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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1176.PDF
OCTOBER JJ, 1918. BOOK REVIEWS. "THE FLYING POILU." FROM the title-page to this book we learn that MarcelNadaud is an " observer-bombard er " in the French Aviation Service. We should not have guessed that from reading his" charming tale of a Paris street urchin who wins his way to the Aviation Corps." His knowledge on the subject of aero-planes and their ways, if not extensive, is, at any rate, peculiar. For instance, in what purports to be a description of a patrolflight, we read : " A sudden turn of the motor, several misses, fugitiverecoveries, the propeller stopped turning. Then turned very fast, then blocked I" We've pancaked I " That, however, is not the end of the incident. We learnthat after the pilot had worked the levers quickly without result, "the machine, deprived of speed, made a quick divefor about a hundred yards." So much appears to have happened during that dive thatit is evident the author was misled either by the distance or the speed. He goes on. " I touched ground at the speed of more than sixty milesan hour, back pedalled. The machine obeyed, rebounded on its back wheels." Even that is not the end, for the machine appears to havechanged its mind ; it went on across a ravine, a road, a canal, a hedge, and finally turned turtle in a field. It may be that some of the vagaries of this " realisticromance " should be placed to the account of the translator— it certainly reads as though the dictionary had been freelyconsulted, with anything but happy results. It would also seem that, conscious of being unable to render French slanginto English, the translator has sprinkled in a few English and American slang terms as a sort ol make-weight. Here andthere the story has the true French blenr! of humour, pathos and gaiety, but it is spoilt by its absurd references to aero1planes. It is reminiscent of a certain class of cinema drama in which accuracy of detail is prodigally sacrificed wheneverit happens to be inconvenient. There are ten illustrations, but the artist's acquaintance with aviation seems to be asslight as that of the other collaborators. Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton are the publishers, and the price is ys. 6d. net. "AEROPLANES AND AERO ENGINES." THIS little book should prove useful to those who areturning to aviation as a profession, providing, as it does, an introduction in simple language to the subject of flight. Itwilf also be helpful to those who either out of curiosity or because their business has to do with aeroplanes or engines,wish to know how and why an aeroplane flies, but who do not want to go to the length of studying the matter deeply. Therehave been many attempts to meet the demand for such an elementary handbook, but several of them have erred onthe side of being1 too technical, while the majority have failed to give the necessary information. " Avion " in his book,which has just been published by Messrs. C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd., appears to have struck the happy medium. In the firsthalf of the book he explains why an aeroplane flies, how its stability is secured and how it is controlled. He also toucheslightly on the subject of rigging, outlines the theory of the propeller and indicates the purpose of the various instrumentsfound on an aeroplane. In the second part the character- istics of the various types of engines used on aeroplanes arediscussed, and there is a brief chapter on the management of an aero engine. The book is illustrated by a number ofsketches and diagrams which are admirably clear. The book is published at 2s. 6d., and copies can be obtained from" FLIGHT " Offices for 2s. lod. post free. •'WOMEN AND SOLDIERS." ONE result of the recent 'bus strike has been to provoke agood deal of hard thinking as to what women have really done to help on the war and—not less important—the motiveswhich have inspired their action. Undoubtedly many have set a brilliant example of patriotism and self-sacrifice, but itis equally true that too many have been content to stand aloof and merely applaud or criticise. In " Women andSoldiers " Mrs. Alec-Tweedie, besides showing something of what women have done in the war, has written a book whichis distinctly useful especially to those who are giving their serious attention to the problems of re-construction. In thecourse of her busy life she has studied men and women a.t work and play in many parts of the world and since the warstarted has been actively co-operating in the work of Y.M.C. A. centres and such like. As those who are acquainted with herwritings are aware, Mrs. Alec-Tweedie is gifted with an eye tor the things which really matter, and can write of them ina way to not only interest her readers but to make them think. AH the time she is learning—and teaching others. She hits hard "and directly at many of the anomalies of theBritish system." Thus on the subject of thrift she says : "Don't save seems to be the cry of Great Britain. Whyshould a workman save ? If he does he becomes one of the hated capitalists. If he doesn't, the State pays for him—atbirth, feeds him, washes him, educates him, hospitals him. pensions him, and buries him. Take a self-respectiriglittleperson who saves for his old age. The moment he has saved £130 a year to live on, down come the tax collectors andpunish him for his thrift." It is only to be expected that a woman with such far-sighted 'views as Mrs. Alec-Tweedie should have quickly realised that the war will be decided m the air, although it is notgenerally known that in January, 1916, she offered a prize of J£I,OOO to the War Office for an aeroplane engine that wouldquickly help to finish the war. Although we may not all be able to see eye to eye with her in her hope that after the war ,women will be able to find jobs as aerial postwomen, there is much in " Womenvand Soldiers " which makes it well worththe 2S. 6d. which it costs. It is published by Mr. John Lane. " CARBURATION." NEARLY eight years ago Mr. F. W. Lanchester said thatin his experience the design of the spray type of carburettor was somewhat in the same position as the design and fittingout of a sailing boat. " Different men come along and move the ballast to different positions and alter and shift thesail plan about, here and there, and get different results-, better or worse ; but none of them get the exact results thedesigner anticipated, or know with any sort of certainty what effect any given alteration will produce." In hisvoluminous" report to the American Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, recently published, on the curburettor posi-tion at the present time, Prof. Lucke says that these views are just as true to-day, with this difference only, that inthe intervening years a greater number of men have " come along and moved the ballast and altered the sail plan "so that the results on the whole are perhaps somewhat more improved. More attention is being given to the subject nowon account of the problems involved in the running of aero- plane engines at high altitudes. The literature on thesubject is scanty, but one useful book is Mr. R. W. A. Brewer's " Carburation in Theory and Practice," of which a new editionhas just brtSlT published by Messrs, Crosby Lockwood and Son. Mr. Brewer is busily engaged on war work on the otherside of the Atlantic, and so has not been able to give that full and complete care to the work of revision that the subjectdemands, and to add to his difficulties a package of his manu- script was involved in an incident in which a U-boat wasconcerned, and it has proved impossible to replace all the additions which were at first contemplated. However, somenew and original matter has been added, and several descrip- tions of carburettors have been brought up to date. As show-ing the scope of the book, it may be mentioned that among the subjects treated in the various chapters are " Vaporisationand Evaporation," " Limits of Combustion," " Inlet Pipes and Inertia," "The Flow of Fuel through Small Orifices,"" The Annulus," " Special Jets," " Float Chambers," " Ex haust Gas Analyses." The closing chapters consist of de-scriptions of a good many of the best-known carburettors, with some criticisms on their design and working. Thrprice of the book is 12s. 6d. net. ••METRIC AND BRITISH EQUIVALENTS." PUBLISHED with the primary object of facilitating trade between Great Britain and Italy, the book of Metric Weights and Measures and British Equivalents, compiled by Mr. A. J. Lawson for the British-Italian Commercial Association, will be found usefal by all engineers and manufacturers doing business with Italy, France, Spain, South America, etc. Conversion tables of almost every British unit of measure- ment into metric equivalents are given in detail, while there are also tab;es for converting £ s. d. into lire and vice-versa. The text is printed in both English and Italian. Apart from the actual conversion tables, the question of the adoption of the decimal system in this country is con- sidered in detail, and tables of £ s. d. expressed in decimals of a florin are included. The book is published by Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswcode, Ltd., and, bound in cloth, costs 5s. net. • • • • PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. Fuel Economy in Cooking Apparatus. By A. H. Barker,B.A., B.Sc, &c. London : The Builder, Ltd., 4, Catherine Street, W.C. 2. The Bombing of Bruges. By Capt. Paul Bewsher, D.S.C.,R.A.F. London : Hodder and Stoughton. Price ;s. net. 1177
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