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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0682.PDF
The article by Major Turner is so closely reasoned, so well expressed, and yet so moderate in its state- ment of the views of the writer, that we would advise all who have not already done so to obtain a copy of the Daily Telegraph and study the article thoroughly. It is pointed out that when a pilot goes up for a flight and time after time produces wing flutter in order to observe the phenomenon and trace its cause, he is doing pioneer work and taking a legitimate risk. When, however, a pilot attempts to fly across the Atlantic in a landplane, without means for communicating by wireless news of his progress, and fails to reach the other side, he simply disappears. Xo information is available as to what happened, and consequently no lesson can be learned from the mishap. The rash, though gallant, effort has been misspent. Major Turner expresses the view that, as the land- plane will certainly not be the type employed on regular ocean services, there is nothing to be gained by trans-oceanic flights on this type of machine, and he furthers holds that in neither eastward nor west- ward direction should the Atlantic be flown except by seaplane. Moreover, he thinks that the carrying of wireless apparatus ought in all cases to be com- pulsory. The views of FLIGHT where the seaplane is concerned are already well known. So much so that many of our readers must have come to consider us a little " cranky " on the subject, and, as previously pointed out, we have been jestingly referred to as " The Seaplane Paper." We are content to be so regarded, and we are glad to see our case taken up so strongly by one of our great dailies. None can accuse us of having shown undue enthusiasm over the proposed Atlantic flight of Capt. Courtney in the Dornier " Wai," but in all fairness we wish to place on record as our considered opinion that, although he did not attempt the direct flight, and then did not even reach the Azores after suddenly deciding to take the " southern route," but had to make for the Spanish coast, Capt. Courtney's East to West attempt is worth a great deal more to the cause of aviation than have been the various unsuccessful attempts to make the flight in a landplane and even than the successful West to East flights. Not only was Courtney in wireless communication with ships during the flight, but with water under him he had a large choice of possible alighting places even with a fairly large quantity of fuel on board, whereas a landplane under similar conditions might, and probably would, have been in something of a quandary- to find a suitable aerodrome. Even if the moderate size flying-boat cannot be expected to " live " for an indefinite period on a rough sea, it can nearly always find some spot where an alighting is at any rate possible and a take-off may not be altogether out of the question. As the size of the flying-boat increases so will its seaworthi- ness improve, and with it the safety of long oversea passages. A seaplane flight across the Atlantic, carried out (in the present state of development of the flying-boat) by stages will teach us a great deal more than a number of dashes across by aeroplane. And the day is not far distant when a flying-boat can comfortably carry enough fuel for the direct flight should this be desired. Already the little Super- marine " Southampton," not by any means a particu- larly large machine, has during overload trials got off with a total loaded weight of 18,000 lbs., which SEPTEMBER 8, 1927 represents approximately 4,000 lbs. more than her normal loaded weight. Obviously, this load could be in the form of fuel, and if some of the normal equipment of the service type were removed and replaced by fuel, the flight from Ireland to Newfound- land should begin to come within her capacity. Doubtless, future improvements in detail design and aerodynamic refinements will very soon make that a possibility. But we do heartily agree with Major Turner that unless these trans-oceanic flights can be undertaken by seaplane they had better not be undertaken at all. With the subject of wireless equipment we also fully agree. Wireless has now reached a stage where a transmitting and receiving set capable of working over really useful distances is available, and although the weight is naturally an item of great importance, we do think that if a pilot decides to make the attempt without wireless, because of the weight saved, he is " cutting it too fine." If the difference between having enough fuel on board for the flight without the wireless, and not having enough with the wireless is going to decide the issue, then the margin left is much too narrow, and the flight should not be attempted. It is not only a question of the possibility of being able to call assistance in case of emergency, although that is obviously a very important point. But in all fairness to those inter- ested in the flight, the possibility of sending out occasional messages to vessels, to be relayed to shore, should not be lightly disregarded. The hours and days of anxiety resulting from the disappearance of a machine and" entire absence of news represent an anguish which no aircraft crew has a right to inflict on those near and dear to it. Even a brief message to say that the engine is giving out, or that something or other has gone wrong, is preferable to no news at all. Wireless, to be of any real use on such a flight, must probably, in the present state of the science, be telegraphy, which will mean that one of the members of the crew must be an experienced operator, but we do not think this fact would necessarily be a serious, handicap. Other methods of signalling have been suggested. During the war extensive use was made, in the Koyal Naval Air Service, of carrier pigeons, and numerous cases are on record of messages having been success- fully transmitted in this fashion. Although one would not expect a pigeon to cross the Atlantic, these birds have been known to cover very great distances, and for the first few hundred miles of an Atlantic crossing could probably be relied upon to get back. A FLIGHT reader suggests that machines should cam' small cork buoys with coloured flags attached and should drop these overboard at regular intervals. It is to be feared, however, that if these buoys were sufficiently small to enable them to be carried on a machine, they would be so difficult to find as to be practically useless. Wireless seems, on the whole, to be the best form of communication, and the fullest use should be made of it in any future attempt at crossing the Atlantic by air. Curiously enough, just as this week's issue of FLIGHT is about to go to press, news comes through from Australia that the Commonwealth Government has prohibited any aircraft other than seaplanes from flying over the sea more than 50 miles, while offering every assistance in the case of flights made with marine aircraft. 628
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