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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0092.PDF
home and in the Dominions, but also to a quite sur- prising extent in the press of, as someone put it with reference to another matter, the rest of " the whole civilised world and America." The fact that the British Air Minister was accompanied by his wife has helped immeasurably in focussing public attention at home and abroad on the flight, and thus the tour to India has been the subject of news, comment and illustrations all over the world. That the prestige of British aviation has thereby benefited is obvious, and if Sir Samuel had done nothing more than make the flight and pay a few friendly calls he would have earned the gratitude of all who have the future of British aviation at heart. The Secretary of State for Air has, however, done a great deal more than that. By his conferences with high authorities in Egypt and India, by his tour of inspection of the Royal Air Force stations on the North-West frontiers of India, he has seen at first hand the conditions obtaining along what must some day be one of the world's leading air routes. The importance of this is not easily exaggerated. When Sir Samuel meets his colleagues of the Cabinet he will do so with a wider experience, a more intimate familiarity with the problems, a greater stock of first-hand knowledge of the difficul- ties (for in spite of the entirely successful nature of Sir Samuel's fright, there are difficulties) than could have been gained in any other way. Add to this the fact that the Air Minister has come into per- sonal contact with a number of highly-placed officials upon whose goodwill and understanding the future success of the air route to the East will largely depend, with officers responsible for the execution of R.A.F. policy in the East, and it will be realised that the magnitude of the results of the event cannot readily be assessed. That the tour will have an extremely important bearing upon the future life and welfare of British aviation in general can be accepted. A man who can cheerfully set out on . An_. a flight of something like "30,000 milesAmbitious . ,6,. , ° . . ' Project. including two such minor items as one crossing of the South Atlantic and one of the North Atlantic, and with an obviously sincere belief in the possibility of getting through, is worthy of every respect. If in addition he is a man who has already proved himself able to make flights over vast distances in unknown localities, and very adverse weather conditions, he is entitled to a large measure of confidence in his success. Such a man is the famous Italian aviator the Marquis de Pinedo, who has recently left Italy on his way to South America, North America, and back to Italy. It is true that the gallant Marquis will not be the first to cross either the South Atlantic or the North Atlantic, but if he succeeds he will be the first to have crossed both and flying the same machine. Details of Pinedo s great flight will be found elsewhere in this issue of FLIGHT. It will be seen that the project is not lacking in ambition. Whether or not it succeeds remains to be seen. If it does it will mark one more milestone in the recent phenomenal progress of Italian aviation, and if it fails it will, we feel sure, be because it was not humanly possible to command success. British H S3 Institution of Aeronautical Engineers SecondHouse Dinner THE second house dinner of the Institution of Aero- FEBRUARY 17, 1927 aviation wishes the Marquis de Pinedo every good fortune. " Avanti Savoia." • • • Some time ago we announced that the I'Plane's Federation Aeronautique Internationde defined. was contemplating the establishment of special records for light aeroplanes, and that it had been suggested to divide light 'planes, for record purposes, into two classes: Class I for machines with an empty weight of up to 200 kg. (220 lb.) ; Class II for machines of 200 kg. to 400 kg. empty weight. The Royal Aero Club of Great Britain suggested reducing the upper limit of Class II to 350 kg. (770 lb.). At the meeting of the F.A.I, held in Paris on January 25 the subject was again raised, and it would appear that a compromise was made, as it was definitely decided to divide light aeroplanes, for record purposes, into three classes, as recorded in the Official Notices of the Royal Aero Club in this week's issue of FLIGHT. Class I, according to the new and final classification, is for machines up to 200 kg. empty weight. Class II for machines over 200 kg. and up to 350 kg. empty weight. And Class III for machines up to 400 kg. (880 lb.) empty weight. It is, however, specified that for records to be recog- nised in the case of machines weighing more than 350 kg. but not more than 400 kg., i.e., in Class III, a passenger (or, presumably, the equivalent weight) must be carried. Apparently this means that records will be recog- nised in classes I and II for pilot only. The Royal Aero Club has not yet made any announcement concerning the kind of records which will be recog- nised, but we presume that these will be : speed, duration, distance in closed circuit, distance in straight line, and altitude. As far as we personally are concerned, we are very glad that the third class was included in the classifi- cation. As we pointed out in our Editorial Comment some weeks ago, the limit of 350 kg. would have meant ruling out the " Moth " and the Avro " Avian," which would certainly have been a pity. As it is, these two types will be able to go for records in Class III. (Perhaps it is somewhat unfortunate that in the future these two excellent aeroplanes may be referred to as " third-class " light 'planes !) We are extremely pleased to see that weight has been chosen as a basis for defining light planes, and not engine weight or engine capacity. It is true that at the moment this definition applies only for record purposes, but it seems likely that the classification may in time be accepted as applying generally. Thus we have at last some sort of definition of what constitutes a light 'plane. The new classification is to come into force on May 1 of this year, and it is to be hoped that the British light 'plane clubs will liven up their proceed- ings by attempting to establish world's records. The fact that all the clubs are, in the main, using the same type of machine, should lend zest to the friendly rivalry between clubs to be first to put up a recognised world's record. May 1, as it happens, is a Sunday. Let the Royal Aero Club appoint observers at each of the clubs so that no time may be lost in starting the ball rolling. nautical Engineers will be held at 7.30 p.m. at the Engineers'Club, on March 4. The subject to be discussed will ^ announced later. 80
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