupils suffer from over-confidence. Careful teaching is essential, and very careful instructions as to the best method of meeting any emergency, such as a spin or a nose-dive, and it is only quite lately that we. fcave had any authoritative state- ments as to how to compete with these situations, and even now there are probably people who differ as to the best course to follow if vou find yourself nose-diving out of a cloud. " Anyway, the actual" assimilation of the art Oi flying— or the air-habit—is largely a matter of air experience, and, given nerves and health and common sense, there are very- few Englishmen who won't make good pilots so long as they have sufficient experience." ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE U.K. OFFICIAL NOTICES TO MEMBERS. New Club House. The New Club House at 3, Clifford Street, W.; is now open to Members. Luncheon and Dinner are served daily, and Bedrooms are available. Subscriptions. Members are reminded that the Subscription of ^5 55. for the year 1917 became due on the 1st January last. Bankers' Order Forms can be obtained on application to the Secretary. Servants' Christmas Fund., The Subscription List for this Fund is now open. SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEETING. A Special Meeting of The Committee was held on Friday, the 20th inst., when there were present: Prof. A. K. Huntington, in the Chair ; Mr. Griffith Brewer, Mr. Ernest C. Bucknall, Lieut.-Col. Mervyn O'Gorman, C.B., and the Assistant Secretary. Election of Members.—The following New Members were elected :— Flight-Lieut. Alfred William Clemson, K.N. Dr. Ernest Henry Crisp. Luke Terence Delaney. Lieut. John Pascoe Elsden, R.N.V.R. George England. Capt. Montagu Henry Somers Fenn. Major Henry Kenneth Foster, R.E. Flight Sub-Lieut. Patrick Henry Hepburn, R.E. Bernard Alexander Isaac. Lieut. Michael Kudstodieff (Russian Imperial Army). Lieut. John Duncan Laird (5tl»Royal Fusiliers). Flight Sub-Lieut. Philip Sydney John Owen, R.N. Flight Lieut. Percy Roach-Pierson, R.N. Lieut. Marcus Thurlow Wright, R.F.C. Suspension of Entrance Fees of New Service Members. Until further notice, Service Members will be elected to the Royal Aero Club without Entrance Fee. THE FLYING SERVICES FUND administered by THE ROYAL AERO CLUB. THE Flying Services Fund has been instituted by the Royal Aero Club for the benefit of officers and men of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps who are incapacitated on active service, and for the widows and dependants of those who are killed. The Fund is intended for the benefit of all ranks, but especially for petty officers, non-commissioned officers, and men. Forms of application for assistance can be obtained from the Royal Aero Club, 3. Clifford Street, New Bond Street, London, W. Subscriptions. / s. d. Total subscriptions received to Jan. 23rd, 1917 11,122 1 11 Staff and Workers of Gwynnes, Ltd. (Thirty- first contribution) .. .. .. .. S711 Total, January 30th, 1917 .. .. 11,130 9 10 B. STEVENSON, Assistant Secretary. 3, Clifford Street, New Bond Street, W. IIO
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