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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0689.PDF
Flight, May 29, 1919 (7- First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor: STANLEY SPOONER A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM No. 644 (No. 22, Vol. XI.) MAY 29, 1919 reekly, Price 6d. Post Free, 7d. Flight and The Aircraft Engineer Editorial Office: 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C. 9 Telegrams : Truditur, Westcent, London. Telephone : Gerard 181B. ' Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free i United Kingdom »8J. arf. Abroad 33*. od. These rates are subject to any alteration found necessary under war condition CONTENTS Editorial Comment : PAGE Safe! 689 Wonderful Navigation .. 68 The Daily Mai! and the Flight .. 690 The Immediate Prospects .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 690 " Three Weeks in the Air" .. .. 69 Flight—and the Men : Mr. Claude Grahame-White 691 The Transatlantic Flight 694 The Curtiss Model 18-T Triplane 698 The Royal Aero Club : Official Notices 700 The Tarrant Triplane.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 702 The Stresses in Braced Structures with Rigid Joints. By John Case .. 704 Airisms from the Four Winds 707 Metal Construction of Aircraft. By A. P. Thurston .. .. .. .. 710 Personals 715 Aviation in Parliament .. 716 The Royal Air Force .. .. .. .. .. .. 717 Correspondence 719 Side-Winds .. 721 Company Matter! .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 722 T is no exaggeration to say that a thrill of relief passed over all the world when it was announced on Sunday afternoon that, after being given up as lost, Hawker and Mac kenzie-Grieve had been picked up in mid-Atlantic by a Danish steamer, and were safe and sound on board a British warship. Until they return to London, where they will not arrive until after most of this issue of FLIGHT has gone to press, we- Safe! shall not know the full story of their thrilling experience in the gallant attempt they made, for the honour of their country, to be first across the Atlantic in the air. So much is known, however, that we are able to appreciate the wonder of their feat and to sympathise in its failure. They came very near to success, for, after covering more than half their journey, they were compelled to descend through a mishap which would not happen once in a hundred times. Nothing had happened to the machine itself. The dropping of the under-carriage, which some theorists believed had so upset the balance of the machine that it had come down into the sea very early in the flight, does not appear to have affected it one way or the other. The engine had .continued to run perfectly and had given no trouble at all until almost the moment they were compelled to come down. From reports so far, it seems that the water pump became choked by dirt and solder shaken down from the radiator by the vibration, with the consequence that the water ciculation failed and the motor ran hot. Even after the water in the jackets had boiled away, the engine seems to have functioned perfectly for some considerable time. At least it appears, from the very fragmentary news that has so far reached us, that it ran for long enough to enable the intrepid pair to make a fairly good descent close to the Mary, the vessel which picked them up. The details of the flight and of the precise cause of the trouble which turned a potential success into a glorious failure must await the return of the gallant companions for relation. It is sufficient for the moment that they have returned from the dead, as it were. The whole world rejoices that they are safe, and that is enough for the present. • • • Even in the light of the scanty details Wonderful at present available, it is clear that Navigation the ^^ ^^ flight acrQss the track. less Atlantic from Newfoundland to the point where the Sopwith was forced to descend constitutes "a wonderful feat of navigational accuracy. We know that the weather conditions were all against suc cessful navigation. In particular, the strong south easterly winds that set in during the early hours of the day after the start, must have caused the machine to set heavily to the nortward, yet the position in which Hawker and his navigator were picked up was not more than twenty miles north of the direct course from St. John's to Valencia. When it is recol lected that aviators have been hopelessly lost in the narrow waters of the Channel and the North Sea, and that it is but yesterday that the real art of navigation was adapted to aerial traffic, it seems nothing short of wonderful that the Sopwith should have been so closely navigated. She got no farther
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