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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0566.PDF
SEPTEMBER 20, 1923 thickness from centre to tip, but it is of interest to note that in the case of the main plane the taper does not begin until a considerable distance out from the centre. This results in deep spars over the whole of the inner portion of the wing, and gives greater torsional strength than would a wing which began to taper immediately from the fuselage. The undercarriage is of the simplest possible type, as shown in one of our sketches. The axle rests in slots in two short wood struts, which, in view of their short length, are strongenough to take the loads without having to be braced either fore and aft or laterally. In other words, they are shortcantilevers, and are joined together by a transverse member in the form of a half-tube in which the axle rests. Raynhamhas had the machine painted in his racing colours, i.e., the wings and tail are bright yellow and the fuselage dark grey,making quite a distinctive combination. THE: ROYAL AERO CLUB or THE U.K. OFFICIAL NOTICES TO MEMBERS , THE SCHNEIDER INTERNATIONAL SEAPLANE RACETHE Schneider International Seaplane Race will be held at Cowes, Isle of Wight, on Friday, September 28, 1923,starting at 11 a.m. The following countries are competing :—France . . . . . . . . Three competitors. America . . . . . . . . Three competitors. Italy ,. .. . . . . Two competitors.Great Britain . . . . . . Two competitors. The circuit is Cowes, Selsey, Southsea, and will be coveredfive times, making a total distance of 186 nautical miles. Competitors representing each country will be startedtogether, and the interval between the start of each country will be 15 minutes. Arrangements for Members Cowes.—The Committee of the Royal Yacht Squadron,Cowes, have kindly loaned the Platform and Battlements of the Squadron to the Club on the occasion of the Race. Fromthis position members will obtain an excellent view of the race. Members and Associates will be admitted to the Squadron Platform on production of their Membership Badges. Southsea.—The turning point at Southsea is the South Parade Pier, and the competitors will pass along the front ofSouthsea. Selsey.—The turning point is in close proximity to theWindmill. Hotels at Cowes.—The Gloster, Fountain, Royal Marine,and Medina are filling up, and members are recommended to stay the night at Southampton and take the early boat forCowes, which arrives in good time for the start. MOTOR-GLIDER COMPETITIONSOctober 8-13, 1923 THE Motor-Glider Competitions will be held at LympneAerodrome, near Hythe, commencing on Monday, October 8, 1923. Members and Associates will be admitted free to the Aerodrome on presentation of their Membership Badges. Motor-cars, 2s. Arrangements have been made for luncheons and teas to beserved on the Aerodrome. The Club's Headquarters during the week will be at theImperial Hotel, Hythe. Special terms to Members of the Club, 17s. 6d. per day, exclusive of luncheon. Offices: THE ROYAL AERO CLUB, 3, CLIFFORD STREET, LONDON, W. i. H. E. PERRIN, Secretary. LONDON TERMINAL AERODROME Monday evening, September 17, 1923THE regrettable accident to the London-Manchester " air express," in which, five lives were lost, overshadows all othernews this week. A feeling of gloom pervades the aerodrome as a result of the crash, particularly so as one of the mostpopular pilots on the service, Capt. L. G. Robinson, M.C., was one of the victims. Capt. Robinson, who was chief pilot of theDaimler Airway, was accompanied by Mr. G. E. Pratt—who was making his first flight to Manchester—in order to showhim the route, and at the time of the accident Mr. Pratt was actually piloting the machine. It is almost impossible at thepresent time to form any clear idea of the cause of the accident, but expert opinion at the aerodrome believes that it wasprimarily due to an oncoming storm and the thick ground mist. The pilot evidently decided to land, and while doing soa row of trees loomed up through the mist, and it was in an attempt to avoid these that the accident occurred. Very littles known of Mr. Pratt at the aerodrome, as hehad only recently left the R.A.F. and joined the Daimler Airway, but Capt. Robinson had been with the Company sinceits inception, and had carried in Daimler D.H.34's nearly one thousand passengers. The machine itself was the famousG-E.B.B.S., which had up to the time of the accident flown over 150,000 miles without mishap. It is interesting to notethat the Daimler Airway, up to date, have flown nearly half a million miles and carried five thousand passengers withoutany previous fatal accident to a passenger. One of the most favourable points with regard to the accident, if such calamitycan be said to have a favourable point, is that the passenger bookings have been very little affected by it, and this morninga full complement of passengers for Berlin left as usual. Success of the Zurich Service THE Handley Page Service to Zurich has proved a greatsuccess, and the 0.400 which flies between Paris and Zurich, connecting with the London-Paris service, is practically fully-laden on every journey. There is every sign that the seasonal drop in passengers iscommencing, but the decline is very gradual as yet, and Handley Page's three machines are still busily employed trans-porting passengers and goods to and from Paris. The Prague extension of the Instone Line is still unstarted,but between London and Cologne the traffic continues to be universally good, and on several occasions the Instone" Vickers' Vulcan " has been put on the service to help to cope with the large quantities of goods •which are consigned1 between London and Cologne. Lieut.-Col. Henderson, too, is having a busy time on the Surrey Flying Services D.H.9,making trips between London, Brussels, and Cologne, and it is quite the usual thing for him to make the return trip betweenLondon and Cologne in a single day. In fact, it was rumoured that during the week he made a return trip to Brussels, and-then a return trip to Cologne, all in the same day. One of the German aeroplanes bringing a cargo of papermarks for trans-shipment to Cologne made a forced landing in Belgium during the week, and its cargo and personnel wereconfiscated by the Belgian authorities, and the machine itself will, one supposes, be added to the other Belgian trophies of thelate War. Khaki-clad surveyors from Southampton have been busyrecently measuring up the aerodrome, and one meets them at every turn, with their chains, rods, poles and perches, plottingout the roads and buildings. Both the present aerodrome and the proposed extension on the Beddington side of PloughLane have been measured up. The £1,000,000 National Company LITTLE news is forthcoming as to the developments withregard to the ^1,000,000 monopoly company. In fact, as far as can be ascertained, the position seems to be one of stale-mate. Neither side, if it is permissible to call them sides, are as optimistic as hitherto, and in fact, as far as the aerodromeis concerned, interest in the result seems to have evaporated purely from lack of news, and the subject, although it vitallyconcerns everyone employed on the aerodrome, appears to be causing little comment. The Surrey Flying Services were again favoured with goodweather for joy-riding over the week, but whether as the immediate result of the accident to the Manchester " airexpress " or not, there weie comparatively few joy-iiders, although the crowds at the aerodrome were, if anything,greater than ever. Today sees the start of the winter services on the air lines,caused by the advent of winter time, and several alterations have been made in the time-tables. On the London routes,such as the Daimler Airway's London-Berlin service, thce is still some doubt as to whether this will be flown in the courseof a single day during the winter, but it is hoped that by shortening the route this may be accomplished. I understandalso that the state of the aerodromes in Northern Germany is causing some anxiety, as, owing to the flat nature of the groundon this route, the aerodromes are liable to become sodden in winter, and not at all inviting landing places for heavily-ladencommercial machines. .566
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