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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0420.PDF
I/LIGHT) MAY 3, 1917. J RUMOUR is probably not far out when she classesthe Kaiser as the head of the Weary Willies at the present moment. Judging from an incident described by Philip Gibbs,in the Telegraph last Tuesday, when writing from British Headquarters in France, the disease has caught on with nouncertain catch amongst at least some of the military followers of the Hun chief. Mr. Gibbs' Weary Willie under-study is thus pen-pictured :— " On another part of the line held by English troops aqueer bird was captured the other day. It was a blue bird in the form of a German officer wearing a gay uniform witha big cloak and spurs, brought down by one of our airmen. He seemed sleepy when caught, and yawned politely behindhis closed hand, and explained the cause of his unfortunate advent behind our lines. It appears that the commandingofficer of his air squadron at Cambrai went on leave, and his officers and other friends consoled themselves by drinkinggood red wine. In the morning, after a late night, they de- cided to go out on a reconnaissance, and the officer in thesky-blue cloak agreed that he also would make a flight, and so perform his duty to the Fatherland. A pilot took him up,but instead of making a reconnaissance he fell fast asleep, and saw nothing of a British aeroplane swooping upon himfrom a high cloud. A bullet in the petrol tank drove down the German machine, and the officer in the sky-blue cloakstepped out, saluted, surrendered, and a little later fell asleep again." IF there are many more of this pattern, there is good reason for Mr. Gibbs' following remark that, " an air prisoner is always more noticeable than the batches of infantry who come back to our lines after one of our attacks." IT is with sincere pleasure we learn that Capt. Leefe Robinson, V.C., is still in the land of the living, although, unfortunately, his present address is the land of the Hun, he having been taken prisoner after his recent forced landing on the enemy side. Mr. Stapleton Smith, whose daughter, Mrs. Whipple, is engaged to Capt. Robinson, further states that from a letter received by his fiancee, although a prisoner, he is not only alive, but well. WOUNDED R.F.C. officers have now another haven in whichto rest awhile through the generosity of Col.and Mrs. Mulliner, of Clifton Court, Rugby, who have given up their residenceto the War Office, as a V.A.D. Hospital. The W.O. have decided to give the Flying Corps the benefit of this verywelcome gift. Not only have Col. and Mrs. Mulliner presented the use of their house for this good purpose, but they haveoffered to entirely equip the new hospital, Mrs. Mulliner herself acting as Commandant, local ladies being enrolled tofill the ranks of V.A. Detachment for the building. LORD DERBY will at Liverpool on May 12th open the Air Service Exhibition, with which Lady Drogheda is " touring " the country. The Lord Mayor of Liverpool will preside over the ceremony in the Walker Art Gallery, where, as mentioned a few weeks back, the Exhibition will be located. As we predicted, phenominal success has attended the show at the various pitches where up to the present it has been possible to arrange the remarkable collection of relics, pictures, &c, associated with the Air Services. AN interesting appointment announced in the London Gazette is that of Major Henry Fowler, R.E. (T.F.), the Superintendent of the Royal Aircraft Factory, to be a Lieut. - Col., R.F.C. (T.F.). AMONG the Admiralty announcements of April 30th isthe promotion of Squadron Commander Edward Feather- stone Briggs, D.S.O., to be Wing Commander, to dateDecember 31st. Quite a fitting compliment to commemorate his safe return to " Blighty." WHILST we have every sympathy with the efforts of the representatives of the municipalities to induce, even at this late hour, the Government to take over damage from aircraft marauders as a national liability, we fancy the Mayor of Margate, at the Mansion House meeting last week, went a bit far in suggesting as one of his arguments that if " the vast amount of work which the insurance scheme entailed " were swept away, the result would be the releasing of men sufficient to provide another division of the Army. As afact the main work is done all in the day's work by the staffs of the various insurance companies, who, under the originalscheme, have worked entirely on a small percentage. PROFESSOR G. H. BRYAN, whenever he lectures, has some-thing interesting and informative to pass on to his hearers. Last week, at the Royal Institution, when speaking upon theprinciples of aerial navigation and deploring the neglect on the part of British mathematicians to bring well-knownformulae to bear upon the solution of many problems affect- ing the stability of aeroplanes, Professor Bryan exhibited aphoto, taken by him in Paris in 1877 of an experimental engine, and said that only during the past few days had hediscovered on the mechanism the name of Bleriot, then, of course, entirely unknown. ANOTHER point which Professor Bryan emphasised, whenreferring to the danger of successive " banking," was that it might be found that an aeroplane with wings, the tips ofwhich went downwards like a bird's, would overcome this, A propos the Freiburg raid reprisal, it is worthy of carefulnote that the Queen of Sweden promptly sent a telegram to the Burgomaster of Freiburg expressing her deep sorrowfor the air raid. CARRYING mails by aeroplane is one of the certainties ofthe future foretold. Yet a " flying post " was started in 1763 in Exeter, to wit, Trewman's. Although the war hasundoubtedly advanced aviation many decades earlier than it could ever otherwise have hoped to have attained, it has,unfortunately, been the means of killing Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, which last week, like many other newspapersthese war-times, ceased further publication. WHEN the aerial mail service between Naples and Sardiniaand Sicily and Tripoli gets going, the " post-boys " will not unnaturally be fully armed. Aeroplanes will at first beemployed, but presently the Italian Minister of Posts and Telegraphs proposes to use dirigibles. Looks as if it mighteasily become a permanency. NOTHING could be more gratifying than the keen personalinterest in aviation which is being evinced by the King. Last week it was the Sopwith firm which received a visitfrom His Majesty, and following this King George and Queen Mary, accompanied by Prince Albert and PrincessMary, and attended by Capt. B. Godfrey-Faussett, R.N., visited the Martinsyde aeroplane factory on Friday afternoon.Here the Royal party remained for quite two hours inspecting most minutely much of the work in operation, special notebeing made of the number of discharged soldiers who were usefully employed in the construction of the aeroplanes.Again, the " finished article " was seen in the air after the works had been thoroughly explored, and in the hands ofthat past-master in flying, Mr. Raynham, one of the Martin- syde products was put through its paces, giving some idea ofwhat the machine is capable in practice. Altogether a delightful afternoon's experience. PERHAPS it was only a coincidence that Lord and LadyDesborough, who are so intimately associated with matters aviatic, had the honour of dining with the King and Queenthe same evening. MORE Hun relics for local collections, A machine gun and part of the girder of a Zeppelin have been presented by the Aircraft Equipment Department to the Chelmsford collection of local war relics. Similar collections are being made in various provincialtowns, which appear to be favourably regarded by the Government as a means of preserving war relics for posterity. A SIMILAR relic, which should be ear-marked for localclaims, was on April 30th unearthed in a north Midland town, where Ralph Goodier, a farm hand, while ploughing up anallotment, brought to light an unexploded bomb bearing a Hun trade mark, which there is reason to believe was one ofseveral " pips " left behind by a Zeppelin during an air raid last year. 42O
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