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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0873.PDF
AUGUST 23, 1917. . • • . A LAMENT FOR By CLARENCE IN putting forward a plea for an antiquated mode of aerial travel I have no doubt that, after publica- tion, my postbag will be immediately threatened with shoals of criticisms from the modern school of flight. The Bristol, the Sopwith, and any other form of tabloid, are as the breath of life.to the up- to-date sub-lieutenant whose association with avia- tion commenced with the period of the war. Maybe , he learned the initial stages of his art on some decrepit box kite, but he took his lessons within full view of the more advanced craft, and these set up an example which put his own struggling efforts very much in the shade. Consequently, he was fired with an ambition to emulate his superiors who were fortunate enough to be able to disport themselves on real aeroplanes and gracefully draw invisible loops, curves and -other artistic forms on various levels in the most erratic of elements—air. He yearned for the smart and business-like scout, whereon he might one day hope to strafe a rival Hun at ten or fifteen thousand. His soul was of the militarist class, his craft was to be nothing more than a long-range gun, his business merely to be part of the necessary destructive mechanism which seems to be part and parcel of modern civilisation. He wanted a 'bus that would "fly itself," as the term goes. In fact, he found the flying of an ordinary common "box kite, with her 50 Gnome, too much like hard work. . But to those of us who knewjthe box kite in the early days, in fact, to those of us who practically grew up with the box kite, there is a link of sympathy which binds us to that far-off relic, a link composed of pleasant memories and sad regrets. We knew the box kite as the only means of aerial joy. We knew THE BOX KITE, ; WINCHESTER. _^ ^ " . it as a kindly, but erratic, creature. Often it let us down badly, but just as often we let it down badly in return. The " letting down " appeared to be a mutual agreement, and if the front elevator did take a fancy for a piece of haystack or the back of a shed we were almost loathe to discourage its epicurean desires ! Nowadays, we do not wait for the wind to drop, so we have no leisure to lie upon the grass and read poetry and the aviation .Press. We have to take our books with us. We no longer wait anxiously for the lulls. Our sheds and the air are full of life, and our one time artistic sport has descended to the material plane of trade. I have no doubt it gratifies the mercenary spirit, but, even so, the fascination of the " old " days cannot be refuted. Clattering round Shoreham, Brooklands or Hendon at about two or three hundred feet in a Farman, tattered and torn, was an ideal joy. Machines did not " fly themselves " in those days, and " joy stick " wangling was no light matter to the weak of wrist. Our passengers hung round our necks, or sometimes we would pack three up into a two-seater. In such manner would we travel out across country for a few rniles, slowly and not always surely at a height which was precarious for body and soul. The modern aviator does not know the real joy of flight." His craft is but an aerial limousine, and, apart from war, has no risks attached to it. The. antique has an attraction for me, and even in aviation I feel its magnetism. But even among those who admire the modern fashion in flight few can justly deny, if they were aeronautically inclined in the days of which I write, the glorious and sporting " atmosphere " attached to the aerodrome of " ye olden times." FATAL ACCIDENTS. LIEUT. W. E. TATE and Lieut. G. T. R. Pettigrew, both attached to the R.F.C., were killed in an aeroplane accident in North Wales on Aug. 12th. While manoeuvring over the Hounslow district on Ang. 13th an aeroplane, in performing a spinning nose-dive, fell to earth. The pilot, Lieut. Crewe, R.F.C., was killed. 2nd Lieut. R. Phillips was killed while flying over Lincoln-shire on Aug 14th. Lieut. Rowlands, R.F.C., after an early morning flight in Lincolnshire on Aug. 15th, collided with a house while .landing, and was killed instantaneously, his head being crushed by falling brickwork. It was announced on Aug. 16th that 2nd Lieut. A. F. McCullough, R.F.C.^had been'killed by the fall of his machine. While flying over the Thames at Purfleet on Aug. 17th two Army machines collided and fell near the training ship " Corn- wall." Lieut. Doyle, R.F.C., cne of the pilots, was drowned, but the other, Lieut. Tinnes, was rescued. Lieut. M. A. E. Cremitti, R. Scots Fus., attd. R.F.C., was killed at Hendon on Aug. 14th. From the evidence at the inquest, it appears that half an hour before the accident Lieut. Perrin flew the machine and reported that the engine was out of order, as it would not give the necessary number of revolutions. The machine was then marked for the attention of the mechanics. Lieut. Cremitti, however, said that he did aot believe it was out of order, and went up in it. The machine went fairly well at the start, but when about 600 ft. up it dropped about 100 ft. It recovered somewhat, but afterwards took a side-turn and, falliqg to the earth, took fire. The Lieutenant was killed immediately, his body being burned almost beyond recognition. The observer, Corpl. Bingham, was badly injured. A verdict of " Death from Misadventure " was returned. A collision between two machines from neighbouring aerodromes in the Eastern Midlands on August 20th resulted in the death of the pilot, Lieut. Plughole, of one and the passenger, Air-Mechanic Edwards, of the other. The same day an accident occurred in Surrey, where a biplane from Brooklands Aerodrome, following an explosion at an altitude of 4,000 ft., caught fire and crashed to earth. Lieut. H. S. Jordan, R.F.A., attd. R.F.C., acting as observer, and Sergeant E. Handley, R.F.A., were killed instantaneously. A Warwickshire coroner held an inquest on August 20th on the body of First Air-Mechanic S. E. Larkin, which followed a flying accident near Birmingham. The pilot, Lieut. Belcher, was flying with Larkin, and when about 500 ft. high they encountered a " bump " in a gust of wind. The machine nose-dived and crashed to earth. Lieut. Belcher, who is still in hospital, was seriously injured. He has stated that if they had been higher they could have escaped the accident. A verdict of "Accidental Death" was returned. At an inquest held at Hendon on Aug. 21st on 2nd-Lieut." G. H. Munro, R.F.C., who was killed at Hendon aerodrome;, it was stated that he was taking a machine from Farnborough to Yorkshire. Owing to approaching darkness he tried to land at Hendon, but apparently misjudged the distance in ; landing. His machine lost flying speed and nose-dived, crashing to the ground. A verdict of "Death from Mis- adventure " was returned. Two Weil-Known Pilots Killed. "~ : WHILE testing a new machine, Capt. Roukel, one of the best-known French pilots, has been killed. M. Franfois Lafourcade, the French champion cyclist, has been killed while carrying out his duties of patrolling the coast as a non-commissioned flying officer. His machine capsized and the bombs he was carrying burst. His observer was also killed. - , - ' • - ' 873
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