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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0343.PDF
JUNE 4, 1925 Saturday, May 30.—This morning the weather has changedsomewhat, and the oppressive heat of yesterday has given way to a fresh breeze. The wind indicators on the hangarsstand out straight from their masts and the smoke from the fire which seems to be always kept burning in the middle ofthe aerodrome is blowing flat along the ground. A peculiarity of the Berlin aerodrome seems to be that the wind directionis constantly changing and one begins to realise that when the fabric cones of one hangar totally disagree with those of signifying that the machine has hit the ground, and, ofcourse, anxiety is felt for the occupants. A Red Cross ambulance rushes towards the spot where the machine wasseen to fall, and it is noted with a certain amount of relief that whatever has happened the machine has not caughtfire. It is not very long before news comes back that no one has been seriously injured. The pilot seems to haveeffected an extremely skilful " save," having decided to sideslip his machine to the ground, instead of attempting to o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o A Heinkel bi- plane coming in after a test flight. The machines in the foreground are Junkers com- mercial mono- planes. O O o ooooo ooo another only a couple of hundred yards away, there is surely good cause for having a smokv fire always going on the aero- drome itself, so as to assist the pilots in choosing their proper landing direction. By now the majority of the machines seem to have arrived, but several to which we had looked forward are still absent. Among those are the batch of Bahnbedarf monoplanes with Blackburne " Tomtit " engines and the Martens and Messerschmitt machines. Of the L.F.G. machines, only an old biplane of about 1914 or 1915 design has arrived from the Stralsund works, but of the modern L.F.G.'s there is still no sign. Later in the day a rumour is current to the effect that one of the Bahnbedarf mono- planes has crashed on the way to Berlin, and that the pilot is somewhat seriously injured. For the moment, however, official confirmation of this rumour is lacking. Towards noon, several commercial machines are leaving turn back into the aerodrome. Had he done so, there seemsto be little doubt that the result would have been a stall followed by a nose dive, and in that event the consequenceswould probably have been a great deal more serious. After lunch we took the opportunity to walk across to thetent camp, where several new aeroplanes were noted. Among the more interesting of these were the two Baumer machines,one a biplane and the other a low-wing cantilever mono- plane, both having American Wright three-cylinder air-cooled engines. The monoplane particularly is a very clean- looking machine, and is to be flown in the competition byHerr Baumer himself. The biplane is being piloted by H. v. Billow. The Wright engine looks a robust and simplejob, and the engine mounting is somewhat extraordinary, having the appearance of a three-point suspension with thetwo side higs of the engine carried by pressed-steel cantilever -7 Untenress yon Berlin naeti SdttWfW ^ ••? One of the scoring boards which are used to show the progress of machines in the competition on their lawful occasions. A Fokker monoplane of the F.3 type is taking off, but after nearly crossing the aerodrome, it does not appear able to climb, and is heading straight towards the buildings on the opposite side. It soon becomes evident that the machine is going to be in trouble, and one waits anxiously to see what the pilot will do. Suddenly, one wing is seen to dip, and the machine sideslips to the ground, where it disappears from view behind a rise in the middle of the aerodrome. A cloud of dust is seen to rise, arms with a third central support at the back of the engine. Herr Baumer formed his Company a couple of years ago and exhibited machines at the Gothenburg Aero Show. These were not of Baumer design, but the two machines entered for the Round-Germany flight are proprietary types and appear to promise well for the future of this young Hamburg company. We have not yet had an opportunity of seeing the machines fly, but the monoplane, at any rate, looks capable of a good turn of speed. 343
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