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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0517.PDF
MAY 9, 1918. RIRISMS FKOM THE FOUR. WINDS, MORE marks on the Rhine for our bombers, against thetime when we really begin our campaign against the " fortified " cities in the land of the Hun, have been considerately suppliedby the enemy in the three newly-named bridges which span this great German artery. That they are considered of highmilitary importance is emphasised by the Kaiser in his greeting to Little Willie upon his decision to name the bridge atEngers, now building, after his charming heir. Says the All Highest:— " It is a great pleasure to me to tell you that I have to-daygiven orders that the Rhine railway bridge near Engers which is being built in great times, and is to render important servicesin the country's defence, shall be called the Crown Prince Wilhelm Bridge. The Administration of the PrussianState Railways, which made the proposal to me, desires thereby gratefully to perpetuate your name as an armyleader." In the same spirit the Kaiser has conferred similar honourson Field-Marshal von Hindenburg and General von Ludendorff, by having the Rhine bridge near Riidesheim called the Field-Marshal General von Hindenburg Bridge, and the Rhine bridge near Remagen the " Quartermaster-General ofInfantry Ludendorfi Bridge." ENGERS bridge could be taken in a Coblentz stunt, as itis a matter of 6 miles above that city, and will connect the railway running along the left bank of the Rhine with thelines in Nassau, and form another link with the railways to Belgium and Luxemburg. THAT was a sad business the other day about the A.M. whofilled the oil tank up with best dope, thinking it was Castrol R. He was mildly surprised when the indignant engine gave upwith a horrid clank, sweating golden drops from every pore, and smelling like a country sweet shop. We can't reportwhat his CO. said, because all those kinds of expressions are the monopoly of the technical editor, and are strictly con-fined to the " Answers to Correspondents " section. FIVE years and a half is, according to Mr. Havelock Wilson,President of the Seamen and Firemen's Union, at the moment the period during which British seamen will decline to haveanything to do with the transport of goods to or from Germany after the war. This by way of retaliation for the 15,000murders since August, 1914, of members of the Mercantile Marine.It's a pity we cannot add on a few years for the pirates' similar tactics via the air. Fortunately, we are able to strikeback at the Hun towns, whereas the seamen are debarred from getting their return blows in upon what is not. FACTS and figures of the air-strafing at the front speak forthemselves day by day. A sidelight upon how the Germans regard our Flying Services' work is let in by the FrankfurterZeitung during a recent article upon the late Baron von Richthofen. This German paper writes :—" Superiority in the air has been the great boast and the great hope of our enemies since 1916. They then attainedsuperiority in the air in the numbers of their aeroplanes, and they have continually increased it. They have alwaysflown up in the thickest swarms, and fallen upon us to win in the air the victory which they hardly any longer believedattainable on the ground. Our little Germany has not been able to keep pace with this totality of the greatest and richestcountries of the world. Therefore, we shall never reach the number of their aeroplanes, whether American helpincreases it still more or leaves them further in the lurch." ANOTHER milestone in aviation. According to a messagefrom Rome as the result of an agreement recently arrived at between the British and Italian Governments, it has beendecided to establish the post of Air Attache with the respective Embassies in London and Rome. The new Italian Attache,like his military and naval colleagues, will represent Italy with the British Government in all questions concerningaeronautic organisation. The first occupant of the newly- created post is Commandant Chevalier Teodoro Debonis. AN opulent friend of ours connected with the aircraftindustry, whose hobby it is to try and average thirty miles an hour through London traffic with a great aluminiumprojectile of a car (it is his pride that he has never evsn scraped a wing), recently bought him a horse. At the sametime he blossomed out into breeches of aggressive contour, and a hunting crop of manifest Bond Street extraction. For some weeks after he sat down with exaggerated pre-caution, and we all maintained a heart-breaking discretion, until someone asked him bluntly how he was getting on withhis new one-lunger (this was a gross slander, for it was really a mettlesome and most expensive beast). He declined tobe drawn to any great extent, but we gathered that he was hoisted on to the quadruped (which pranced corkily duringthe process) by a contemptuous groom very early in the Row each morning, that it showed splendid acceleration, but thebrake linings were badly worn. This went on for some little time, but lately we heard the unmistakable hollow mutterof his engine as he slipped by us in the Strand, inveigling his way through the traffic, obviously happy once more ; and nowwe understand that there is for sale one horse, condition as new (barring slight erosion of the knees), owner having nofurther use for the same. W •• M AND that reminds us of the well-known acceptance pilotwho became possessed not of a devil—but of a Ford. The indelicacy of that unmistakable back axle he hid with a lowhung petrol tank, and lavished " V " raidators and disc wheels on the thing till it looked as if it had strayed away from Brook-lands track. It appears that there was a certain difficulty in starting up, and one snowy day when it had been standingjust ofl Piccadilly, and the efforts, of himself, his partner and a borrowed organ-grinder (whose association, they thought,specially fitted him for the job) had failed to fetch so much as a grunt out of her, they jacked the back wheels up, andputting her in gear, gave a mighty pull at the crank. She went off merrily enough, but the jack was insecure,and subsided from under. The back wheel spun a few times in the snow, and gripped, whereupon the infuriated Fordput its head down and headed straight for the large shimmering plate glass window of a restaurant across Piccadilly. Thepartner gave a flying leap on to the running board, and careered Mazeppa-likc down the street, frantically pushingeverything that looked like a control. He just managed to pull her up eight inches short of a very solid motor-'bus. NEWFOUNDLAND, according to Sir Joseph Outerbridge,a member of the Newfoundland Chamber of Commerce, is making a bid, by reason of its favourable situation withthe United States and England, to become in the future the great aeroplane station of the Empire. Lord Morris,formerly Premier of Newfoundland, endorses this ambition, and hopes to see in the Colony some of the greatest landingstations and aerodromes of the Empire ; instead of taking a week or a fortnight to come to England, Newfoundlanderswould, he claims, be coming over for the week-end. MR. W. L. WYLLIE, R.A., is again in the ranks of AviationArtists, as witness the walls of the 1918 Royal Academy. A FRIEND of mine, says the Londoner, just returned fromactive service in Egypt, tells me that he recently passed an evening with a sheikh under a palm tree. The sheikhwas tremendously interested in tales of Irish folk-lore. By way of returning the compliment, the Arab said : " I willtell you an Arab proverb. Remember it, for it applies to all men, of all races."" He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool—avoid him IHe who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep- awake him ! He who knows not and knows that he knows not wantsbeating—beat him 1 But he who knows and knows that he knows is a wise man—follow him 1 " 515
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