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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0892.PDF
Presse. This newspaper quotes startling figures of long pro-cessions of starving youths and children wandering through the country. Quoting the account of Feodorescu, in theLumina, it states that in one of these long processions of wanderers 2,500 perished, They were mostly schoolboys, from13 to 16 years of age, who were ordered out of the newly- acquired territory to Moldavia, and left to their own resourcesby the Austrian or German military occupants. They had to make the entire journey on foot, and after walking a veryfew kilometres the youngsters were tired out, and being also exhausted through want of food, they fell by the road side.They passed through Ploesti and Focsani, and continued on to Dusoh, where only forty-seven out of 2,000 arrived. Therest had died of fatigue and starvation on their way. Another procession of 500, which was sent across the Pruth to Jassyand into Russia, fared still worse, not one of the 500 surviving. The leader of the sufferers, a deputy, has returned with500 death certificates, and will bring forward an accusation in Parliament. How do the five to twenty pound a week strikers over herethink the above would compare to the treatment which the Hnns would mete out to the British workers, once theyhad the power to do their will in these Isles ? And yet with such daily object-lessons for guidance, absolutely inexcusablestoppages of the output of munitions are, at the" call of a few traitors, still permitted to happen. Yet Dora can hardly besaid to have passed away yet. Anyway she certainly gave forth a shivering little spasm last week, in the PrimeMinister's manifesto to the "Absentees."' THERE has emerged just one sympathetic touch as an after-math of the strike. Official reports from Coventry show that when the absentees did return to work, they just workedwith all their might in the hope of making good the time lost by the strike. HAD Dan Leno lived until 1918, he would have been ableto add a couple more to his list of " eggs," viz., the " plane " egg and, commencing with this week, the "Government". egg. Poor Dan's "The egg " would probably have had to take a back seat under the hatchment provided by Dora. ON a certain aviation ground in England a farmer waspermitted to pasture his sheep at his own risk, the arrange-' ment being that if an alighting aeroplane killed a sheepthe farmer should receive its " dead " value from a local butcher. An unwary sheep was flattened out, more orless, and the carcass, according to agreement, delivered to the butcher. Later in the day the mess steward received anindignant note from the butcher, saying that the sheep was short of a leg. A polite answer was returned, with a leg of"chilled " mutton. And the mess enjoyed its fresh mutton and its little joke.—Daily Chronicle, " Office Window." COMING events cast their shadows before. At Horbrand,near Bregenz, the " Zeppelin Wharf Company " has been established, with a capital of 50 million kronen. MR. W.-F. MASSEY, Prime Minister of New Zealand, lastweek, in giving a summary of notable happenings in regard to Britain's share in the war, which was altogether aboveher proportion, relative to the population, quoted the follow- ing figures as showing the Empire's tremendous effort:—Men in arms, 7,500,000. Of these, England has given 4,500,000, or 60 per cent.,Scotland 8.3 per cent., Wales 3.7, Ireland 2.3, the Dominions and Colonies 12, and India andand depend encies 13.7. Enemy aircraft brought down in twelve months : Morethan 4,000. Bombs dropped on the enemy this year: More than800 tons. . __ ...... , Raids into Germany in Junes Seventy-four. ~-v- Naval tonnage: Increased from four to well over six millions.Naval personnel: Raised from 145,000 to 420,000. War expenditure to March last: £7,014,000,000. AUGUST 8, 1918. Raised by borrowing : £5,170,000,000.Raised in revenue : £1,844,000,000. Percentage raised by taxation : More than 2 5.Loans to allies and Dominions : £1,526,000,000. It's a comfort to know that, nevertheless, Mr. Massey's .opinion is that " we can last longer than the other fellow." IN and around London it is quite a study to note the 'varying methods of protection employed against air raids for our " works of art " and monuments. It rather sets one ,:.wondering who is finally responsible for judging which shall ; have a chance as a " work of art " of being handed downto posterity. By way of a "choice" example the Local ; Government Committee of the L.C.C. states that it has >'arranged for the removal and storage at the new County Hall of the figure on the top of Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain,but has decided to take no further action to protect the -„ fountain against damage during air raids. The Committee,it has been decided, will take no actian to protect Cleopatra's Needle against air raid damage. THE following story was told to " Beachcomber " at dinner'the other night—it came round with the port, and the teller vouched for its accuracy. A very young officer was taken upfor a joy flight by an R.A.F. friend. Different stunts were to be part of the programme, but the passenger was horrifiedby the sensations of the first—looping the loop. Even to his uninstructed brain it was clear that all was not well, and hefelt that the machine would never come right side up again. AT last it did, and his relief was enormous. His horror,however, may be imagined when the pilot managed to yell at him through the noise of the engines, " That was a rottenloop. I slipped in my seat, as I had forgotten the straps ; but I'll do another for you." TEN YEARS AGO. Excerpts from the " Auto." ( " FLIGHT'S " precursor and sisterJournal) of August Sth, 1908? " FLIGHT " was founded atthe latter end of 190%, . MORE GERMAN MILITARY AIRSHIPS. "V~~Germany is to possess in a few days another military airship which has been constructed by the Motor AirshipStudy Society on the system of Major Parseval's earlier dirigible. It measures 182 feet long, and has a capacityof 4,500 cubic metres. The engine is rated at 90 h.p., and the principal peculiarity of the airship is the shape of thegas-vessel, which is built somewhat on the lines of. a whale, with a blunt nose and tapering tail. BRITISH GRANTS FOR ARMV AIRSHIPS. 7 _. •-" " „ In announcing that all necessary steps were being takenby the British military authorities for the development of aeronautical work in connection with the Army, Mr. Haldanelast week gave the following interesting figures in regard to the amount of State money which had been spent during thethe past few years on aeronautical work :— 1903-4 1904-5 1905-6 THE " REPUBLIQtTE £14,600 1906-7 ., ». £20,750 £19,600 1907-8 j.^T '.. £16,500 £23,000 1908-9 ^. ... £13,756 AT CHALAIS MEUDOTT.The new French military dirigible, " Republique," was taken on Friday afternoon from Moisson to its new quarters atChalais Meudon. Captain Bois was in command, and the journey started at half-past nine in the morning and occupied1 hour and 12 minutes, this period having included certain short intervals during which evolutions were executed inmid-air. The distance, as the crow flies, is 55 kiloms., and the wind during the run is reported to have been somewhatunpropitious. FARMAN FLIES IN AMERICA.Mr. Henry Farman, who, as we have already announced, has taken bis aeroplane across to the States, made a brief butsuccessful flight on Sunday last, at the Brighton Beach Race- \ course before an enthusiastic crowd of spectators. ^ British Output of Aeroplanes. WRITING in the War Anniversary Supplement of Over-seas Sir L. Worthington Evans, late Financial Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions, says : " British factories are nowmaking in a single week more aeroplanes than were made during the whole of 1914, in a single month more than weremade in the whole of 1915, and in a single quarter more than were made in the whole of 1916. The output for thewhole of this year will be several times what it was during last year." American Aircraft Production. ACCORDING to a message from Washington, SenatorNew, of the Aircraft Investigating Committee, has intro- duced a Bill into the U.S. Legislature proposing the central-isation of aircraft production by an executive department of the Government, to be known as the Department for Aerornautics, which will have complete control of the manufacture for the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps until theyear after the war, the Bill to be based on the testimony which was laid before the Committee. 890
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