FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1506.PDF
DECEMBER 26, up speedily the historian of the air will find himself con-fronted by the impossibility, for lack of evadence, of deter- mining the names of those to whom the palm should beawarded. Take, lor example, the famous " Immelmann turn."Naturally its invention is popularly ascribed to the greatest pilot the Huns ever produced, but as a matter of fact thephrase was applied in jest by a British airman, the late Capt. C. Gordon Bell, who discovered the feat by accident. Findinga Fokker almost " on his tail " he began a loop, but changed his intention during the ascending half of the circle, as hefeared that the Fokker might crash into him before it was completed. Still travelling forwards he rolled the machineover until upside down, allowed it to settle by the head, and then dived, the Fokker having meanwhile, of course,passed overhead. After landing, Capt. Bell described the manoeuvre to his fellow-pilots and facetiously dubbed itthe " Immelmann turn," the German " star " pilot being at that time at the height of his fame. There are pilots whoare unwilling to concede Capt. Bell's priority among English- men as the first to execute this " stunt," but he was un-doubtedly the originator of the name by which it is known, and the Hun pilot was not the inventor of the feat itself. " LOOPING the loop " is almost universally associated withthe name of Pegoud, and the majority of those who witnessed his show performances in this country would express surpriseat the bare suggestion of any doubt as to the invention of that captivating stunt. None the less the real author ofthe loop has yet to be established. Firstly, there is the question of whether Bleriot inspired Pegoud or vice versa.On the one hand it is contended that Pegouel merely flew according to a specific plan worked out in the fertile brainof his employer, and, on the other, it is averred that Pegoud conceived the possibility of looping, but had considerabledifficulty in persuading Bleriot to build a machine that would stand the strain of bein^ flown upside down. ^ case, however, Pegoud, it is claimed, was notthe first to loop the loop. On the authority of Mr. A. M. Ramsay, .son of Sir William Ramsay, and director of theBritish Caudron Co., it has been stated that Chanteloup, another French pilot, performed the feat a fortnight before Pegoud, while flying"a Caudron machine. Chanteloup wa*on military service at the time, and was given 15 days' " C.B." for " insubordination " as the result of his spontaneouseffort, which was the effect of sheer exuberance. BUT even Chanteloup, it is contended.Jwas anticipated bya Russian officer, Lieut. Nestoroff, while yet another Russian, Kostin by name, is credited with a like performance. Thuswe see that there are several Richmonds in the field, and the issue may never be decided, as circumstances may havemade it impossible by the time the war is ended to obtain conclusive evidence in support of the rival claims. » «a m P ONE thing may be said in passing, however, and that isthat looping is now regarded as one of the simplest of ac- complishments, and is sometimes effected by pupils on theirfirst " solo" flights. Justj, before the war, moreover, a young pilot looped before even he had made a cross countryflight. Invited, accordingly, to give a display at Shoreham he set off irom Eastbourne, but a nasty wind, coupled withhis inexperience, caused him to descend near Brighton.^ A naval pilot at the Shoreham aerodrome volunteered, thoughon the sick list at the time, to complete the journeyA He went out to the spot, flew the machine to Shoreham, and theyoung pilot, who was brought along by road, then looped the loop before^an admiring t crowd. THE tail slide was a British discovery, but has not beenpublicly credited to any one performer. There is some reason for believing, however, that its first exemplar wasthe late Lieut. W. D. R. Moorhouse, an intrepid pioneer who died one of the most gallant deaths of the war. Badlywounded over the German lines, he could have saved him- self had he descended at once, but struggled home in orderto hand in his report, and succumbed^ immediately after- wards. Two pioneers of aviation, M. Levavasseur and M. Gastam-bide, the originators of the Antoinette monoplane, which Hubert Latham made famous, have recently turned theirattention to variable wing surface construction. We are given to understand that so far the results have beenencouraging in the extreme. .. - " .- . ' "flight" Copyright HOME-COMING OF FIELD-MARSHAL SIR DOUGLAS HAIG, K.T., AND HIS VICTORIOUS GENERALS.—The procession passing Hyde Park Corner. Sir Douglas Haig is seen in the first carriage. Inset, Major- General J. M. Salmond, C.M.G., D.S.O., commanding the R.A.F. in France, who waa in the second carriage. •..-.. - ., •-:• 1475 •=•.. -^•-^.^-,^
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
