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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0362.PDF
established usage, with the effect that we have suffered while they have reaped the advantage. However, there is an end to all things—even to British patience—and we sincerely hope that now the policy of reprisal has been inaugurated it will be ruthlessly applied until the Hun has been compelled to the APRIL iy, 1917- knowledge that " frightfulness " only pays so long as it is in the nature of a monopoly. It is to be hoped that steps are being taken to ensure that the German public clearly appreciate the reason for the bombardment of such as city as Freiburg. A SIGNAL HONOUR FOR THE AIR SERVICES. THE announcement that His Majesty the King has assumed the title of Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Flying Corps — which for the purpose includes the Royal Naval Air Service — conveys a signal honour to a gallant service. That the King should thus honour a junior service—junior in point of age, that is—is surely unique, except in the case of the regiments of the. Household Brigades. It would be the merest impertinence to offer any further comment than to say that this high honour has been well earned and is thoroughly deserved, and as • much for that as for the honour itself we congratulate the Corps. Is it, by the way, an omen pointing to the formation of that ttiuch-to-be-desired Air Service as a third and separate branch of Imperial defence, which has been so strongly advocated in the past by " FLIGHT ? " SOUVENIR HUNTING AND ACCIDENTS. MAN is a collector by nature. From multi-coloured bits of bright fragments of broken pots and plates to Old Masters or rare china vary his collection according to his age or station in life. One will treasure an old book full of all sorts and descriptions of stamps. Another, who may see nothing attractive in these, will perhaps be accumulating all •manner of weapons and utensils gathered from far corners of the world. That the collecting trait in human nature should also manifest itself in so young a branch of science as aviation ;is only to be expected, and so long as this hankering only runs to keeping some part or other of a machine one has crashed during school days, or some equally harmless keep- sake of sentimental value, we have every sympathy with the collector. There is, however, another type of 'souvenir collector with whom we have no patience. Whenever a machine has been badly smashed there is instantly a rush of •people to the wreck, some of whom are, of course, only con- cerned with getting to the unfortunate passengers as quickly as possible and render any aid necessary, But there are undoubtedly others who, as soon as the occupants of the machine have been removed, get busy searching among the wreckage for some little part to carry off as a "souvenir." Apparently the worse the smash the greater the value of the " souvenirs " to these morbid collectors. However, if there Were not a more serious and much more practical side to the: question, we should scarcely have deemed it of sufficient • importance to make any mention of a thing so well known to everybody associated with aviation. The other side of the question, which has not, apparently, been fully realised yet, is that by removing part or parts of a broken machine evidence may be destroyed which would otherwise have given a clue to the cause of the accident, Since it has been our experience that talking generalities does not get home like a specific" example, we will take one such concrete case to illustrate our point. Some time ago a new fast machine was being tested at one of the home aerodromes on a very windy day. The pilot had been in the habit of making very steeply banked left- hand turns, so short, in fact, that the machine appeared to turn in about four times its own length, and in so doing was frequently banked beyond the vertical. This manoeuvre had been, repeatedly carried out on calm days and in % moderate wind. On this particular day the wind not only amounted almost to a gale, but was of a decidedly gusty character. /From What We can learn the pilot started on his usual sharp left turn while going down wind. As he had almost com- pleted the turn and was heading into the wind one of the upper wings was seen to fly back at an angle, and was soon followed by the lower wing on the same side. The machine, in coming down at a terrific speed, crashed through the roof of a shed and was, of course, totally wrecked, the pilot being killed instantly. The broken wings came down some' distance -away, and as the first thought ot the people to whom the machine belonged was naturally to rush to the spot and render any aid in their power to the unfortunate pilot, the loose wings, in the excitement, were forgotten until later on. When they came to be examined it was found that some very important parts of them were missing, and a thorough search of the ground around the place .of the accident failed to Show any trace of them. Several eye-witnesses are positive that they saw a piece of the top covering of the upper wing blow off first, before the wings broke. The probabilities are that the machine, which would have its air speed momentarily increased to a veTy great extent through 'turning comparatively suddenly from a down-wiart to au up-wind course, met a head-on gust just as the relative air speed was highest, and that the resulting pressure, being in the nature of a sudden blow, ripped a portion of the fabric off the top surface of the upper wing, which is, of course, the more heavily loaded. All the probabilities are in favour of thie explanation, but in view of the missing parts of the broken wings, which, there can be little doubt, have been picked up by somebody, it is impossible to arrive at a definite conclusion. If all the parts had been available there is every probability that it would have been possible to reason the matter out conclusively and logically, and to have shown that, as a matter of fact, the fabric gave fjrst, and then naturally the "wind pressure on the wing structure would soon tear the wing away. As it is, one can only surmise that this is what happened, but there is no concrete proof of it, and it is only the corroborative evidence of several eye-witnesses which lends weight to this explanation. This is of such moment that it is time to speak out very emphatically, and point out that in a degree this morbid fancy for souvenir hunting, however unintentional, in design, is really at the present stage of aviation a crime against human life. Through inability to trace the cause of the wing breakage other pilots' lives may be sacrificed, since every manufacturer of aeroplanes Would have benefited by a technical analysis of the causes of the accident, not to mention the fact that immense harm may have been done to the reputation of any nrm whose machine is involved in the accident. It is little Satisfaction to know that machines of official design have also been known to break their wings in the air. Once let a privately built machine do this, and it is extremely hard to .live down, as more than one constructor can testify. We would therefore impress upon one and all to make it a rule, and to see that others abide by it also : NEVER REMOVE ANY PART OF A SMASHED AEROPLANE, HOWEVER SMALL AND APPARENTLY UNIMPOETANT. It is true that the fullest powers are already in hand by the authorities for dealing with any lapse in this direction, but it is only by implicit co-operation by the general public that this serious question can be effectively met. American Flyers in France. FROM the nth inst. the entire personnel of the American Lafayette Air Squadron, fighting on the French front, reverted to its national uniform, and now fights under the American colours. According to a report from Washington Mr. Baker, the Secretary for War, has prepared a communication to be addressed to American aviators in the French air service, stating that the United States recognises the services which they are rendering, and desires them to remain at the front, as they are doing more important work there than it would be possible for them to do at home. 362
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