FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0643.PDF
JUNE 17, 1920 AIRCRAFT AND INSECTS. QUITE a lively interest has been revived, following the Cairo-Cape flights, upon the question of noxious insects being conveyed into other climes than those to which they bynature belong. Although there are possibilities that aircraft might be a medium of such dissemination, it is hardly to beconceived that such possibility should affect the progress of the art. It is more a case of instituting reasonable precau-tions. Some very interesting data upon this matter were forthcoming last week from Dr. Chalmers Mitchell at thefortnightly Scientific Meeting of the Zoological Society, when delegates of the Imperial Entomological Congress attended.Dr. Mitchell's subject was in connection with his experiences, and the effect the aeroplane had upon various animals, onthe recent Times aeroplane trip in Africa. He described the main geological and geographical features of the routetraversed, as seen from the air, and explained his discovery of a hitherto unknown volcanic area north of Kha»tum,between Meroe' and Berber. He was able to exhibit a piece of volcanic tufa, which had been picked up in the valleybelow Meroe by Sir Herbert Jackson, and which had led the Government geologist at Khartum to suspect that somewherein the unexplored tract of country north of Khartum volcanoes must exist. " Before starting," saicf Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, "his friend,Professor Maxwell Lefroy, Professor of Entomology at the Imperial Institute, had reminded him of the fashion in whichhuman transport had aided the spreading of noxious insects. Cockroaches had come to England in ships, tsetse and sleep-ing sickness had followed the caravan routes across Central Africa, and the Colorado beetle had traversed the Continentof North America by road and rail. It was at least possible that aeroplanes, travelling hundreds of miles in a few hours,might become a serious factor in the spreading of insect pests. Professor Lefroy had inspected the Vickers-Vimyaeroplane before it left London, and had marked on a large photograph every part where insects might settle. Dr.Mitchell had taken with him a set of collecting tubes with the object of carrying out Professor Lefroy's suggestion.Every morning before the start he had carefully surveyed the machine in order to capture examples of any insects that hadsettled on it in the night. He had intended to follow this by a second examination immediately on descending from theair, so as to ascertain which of the insects that had settled over night had survived the journey through the air. Inactual fact, no positive results were obtained. The most careful search before every start failed to reveal the presenceof living insects, except that once, at Jebelein, where the aeroplane had come down on the edge of a native village, afew house-flies had come into the cabin, and were still present at the next stopping place. He did not think, however, thatthe possibility of insects being carried by aeroplane had been disproved. There were very few insects, except white ants,on the dry desert areas on which they had for the most part descended, and the trip had been made during the driestseason of the year. On many of the aerodromes, white ants or termites were present in huge colonies, and the wheels andtail-skid of the aeroplane were kept protected by bands of thick grease. He and his companions were provided withmosquito nets within which they had slept when they camped out. But mosquitoes had caused them very little trouble inthe open, although they suffered severely from them in many of the ' civilized ' settlements. He had been bitten bytsetse fly on two occasions, and was greatly surprised by the painfulness of the bite. A still more annoying insect was a largetabanid, known as the hippopotamus fly. Another annoying fly was the umbwa of the shores of Lake Victoria Nyanza. H E Mentioned in Despatches IN a supplement to the London Gazette dated June 11, it was stated that the following additional names have been brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War for distinguished, gallant and valuable services and devotion to duty:— France By Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chiefof the British Armies in France, in his despatch of March 16, 1919 : Lieut. H. O. Long, D.S.O., 3rd Squad., R.A.F. Egypt By Gen. Sir E. H. H. Allenby, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., Gen.Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, in his despatch of April 3, 1918 : Capt. R. M. Drummond,D.S.O., M.C., R.A.F. ; T. Capt. A. H. Peck, D.S.O., M.C., Gen. List and R.A.F. " With regard to larger animals, more had been seen fromthe aeroplane than he had anticipated, partly because he had asked the pilots to fly as near the ground as was safe. Theiractual height above ground level varied from a few hundred feet to two or three thousand feet. On account of the rarjidpace of the aeroplane, he had found it impossible to focus with field-glasses on any objects close under the aeroplane. FromHeliopolis to Khartum no mammals except camels and other domesticated creatures were visible. From Khartum south-wards the wild fauna was much more abundant. At Kenk, south of Jebelein, they had made a forced landing, and hadto pass the night. Some elephants came very near, trumpet- ing loudly, but apparently were scared away by the fire.The first elephants actually seen were in the Sudd, a female and young on a small green island. They seemed frightenedby the noise of the 'plane, and plunged or fell into the water. Soon after leaving Mongalla, near Mount Lado, a large held,known as the Gondokoro herd, was passed. It consisted of nearly 20 animals, some of the elephants being quite young.Between the Victoria Nile and Lake Victoria Nyanza many elephants were seen, including one enormous bull with verylarge tusks. Rhinoceros were seen frequently, generally two or three together. They were always more scared of theaeroplane than were elephants. Hippopotamus were seen in large numbers, both in the Nile and the lakes. On severaloccasions the aeroplane had come down so close to the water that he had seen them opening and shutting their nostrils.The hippos took no notice of the aeroplane. Buffalo and immense herds of buck were passed repeatedly from Khartumright through to German East Africa. All these animals scattered as soon as the aeroplane came near, apparentlybeing panic-stricken. IX was very difficult to identify species or even genera from above, and the varving height of theaeroplane made it impossible to estimate the size of indivi- duals with any accuracy. It was remarkable that neither lienor the pilots had ever been able to identify zebras, although it was to be presumed that many had been passed, especiallysouth of the Equator. Possibly the striped pattern, seen from above, blended into a pale grey, so camouflaging theseanimals. At no time were lions or leopards visible, although they were repeatedly heard close to the camps at night,especially at Nimule. " Birds were never seen at any height in the air. Vultures,eagles, and great white herons, the small white egret, jabiru stork, wood ibis, and many other large birds were seen inalmost incredible quantities along the river and lakes, and in the Sudd. His friend Colonel Van Ryneveld, the SouthAfrican pilot, who successfully reached Cape Town, had told him that the • Silver Queen ' aeroplane passed over the Sudd ata very great height, probably at least 10,000 ft. above sea level. He had met large numbers of duck flying northwards.Possibly this was part of the northward breeding migration. But the South African pilot had also overtaken large flocksof jabini, which were flying south, and so obviously not migrating. These storks were flying at a greater height thanthe aeroplane, a very remarkable observation." Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, in conclusion, said " that aeroplanesmight be of great service to game wardens and those to whom it was necessary to locate game for various purposes. So faras the naturalist or sportsman was concerned, one or two aeroplanes could take them and their equipment to suitablecamps from which game might be tracked or observed on foot. In the various forced landings that The Times machinehad made, sometimes in places where probably no white man had ever been before, the wild animals were often quite easyto approach, not yet having learned to be sby of man." Our Bombs! IT is officially announced by the Dutch Foreign Ministrythat the British Government has accepted responsibility for the dropping of bombs on Goes, in Zeeland, on December 12,1917, and has declared itself ready to pay compensation. * Commissions of R.A.F. Officers THE Air Ministry announces that, although every effortis being made to expedite despatch, a large number of officers who were granted temporary R.A.F. commissions have notyet received their formal commissions. Many of these forms are returned undelivered owing to unnotified changes ofaddress, and it would greatly facilitate the work of despatch if demobilised officers and the next of kin of deceased officers—particularly those resident in the Dominions—who are desirous of receiving forms of commission would apply tothe Secretary, Air Ministry (S. 7), Kingsway, W.C. 2, stating their full names and present address. 643
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
