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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0467.PDF
f APRIL 29, 1920 LND PRTX de BY THE TECHNICAL EDITOR Monaco, Monday, April 19. YESTERDAY the weather was very far from being what oneexpects in these latitudes. From the early morning the rain came down in torrents, and it was quite evident that therewas no hope of any competitor arriving by air. The two machines already here—the Spad and the Nieuport—werebeing finished off, the Nieuport having to make the best of a bad job out in the open, while the Spad was somewhatbetter off, a covering having been spread over the frame- work of the hangar. There appears to be very little moreto do to these two machines, and if the weather holds—it is 4 today truly Monegasque, with a calm sea and blue sky—itseems probable that the monotony of waiting for the others to turn up may be relieved by some altitude flights by Le-cointe and Casale. Last night the International Sporting Club gave a banquetat which were present M. Flandin, French Under-Secretary of Air, M. Georges Prade, General Secretary and Clerk ofthe Course, MM. L. Bleriot, de Lambert, Despujols, Leblanc, Dubonnet, etc. So far as one was able to discover M. Bleriotwas the only aircraft constructor present, and not a single well-known pilot was observed in the distinguished gathering.Needless to say, speeches were made, but ' eloquent and evidently well meant as they were, they will not bring themachines to Monaco for the competition. The large Nieuport-Tellier-Snnbeam is still being erectedat St. Raphael, and it is not known when it will be ready for M. Lecointe to bring over. The Breguets, it is said, willnot be ready in time, and the Donnets and L. and O. are feared to be in much the same position. There is apparentlya good possibility of the Caudrons turning up, but it is im- possible to say when. The Savoias are said to be strike-bound in Italy, but it is hoped that this obstacle will be over- come by bringing them over by air about the middle of thisweek. The only British representative, the Fairey, is satis a pilot,Nicholls having been called to America, and I understand that Mr. Fairey is scouring England for a pilot to fly hismachine. With such short notice it is naturally a matter of some difficulty to get a pilot to fly a fast machine, but forthe sake of the prestige of Briti h aviation, it is to be hoped that he will succeed. Unless he does, it looks as if the speedand altitude contests will be fought for by two machines only—the Spad and the Nieuport, while the Tunis flightwill be contested by the Nieuport-Tellier and the Savoias.. I am informed that the French Naval Air Service is sendinga squadron of ten machines, which may compete hors de concours. These are expected to fly over from Toulon atany time now. c ,L Monaco, Tuesday, April 20. Matters are moving along quite well. Last night, justbefore dark, M. Lecointe brought over from St. Raphael the Sunbeam-engined Nieuport-Tellier, No. 5, and thismorning at 10 a.m. one of the Tellier-Hispano flying-boats with Pilot-Ensign Gisard and Chief Mechanic Castora onboard, arrived from Toulon. This is one of the Naval flying boats of which a squadron will make the'trip Monaco-Tunis- Monaco hors de concours. Towards the end of last week itlooked very much as if the unhappy Schneider affair at Bournemouth last year were going to have its French counter-part at Monaco. Of arrangements for the housing and launching of the competing machines there was little to beseen. A temporary (very) shed was being erected on the North quay, and an old pontoon carrying a passable imitationof a crane, operated by two men, was the only visible means of handling the machines. This, as a matter of fact, lookedlike being sufficient for the work in hand, as there were, at the time, only two machines here, the Spad and the Nieuport.Since then, however, things have improved somewhat, and the prospects are a little brighter. The French authoritieshave lent a vessel, the Polyphlme, which, with its steam winch makes light of the beaching—or rather quaying andlaunching of the machines. The Tellier-Nieuport flying-boat is of somewhat antiquateddesign, but given a certain amount of luck as regards weather it may succeed in " making the traject." The boat, whichhas a pronounced Vee bottom stem, tapers to a point at the stern, which is well out of the water when the machine is atrest on the sea. A balanced rudder without fin is supported below on the aft portion of the boat, which is here of tri-angular section with the apex at the top, and above by a curious shaped member looking more than anything like anovergrown cucumber. From the front end of this member project two tail booms which run to the rear spar of the topplane, one on each side of the four-bladed pusher screw. As already indicated, the engine fitted ,on this machineis a Sunbeam, mounted as shown in the accompanying photograph. If the weather holds M. Lecointe intends togo up in this machine tomorrow for his qualifying flight (2,000 m. in not more than 45 mins. with full load of petroland oil, and with a useful load of 400 kilos., representing mails, etc.). On the Tunis flight he will have with himCapt. Coli, who was navigator to Roget on his flight across the Mediterranean. The first man out this morning was Casale on the Spad,whose long Vee-bottom floats bear a pronounced upward slope from the step to the stern, which appears to assistmaterially in getting-off and alighting, the machine making very little spray and showing no tendency to the uncomfort-able-looking hoppety-hoppety-hop dmerrissage which usually follows the employment of long floats. After a spin roundCasale alighted smoothly. This afternoon, about 5, he went up again for the altitudecontest, but came down after a few minutes as his barograph had stuck. At a quarter past five the Nieuport was swunginto the harbour, and Lecointe started his first altitude flight. The wide floats of this Nieuport are of the pre-Wartype, with a central three-stepped keel and a Vee bottom sloping slightly up to the chine, but which is turned into ahorizontal plane just before meeting the chine.- These floats cause rather more spray than those of the Spad, andthe machine seems to require a somewhat longer run, but one imagines that in anything of a sea they will be superiorto the long floats of the Spad. Once it is " unstuck " the 467
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