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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0336.PDF
slightest intention of belittling what the land machine can do, or because we desire to see the seaplane developed at the expense of the aeroplane. Far from it; but the case for the aeroplane has been stated so well and so often that we feel there is no need to repeat it in the present argument. The land machine has enormous possibilities, but we do plead for not letting these blind us to the uses of the seaplane, and we would emphasise the need for developing the seaplane side by side with the aeroplane, not one at the expense of the other. There can be very little doubt that a properly designed seaplane, used over a route which comes well within its capacity, is safer than very fast land machines as long as there is any risk of forced landings. On the London-Paris route there have been a number of forced landings during the last few months. Fortu nately, however, these have been made under favour able weather conditions, and no serious damage has resulted. But if the services had attempted to run during foggy weather, and had been forced to alight on unknown ground in the fog, it can scarcely be doubted that serious accidents would have resulted. The seaplane, on the other hand, is much more easily " landed " in a fog. Instruments are available which will indicate to the pilot when he is at a certain height above the sea. The matter of making a safe amerissage is not then a difficult one. There are no hills and valleys, nor any hedges or other terrestrial obstacles. In other words, there is always an " aero drome " below the seaplane. There is, of course, the possibility of a ship being on this " aerodrome," but except in or near a crowded harbour, the risk of collision is not very great. Owing to the fact that a commercial seaplane need not have a very high " ceiling," having no hills to surmount, nor the need to climb to considerable heights so as to be within gliding distance of some landing ground, the power can be expended in load carrying, and consequently the seaplane should be capable of carrying a greater percentage of useful load. In other words, it should not require such a large subsidy to make it pay as does a fast land machine such as is apparently required on the London-Paris route. Furthermore, there are no special emergency landing grounds to establish, and no special lighthouses, the seaplane being able to make use of existing ones, as well as of the usual customs and passport organisations. All this points to a saving in expenditure on what we might term incidentals, which would mean that more money could be spent on improvements in the machines themselves. As a direct result of ours being an island Empire, we shall need large numbers of seaplanes, and the training of seaplane personnel takes very much longer than does the training of personnel for land machines. How are we to train this personnel if we do not provide a civilian seaplane service ? The last war was fought almost exclusively on land machines. There is good reaon to suppose that the next war will see a very marked change, and that the greater part of the mateYiel for naval use will be seaplanes. There appears to us to be every reason for developing the seaplane, and as it offers possibilities of doing so commercially at relatively small cost, there is all the more reason for beginning at once. The London- Paris service must be kept up, but we think that it should most certainly not be kept up exclusively and JUNE 15, 1922 at the expense of others offering better prospects of becoming paying propositions. • • • Following closely upon the official flight Cr£s"- of the Handley Page machine with Channel General Brancker on board, from Night Flight Croydon to le Bourget, a second—this time a double—journey has been made across the Channel by night. The machine used was a Farman Goliath belonging to the Grands Express Aeriens piloted by M. Labouchere, the famous French pilot. Leaving le Bourget at 10.22 on June 7, with eight passengers on board, the Goliath proceeded towards the coast. At first, thunder and rain were encountered, but later the machine ran into clear weather. The light at Lympne could be seen before the machine left the French coast, and the Croydon light became visible approximately at Tonbridge. Before alighting M. Labouchere switched on the two searchlights under his planes, and made a perfect landing on the Waddon aerodrome. After a supper at the aerodrome hotel the machine left again at 2.50 a.m., arriving safely at le Bourget a few minutes after 6, having completed the double journey. The performance was a very fine one, and points to the not far distant day when night flying over a properly organised route will be as simple as flying by day. We are not very certain that night flying on the London-Paris route is any very great advantage, but for longer journeys the capacity to fly in the dark is equivalent approximately to doubling the speed of an aeroplane. If a machine flies for 12 hours at 100 m.p.h., and then has to stop overnight for another 12, its real speed is, of course, only 50 m.p.h. Thus night flying should have very great commercial advantage, and the flights made recently may there fore be regarded as first steps in a new stage of progress. • • * As briefly recorded in last week's issue Lisbo - °^ FLIGHT' tne Portuguese aviators, S. America Commander Sacadura Cabral and his Flight navigator, Capt. Gago Coutinho, have at last succeeded in completing their flight across the South Atlantic. Two machines were smashed, but on the third seaplane sent out, a stan dard Fairey C III, with Rolls-Royce " Eagle " engine, the aviators succeeded in flying from Fernando Noronha to the mainland, reaching Pernambuco. Since then news has reached this country that they have arrived at Bahia, and barring very bad luck, they should get to Rio safely. The flight has been one of difficulties, and the greatest credit is due to the skilful navigation of Capt. Coutinho. Our old allies the Portuguese were ever good navigators at sea. They have now proved to be equally to the front in air navigation, and we feel proud to think that two British firms have been associated with them in the historical flight to South America. The King, in a message which he has KJ ir^c - addressed to the President of the graduations Portuguese Republic in connection with the flight, says :— " Please accept my warm congratulations and those of my people on the successful issue of the daring enterprise of Portuguese aviators in their memorable flight to South America. This great achievement, which commands the admiration of the world, is worthy of the Portuguese nation, and adds further lustre to its annals." 336
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