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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0507.PDF
MAY 24, 1917. SOME people appear to have quaint ideas of the best way to draw attention to errors of others. Eccentric methods in this direction can, however, at times be a little bit too drastic for most people's liking. The case of the engineer the other day at the London Munitions Tribunal, when a fine of £1 was inflicted upon the culprit fcr turning out an irregular aeroplane part, emphasises the moral very pointedly. According to the defendant, he claimed that the plans from which he was working were not properly drawn. He there- upon, so he explained, determined upon a little experiment " on his own " to bring it home to the originators of the fault. He made the part a little too short and then welded a small piece on to make it the requisite length, with the result that, had it not been accidentally detected, it must have resulted, the manager declared, in the death of any pilot who took up the aeroplane on which it was fitted. The only excuse in mitigation of his misdeed, besides the apparently illogical claim as to an inaccurate plan, was that, -when finished, he had looked around for the foreman to tell him what he had done- but not finding him he just went home and got ill. Seems as if .40s. fine hardly fits the crime, even if the sudden illness arose from realisation of what he had done. -r;.•„.•:" . - - IT has taken them a long time to think about it, but better late than never, the L.C.C. Highways Committee has now decided to give compensation to the relatives of three tram- men who were killed by a Zeppelin bomb. RECENTLY we had* to place on record the death of Flight- Lieut. F. N. Clark, who lost his life at Streatham, it will be remembered, as the result of injuries received in a burning' aeroplane. To his parents, under the circumstances, any memento of his past honourable career must carry with it something far beyond intrinsic value. Therefore we sympathise with a request which the late pilot's father, writing from 85, Leigham Court Road, Streatham, has put forward, that a silver cigarette case which his son some little time ago left in a first-class compartment of an early morning train from West Norwood to Victoria, should be returned to him. The sentimental value that attaches to this little item arises from the fact that it was a presentation from the boy's platoon in recognition of his services as their instructor in the Inns of Court O.T.C., and the cigarette case is inscribed accordingly. Mr. Clark writes that : " The article does not appear to have been given up, and doubtless the finder regarded himself as the legitimate1 owner. Anyhow, we are disposed to view the matter in that light ; but I might suggest that, in view of the tragedy of April 29th, we attach great sentimental value to its possession, and if the finder will be good enough to restore it, he-or she can keep the £1 Treasury note which was therein ; in fact, I-should be willing to make a slight recompense for his or her trouble." It is to be hoped, if Mr. Clark's appeal is seen by the finder, that a prompt response will be forthcoming, but, failing that, it would be a graceful act on the part of the platoon, and one which we feel sure they would gladly join in, if they were to duplicate the little gift as a lasting memento. THE Hun is a wily bird, and when through his military training, is thoroughly imbued with the idea of obeying instructions. But drilling does not necessarily knock initia- tive and common sense into a wooden-headed subject when actualities are in progress, and that's where the inborn self- reliance of the Briton scores all the time against the passive mind of the average German soldier, who has but one ideal,* and that is to bs told what to do and when to do it. No doubt the Kaiser now hardly finds his lambs so willing to go to the slaughter as of yore. Hence, probably, the elaborate preparations beforehand of the, raw material when any particularly vital job is to be undertaken. The details given by Mr. C. E. W. Bean, Official Press Correspondent with the Australian Force in France, of the S.O.S. method adopted recently by the enemy to knock out the Australians from By courtesy of " La Guerre Airienne." A recent German machine brought down by Capt. Heurtaux, who has now 21 machines to hiscredit. This is one of the latest types of Albatros, 507
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