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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0881.PDF
having come to the aerodrome for an outing. An interested— if at times somewhat critical—spectator was Mr. Fletcher, jun., who, by the way, can now manage to do straights without instructor with comparatively few bad landings. Sykes handled his Avro very skilfully, making perfect landings on the same corner of the cinder patch every time, in spite of the exceedingly bumpy wind and the fact that the Avro is a comparatively strange machine to him. a ® No Flying Through Tower Bridge THE Air Ministry notifies for the information of all pilots that the practice of flying through the Tower Bridge between the high level footways and the bascules must cease. Any such cases reported in future will be severely dealt with. The M.O.M. and Aeroplane Output IN his speech in the House of Commons on June 24 introducing the Ministry of Munitions Vote, Mr. Kellaway said that at the outbreak of War the British Army had in its possession about 100 aeroplanes. The Ministry became responsible for aeroplane production on September 12, 1917, when the production had increased to 500 aeroplanes per month. At the date of the Armistice—a little more than 18 months later—production had been increased to 4,000 per month. At a time when raw material and machinery was very largely engaged on other essential war production this country was able, thanks to the ingenuity of its crafts men and the farsightedness of its captains of industry, to make so great a step forward in its aircraft production as that, and the improvement in the fighting quality and the safety of the machines was just as great as the increase in the numbers. There was no question amongst informed men that during the latter stages of the War this country held the supremacy over her enemy in the air. That was due not only to the extraordinary fighting spirit and ingenuity of the men who flew and fought the machines, but also to the ingenuity and patriotism of the craftsmen and the employers engaged in that great industry. And Why the Raids Stopped LATER in his speech, in alluding to some criticisms of Ministry of Munitions methods, he alluded to anti-aircraft bullets. He showed sections of half a dozen bullets. The first, he said, was indistinguishable from the bullet that the infantryman fired out of his rifle Another was one which, to the layman, did not differ on casual examination from the first, but that bullet (the sixth) was used only once, on Whit- Sunday of last year, and prevented any further air-raids on this country. Were we right to scrap the earlier bullets when we found a better one ? Were we not right to stop the con tract for the earlier bullet and to pay compensation to the contractors ? He would not have liked to have been the Minister to stand up in that House on one of those nights when London was being raided, and, when questioned as to whether we had not a bullet to stop the raids, to have said, " Yes, it is true, but the contractor is engaged turning out the earlier form of bullet, and we must not turn him off that in order to make the new bullets, otherwise the Comptroller and Auditor-General, the Public Accounts Committee and the Press will denounce the Department as being wasteful muddlers." On the day after Whit-Sunday last year it was known that Germany had prepared for air raids on this country, by heavier-than-air machines, greater in magnitude than had ever been attempted before. Why did they not come ? They did not come because the reception that their airmen got that Sunday night made it impossible to get men to face such risks. On the mere ground of money alone, if that ground is taken, then on these contracts the Department can claim to have acted justly and properly in the action which it has taken. Aerial Derby Notes FROM an inspection of the Timekeeper's table for the Aerial Derby, flown on June 21 last, the following points, which we think are of interest, are elicited :— The times made for each lap by individual competitors were very consistent, proving that in each case a good course was flown. The only exceptions were Capt. Gathergood (No. 7) and Lieut.-Col. Henderson (No. 4). The former increased his speed of 126-42 m.p.h. for the first lap, to 132 -34 m.p.h. for the second. His average speed for the total dis tance of two circuits was 129-38 m.p.h. The latter was compelled to make a temporary landing at Hounslow on his second round for adjustments, which explains the dis crepancy in his lap times ; but for this he would probably have come near to winning the sealed handicap. The fastest lap was made by Capt. Gathergood, viz., 42 mins. 50^ sees. The average speeds stated above are, of course, equivalent to considerably greater speeds on the straight and in calm Castleman is undoubtedly an expert on the Avro, and prior to his taking up passengers, he gave us a wonderful display of stunting, including three-minute " hovers." Northolt aerodrome is easily got at, either from Ruislip, on the Metropolitan Railway, or from Northolt Junction, on the G.C. Railway (Marylebone) and G.W.R. (Paddington), the aerodrome being only a few minutes' walk from either station. m m air. The turning points reported that, with one or two exceptions, all competitors flew low and close. Having regard to the great disparity in the speeds of the competitors, which ranged from 70 to 133 miles per hour, the handicapping must be adjudged a good one. It will be seen from the handicap times set forth in last week's issue, that only 17 minutes separated the first and last of the seven machines which completed the course, and less than five minutes separated the second and sixth. Maj. J. H. Ledeboer and Mr. C. T. Glazebrook, the official handicappers, are, therefore, certainly to be congratulated on their work. No prize was offered for the fastest time third place, but we understand that a special trophy will be presented to Mr. Manton for this by the Grahame-White Co., Ltd. The London Aerodrome silver medal will also be presented to all pilots (except prize-winners) completing the course, and the London Aerodrome bronze souvenir medal to all pilots who started but did not finish, j Royal Society of Arts Silver Medal AMONGST the recipients of the silver medal of the Royal Society of Arts for papers read during the past session are :— Sir Frank Heath, K.C.B., Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, for his paper " The Government and the Organisation of Scientific Research." Walter Leonard Lorkin, A.M.I.E.E., " Electric Welding and its Applications." W. Norman Boase, C.B.E., "Flax—Cultivation, Prepara tion, Spinning, and Weaving." Brig.-Gen. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, C.S.I., " Aviation as Affecting India." The London Air-Raids IN an interesting address given by Col. H. de Watteville to members of the London Topographical Society at Burlington House, last Friday, a little further light was let in upon the past happenings." Col. de Watteville, after remarking that the Zeppelins were far from being an unqualified success, said: " For every ship that got to these shores, you may be sure that there was an accident somewhere in Germany. During the War no fewer than 120 of these enormous air ships were built, and yet there were never at any time more than 15 or 16 that were fit to take the air. " Wireless telegraphy played a very considerable part in the navigation of these ships over the water. We discovered this in 1915, and made full use of it. The actual apparatus had better not be described, but I can assure you that some of us in London actually knew half-an-hour before a ship left the sheds in Germany that a raid was coming to these shores." The long record of raids over London was one, from the German point of view, of comparative failure. The bringing down of the Zeppelin at Cuffley by Capt. Leefe Robinson proved the turning-point in the airship campaign against England. It was witnessed by ten other raiders, and the sight of the burning ship dropping to the earth was too much for them. Col. de Watteville repudiated the suggestion that the amount of damage done in these raids was suppressed. " Our communiques of the damage done by the airship raids were absolutely correct," he said. " Every single casualty and every single bit of damage that was done by a German raider throughout the War was recorded." Advertising Victory Loan from Aircraft IN order to assist the progress of the Victory Loan it has been decided to allow commercial or private aeroplanes, flying over the British Isles, to drop, subject to the under mentioned condition, small discs of paper, advertising the loan, on the towns or country over which they are passing. Clause 2 (d) of Regulation 5 of the Air Navigation Regula tions, 1919, will not apply to aircraft engaged on this special work provided that any companies or other owners of aircraft wilhng to undertake the work act on the instructions of the Secretary, National War Savings Committee, Salisbury House, Salisbury Square, E.C. 4, from whom all further information can be obtained. Unless this condition is complied with, action will be taken in accordance with Regulation 10 (1) of the Air Navigation Regulations, 1919. \\
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