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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0659.PDF
JUNE 28, 1917. A General Law for Flying. Applying the results of the Buy Ballot law, we arrive at another proposition, which will be accepted by meteoro- logists, that when the weather at any spot in the Northern Hemisphere is under the influence of low-pressure areas, and if the passage of the centres is near the place from which the pilot is flying westwards, he will start on a northerly course at first. In like manner, when he desires to fly in an easterly direction he will take a southerly course to start with. If, on the other hand, the Weather is under the influence of a high-pressure area, these rules will be exactly reversed. To give an illustration. If a large and intense anti-cyclone Wer"e to exist between England and the Alps, eastward-bound pilots would fly first of all over the North Sea and take a line eastwards through Western Russia, whereas, if west- ward bound from Egypt homewards, wise pilots would keep well to the south of the Alps before turning in a northerly direction to England. There is another point which every experienced pilot is aware of, but which is not generally known to the public. The higher you fly the more the wind tends to turn to the right. That is to say, if on the ground you find a westerly wind, the wind at"~5,ooo ft. will probably be W.N.W., and at 10,000 ft. probably N.W. The cause of this is found in the rotation of the earth, but I cannot dilate on this here. I must also mention that isobars on the earth's surface are not the same necessarily as those several thousand feet up in the air. Now I come to the conclusion of my lecture, and I desire to summarise the principal points. ' Three Points of Importance. Firstly.—As soon as war is over there must be national and international laws for the regulation of flying. Secondly.—Over-sea and over-continental routes must be defined in the interests of the whole world. Thirdly.—The winds of the world, instead of being a drawback to flying over the surface of the planet, will, if properly used, proved to be of great assistance. Life and Money Spent on Aviation not Wasted. The progress of aviation, owing to its immense and in- creasing importance in the war for naval and military purposes, has been extraordinarily rapid during the last three years. The decisive military and naval results which a real preponderance of air power would bring about are at last beginning to be realised—I hope not too late. Nations are spending millions of money upon the development of flying, and thousands of brave men have sacrificed their lives, both in fighting and experimental work. There has been a prodigal expenditure of life and treasure and a wonderful concentration of brains and energy on aviation for destroying human life and wrecking property. Bui when peace once more comes this output of human life and skill will prove not unproductive. Unlike the expenditure of all kinds in producing forts, battleships, guns, shells, powder, missiles, gas and horrible and ingenious ways of killing, result- ing in nothing useful to the human race in future, the forced The Crew of the " Z. 48." ' ON June 20th the final scenes so far as the dead crew of the destroyed Zeppelin " Z. 48 " were concerned were enacted in a quiet little village near the East Coast, the inquest and funeral following in quick succession. The inquest was held in the open at a farmhouse, where, under the shade of the shrubbery, the jury of eight, military and police gathered. It took place with guns rumbling in the distance, and aero- planes soaring overhead. The Coroner at the outset intimated that the jury had to ascertain the cause of death of 14 bodies. The first witness, a R.A.M.C. major, said of the 14 bodies he had been able to indentify five, all of Which were lying in a field outside the area enclosed by the military. No. 1 Was apparently that of a man named Surklepp, this being . the name on his identification disc. The only other marks f were 1138 M.L.A. 1843. In the five cases the cause of death was injuries through falling ; all of them had bones broken and heads smashed. There was no evidence of burning. The other nine bodies were all badly charred, and the cause of death Was burning. The parish police constable said a quarter of an hour after he had at first espied the Zeppelin he sighted an aero- plane approaching from the south-west. It was circling round and round. Almost immediately the Zeppelin came from the same direction. It appeared to 'be disabled. At that time another aeroplane appeared, and they both appeared to be attacking the Zeppelin, which was drifting to the north-east seawards. At 3.30 she caught fire. The district police sergeant deposed to searching the body of the supposed commander. On him he found an iron development of aviation will, perhaps, be the war's most useful legacy, apart from political effects, such as the welding together of the British Empire by the cement of blood. And so I give you this thought to take home with you to-night, that the lives of our brave youth given to save us when our very existence is at stake, will not have been wasted. The great development of flying produced by this war will mean that in a few years from now the human race will navigate the air with ease, speed and safety. And we who are alive to-day, and for a few years longer, should consider ourselves fortunate to be living in the most wonderful time in the world's history. As an addendum to Lord Montagu's paper on the World's Air Routes and their regulation, the following few dates dealing with past aerial legislation were given as a guide:— The first Act of Parliament in regard to the regulation of aviation was passed on June 2nd, 1911, and provided for the protection of the public against dangers arising from the navigation of aircraft. The first two sections give power to the Secretary of State to prohibit the navigation of aircraft over prohibited areas, and to inflict penalties for offences. The second Act of Parliament was passed on February 14th, 1913, amending the Aerial Navigation Act of 1911 which has already been referred to. This second Act extends the power to a Secretary of State further to regulate aircraft. It was according to this Act that drastic powers were given " to fire at or into such aircraft and to use any and every other means necessary to compel compliance." As We now know, the anti-aircraft guns of those days were so feeble and inadequate that this apparently terrifying sentence might have been ignored with perfect safety by any machine capable of rising to over 5,000 ft. Perhaps, how- ever, like many regulations of the kind made by Government Departments, the object was to frighten and not to hurt. Various statutory rules were eventually made under this Act, including the prohibition of aircraft, coming from any place outside to the United Kingdom and coming over the territorial waters adjacent thereto, certain exceptions being made. It is interesting to note that in these statutory rules, Orders Nos. 228 and 243, one of the paragraphs begins : " The person in charge of an airship, before commencing a voyage to the United Kingdom," whether this was intended to imply that no aeroplane was likely to cross the Channel— which, I may remind you, was first crossed by Bleriot on July 27, 1909—or not I do not know. The use of the word " airship " is interesting, however, as illustrating the belief in the official mjnd at that time that it was the airship and not the aeroplane against which this country had to guard itself. The list of the areas prohibited was very full, and included railway stations, dockyards, churches, farms, piers, islands, breakwaters, and forts. Other statutory rules and orders were published in 1914, Nos. 725, 726 ami 1,117, the ^ast one mentioned being published only two days before the outbreak of War on August 2nd, 1914. cross, a gold watch and guard, a revolver, a pocket-book, and some letters in German. The jury returned a verdict that five of the men died from injuries in falling, and the other nine in burning sustained in the destruction of the Zeppelin. The bodies were buried on June 20th with military honours in the cemetery of the church near where the airship fell. The procession, comprising four gun carriages and three military wagons, was headed by an officer and accompanied by a squad of cyclists. The coffin which held the com- mander s body was placed on a bier. An R.F.C. corporal went forward and put on it a choice piece ot white bloom, with the inscription, tied with the Flying Corps colours, '' To a very brave enemy, from the R.F.C. officers." The Conmander of the "Z. 48." DEPLORING the death of Captain-Lieutenant Franz Georg Eichler, commandant of " Z. 48," destroyed on June i6th-i7th, the Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten says that Capt.-Lieut. Eichler, who was 40 years old, after serving in the Navy, entered the service of the Hamburg-Amerika Line, was promoted Captain-Lieutenant of that line, and was Captain of the " Imperator" and the " Vaterland." He entered the Officers' Corps of the battleship '.' Konig Albert " as artillery officer on the outbreak of war. In May last year he entered the Naval Airship Service, and had participated in a large number of attacks on England. Capt. Viktor Schutze, the leader of the squadron, who perished on the same occasion, was 41 years old, and had been in the Air Service for two years. 659
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