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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0661.PDF
MAY 22, 1919 is still hope that they may have been picked up by some vessel not equipped with wireless, and that in the course of a few days we shall have the satis faction of knowing that these two valuable lives have not to be added to the long list of those who have made the great sacrifice in the cause of progress, and that Britain may stand where she does. Whatever their fate, their's was a glorious attempt to show to the world that British pluck and deter mination are still as high as ever. They took a great chance, with their eyes wide open to all the possi bilities, accepting them cheerfully as risks that must be faced if the high honour and traditions of the race are to be maintained. There is no doubt the start would not have been made had it not been for the wonderfully successful performance of the American seaplanes, carefully nursed and shepherded across the ocean by ships of the United States Navy —a performance which seemed to place in the greatest jeopard ' the honour of being first across the. Atlantic in the air, an honour we very rightly believe should fall to a British machine, piloted by a British aviator. The conditions for success were no better than they have been for many days past, but the news of the American success in the flight to the Azores and the knowledge that at least one of these machines, with the carefully-organised assistance at the disposal of the Americans, would probably succeed in making the crossing to Europe, quite naturally impelled Hawker and his companion to take a risk which in all probability they would not otherwise have accepted. It was a gamble with their luck—and luck failed them. Had it held, there is certainly more than a strong possibility that the crossing would have been safely accomplished. But the strong south-easterly gale which sprung up in the early hours of Monday must have drifted the Sopwith far to the northward of her proper course, in addition to which it, being a head wind, must have meant running the fuel endurance of the machine perilously close to failure, apart altogether from the northerly drift. There is really nothing more to be said now. We can only wait in tense hope that these two gallant souls have been rescued by some passing ship. Theirs was the true spirit of adventure, which has done so much through all the ages to place our Empire in the proud position it holds before the world. They essayed the stupendous for the honour of the nation —and the nation knows and appreciates. It may be true that there was a substantial prize as the reward of success, but no one who thinks for a moment can imagine that this weighed an atom in the balance of their decision to start in circumstances which made that success no better than a gambler's throw. No—the honour of the Empire was at stake. There ® B King Albert's Flights. KING ALBERT OF BELGIUM, on May 15, arrived in England by aeroplane from Belgium, alighting at the Hawkinge aerodrome near Folkestone. On the following day he flew from Folkestone to Gosport in a D.H. 9 machine, irom whence he continued his flight in a F. 2A flying boat to Dartmouth to visit his son at the Royal Naval College. About six miles before reaching his destination, King Albert's machine was forced to alight on the water owing to engine trouble, but the royal passenger was transferred to a second machine, which was acting as escort, and the journey was completed. The return journey to Dover was made on Saturday, and King Albert flew over to Brussels on one of the aeroplanes of the Folkestone-Cologne Mail Service. mm was danger that a record which we have marked for our own might fall to the airmen of a foreign though friendly nation, and in the minds of these two intrepid adventurers it was the most natural thing in the world that they should make a desperate attempt to retrieve it. And, no matter what their fate may be —whether the hope we have expressed finds justifica tion in fact, or whether Hawker and Mackenzie- Grieve have paid for their surpassing gallantry with their lives, the nation whose honour and traditions they so worthily strove to uphold will for ever hold them in high esteem. It would be as churlish as it would be \merf unfair to belittle the brilliant per- Triumph formance of the crew of the American seaplane, N.C.4, which succeeded in making the world's record overseas flight from Newfoundland to the Azores, and we can do no less than wish the gallant crew and their machine a speedy and safe consummation of the task they have under taken. It was a wonderful flight and a wonderful organisation which enabled them to accomplish it. Regarding the Atlantic flight with large imagination and jealous almost to a fault of the honour of their great nation, the American naval authorities per fected an organisation without precedent in the annals of record attempts. They covered the face of the Atlantic with a fleet of destroyers and auxiliary craft, which, short of absolute failure of machines or engines, reduced success almost to a matter of mathematical certainty. Wireless signals, smoke screens, rockets, and every device known to the naval expert were impressed in order that success should be assured, and they have secured their reward, as, indeed, they deserved to do. Without the slightest disposition to be captious, we think it is nothing more nor less than fair to point out that the American flight and that of Hawker are in no way comparable. In the first case, everything that foresight and organisation could do to ensure success or to secure the safety of the airmen engaged in case of failure was done. The route was laid across a stretch of the Atlantic in which weather conditions are as stable as weather can be. In the other case, two solitary adventurers flew off into the void, knowing that there was no one to care for them or to succour them in case of failure. Success meant honour— failure a probable death in the wild wastes of the Atlantic. We will not, however, pursue the subject farther, but again congratulate our American cousins on the success of a brilliant effort, and wish them all the good fortune possible in the ultimate stages of their journey when the conditions warrant them in resuming it. s a Germans to be Excluded from the F.A.I. THE first meeting of the International Aeronautical Federation since the declaration of War was held on Monday at the Aero Club de France. Prince Roland Bonaparte presided, and the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Holland, Sweden, and Switzerland were represented. It was an extraordinary meeting called to consider the position of the enemy countries, and it was unanimously resolved that Germany, Austria, and Hungary should be excluded from the Federation so long as they had not been admit ed to the League of Nations. The British delegates were Liett-Col. M. O'Gorman, Lieut.-Col. Alec Ogilvie and Liei.t.-Col. F. McClean, with Mr. H. E. Perrin, Secretary. I
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