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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0597.PDF
MAY 30, 1918. quiet hour, no sheltering billet, and with the cold Marchrain on top of it all, no dry stitch on one's whole body." HITHERTO we have been familiar with the game of " golf,"" clock golf " and any other old golf, but as usual it rests with America to really do the thing on the grand scale.According to the correspondent of the New York World at Wichita Falls, Texas, "Aeroplane Golf'" is the latestform of pastime combined with practice, indulged in by the local aerial brigade. It appears that an aerial golf fieldthat has a circuit of 180 miles haabeen laid out by the aviators of Call Field, near the Falls, upon which this new sport is in-dulged in every day by many of the expert fliers. It is a nine-hole course. The game is played in singles only, and with a Standardor Curtiss biplane instead of clubs and a gutta-percha ball, and elements of hide and seek are combined with the prin-ciples of golf. The " holes " are certain fields, in which are mail boxeswhere the fliers must deposit a slip of paper bearing the time they reached the hole and their names, after making a landing.They again get in the machine and start up, driving for the next " hole," and the same process is repeated until the entirecourse has been made. The course is often completed in three hours or less.The cadets are given compass bearings and the course to each hole on starting out, and have to find their way fromthat. No maps are allowed. It is an interesting game and a valuable test as well. WE suppose there'll now be somebody wanting an 18-holeaerial golf course. GERMAN music up-to-date. A piano-tuner, with 20 years'experience, informs " The Londoner" that there are two distinct notes given off by the Gotha, which differ from thesound of our own planes. In Sunday's raid one could plainly hear the droning Englishmen, who were quite monotonous(musically speaking) in comparison. The notes from the Gotha are in the same relation as the sound obtained from strikingthe notes D and A, allowing a smooth and sustained A with a slow tremolo on the D. Of course, both notes would besounded together. These notes have been noticed in all night raids, and cannot be confused with the sound of our ownplanes. VERY simple, no doubt, under normal running, but notquite such an easy matter when the machines get into difficulties. Take the following case of one of the Gothaswhich came to grief after being attacked during the Whit Sunday night raid. This particular Gotha, according toreport, ended its career in a village wheat-field after a collision with a big elm tree. The smash occurred aboutmidnight. The raider was alone, and going seaward, and as banks of thin fog were rolling inland it is believed thatthe pilot had lost his bearings as well as having mechanical trouble. According to an eye-witness, " for a long time before it-came down the tremendous noise of its engines led people to think it must be a Zeppelin. The noise decreased as themachine went out to sea, but swelled later as it came back to land, and soon became louder than ever. The raider passedover my house like an enormous black bat and landed on a farm about two miles away." Thus attempting to land in awheat-field she ended her career in a collision with the big elm tree. •> • • ASSOCIATED with the above raid, the locale of which fromthe description we seem to have personal knowledge of, was a somewhat suggestive incident. On the lame duck'serratic journey from the sea landwards, the machine, no doubt for the purpose of discovering some safe landing-place, useda searchlight several times; then the machine suddenly for a matter of two or three seconds was outlined in red lights,to be followed a minute later by being outlined in green lights, " a la stunting " of Hendon remembrance. Presently—in all only a matter of quarter or half a minute—the raider had got so low that, by its searchlight, the pilot evidentlydiscovered that he was nearly on top of some high elms with no clearance behind, but was able to swoop his machineround at right angles just in time to keep clear, sending up at the same time an S.O.S. signal of a red and a green Verylight, as she, with coughing engines, made the best way she ' could to clearer ground a few fields away. Now the suggestive point of all this is (there is an aero-drome within hail of this place) : were these signals being sent out with knowledge of the adjacent 'drome to attracta reply for safe emergency landing. The occupants without 595 question were well aware of their whereabouts, as' one of thesurvivors, from a map in his possession, denoted the exact spot where they had come down. THE suspicion not unnaturally arises are these carefullyelaborated signals on German machines part of some subtle form of kultur which may be calculated to " draw" theanswering signal from our own aerodromes (under the im- pression that it is one of our own machines in distress) soas to ensure the Hun raider getting rid with certain effect of a real good basketful of eggs ? Or was it merely the resultof an optical illusion brought about by the reflection on the aeroplane of Very lights previously thrown up by the raider,and obscured by the machine itself from the watcher on terra firma ? IT is worthy of special note that last week the arrivalof medical assistance by aeroplane was a feature of an aviation accident at a North-East coast town. A two-seater wasforced to land, and the occupants had a narrow escape. In response to a telephone message another machine, witha doctor as passenger, alighted in the vicinity, and the injured airman received attention before being removed. Apropos the German " Gotha music," music of other kindsbracketed with the air-raiders is referred to in the Daily Chronicle " Office Window." One would expect, says ourcontemporary, our little brown owls, whose hearing is as wonderful as their sight, to be the first to detect the soundof coming planes, but on Sunday a company of peacocks had it. During the silence which followed the warning, theyraised ear-splitting shrieks, like Chinese fiddles driven by machinery. The toot-chorus of the owls came later, anddogs barked after an appreciable interval. Then we heard the drone of engines. But cats were the most insolent:they fought during the heaviest phase of the barrage, to an accompaniment of " language" which not even the gunscould drown. ALTHOUGH the Government will not " bemean itself"(or is it, politically, dare not) by instituting premium bonds, and thereby pulling in much war funds, there are otherswho are more appreciative of this form of sport when there is a chance of good work resulting. By way of instance,Reading way, in order to raise funds for the Prisoners of War Fund being gotten together by the local R.A.F. contingent,a " draw " has been organised to take place on June 1st for a motor-cycle as a prize. In consequence much cashhas been very readily forthcoming, all of which will be avail- able for the excellent object for which it has been subscribed,as the gross sum collected will be handed over and no ex- penses whatever deducted. This is as it shouldbe, and we offerour congratulations to the organisers accordingly. Next week, for the information of those who hope to secure themotor-cycle, we propose publishing the winning ticket number. Tbe moonlight raider.
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