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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 1160.PDF
THE E.L.T.A. AERODROME As already mentioned, one of the special attractions of the aircraft exhibition in Amsterdam, and one not usual] ' found in connection with aero shows, is formed by the aero drome adjoining the show. The presence of this aerodrome has meant not only a greatly increased attendance at the exhibition, but also that exhibitors have been able to fly their machines right to the doors of the exhibition, as it were, an opportunity of which nearly all the exhibiting firms have availed themselves. A further advantage of running an aerodrome in conjunction with the show is that firms are able to bring to the notice of the public a far greater number of their different types than would, for lack of stand space, have been possible in the exhibition itself. The countries represented by machines on the aerodrome include Britain, France, Holland, Italy and Germany. This refers to a week or so ago, but as many of the aerial visitors to the E.L.T. A. aerodrome are of a migratory nature it is impossible to state definitely who is there and who is not. However, going back a week or so, as postal and telegraphic conditions force us to do, we obtain a fairly representative picture of the E.L.T.A. aerodrome as it is during most weeks. Probably the machines which have done most passenger work up till now are the Avros, which are kept busy from morning till night taking up joy-riders. The fees charged, and this applies to all the firms, are fairly high compared with British standards, but it must be admitted that value is given for the money, passengers being taken over the harbours, rivers and part of the town itself, while those who so prefer are treated to a series of stunts, including loops, spins, rolls, etc. The Avro machines were flown over from England, landing at Evere, in Belgium, to replenish their fuel tanks. An Avro five-seater, piloted by Mr. Hinchliffe, accompanied by two mechanics, Hargreaves and Yates, also arrived bv air, making a landing at Utrecht en route. Another Avro, piloted by Mr. Shanks, was unable to find the aerodrome, as it was getting dark, and made a landing in a field near Vondel Park, flying to the aerodrome the next morning. During our visit to^ the E.L.T.A. one of the Avro pilots—Mr. Brown, we believe:—gave a very fine exhibition of night flying. The ground was illuminated by searchlights, and the Avro pilot signalled instructions to the searchlight opera tors by means of coloured signals. Two of the searchlights picked up the machine and kept it illuminated, while a third searchlight swung its beam horizontally so as to illuminate in turn all the hangars and pavilions of the aerodrome, thus giving the pilot his bearings. This accomplished, the pilot commenced a series of evolutions, still in the beams of the searchlights, and a very pretty sight it was. The pilot was hailed with applause on landing, and well he deserved it. In addition to their exhibits on the stand, the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. had on the aerodrome two machines, both flown over from this country. One of these was a D.H. (Airco) 4 A, with Rolls-Royce engine, which was flown over by Capt. Saint, who covered the distance from London to Amsterdam, via Marquise, in a total flying time of 2 hrs. 35 min. The Airco 4 A is already so well known to our readers as to require no description here. It is, of course, the type which has done so much useful work during the Peace Negotiations, carrying statesmen to and from Paris. The second Airco machine on the Elta aerodrome is a D.H. 9, with B.H.P. (low-compression) engine. This machine was flown over by Mr. Eric Lawford, who will be remembered as the owner of the Champel biplane, and previous to that as a pupil at the Ewen flying school at Hendon. Mr. Lawford has now joined the large staff of pilots of the Aircraft Manu facturing Co., and after the Amsterdam show he will be back at Hendon again, where many of the old-time " boys " are gradually collecting. On August 8 a Blackburn Kangaroo, piloted by Mr. Kenworthy, another old-time Hendon pilot, left Leeds and flew to Hounslow, where the necessary formalities were attended to, and the machine then left for Holland, Mr. Kenworthy being accompanied by five passengers. Darkness prevented the machine from reaching Amsterdam on the Friday, and a landing was made at Brussels at 8.30, where the night was spent. The next morning the Belgian King inspected the machine, and after a series of exhibition flights over Brussels the machine left for Amsterdam, which was reached in 1 hr. 35 mins. The Kangaroo has had its fuselage roofed over for a certain distance, thus providing cabin accommodation for a number of passengers. When our representative left Amsterdam last week the Blackburn was busy taking up passengers, which it did successfully in spite of the unsatisfactory condition of the aerodrome. The British Aerial Transport Co. is represented, in addition to the two machines shown on their stand, by a Bantam I and a passenger machine, the F.K. 26. The latter machine was piloted across by Maj. Draper, who was accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Koolhoven and Mr. Tom van Laar, Mr. Koolhoven's chief engineer. In addition, some 200 lbs. of luggage was carried, as well as engine spares, spare wheels, etc., and a consignment of Cellon sheet for a Dutch firm (van Berkels). The machine flew over the shell swept zones of Belgium and entered Holland. Here Draper had a slight argument with his map, which failed to show a large sheet of water that could be seen below. Draper then came down low along a railway and Mr. Koolhoven read the name of a station, marking the position down on the map which was handed back to Draper, who then proceeded on his proper course. A landing was made at Soesterberg where the machine arrived at 7.33, having left Hounslow at 5.5, and thus doing the distance in 2$ hrs. At Soesterberg the party was entertained by the military aviators, who would not hear of them going on that day, and consequently the F.K. 26 did not reach Amsterdam until the Saturday. The Bat Bantam, piloted by Lieut. Duke, left England on the Saturday, stopping en route to see a friend at Antwerp, where he was detained by the Belgian authorities, who mistook the black and orange rings painted around the fuselage of the Bantam for German marks. However, he managed to " escape " and arrived at Amsterdam, where he gave a very fine exhibition of flying, much to the joy of the Amster- dammers. Without offending anybody, it may be said that the exhibition flights by Messrs. Draper and Duke on the Bat Bantam are some of the finest seen at the E.L.T.A. aerodrome, and since the arrival of these two pilots Herr Fokker, who up till then had been the idol of the visitors, has been obliged to take second or third place. As already mentioned, the Handley Page firm, in addition to the V 1500 shown on their stand, have on the aerodrome a twin-engined type with a luxuriously furnished cabin seating 14 passengers. This machine, photographs of which were published last week, was flown across by Capt. Meintjes, a South African pilot, who was accompanied by a party of Dutch and English passengers. One of these was Mr. Ter- vooren. Editor of the weekly illustrated Amsterdam paper " Het Leven," who took a series of excellent photographs of the trip. A forced landing was successfully made at Breda, the weather being anything but favourable, with rain and mist. The next day the H.P. reached Amsterdam via Soesterberg. Owing to the bad condition of the aerodrome the machine sank into the mud and gently stood on her nose, without, however, sustaining any damage beyond a slight telescoping of her wireless mast. During our visit to Amster dam the H.P. was not able to make passenger flights, as the ground, although getting better, was still too unreliable for such a heavy machine. Otherwise there is not the slightest doubt that the Handley Page would have been kept busy carrying passengers, as the comfortable cabin appealed very strongly to the visitors. Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., had on the aerodrome one of their Vimy-Commercial machines, which was flown by Sir John Alcock and by Capt. Cockerell, the latter having flown it across from England, accompanied by a large party of passengers with their luggage. During this flight one of the passengers, Mr. Mullens, " filmed " the journey and took an excellent series of pictures of the start, the journey itself, " life on board " and the arrival at the E.L.T.A. This film was later shown at the Cinema de Munt, where it was greatly appreciated. As regards regular passenger carrying, the same applies to the Vickers as to the Handley Page, the ground was far too soft, although the little front wheel of the Vimy- Commercial was very effective in preventing the machine from turning on to her nose. Apart from the Caudron and Breguet machines shown in the exhibition, France was only represented by one ancient type Caudron of the G 3 type, which, however, did a great deal of flying and, with its long skids, made light of the bad condition of the aerodrome. As already mentioned, the two Italian machines, the Fiat and the Caproni, did not stay long at the aerodrome but were transferred to the show. A little S.V.A. two-seater, piloted by Signor Guglielmotti, remained at the 'drome and did quite a lot of flying. One does not altogether like the way this machine takes off, with its tail skid never leaving the ground during the preliminary run, but it appears to fly very well, and its pilot can make it do most of the things that an aero plane can do, so probably it is only a matter of getting accustomed to it. Holland is well represented on the aerodrome. We counted at least three different types of Fokker machines, a biplane with rotary engine, one with stationary engine, and a parasol monoplane. During the early part of the .exhibition Herr
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