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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0587.PDF
CT JUNE 14, 1917. MR. WHITEHEAD, by the bye, is no pessimist as to the future of commercial aviation. He goes so far as to prophesy for after the war an air service from London to New York every night, and daily nights from London to Petrograd at £25 pef head, the journey taking 15 hours. ALTHOUGH experience may modify some of the peeps into the future of commercial aeronautics, as seen by Mr. Holt Thomas, in principle, we have not a shadow of doubt but that he is well within the mark. What one has to remember is that the whole of the work will not be done from this side. Our present Allies will co-operate in no laggard way. By way of a reminder of this no inconsiderable factor toward success, following the report in " FLIGHT " of Mr. Thomas's lecture, a characteristic telegram" from Mr. Lorenzo Santoni came to hand last week. Cabling from Milan, Mr. Santoni says:— " Congratulations for splendid conference Holt Thomas. I have worked all along here, same object, and have regis- tered and started on May 30th the first industrial company for aerial transport, ' Societa Transporti Aerei Internazionali,' under chairmanship of the Mayor of ancient Rome, mother of civilisation, Principe Don Prospero Colonna, with close participation of the leading financial, political, industrial and social world of Italy. Italian company will be pleased to collaborate with English friends in noble enterprise, aerial linking of Allies." _, HERE'S a hand of welcome held out for those who take up the scheme this side, to grasp, with others to follow. Italy is already well ahead in establishing a regular service, and the prospects of this company open out direct communication for passengers and parcels in Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Riviera, Egypt, Tunis, Barcelona, Albania, the .Ssgean Isles, and later Trieste, Dalmatia, Istria and Asia Minor. _" THE WAR IN ITALY " is the title of a r*eally gorgeous pictorial publication Which is being issued in monthly volumes at 3s. each by the Italian General Headquarters Department. Each issue is crammed full of photographs associated directly with the war, of most live interest, many of the pictures being, apart from their value as a record of facts, works of art. Volume VI deals exclusively with aeronautics, and the series o£ pictures is worthy of minute study. Beyond an index to the plates, the letterpress is reduced to the smallest possible limits, each photograph telling its own story. By special permission of the Italian authorities we have been permitted to reproduce a few of the plates appearing in this volume, but unfortunately, owing to the present state of the paper trade, these must be regarded as very far short of doing justice to the originals. Even these prints, however, convey interesting subjects for thought, and those who may wish to secure copies of the publication, the head agency is at 1, Old Broad Street, E.C., and the West End agency, 12, Waterloo Place. There will be some further reproduc- tions in the pages of " FLIGHT " beyond those in this week from this work. THE Woolf Bureau thinks it well to re-assure the German public as to the destruction from the air of their growing fields of corn. A very nervy state exists amongst the Huns, nevertheless as to the outcome of the " reprisals " in this direction. The Woolf Bureau is inspired as follows :— " This year, as last year, the rumour has arisen that our enemies intend during the summer months to undertake air attacks on the largest scale against all parts of Germany, in order to destroy by incendiary bombs the ripening corn. It has been proved that the rumour comes from the camp of our enemies, and its sole object is to arouse uneasiness in the German people. There is not the slightest cause for such uneasiness. It is impossible for bombs from aeroplanes to set on fire the ripening fields of corn. We only wish that our enemies would make such hopeless attempts. They Wouldsuffer heavy losses in aeroplanes, without being atle to do our corn any harm," - TEN YEARS AGO. Excerpts from the " Auto." (" FLIGHT'S precursor and sisterJournal] of June, 1907. " FLIGHT " was founded in1908. EXPERIMENTS IN ITALY. Experiments are about to«be carried out in Italy, under the direction of the Minister of War, with an aeroplane of the Chanute type, which is being constructed at Rome by Messrs. Voisins, of Billancourt. At first gliding only will be attempted, for the machine will not be fitted with an engine. MR. WELLMAN TO MAKE ANOTHER ATTEMPT ON THE POLE. That undaunted pioneer of a forlorn hope, Mr. Walter Wellman, is once more assembling his forces at Spitzbergen for another expedition to the North Pole, for which a start will probably be made between July 20th and August 10th. Mr. Wellman has his plans for reaching the Pole all very 'nicely cut and dried, and, assuming that the conditions turn out to be as he expects them, there is no reason why that very entertaining series of cinematograph illustrations shown in London about a year ago should not represent certain phases of his journey. During the interval that has elapsed since then, a new airship of much larger dimensions than the one previously built has been constructed. The gas vessel of this new monster measures 184 ft. long, is 52 ft. across its greatest diameter, carries 265,000 cubic ft. of gas, and has a total lifting force of 19,500 lbs. The car is suspended close under the balloon, and consists of a frame- work of steel tubing 150 ft. long and 8 ft. broad. There is an enormous tank beneath the deck of the vessel which has a capacity for holding 1,200 gals, of petrol. At the stem • is a rudder 900 sq. ft. in area, constructed on the principle of a bicycle wheel, so that its weight is only 30 lbs. Pro- pulsion is to be effected by> a 70 h.p. De Dietrich engine, driving a twin-bladed propeller of 11 ft. in diameter at 380 r.p.m. It appears to be Mr. Wellman's intention to " guide-rope"^ the entire distance, and with a stroke of genius worthy of the inventor, Mr. Wellman has constructed a kind of leather tail for this purpose, 130 ft. long and 15 ins. in diameter, which is to be packed with 1,200 lbs. of reserve food. Sanguine anticipations place the duration of the trip at from ten to twenty days. DR. GRAHAM BELL'S AEROPLANE. Will the genius that put together a coil, a magneto, and a metal plate, and caused them to transmit sounds and words across miles upon miles of connecting wire, be able, after all, to fathom the great mystery of aerial navigation t That is the question which is revived by a further report of the iprogress being made by-Dr. Graham Bell, the telephone •(.nventor, in his investigation of the riddle of aerial naviga- tion. When Dr. Bell first began his experiments in this Qirection we recorded the fact that he had entered the arenaA practical aeroplaning, and now comes a Reuter message rom Nova Scotia stating_that Dr. Bell is confident that he will demonstrate this summer the navigability of his flying machine. THE WRIGHT BROTHERS IN EUROPE. The famous aeronauts, Wilbur and Orville Wright, have at last left their far Western home for a trip to Germany (it is stated on business bent), and took in Paris on their way this week, where they spent part of their spare time on a visit to the Antoinette engine and other works. Now that they have got thus far, we hope that they may see their way to accepting the long-standing invitation of our own Aero Club, and that before the summer is out they may be induced to visit England and give British aeronauts a first-hand account of their experiments. X Sir Douglas Haig's Tribute to the Flying Services. IN his dispatch of June Sth describing the taking of the Messines Ridge, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig says :— " Following on the great care and thoroughness in the preparations made under the orders of General Sir Herbert Plumer, the complete success gained may be ascribed chiefly to the destruction caused by our mines, to the violence and accuracy of our bombardment, to the very fine work of the R.F.C., and to the incomparable dash and courage of the infantry. The whole force acted with perfect com- bination. '' Excellent work was done by the Tanks, and every means fo offence at our disposal was made use of, so that every arm and service had a share in the victory. The Secretary of the Admiralty issued the following state- ment on June 1 ith :— " In connection with the recent offensive ons the Western front, an expression of thanks has been received from the Army Council for the services rendered 'by the Naval Air Squadrons at present with the Expeditionary Force. The Army Council endorses Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig's appreciation, which he expressed as follows :— " ' The pilots have shown energy, gallantry, and initiative, and have proved themselves capable of standing hard work and haxd fighting. Further, the machines with which they are provided have undoubtedly helped largely towards the success of the aerial fighting which has taken place this spring on the front of the British Armies in France.' " 58/
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