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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0430.PDF
HT THE FRENCH AERO CLUB GRAND PRIX THE third and final stage of the Grand Prix de l'Aero Club de France came to a close last Sunday—and not, it must be admitted, a particularly glorious one, only one entrant com- pleting the course. There were eight entrants for this third stage, as follows : Henry Roget, twin-engine Breguet 18T (450 h.p. Breguet). Douchy, Potez IX S (370 h.p. Lorraine). de Romanet, Bleriot-Spad 47 (370 h.p. Salmson). Sadi Lecointe, Nieuport-Delage (425 h.p. Darracq- Coatalen). Coupet and Landry, Farman (300 h.p. Salmson). Bossoutrot and d'Or, Goliath (2,260 h.p. Salmson). Casale, Bleriot-Spad 46 (370 h.p. Lorraine). Maiicon, Caudron C 30 (3,130 h.p. Clerget). The first prize (100,000 francs) falls to Pilots d'Or, Bossou- trot, and Drouhen, who, with their mechanic Robin, success- fully completed the course on the twin-engined Goliath (Farman 60). Some excitement was caused by the announce- ment that Sadi Lecointe was disqualified, owing to the fact that his engine was not entirely of French manufacture, but was, in any case, partly English. Most of the other competitors dropped out of the race from one cause or another. Douchy on the Potez made a forced landing in a confined space, to get out of which he had to discard his ballast, and was thus disqualified. Casale and de Romanet were also put out of action by disqualification, on the grounds of the seals having been broken in repairing damage caused by the landing chassis. Coupet and Landry retired after leaving le Bourget for Lille, having engine trouble 15 minutes after leaving, and returning to Le Bourget.1 Maicon, on the triple-engined Caud- ron also had bad luck. Owing to a defective piston ring he was forced to descend at Caudejac, 100 km. from Bordeaux. After the necessary repairs had been effected, he was unable to get off the ground with full load, owing to the long grass, and had to abandon the race. The conditions of the contest were undoubtedly extremely severe, so that the performance of the winning team is an exceptionally fine one. With its heavy load—equivalent to that of about six passengers—it covered the 1,406 miles (Le Bourget-Lille-Le Bourget-Pau-Le Bourget-Metz-Le Bourget) in 24 hours, with a flying time of 2i£ hours, or at 57J m.p.h. average. In addition to the first prize of 100,000 francs, they win an additional prize of 2,500 francs to cover wear and tear. ..„.., m m m m. ALTHOUGH in a somewhat negative interview granted to the Western Morning News by Admiral Sims, he talks about the recently much-discussed 'Planes v. Battleships, any real views of the Admiral may best be arrived at by analysing the possible non-committal reservations to which he has given voice. The controversy you have had in this country.—and . it has been repeated in other countries—as to the relative merits of battleships and their natural opponents, the sub- marine, the destroyer, and the aeroplane," he says, " all depends upon the facts of the case, and they are the ones that are in dispute. The people who advocate battleships naturally deny the claims of the people who advocate sub- marines and aeroplanes. " The controversy is centred principally around the aero- plane and what it is going to be able to do in the future in launching torpedoes by means of what they call torpedo 'planes. Three points raise— " 1. Whether aeroplanes can succeed in hitting ships with bombs dropped from a considerable height. "2. Whether battleships with their anti-aircraft guns will be able to prevent aeroplanes from getting into position to drop bombs, and "3. Whether bombs would put a battleship out of action if they hit her. These are the three points that are in dispute, and they will not be settled without further experimentation. There- fore it is no use anybody expressing any dogmatic opinion until we have the results of more experiments ; the battleship exponents believe one theory and the opponents believe another." " Of course," he added, "it goes without saying that if the aeroplane people are correct in what they claim they can do they would actually destroy the greatest battleship in the world, because they say they can successfully drop bombs to contain three-quarters of a ton of high explosive, and that they can't be shot down by the anti-aircraft guns from vessels. All that is quite independent of the question as to whether they will be able successfully to use gas bombs which would explode on dropping on the water and send a cloud of gas floating down a column of battleships, to be sucked in by their ventilating systems." JUNE 23, 1921 Getting down to the views of Sir Percy Scott to the same newspaper upon this, his pet subject, when Sir Percy said :— " In the first few hours of the next war, Plymouth, Dover, and even London may be reduced to ashes unless we are prepared with an adequate counter to the fleets of aero- planes that would attack us. It seems to me, therefore, nothing but plain common sense that we should spend what money we can spare not on battleships but in providing the very best we can buy of the newer weapons that will count in the war of the future." Admiral Sims's comment on this statement was that '' Sir Percy Scott takes the extreme view that all these inven- tions will do what is claimed for them." If the three points he had referred to earlier were true, he added, then there was nothing a battleship could do when attacked by a 'plane except to try to reach it with her anti-aircraft guns. " If the aeroplane can do what is claimed,'' he observed, " it means that any nation which builds aeroplane carriers to a greater extent than any other country will be able to defeat an enemy. It also follows, again, that if the aeroplane can do what is claimed no fleet is going to approach a coast within reach of 'planes, because each ship can carry only one or two 'planes on its carrier, and the enemy can have thousands on shore. Therefore everything depends on a very large ' if '." And now, then, what does Admiral Sims really think ? AERONAUTICAL PATENT SPECIFICATIONS Abbreviations: cyl. — cylinder; I.C. = internal combustion ; m. = motors The numbers in brackets are those un&ar which the Specifications will be printed and abridged, etc. APPLIED FOR IN 1916 Published June 23, 19215,455. H. E. S. HOLT. Landing-lights for use on aeroplanes. (163,7:24.) APPLIED FOR IN 1920 Published June 23, 19211,445. R. J. G. TAMPIER. Aero engines. (137,863.) 5,882. E. MUNDEY. I.C. rotary engines. (163,813.)7,168. R. WAGNER. Power plants for aircraft. (140,o8r.) 7,184. CURTISS AEROPLANE AND MOTOR CORPORATION. Flying-boat hulls.(140,085.) 8,099. S. E. SAUNDERS and F. P. H. BEADLE. Means for varying wing camber or control surfaces. (163,853.)8,177. J. ERSKINE-MURRAY and J. ROBINSON. Radio navigational apparatus. (163,855.)W Boiler arrangement in steam-driven aircraft.pp 9,134. R. WAGNER.(141,684.) APPLIED FOR IN 1921Published June 23, 1921 4,246. B. F. STURTEVANT CO. I.C. engines. (158,883.) If you require anything pertaining to aviation, study "FLIGHT'S" Buyers' Guide and Trade Directory, , which appears in our advertisement pages each week (see pages xiii and xiv). NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS All Advertisement Copy and Blocks must be delivered at the Offices of "FLIGHT," 36, Great Queen Street, Kingsway, W.C. 2, not later than 12 o'clock on Saturday in each week for the following week's issue. FLIGHT The Aircraft Engineer and Airships 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C. 2.Telegraphic address : Truditur, Westcent, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1828. SUBSCRIPTION RATES " FLIGHT " will be forwarded, post free, at the following rates :— UNITED KINGDOM j ABROAD* s. d. s. d. 3 Months, Post Free... 7 7 6 „ , 15 2 12 „ „ .... 30 4 3 Months, Post Free... 8 3 6 „ 16 6 12 ., 33 °These rates are subject to any alteration found necessary under abnormal conditions and to increases in postage rates. * European subscriptions must be remitted in British currency Cheques and Post Office Orders should be made payable to theProprietors of " FLIGHT," 36, Great Queen Street, Kingsway,W.C. 2, and crossed London County and Westminster Bank, otherwise no responsibility will be accepted. Should any difficulty be experienced in procuring " FLIGHT " from local newsvendors, intending readers can obtain each issue direct from the Publishing Office, by forwarding remittance as above. 430
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