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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0459.PDF
APRIL 25, 191S. 0.0 o oioio o o Preparing.—A German twin- engined F.F. bomber getting ready for a flight, OOOOO O O_O O O O O O O O O o o o 0 o lines, but far more dodge desperately all the wild youngdevils who are careering about space. Our swank is unutterably boundless. And why not ''Aren't we the Senior Service ? The infantry are mud- dabblers, the cavalry are stick-in-the-muds, the artillery arecamouflaged mud-flounderers ; but who skims aloft, clear of the flotsam, shell-churned fields of Flanders, throwingmud at all others, but above muck flying through clean, pure, wholesome, fragrant air ?Why us, of course ! Contempt for all the services ! Long live swank in theR.A.F.—which reminds one that only a month or so ago, we of the R.F.C. hated to have wings on our machines becausethe R.N.A.S. had these, and none the less spurning were the amphib-aviators, who turned up snobbish noses at mostevident improvements in the birdmen buses. But now all is one ! Divided we stand, united in our contempt for alllubbers of the land, and above all for that fungus of the air, that sausage-shaped canteen of the atmosphere—the gas-bag !And where is the war to be won ? Indubitably beyond cavil, in the air ; and why ask silly questions with obviousanswers ? Ah, yes, Merrie Englande, we're the handy kids when itcomes to packing pestiferous wars away in our little air pockets ! There's really no dimension in Euclid that can circumscribeour accomplishments and our swank. Who dropped 100,000 lbs. of food into General Townshend's camp at Kut ? Whowith shank's ponies or his trains, liners or motor cars has duplicated the feat of the Handley-Page that flew fromLondon to Constantinople ? Who ou terra firma has taken twenty-one full-grown persons in a single biplane to a heightof 7,000 feet ? Why, gentle and by now, I trow, completely squelched reader, airgods, race whirlwinds and win ! Listen ye to the words of a contemporary ravista, andkeep awesome silence as the aeroplane speaks : " Ah, Reader, smile not unbelievingly, as you smiled but a few years past.There may be greater wonders yet, Consider that as the speed increases, so does the momentum in the mass of the aeroplane become terrific. And bearing that in mind, remember that with altitude gravity decreases. There may yet beliterally other worlds to conquer. We may circle the earth in a day." It's all helicopters and ornithopters to me what all thismeans; but, from the general drift, I opine Shakespeare will yet have to prod his Puck, if he doesn't wish him over-taken by us lads of the Cloudlands. There are only two great forces to be overcome : the dragof gravity and the inertia inherent in the powers that be : and already we've made giant strides against old Gravity.Totally smothered and I vow completely silenced reader, do you mind my obliterating you utterly with one morequotation ? My fellow whooper-up, Lieutenant Middleton, writes :—" In time to come it will be a world without dis-tance and without time, a world inhabited throughout, a Lilliputian world that can hold no darkness, no uncivilisationand no surprise. That world lies entirely within the imagina- ^tion and capabilities of the designers and constructors." Down, most miserable reader, down and worship : infantry-men, present your arms ; cavalry, out with your sabres and salute ; guns^ boom out the salvo of honour; all ye in-significant, grovelling earth-crawlers, down—with your backs flat and your faces in the dust—down and worshipme ! I'm a ground pilot ! Just pipped ! ! Creation's cream ! \ ! A Fledgling! ! ! 1 1 ! .. 457 TEN YEARS AGO. Excerpts from the. "Auto." ("FLIGHT'S" precursor and sisterJournal) of April, 1908. "FLIGHT" was foundedat the latter end of 1908. MR. FARMAN'S ACCIDENT. , \ After a period of remarkable good fortune and-freedomfrom mishap of the slightest description, Mr. Henry-Farman met with what might well have proved a serious fall on Fridayof last week, while experimenting with his famous machine. Happily he is not seriously hurt. The accident was causedby a. sudden gust of wind which caught the machine just as it was making a turn at the end of a very successful straightflight. Owing to the fact that Mr. Farm an was then only about 7 ft. above the ground, there was insufficient room forhim to make any serious attempt at regaining equilibrium, and the result was disaster. Apropos the new Army Bill, the above is a forecastby Mr. F. G. Pitts, a St. Albans reader. (Cheers from "Cuthberts.")
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