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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0283.PDF
Flight, May 14, 1925 BNGINEEFL 6s First Aero Weekly in the World Founder and Editor : STANLEY SPOONER A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM No. 865. (No. 20, Vol. XVII.) MAY 14, 1925 rweekly, Price 6d.L Post free, 7d. Flight The Aircraft Engineer and Airships Editorial Offices: 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C. 2. Telegrams : Truditur, Westcent, London. Telephone : Gerrard 1828 Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free: United Kingdom .. 30s. id. Abroad .. .. 33s. 0d.» These rates are subject to any alteration found necessary under abnormal conditions and to increases in postage rates • Foreign subscriptions must be- remitted in British currency CONTENTS PAGE Editorial Comment Trans-Oceanic Air Lines 283 Gliding 284 Sikorsky S.29A Commercial Biplane .. .. 285 light 'Plane and Glider Notes 287 Light 'Plane Club Doings 290 Sir Samuel Hoare on his Iraq Tour 291 Air Mails 291 Trans-Oceanic Air Lines .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 292 " Flight " Golf Cap 294 Progress During 1924 6 Royal Air Force 7 R.A.F. Intelligence 297 In Parliament 7 Metal Airscrew Progress 8 DIARY OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS Club Secretaries and others desirous of announcing the dates of important fixtures are invited to send particulars for inclusion in the following list:— 1925 May 20 MayMay May May May Jane June Jane June 21 ....28-June 28 .... 29 .... 31-June 6 .... 7 .... 12 .... 28 .... June 25 .... June Jane July July Aug. Sept. 27 .... 27 .... 8-4 .... 26-Aug. 1-8 .... 19-28 Visit to the National Physical Laboratory* Teddington, by I.AeJS. Aero Golfing Soc. Match, Cassiobury Park. 13 Royal Tournament, Olympia. R.A.F. Middle East Dinner. Aero Golfing Soc. Match, Oxhey. 9 Deutscher Rundfiug. Visit to Croydon Aerodrome, by I.Ae.E. Gordon Bennett Balloon Race, Brussels- Entries close for King's Cup Race. Independent Force (R.A.F.) Re-Union Dinner, R.A.F. Club, 7.45 p.m. Aero Golfing Soc. Match, Mid-Snrrey. Royal Air Force Pageant, Hendon. R.A.F. Iran Dinner, Holborn Restaurant, at 8.15 p.m. King's Cup Race. 9 Vauville Light 'Plane and Glider Meeting. Royal Aero Club Race Meeting at Lympne. FXA, Conference at Prague. EDITORIAL COMMENT. lLSEWHERE in this week's issue of FLIGHT we publish the broad outlines of a proposed scheme for operating trans-oceanic air services by means of heavier-than-air craft and station ships. The scheme is, it will be realised, one of the most daring that have ever been put forward, and at first sight is likely to take one's breath away. Similar schemes have been suggested from time to time, and one in par- ticular, of French origin, suggests theuse °^ " fl°atmg islands " for a similar Air Lines purpose. In the case of these floating islands, however, it does not require any great knowledge of naval architecture to realise that in a rough sea the twisting stresses that might be set up in the horseshoe-shaped " islands " might reach dangerous figures. In this respect, at any rate, it does appear to us that Mr. Gaynor's station ships are superior, since they would be vessels of fairly orthodox shape, and thus their behaviour in a seaway might be expected to be normal. Apart from this, however, the project is not without its difficulties. These, it seems to us, are not so much connected with the seaplanes themselves as with the problem of approaching the station ships, transferring fuel to the seaplanes or, in rough weather, the hoisting on board of the seaplanes. Not a great deal of experience is available to enable one to express a definite opinion on the subject, but such as does exist indicates that for a seaplane to approach a station ship rolling heavily in a rough sea, and for that seaplane to establish communication with the ship to the extent of getting a hawser on board and to rig the hoisting tackle and, finally, lifting the seaplane out of the water and depositing it safely on the deck of the vessel, would present very serious pro- blems. Then there is the problem of fogs. Even with direction-finding wireless it might be a matter of great difficulty for the flying boat to locate with sufficient accuracy the station ship and to approach it without damage to the seaplane. There are, of B 2
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